A Letter To My Love

Dearest Switzerland,

I owe you an apology. Over the last three months, we've been spending a lot of time together, and honestly I started to take you for granted. You've been nothing but good to me since we first met in early January. That first week in Lugano was magical. I will forever cherish how special you made my 21st birthday. Our first weekend together was one for the books. Skiing Zermatt was hands down one of the best experiences of my life. You certainly inherited Mother Nature's best traits. 

Since then however, we've drawn apart. I take full blame. I started seeing other countries. First it was Italy, drawing me in with its delicious food. Then Germany with its endless supply of beer. Then England and its irresistible accent. Ireland stole my heart. I celebrated Valentine's Day with France. I went on a second date with Italy, who continued to woo me, this time with pesto. Belgium made me the world's best breakfast. Hungary was a cheap date. I gave Germany a second go. Prague and I really hit it off. Italy was determined to show me the wonders of Rome last weekend. 

I realize this isn't the best apology, but rather a list of my recent conquests. Keep reading. 

It had been over two months since our marvelous weekend together in Zermatt. Honestly, I was slightly bitter you wouldn't show me the Matterhorn, but I now realize you were simply playing hard to get. We had only just met, you weren't ready for that type of commitment. Clearly, I wasn't either. 

I realized that despite how long we've known each other now, we hadn't spent quality time together in quite a while. This weekend changed everything. Italy was practically begging me to visit Cinque Terre. Frankly, Italy was getting a little too clingy. Instead, I stayed with you. It was just the two of us and you showed me the world.

My journey to Interlaken was beautiful. You continue to teach me that it's the journey, not the destination. We were finally starting to click, and Friday you proved that. 

I woke up early Friday morning excited for my journey ahead to Jungfrau, the top of Europe. With stops in Lauterbrunnen Valley and Kleine Scheidegg, I was already blown away. Jungfraujoch took the cake. Words cannot describe your beauty, Switzerland.

Getting to Jungfraujoch required a simple train ride. Getting to it's peak at Mönchsjochhütte however, was not. You challenged me and I accepted. After an hour hike up the mountain, I made it. It's there that I fell in love with you all over again. I enjoyed a terrific lunch and one of the most beautiful views in the world.

Just when I thought the day couldn't get any better, you did this:

Thank you, Switzerland. While our time together is coming to an end in a few short weeks, I want you to know how great you are. I promise to come back and visit you, if you promise to be nicer to my wallet. 

With love,

Con amore,

Mit liebe,

Avec amour,

Bijan

Checking out the Czech Republic

We left for Prague on Thursday morning for the third and final leg of our second spring break. Upon arriving at our hostel, conveniently located in the center of the old town square, I was greeted with a pleasant surprise. Directly next to our hostel was a vegetarian restaurant! My visit to Prague was off to a great start. I made a visit there almost immediately upon arriving, as well as twice each of the remaining days on my trip. The food was incredible. My time in Eastern Europe made me appreciate the laws in the US prohibiting smoking in restaurants. Upon returning from dinner and a stop at a bar my clothes reeked of smoke.

On Friday we woke up early for a tour of the city. We stopped for breakfast at Bohemia Bagels as per the recommendation of our terrific house moms in Lugano. As we waited to start our tour, countless men on Segways tried to recruit us to take a tour on wheels. While I wasn't willing to shell out 1200 Czech Crowns, or 60 USD, I gladly took a test ride. I had never ridden a Segway before but very much enjoyed my first ride. I may have to invest in one when I return to the States.

Located within 30 seconds walking distance of our hostel, we learned that the Old Town Square is one of Europe's most popular wedding destinations. Prior to our tour, we saw three sets of brides and grooms taking photos in front of the Church of Our Lady before Tyn.

We enjoyed a wonderful tour from a guide who lived through communism in what is now the Czech Republic. She explained to us how frequently the country experienced change in the last hundred years alone. Her grandmother had lived in the same town her entire life, but was a citizen of five different countries in her lifetime because the country had experienced so much political unrest and conflict with other nations. We were introduced to the astronomical clock in the Old Town Square, enjoyed an authentic Czech lunch including a heavy soup in a bread bowl and a Czech beer. We also stopped in the Jewish district and saw the Prague Metronome. The gigantic metronome was put in the place of a large statue built as a tribute to former Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. The metronome represents time as it passes since the end of conflict in what is now the Czech Republic. We ended our tour near the Charles Bridge, and made our way to the John Lennon Wall.

The Lennon Wall was once a normal wall, that was covered in graffiti by students expressing their distaste towards communism. The wall itself was first painted with the face of the famous Beatle in the 1980's. It has since been painted over numerous times but still represents the ideals of peace. One of my favorite parts of Prague, much like Ireland, was the live music. Live music could be heard at almost any time of day in the Old Town Square and throughout the city.

I enjoyed a perfect dinner at the vegetarian restaurant, and converted a few other friends to vegetarianism, at least for the evening. The cost for the entire meal was under 3 USD. That evening, 24 of us went on a Prague pub crawl. I made friends with three lovely Californian girls at the first bar, and hung out with them the rest of the night. We were guided to three different bars and ended at one of the largest clubs in all of Europe. The club was five floors including an ice bar and different genres of music on each floor.

Saturday was our final full day in Prague. We spent most of the day on a tour of Prague Castle. The castle is one of the largest in the world. Inside the castle walls there were multiple churches, restaurants, homes, and museums.

The president of the Czech Republic has a residence within the castle, although our tour guide did not hesitate to show his disgust towards their leader. Here's one reason why:

We ended our trip with a visit at Prague's Beer Factory, a restaurant with four taps at each table. A large screen at the front of the restaurant displayed the total number of liters consumed at each table throughout the evening. While 24 college students would never think of taking part in a race involving mass consumption if beer, if we did, we would have given the table of Germans across the way a run for their money.

We spent the train ride Sunday morning reminiscing on the peaks and pits of our second spring break. Our break wasn't completely over, however. Before the start of our break, Nick noticed that our train home had a ninety minute layover in Munich, home of our favorite beers. As soon as our train arrived, Nick, Kyle, Trip, Taylor and I b-lined it to the city center for Augustiner Beer Hall. Within minutes we arrived and were seated enjoying pretzels and a final liter of what is arguably the world's greatest brew. We made it back to the train station just in time.

It's hard to believe another 10-day is in the books. We started our final class of the semester this week. I am headed to Rome for the three day weekend. Ciao!