Apologies

I'm sorry for not updating much this week. I had every intention of writing a few more entries, but I've been getting ready for this weekend and have run out of time.

What's this weekend you may ask...

Well tomorrow morning at 830am, I head to Munich to meet 4 of my favorite law school friends [shout out to Eric, Stacy, Suzanne, and Daniel!] for a weekend of Oktoberfest shenanigans. And I couldn't be more excited. For many reasons:

1) I haven't seen Eric, Stacy or Suzanne since May [I saw Daniel two days before I came here...] so it will be nice to be "reunited"

2) It will be nice to just be with friends from home and compare experiences and adventures and talk about our lives the way you can't with people you have only known a few short weeks

3) I have been to Munich before and absolutely loved the city

4) I have always wanted to go to Oktoberfest. Always.

5) So much beer! So many good stories are sure to come!!

Needless to say I'm pumped. Its a 3 hour direct train ride from St. Gallen [from the train station right outside my window] to Munich. And there the fun begins...

I promise to tell you all about it next week!!

Until then, lots of love
~Me

Geography Lesson

I have another three months in St. Gallen. Depending on the moment this either seems like an eternity or an instant...I can't really decide. In that three months I plan to do a lot of traveling. Starting this week when I head to Munich for Oktoberfest. This post is to solicit suggestions of where I should go over these next few weeks, and also just to give you an idea of where I am on the continent.

So I am right on the edge of Switzerland. On a super clear day, you can easily see Germany and Austria, and someone once said Liechtenstein, but I'm not sure about that.

So...from St. Gallen to the other cities in Europe:

Zurich

     As the Crow Flies: 40.5 miles
     Driving Distance: 53.5 miles

 Bern

     As the Crow Flies: 98.7 miles

     Driving Distance: 126 miles 

Munich

     As the Crow Flies: 112 miles

     Driving Distance: 142 miles

Geneva

     As the Crow Flies: 176.5 miles

     Driving Distance: 224 miles

Florence

     As the Crow Flies: 270.8 miles

     Driving Distance: 390 miles

Prague

     As the Crow Flies: 293.6 miles

     Driving Distance: 385 miles
 
Vienna

     As the Crow Flies: 327.9 miles

     Driving Distance: 423 miles

Paris

     As the Crow Flies: 340.5 miles

     Driving Distance: 421 miles

Berlin

     As the Crow Flies: 391.8 miles

     Driving Distance: 482 miles

Rome

     As the Crow Flies: 413.2 miles

     Driving Distance: 564 miles

London

     As the Crow Flies: 510.6 miles

     Driving Distance: 716 miles

Barcelona

     As the Crow Flies: 550.8 miles

     Driving Distance: 693 miles

Athens

     As the Crow Flies: 977.2 miles

     Driving Distance: 1257 miles

Istanbul

     As the Crow Flies: 1064.4 miles

     Driving Distance: 1552 miles


PS: I really hate the way this formatted, but I don't really know how to change it. And since the Saints game is on, I don't really have the time to figure it out. Sorry friends!! 

More about the Swiss

I promised you more little anecdotes about my new Swiss life. Well here are a few:

Handicap Parking

Okay so I know Switzerland is small. And I appreciate that handicap access is important. But the handicap parking spots are on the sidewalk!! All over town. So you can just be walking along and suddenly there is a car coming at you on the sidewalk to park right were you are walking. How this hasn’t resulted in an increased in the number of people REQUIRING the handicap parking spaces is beyond me!

Art

St. Gallen is COVERED in fountains. They are everywhere. And coming from drought-stricken Texas and all the extreme water conservation measures we are under, it was a little shocking. But this particular installation really caught Josh and I off guard. There is construction happening in the area. So we see this mini-barrel with water pouring out of it and freak out! Why are you WASTING the water?!!?!? [long-term droughts really mess with your mind] It was only when we got closer that we noticed that it was a sculpture. Neither of us could muster much appreciation for it though!

“My” American Bar...

Most of you know that one of the things I was most excited about is there being a bar in my building. It is called “Monti’s American Bar” and is known for featuring over 1000 cocktails.

So....naturally Josh and I went there while he was here.

And, yes, there were really 1000 cocktails. And we were very intrigued by many of them. But we decided to order the margaritas, for a taste of home.

As you can imagine, we were a little surprised when we were served this!

It tasted like a margarita, but it did not look like one. We were both weirded out, but overall we liked it.

 

We didn’t really like how much we had to pay for it, but considering how strong it was and how much everything here costs, we weren’t that surprised.

What we did LOVE was that they put the recipe on the receipt. How cool is that!! Wouldn’t it be AWESOME if all restaurants/bars did this. Like Trudy’s with the Mex Mart. Then Speej and I wouldn’t have to volunteer to help Josh out as he perfects his version by trying EVERY recipe on the internet....yeah, maybe it wasn’t the worst afternoon!

Keyboard

This is the Swiss keyboard. And I get it, they had to fit THREE languages worth of characters on. But why the hell did they have to switch the Z and the Y. Think about how often you use the “y” key. Now imagine every time you did so, a z showed up. Yeah, its obnoxious. Also the ! key is nowhere near where it should be. And to get the @ sign, there is a 3 key series you have to go through. While this is only a problem when I use the computers at school [which I have to do anytime I want to print something], its still already gotten on my last nerve!

Trash

There are a lot of stereotypes and generalizations about the Swiss, and one is that they are a clean people in a very clean country. And it is very clean. But that is also a pain in the ass if you live here.

When checking in to get my apartment key, I also got this handy little information sheet.

 Let me just tell you about the best part of all this. There is only ONE type of bag you can put your garbage in. One. And when you go to the store, you don't pick it up off the shelf. You have to ask the check-out clerk for one, like a pack of cigarettes. You can't use an old shopping bag or anything like that. You will get fined. Its intense.

So that's all for now, but I promise more still.

Josha

Warning. Before you read another word, you should know this is a super sappy post.

It was four years ago today that I met my husband. And for anyone who doesn’t believe in God, I ask them to look at those last four years. A Greater Hand was always at work in our story. And it has been a great story. While four years may seem like a short amount of time to meet, date, and get married; anyone who has ever been around the two of us cannot doubt that we were meant to be together. We are both just way too ridiculous to be with anyone else.

You are the Cheese to my Macaroni

You are the Bacon to my Eggs
You are the Milk to my Cookie

You are the Bubbles to my Bath

You are the Horizon to my Sky

You are the Water to my Ocean

You are the Smile to my Face

I love you finity, baby. To the moon and back.
 

125anf

~ Eddy

PS: Don't say I didn't warn ya!!

Is the 20th time really the 1st?

Well today was my 20th first day of school. Yep. That's a lotta schoolin'. This is also [most likely] my last first day of school [sorry Josh, but I'm not totally ready to say I'll be done!!].


And over these 20 years, I have always had my picture taken before going to class. Always. My mom takes more pictures than just about anyone you will ever meet. And this is one of her things. We take first day of school pictures. And I wasn't going to ruin that streak now. So I busted out the camera's self-timer and took this:

Brady, I hope you approve my outfit [but also doubt you will read this!] 

So today did mark two actual firsts. 

First time this girl who has only gone to school in Florida and Texas started in SEPTEMBER!! 

Likewise, it was the first time it was 52 degrees on my first day of school and therefore required pants, boots, and a sweater!! 

But with as cold as it was, by the time I hiked up to school, I was sweating. Cute, right?

Today I had Public International Law from 1015-12 and European Economic Law from 1215-1600. Yep, 6 straight hours of class. 

But I really enjoyed both the courses, so not too bad at all.

I Am ALWAYS Ready For Some Football

You can take the girl out of the South, but you can’t take the South out of the girl!!  

I love football. A lot. Always have. Always will.

So, the idea of missing all of football season was tough to digest.

But then my friend Doug came to the rescue. He loaned Josh and I his Slingbox.

The device hooks up to our cable box and internet at home, and then through the Slingbox website I can log into our cable box and watch whatever it is showing. I also have the ability to use a remote and do everything that you can do sitting on the couch at home!

MAGIC!!

While I have used the Slingbox a little over the last few days, yesterday was the first big test.

But first...we had to get to game time.

So yesterday morning I woke up at about 8:30am my time. That is 1:30am CDT. College Gameday starts at 9am CDT. Yep. Seven and a half hours.

Back home, you wake up thinking about football, eat breakfast while watching Gameday, and then its kickoff time! Football all day.

I woke up yesterday morning thinking about football [this is even more true since it was a rivalry game day!], but there were so many hours to wait until there would be any football!!

Finally, after wasting a lot of time doing a lot of random things, it was College Gameday time!! And then Auburn-Clemson.

I can even do Picture in Picture! Woo!! Mostest Awesomest Thing Ever!! 

 I even had a Frankfurter for dinner. It did not taste anything like Ballpark or Oscar Meyer, but it was still tasty and got me in the spirit. I also had a couple Schützengarten beers. Almost like home. Certainly close enough!

And finally. My Boys. From Old Florida. At 9:30pm.

I LOVE SEC FOOTBALL!!

Dear Charlie Weis: The offense just moved the ball 80-some-odd yards in 12 plays to score a touchdown. You stood on the sidelines. They deserve to sit and rest. You should probably just walk more.

The start of the Mus-Championship Era!!

Halftime came at about midnight. But I still managed to stay up for the whole game!! 

Yes, it was 53 degrees, dark and rainy here. But my heart was warm looking down at the Swamp. 

Thank God for the Interwebs!!! 

I agree Will. I agree.

Oh Happy Day!!

Guess Who Got Jury Duty!!

 

This lady!!!!! 

Yep. Came in the mail yesterday [Saturday]. First time ever. And I have to miss it. And once I'm a lawyer, I'll never get jury duty [apparently lawyer-jurors make a lot of trouble for the actual trial attorneys]. So I'm a little sad. But just a little. Mostly I'm entertained by it all. 

[Also, sorry for the ugly black blob. This is the interwebs, and I don't need creepos out there knowing my address!!]

The University of St. Gallen

So Thursday and Friday afternoon of this week, we had our big orientation [but, Amelia, you may say, you had orientation last week....yeah. I know. Blargh!!]. Those of us who did the German language course were required to sit through two nearly identical orientations...woo.

Orientation is still just as boring studying abroad in Switzerland as it was as a Freshman at UF and a 1L at UT. But, at the end I got this [after paying another 96F for it!!]:

Please don’t look to closely at the picture; it was taken at a Walgreens in Key West when I was supposed to be on vacation.

So in honor of all this [and classes starting on Monday] I decided to tell you more about the University of St. Gallen.

This year they have about 6,700 students, with 300 students here as a part of the Exchange program. It was originally called the Hochschule St. Gallen [an older word for University] and was abbreviated HSG. Under this name it became one of the best business/finance schools in the world, so when they changed to Universität they kept the HSG because its such a “powerful brand.” It is also one of the oldest schools of its kind [dedicated strictly to business and economics], having started in the 1890s. Today, they are still very focused and only work in the areas of: management, economics, law, law and economics, and international affairs. 

Now to campus:

 This is a map of the HSG campus. Its so little and cute!! The square buildings in the middle that have the grass roofs are the main part of campus. But yep, this is the whole thing. It was only built for 3,500 students. Which can make things interesting.

The main buildings were designed in the “Brutalism” style of architecture (my first link in a post!!). What this means is they are all poured concrete. That’s it. Very modern. And the school is known for its collection of Swiss modern art so this works.

While this may not have been the most interesting or entertaining post, I hope it will give you an idea of where I am when I talk about school. So I end with a campus photo dump:

 

Sculpture/Fountain thingy

Wizards Chess in the Courtyard!!!!

 

A view of the actual Courtyard. Its down a level from the entrance to most of buildings [being on the side of a mountain all the ground levels are different actually]. I'm not sure how this is going to work when there is lots of snow and ice everywhere, but I guess they planned for that originally [or at least I hope] on the left by the little, far off tree is the student bar, "the Ad Hoc." This is a very European thing, we also had one at my college in Cambridge. and between the bigger tree in the middle and the stairs on the right is the entrance to the University Cafeteria, "the Mensa." Its expensive, like all things here, but convenient. 

Brutalist Architecture, Modern Art. Neither are my taste, but whatever.

 

Another view from the stairs. Not too shabby!!

 

I'm not real excited about the grey buildings, grey skies, and dirty snow that will come this winter. Seems a pop of color would have been nice! But, surprisingly, no one asked me...

 

The last few pictures are of the main classroom buildings that all surround the courtyard at the of the aforementioned stairs. This is the view from that courtyard.

 

St. Gallen as seen from the University of St. Gallen

 

More modern art.

 

And again...this one kind of reminds me of the French Fries at UF

These next few pictures are of my view of St. Gallen on the walk down to my apartment. Just for fun.

 

The church on the left with the single spire and the crazy roof is the Reformist church. On the right with two spires is the Catholic church. Its an interesting story for a history buff, so I will be telling it soon!