Fall in Stockholm (14.10 - 19.10)

Hello my dear readers. As promised, I'm back to write about my trip to Stockholm.

So i started my vacation on October 14 with a nice little breakfast with my mom. After packing she drove me to the train. My plane left at 16.35 and I arrived in Stockholm at about 19.00, where Jane picked me up. As we were driving towards Bålsta, the headlights suddenly went off. And not just one. Both of them. So it was pitch black. One hell of a vacation start I thought =). Luckily (we thought), there was a gas station. However, we were in sweden so they couldn't really help us so we switched some fuses and closed the hood and suddenly the lights worked again so we were able to drive all the way home =).

As I wanted to goshopping, that's pretty much the first thing Tiina and I did on Friday (after sleeping in and having breakfast of course). But, when we arrived in the city it was time for a swedish "fika." And since I never had been to the "östermalmshallen", we had our coffee there. After that though, we went on a shoppin

g spree =).

Saturday didn't start much different. Only that besides me and Tiina, Jane and Douglas came with us to the city. I wanted to go to the "rådhuset" to enjoy the view over Stockholm city. We soon found out that I ment the "stadshuset" and that it was closed for the season. So we went to the "Gallerian" and a little, old fashioned and cozy cafe called "sture katten".

I don't think I have to tell you that on sunday, too we did sleep in. As we didn't have many plans we just drove to the "Lasse Åbergs museum" to get some of his glasses. I got 2 very nice ones from Tiina (thank you again) which now have found their place next to myother ones. We had an early (17.00) dinner, because Tiina and I were going to visit Alex in Uppsala. He was going to show ussomething called "nationen". I'd describe it as a "place-where-all-the-students-go". It was fun and since they had lots of beer I'm gonna let you imagine what happened ;-) (hint, really thirsty).

Monday morning started with some kind of breakfast. At least for me. I wasn't exactly hungry, but I managed to eat a little and thanks to "Berocca" I didn't have a headache. The shower helped too of course. I'm still wondering though, why we never got our coffee that morning (it was almost ready...strange things happen...;-)). On our way to Stockholm, we wanted to pick something up at LUSH. Shouldn't have been that hard, one thought. It's only that the store was closed, even though it should've been open for more than 2 hrs. Luckily Tiina had brought her work keys so she opened the store and 5 minutes later the co-worker came by to take over so we were able to go to Stockholm.

My moms cousin works at the Clarion hotel in Stockholm so we got a private tour. Wooooow, a really nice hotel. And the pool (34° C) on the roof really invited to go swimming.... I should've brought my bathing suit. Oh, and as we were in the city, I bought some more clothes. You never know.

Monday evening was our swiss night. We had cheese fondue with Baselbieter kirsch. The whole family was gathered and it was a lot of fun.

After having breakfast and talking for a while, Tiina sadly had to go to work. We drove to the bus and said our good byes. It was kinda strange to be guest in a house with no one else there. Luckily I had packing and other stuff to do. I picked up Mats and Douglas from the train and then Mats drove me to the airport. I safely arrived home at about 00.15 on Wednesday.

That was my trip to Stockholm and I guess it's been my last trip to a foreign country for this year. I don't know what my next blog will be about. I really hope I have some news about my studies in Amsterdam. And if I have no news, I will just tell you how I'm feeling in November. Read you then.

PS: If you wonder about the weather. Sunny but cold like all the time ;-)

Weekend in Inden/Lekerbad (11.&12.9.2010)

I thought to myself: Eddi, you need to blog a little more again. So thats what I'm doing. Luckily I got tons to write about :-).

After my USA trip last summer, I've been working at the FKD (Financial dept.) in Liestal.

It's been a great year with a perfect topping. I passed my vocational diploma (Berufsmatura) last week, which I've been working for, for one year. Right now I'm my boss' deputy for the next 4 weeks, which is a nice acknowledgment. Sadly, I can only stay until the end of October. After that I'll have to find another job which hasn't been easy so far. Well, I'm sure someone will hire me ;-)

What I really wanted to blog about, was my trip to Inden/Leukerbad with my friend Annina.

We Left Liestal on Saturday 11.9 at 7.49 and arrived in Inden at about 11.00. We took the bus to Leukerbad at 12.00 and set off for our hiking trip. Even though I'm in very good shape at the moment, I felt the thin air on 2000m. The hike took us about 5 hours with breaks of course ;-). It was such a beautiful and warm day that we were able to hike in shorts and t-shirt. We got back to our apartment at around 19.00. As we were so tired, we had almost trouble cooking dinner =). Don't get nervous, we managed to eat. However, that was about it for that day.

On Sunday, we wanted to go hiking a little longer. Sadly, Annina wasn't well so I set off alone to Leukerbad. It took me 1 hour and I enjoyed the time alone to think. After a short wait at the Bus station, Annina arrived and we set of for an easy hike. We actually wanted to take the gondola up to the Torrenthorn, however, they had a lunch break (insane) so we had to think of something new. Afterwards I have to say I'm really happy we didn't wait, as we took a foot bath in an ice cold lake and walked through a awesome canyon.We came back to Leukerbad at 15.00 and were able to go to the Wellness center for three hours. It was just the perfect ending of a beautiful weekend.

There was just one little incident, which I have to laugh about now. As we were on our way down by bus to the train station we suddenly drove a lot slower. The reasons were sheep on the main road (there is actually only one) so we missed our follow up train and got home 1 hour later than planned. But as I said, now I think its funny. It's just another world up there.

I hope you enjoyed the reading and I will try to write a little more. My next blog should be online at around the end of October when I'm back from my trip to Stockholm which I'm really looking forward to.

2nd week in SB, Las Vegas and Grand Canyon

9.8 - 14/15.8

I actually didn't do that much. I went to the beach to get some more color. I didn't go swimming=).

On Monday evening I went to Sharkeez. International night. I had lots of fun and I think I danced for 3 or 4 hours. It was a good workout. I also had my biggest Margerita ever. It was huge and really good and cheap=).

On Tuesday I did laundry for the first and last time in Cali. That's why you always should bring enough clothes and underwear :-).

I packed my stuff for Vegas on Wednsday morning and flew out at 16:05. The flight lasted for only one hour. After checking in and having a shower I went out to the strip to grab a bite. After that I just went to bed because I had to get up early for my Grand Canyon Tour the next day.

05:30, my alarm goes off. I take a shower and have breakfast. I get ready to go to the Grand Canyon. I'm was so excited. After asking 3 people if I was in the right spot I waited. I waited and waited and waited. But there was no one to pick me up. At 07:30 I knew I was at the wrong place and I would miss to see the Grand Canyon once again. After going to the bell desk and calling the travel agency I felt very sad. The only thing I wanted to do at that moment was to go home. I just didn't want to be in the US anymore. But after an hour I decided to make the best of it. So I just took an other tour. It was a 4 hour Red Rock Canyon tour. It was very interesting and beautiful. I had a good time and our tour guide was great. The best thing he said was that when we get back home we should discover our area or country because there is so much to see wherever you live. It really made me think and I'm really going to try to see more of Switzerland in the next years.

After having a good night sleep I had breakfast and headed to the airport. After getting to SB airport and back to "my" place, I went to the gym and had dinner.

I talked to Thibault today and he'll be back on Sunday. I thought we were going to go to San Diego on Monday but apparently we won't go there before Wednsday. So I don't think I'll be going to San Diego just for one night. I'm going to look for a place to sleep from Wednsday to Thursday and go to the airport from Santa Barbara. And since I'm going to be here I might go to Six Flags Magic Mountain on Tuesday.

Well, this is my last blog entry which I'm writing from the US. I'm going to write one more when I get back to home sweet home (yes, I'm looking forward to get back home).

Thanks for reading my blog and I'll see you all in Switzerland in less than one week.

1st week in California

1.8 - 8.8

My first week here in California/ Santa Barbara went by very quick, even though I didn't do that much.

Lets just start at the beginning. On August 2nd I went to breakfast with my old roommate and his friends. While they went to the beach I had to go to State Street. Of course I had Panda Express for dinner. It was sooo yummy=). In the evening I went to a bar.

On August 3rd I went to my old school to visit John Olcott. It was fun to see him again. And for those who know John, he hasn't changed a bit=). Monday is always International night at Sharkeez. I went there and I had lots of fun.

On August 4th I drove Thibault to the airport where he were to pick up his friends for a 10 day vacation.

On August 5th I had a personal training session with Hanni. She's from Switzerland. She showed me some good workouts. She gave me her adress, so now I have another place to stay in SB next time =). It's always good to have connections.

August 6th was my shopping day. After sleeping in and driving to Cmarillo, I literally did a shopping marathon. I was on shopping tour for about 8 hours (I had something to eat and drink, too).

Since the Fiesta had a big parade I went Downtown on August 7th. However, the parade was not that special. A lot of horses. So I went to the gym and booked my hotel and Grand Canyon tour for next week. After getting home and hanging with Andrew, we went out to some bars. I'm just gonna say that it was a pretty wild night with the worst pizza in that I've eaten (chicken pizza withe cheese and BBQ sauce = horrible).

I went to IHOP to have breakfast and after that I went to the beach to charge my batteries again. I wanted to go swimming but the water is so cold so I'm not gonna do that anymore=). I'm still pretty tired so I won't go out tonight. I might go for a run later and than I'll just read and I'll be going to bed early.

What are my plans for the next 11 days before I go home?

Well, on AUgust 9th a friend is coming who I know from EF 3 years ago. So that is going to be fun. I will finish my shopping and I'm going to start packing the things which I don't need anymore. And on Wednsday I'm flying out to Vegas for my Grand Canyon tour. As Thibault will come back on Saturday the 15th we'll be packing and moving to SAn Diego. And on August 20 I'm heading back home.

welcome to the hotel California

1.8 - 5.8

After a 5,5 hour flight and no food for about 6 hours (I didn't want to spend a lot of money on crappy food), I arrived at LAX. I got my luggage and took the shuttle to the car rental. Since I was not the only person to pick up a car I had to wait in line for about 90 minutes and I still hadn't eaten.. The guy at Alamo gave me a lot of discount so I got a SUV instead of a little car.

The first thing I headed to, was some place to eat. Finally, after more than 9 hours. I might have eaten that burger in about 30 seconds =).

The drive up to Santa Barbara took me about 1.5 hours. Thibault, my ex roommate from the language school picked me up and I followed him to the apartment. We had a couple beers and after that we went to a club. It was very nice to be out partying, however, they closed at 01:30.

The next day we went to some nice place to have breakfast with some of Thibaults friends. I didn't like it that much, so I won't be going there any more. I dropped them of because they wanted to go to the beach, I myself went to Downtown Santa Barbara and walked around State Street. It was so nice. In the evening I bought some groceries so that I didn't have to eat out every day.

On Monday I went to the gym and after that I visited my old teacher at the EF school. It was very cool to meat John again and we might grab a coffee some day before I leave. It was also International Night at Sharkeez. The party was awesome and I had a lot of fun.

Since Thibaults friends frome France were to come on Tuesday and he'd be gone for 10 days, I drove him to LAX and dropped him off there. Now I have his room for myself.

Besides eating at Jack in the Box and Panda Express (mhmmm) I haven't done so much yet, I'm just enjoying the Californian life.

Today Fieasta started, It's an annual street party here in Santa Barbara with lot's and lot's of people. So I'm going to be at the fiesta until Saturday. On Thursday, I'm going to go to the outlet stores in Camarillo to be done with all the sopping.

You'll hear more from mee soon.

Myrtle Beach

24.7 - 31.7
Well, now I've been in Myrtle Beach for almost a week and tomorrow we're leaving again.
On Saturday (24.7) we left at 03:00 to Myrtle Beach to avoid traffic. We got here at about 11:00. After eating lunch at Fridays and shopping at Walmart, we headed to our place at the Beach. It's a beautiful place with a breathtaking view over the ocean.
Besides tanning and eating we didn't do that much =). On Tuesday, we celebrated Charlenes Birthday but we went out eating the day before.
On Wednsday it was my 21st birthday. Just another birthday for me, however, a huge thing here in the US (that's the age you're allowed to drink here for those who don't know). In the evening we went to the Hard Rock Cafe to celebrate.
On Thursday, we went jetskiing. That's wat I got for my birthday from my "hostmom." I have to say, it was one of the highlights here in MB.
As I told in the beginning, it is time to pack our bags tomorrow, but I'm going to get up early to enjoy the beach before the carride back to Virginia.
On Saturday (1.8) I'm flying out to California, which will be my last stage for this summer.
You'll here from mee when I'm in Cali.

Out of NYC

20.7 - 23.7
My last thing on my to do list was to go shopping. That's what I did on Monday. I didn't shop that much though because there where just too many things to buy. In the afternoon I met Chrisina, Cassie and Alex. We took a little tour around NY and ended up in a Mexican Bar. I was even able to buy a beer =) (for those who don't know. 21 is the drinking age in the US).
On Tuesday I packed my suitcase and went Uptown for the last time. I had frozen yogurt. Mmmmh... that was delicious. At 14:07 I took the train up to Connecticut from Grand Central. Now that's a train station =), it really deserves the name GRAND. After ALex picked me up we went to his house and watched TV the whole day. It was no point in going outside as it was pouring.
On Wednsday we flew down to D.C..
Now I'm at Kris' house and on Saturday we're going to the Beach. I hope the weather is going to be nice down there. I do hope to be able to write from out there. Otherwise I'll be back the 31st for a new update.