Fritzerland

If the audience for this blog was a person, and if I ran into that person on the street, I imagine the ensuing conversation would be similar to this (italics are thoughts):

Audience:    Hey!

Me:              Uh oh.

Audience:    Hey slow down!

Me:              Maybe I can pull the “I didn’t think it was me you were yelling at” bit.

Audience:    Derek! Wait up!

Me:              Dang. Let’s go for “I didn’t hear”- Are they running now?? Shoot! Got no backup plan!

Audience:    Whoa! Slow down, bud. I almost missed ya!

Me:              Almost… Well, here goes nothing. Hey! Didn’t see ya there! How ya doin’?! It’s been a while!

Audience:    I know! I feel like you’ve been avoiding me. Haha.

Me:              Oh this is awkward. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA no way! I’ve just uh, just been busy lately.

Audience:    No worries!

Me:              Well that’s neat.

Audience:    So how’s school? Anything happen after that Andalusia trip?

Me:              Ha! Wouldn’t you like to know!

Audience:    …

Me:              …

Audience:    …

Me:              … I suppose that’s why-

Audience:    Yes, that is why I asked.

Me:              Guess I’ll postpone that movie man-date with the guys. Well…

            So a week passed in Andalucía and we returned to our temporary home in Sagunto. And life carried on as normal. We attended our various classes and learned mucho, such as the fact that mucho = much. Astounding! We also had our random days off due to Spain being such a big proponent of having holidays every week during the last three months of the year. One week that there actually was not a holiday was the week of Thanksgiving. Thankfully (heh), the teachers here realize how important this is for us Americans and canceled classes for the day. Taking advantage of this, I decided to take a little trip up north to Switzerland.

            So on Wednesday, 75% of Spain’s Union College population (Screw you, Tony!) took a train up to Barcelona to catch a flight up to Geneva. We were met at the airport by our good friend, Charles (also from Union) who happens to be studying at the ACA school in France this year. His buddy gave us all a ride across the border to the school where we crashed in our respective rooms. I awoke the next morning to one of the coolest things in the world. Okay, maybe not one of the coolest. But on my personal scale of awesomeness, it was at least as high as getting a new box of legos. You see, the ACA school in France is in the side of a mountain. And at the bottom of said mountain is the Swiss city of Geneva. And on the other side of said Swiss city are the Alps, like, all of the Alps. From Charles’ bedroom window, you can pretty much see every Alp in the book, which I guess is hyperbole, but the view was pretty dang amazing.

            So once the Chuckster finished with his classes, we all took the long walk down the mountain into Switzerland to check out Geneva. Nothing too exciting, just a neat city with some high prices. I’ve heard Geneva is actually considered one of the most expensive cities in the world. Don’t quote me on that though. The interesting part came when we returned to the school. We took the wrong bus and got kicked off at the last stop, and it happened to be the last bus of the night. It turns out that the only other guy on the bus, a young business type guy with a suitcase, overheard us talking to the bus driver and heard our predicament and offered us a ride. So even though this Dutchman had just finished a long trip and probably couldn’t wait to see the wife and kids, he goes out of his way to make sure we make it home safe. And his wife, whom he was waiting for, turned out to be equally as benevolent. We crammed into their little station wagon, thankful for the coziness as it began to snow shortly after leaving the bus, and they took us not to the correct stop, but all the way to the school! They explained that they had done their fair share of traveling and understood how missing a bus/plane/train can really throw off plans. Upon arrival, they only asked that we pass along the kindness one day. I only pray that I’m given the opportunity and the means.

            Friday was similar, although we found the right bus back this time after some more exploring. Saturday morning we awoke to a land covered in snow, the first of the year, at least in that area. Of course, we had to play in it. The early afternoon was spent sledding, snowball chucking, snowman building, and all that jazz. We also got to know the ACA students there at this time. They’re a legit crew, but they’re not nearly as cool as ESDES. I wanted to see an actual Swiss chocolate shop, so that afternoon, Charles, a friend of his, and I went to into town to check one out. Along the way, we went to a French bakery and a French cheese shop. All my European stereotype dreams were coming true! The cheese shop was my favorite. A wise man once told me, now pardon my French (heh), “the more it [cheese] smells like ass, the fancier it is.” And like ass this shop did smell. I got two kinds and very contently ate them with my baguette. The next morning, it was time to go. And go we did. We flew to Barcelona where I parted with my company and went to join another crowd for possibly the best part of the trip.

            A couple days earlier, a small crowd from ESDES went up to Barcelona to meet with a small group from the ACA school in Italy. The significance of this, and the reason I went to join them, was that one of the students was a long lost friend of mine, Jonathan Soto. Well not long lost, but we’d lost touch for nearly ten years, which is a long time when it’s half your life. To say I was excited would be hypobole. So many memories came flooding back when I saw him. I felt as though we could talk shop for days without getting bored. Sadly, we did not have that long as everyone went their separate ways later that night. Despite only getting to spend a couple hours with him and the rest, it’s still a time I will never forget.

Audience:    Wow! That was a cool story. Although I didn’t understand the hypobole part.

Me:              Yeah, I didn’t think you would. Just think about prefixes and opposites and maybe it will come to you.

Audience:    Uh, alright. But wait, you said this was around Thanksgiving? It’s the end of March. What happened between then and now??

Me:              WHOA! Look at the time! I am so late for my eye doctor check-up dealie. Sorry to do this, but I’ll have to cut this session short.

Audience:    Didn’t you go to the eye doctor right before you lef-

Me:              Well! See ya!