Wear a Bro

8/17/2007

I woke up at 7:15 to go have breakfast downstairs with Oliver and his class-mate Christina. They are working together in the library for 8 hours every day, they are also Salsa dance partners and I could sense that they liked eachother.. We had a beautiful breakfast together, I really liked Christa – and then we all went our separate ways. Jan (the guy working at the hotel on the first night) offered a place for me to stay at his house and this morning I got on the tram and made my way there. He was so nice to me and although he was still half-asleep, he told me where to go in town and he even gave me the sim-card from one of his phones for me to use while I’m here. He gave me the key to his house and I feel so trusting of him. Its easy to tell when people have good hearts. Jan is an architecture student who works two jobs, One at the hotel, and the other at a popular dance club here in Zurich. I think I might come to the club tonight.

Feeling free and excited about Zurich, I began walking around. I found the chocolate shop that the woman told me about and I bought her a big bar of dark chocolate (72% cacao). Zurich lake is speckled with swans today and the water looks glassine. There are people walking all around, Swiss people don’t have a certain look about them because if you look on a map, Switzerland is a tiny round country surrounded by Italy, Germany, and France – so the people look like they are from everywhere. I have only been greeted in German. It seems popular to grab something cheap to eat and sit by the lake, watching the boats, red flowers, and people go by – which is exactly what I did. Wanted to share two travel tips about undergarments that I have found:

1. In Pickpocket rich countries, put your money and credit cards in your bra. – You'll definitely notice if someone decides to pick there... and if you're thinking "hey that's not fair...I'm a man, I don't wear a bra!" you can always wear a bro ;)

2. You really only need two pairs of underpants when you travel. at the end of the day, wash your underpants in the shower and wear the other pair the next day.

I was so excited when I went to the supermarket because I found a Mexican food section! I bought tortillas and salsa and at Jan’s house I made us breakfast burritos with rice, eggs, sour cream, salsa and avocado. It turns out that Jan’s parents are from the Czech Republic and Mexico – so I was right on the money by cooking what I did. I love learning about people’s lives and how we all have such different passions and circumstances.