Luzern

I love being able to take a train wherever I want to go. Swiss trains are expensive, but nothing like the US. We also purchased two more than worth it, half price card that allows for just that: half off of all swiss train rides. We calculated only needing to travel in Switzerland 3 times to make up it's value. Not bad, not bad.
After our attempts to head to Venice failed, a day trip to Luzern sounded both appealing and needed. It is only 2 and half hours from here, and with Megan in tow, we chugged off at a reasonable hour on a Saturday morning.
Luzern is a great town for just walking around and poking into stores. The old part is all pedestrian which is always walker-friendly. Meg was there for the candy store and starbucks. (I think she said she spent CH85 on candy and american soda!) We were really just getting away and seeing something new. We did end up sitting at Starbucks, but that was mostly because I was out-voted, being the only non coffee drinker. I did have my way with the Brezels though, and was most excited for James to sample what a true German style Prezel should taste like. In NYC those nasty things they sell in Central Park are a disgrace to the name.



We also had to try their berliner as we were in the German speaking part of Die Schweiz. I have discovered that the Ticino area is not the right place to sample german treats... Luzern on the other hand gets my thumbs up! Lots of cute buildings, a nice craft market and an carb overdose later, we were heading back to good old Lugano. Easily just a day trip, but I would consider an overnight prehaps just to be able to relax a bit more.

Kraiiikee!

Is it possible to combine the stonewash of the 80's with the genius of spandex and add in the queens color of purple?
Well of course it is! Behold the wonder:

Advisees for Dinner

Truthfully, the food at the dining hall is only edible. We also have a fairly unusual phenomenon where over the course of a single meal, what you find for dinner at 5:30pm will not be what you get if you go at 6:30pm. The running joke is that if you don't like what's for dinner, wait. Now sometimes that doesn't help because it only gets worse, but other times you might find yourself in a bit of luck as they swap out the horse stew for chicken breasts, or the browned potato squirts turn into french fries. Two things that will show up at some point EVERY single day: potatoes and chicken. The chef is also on whatever is the opposite of a low carb or Atkins diet. For example, last night I had mashed potatoes, pasta with red sauce, barley soup and a side of bread. Um.....?
So at any rate, the kids aren't necessarily blown away by the food either. In fact many of them blow their substantial allowances at Sara Li's - a wonderful little gelateria practically on campus, but just off. (she happens to also make Panini and sell soda - both don't exist in the dining hall.)
Now on top of this shoddy excuse for food, we have a required meal with our advisees every Wednesday. All of a sudden we go all formal with table clothes, shirts and ties, and we actually get served our meal at the tables, rather than the regular dinner line. The food does not improve. At our first seating two weeks ago, our advisees were as non-plussed as we were, and so we decided to hold our first advisee dinner at our house. Imagine 12 out of our 16 advisees mushed into our living room eating messy self-created burritos. Things only got better when they took over our Itunes and started singing along to Yellow Submarine. The apple pies were a resounding success, and we practically had to push the bunch out the door to get them to leave for study hall.
I'm certain with the help of the dining hall not improving their food, we will most certainly be hosting again...