From Zurich to Rheinfelden

   

 I know I am supposed to be blogging like crazy, but I am still SO jetlagged. Maybe tomorrow I will be in a better place to use my brain; here is at least a little update. 

     We arrived in Zurich at 8 yesterday morning (Happy Mother's Day Mama) to a beautiful and oh-so-sunny 80 degree day. We took the train to Rheinfelden past acres of 10x10 fenced in farm plots with little planting shacks next to them where city folk apparently go to grow their veggies. So cool, sooo different,

            We got to Schloss-Beuggen, a 13^th century German castle that has been refurbished as a conference center and hotel, at lunch time.  It sits directly on the Rhine, which I can see from my bedroom window. When we arrived, we were met by one of the French faculty members with a bottle of champagne and the most legit picnic I have ever seen in my life. Blanket, basket, all kinds of cheeses, meat pâtés (which of course, I politely declined), cabbage a million ways, carrot salad, fresh French radishes, and a sauagey-roll covered in bread… which I actually tried! The only expectation I am putting on myself for this trip is that I try one new thing each day that I would normally say no to.  We had some meal tonight for dinner that was a sort of gnocchi-perogie mix covered in sauerkraut (Mama, you would have loooved this) and real German potato salad.  So good.

The Rhine River

            After dinner we hung out with the Swiss kids for hours and shared a few bottles of wine, reassuring them that most Americans do not in fact walk around in straight-up American flag outfits singing about how God and American are to two most wonderful concepts in the universe. I also tried to add that it is possible to love America very much without possessing the qualities that inevitably result in flag outfits and the like.  Everyone is so nice, although it is hard not to feel stupid when all of the other students speak at least two languages, and mostly three, and we only speak English. We had about 7 hours of lectures today, only 2 in English, and I am so ready to be done with the school part and on to the fun part.

Views from my window.

            So, I am off to bed on my second night in Germany, it is 5:30 where you are, and I  miss you all so much. I wish you were here, and am so happy that I am. I am off to Mulhouse France tomorrow and hope to write something a little more substantial then.