Geneva, Engelberg, and Luzern

Since I just arrived in Budapest, Hungary for the night, I figured I should at least catch you up to our Switzerland adventures we've recently had. Last week, we took a trip to Geneva for a night with our entire group so it was a little packed for the 7 hour bus ride. We didn't get as much time as we would have liked because the program probably couldn't afford to put us up for more than a night since it costs so much in Switzerland! A coke was about $5 US and the cheapest food we found to eat was Chinese/Thai. I got fried rice with chicken and basil and a glass of coke and my bill amounted to $16! A little pricey, aye?
But other than that, we pretty much lived at the United Nations building where we crammed 3 meetings in on Thursday that were one and a half hours long, then 2 one and a half hour long meetings on Friday. The speakers weren't that bad either. We had a speaker from the UN who gave us an overview of the organization, then one from the UN who gave us an overview of the Human Rights sector of the UN (which obviously comprises a majority of the UN's work), a speaker from the High Commisioner's Office for Refugees (who I ABSOLUTELY loved!!), the French ambassador to the UN, and a representative to the WTO (....and if you didn't know, I hate the WTO and all the bull-crap that it stands for---they have screwed way too many underdeveloped nations over to have a respectable reputation).
Other than the academic side of the trip, we were able to dine on traditional Swiss cuisine...cheese fondue and white wine---which was nice but I'm sure no one went to the bathroom for a few days afterwards =) . We did wander around Thursday night and found the famous fountain and a few places to get drinks...but nothing of great interest. Then Friday, after our meeting we were given 2 hours to wander around before we had to be back. So we went to some souvenir shops and to the Chinese/Thai place. I only got chocolate as my souvenir...because once again it was so expensive! Plus, I figured you have to have chocolate while you're in Switzerland, right?
We came back home Friday afternoon, had Saturday to ourselves, then left again Sunday morning to go to the Alps. The place we were originally going to was called Grindelwald, which is supposed to be gorgeous, but that area had gotten about 2-3 feet of snow the night before, so we had to change our plans and go to Engelberg and Luzern. The Alps are so beautiful! I cannot begin to describe how pretty and surreal the landscapes were! I thought our mountains were nice, but they cannot even compare to the Alps! When we got up on Mt. Titliss, there was about 6-8 inches of snow that we had to hike in, but no one minded. We were all actually excited and played around like little kids for a while! We walked around a beautiful lake for a while and took our time just taking in the views. Then we rode the gondola back down and took our bus to Luzern. It was such a cute city, with beautiful old buildings and wooden-covered bridges. Plus, you could see the Alps from almost any point in the city as well as the lake.
After we left Luzern, we went back home to Freiburg and I had one long week with many papers, etc, due. But everything turned out fine, in the end. I've been doing really well on my papers/tests...so far all A's! I'm not so sure how I did on my German test this past Thursday, but we'll see.
Night life has been pretty great here in Freiburg....so far my favorite, as I've probably already mentioned, is Kamikazi. They play quiet a variety of music....from indie to techno to classic rock to awesome rock. Last night, I went out with a bunch of people to a club called El Pi and it was fantastic! Thursday nights are oldies nights, so they play nothing but music from the 50s through the 70s with an occasional 80s song thrown in there! Everyone had a blast!!! Especially hearing "Shout" and "The Twist" as well as "Satisfaction". I can't wait to go again! Tuesday nights are supposed to be punk/rock nights so that will definitely be something to check out as well.
I think this is enough for now, but I'll definitely post my pictures soon of Switzerland and our Eastern Europe tour. The cities and countries we are going to this week are: Budapest, Hungary; Bratislava, Slovakia; Prague, Czech Republic; and Krakow, Poland. So, as you can imagine, I am thrilled and can't wait for this week!! Plus, Mom and Dad are coming to visit once I get back so that will be a blast, too. I can't wait for my friends to meet them and to show Mom and Dad around Germany. It will be great! But have a good night and I'll post again soon!