End of school and chamomix

 

Today we woke up pretty early and headed off for bouveret. Because it's a Sunday I had a really hard time finding a train because apparently people don't travelon Sundays? I'm not exactly sure. So when i was looking for reservations it took me a while to find one but I finally did! Or so I thought. I printed the schedule off and everything and when we got off at our stop to get on the next train I realized that I printed off the schedule for Monday. Ahhhh so  we got online... This phone is a life saver! That or Italian... Still don't speak it. So we found our route and 12 hours later made it to school. Ugh long day! Nothing too interesting happened on the train. Reading, sleep, music, waiting and writing. That's about it! When we got into our station everyone was out at one of the three restaurants eating! So I ran up to the school to drop off my bag and grab the right currency. Stupid Swiss francs! I went back downstairs an ordered a 23 franc tortellini, this place is SOO expensive!!! And we sat there and heard about the stories and adventures of everyones travels. Pretty funny! One girl got so drunk she kept face planting and walking into poles on the walk home. She now has a black eye. I guess she made a pretty big scene in the morning still drunk on the train throwing her clothes all over looking or her eurail. Haha. They also woke her up by throwing bottles of water on her. Hahha. Another boy went out with his friend when steve went back with his girlfriend he stayed out partying. He woke up in the hospital with a gash in his eye with no recolection of what happened that night or where he was. Hahha. Oops! 
The mountains on this train are goregous and my camera is almost dead! Grrr. 
So after we finished eating we were about to get up when our teacher who taugh the cooking class and works at the school walked by! So we called him over to sit with us. The first thing Hillary said to him was I heard you went swimming! And he was like ooh ooh you heard about that!?!? Hah I guess he partied with the students from Vegas and did a power hour- a sip of beer every minute for an hour- with them and ended up dancing on the table and then going skinny dipping in the lake. Hahahha. Let me give you a visual of him... Grey hair Swiss man prob 55 who is a chef and worked all over the world. Was a playboy, still is, or tries. He is hilarious and harmless so stop worrying. We (ar me hillary and liz) ended up having 3 bottles of wine and talking to him for about 3 hours. He gave us life lessons about everything. It was really interesting to talk to him and also very funny. It was a really good night! Then we all went to bed. 

The next day we woke up and had class all day. Nothing special really happened. Stressed about travel plans and decided where to go. Worked on our project for the next day and did some laundry. We ended up grilling and I ate free! Yay. Talked to my mom a lot. It's so nice to have Internet so I can call her! And went to bed relatively early. 

Yesterday woke up early and put the finishing touches on our project and then went to class and presented it. We listened to presentations the first half and then just talked about food for the last half. I was looking online a lot of it figuring out where to eat for my birthday and looking at interesting restaurants and researching my trip. So I kinda only half attended class. After class a few of us went down and jumped into the lake for one last time! Then we got ready for dinner. On my walk back up from the lake Arleigh talked to me and said she had decided to travel alone. I kinda wanted to too but its just going to suck to be alone for a week. Im pretty stressed and worried about it.Things have gotten really wierd between the three of us. They are best friends now and I'm not in that. Oh well. I'm sure I will have a great time by myself! Or that's what I'm saying anyway. 
We went down to dinner which was a buffet style and sat for about 2 and a half hours eating and talking. It was kinda our last time with everyone. Bittersweet. During the dinner I was really worried about my travels so my mind was kinda off somewhere. I got to talk to my teacher about food and what to do with my life. Hah like I have any idea. I guess I'm learning though. This trip has definately helped me. After dinner I called my mom and dad and figures out my plans more. Also packed my bags and got ready to leave. I can't believe it's over. It went by so fast. Always does. I'm really glad to be done with school but it is really hard to see everybody get to go home. I wish I was too. But I just need to make it through today and tomorrow and I will be back on my feet. I have had the experience of a lifetime and the next 2 weeks will be no different. 

I headed down stairs and joined in on the last night of partying together. We all sat in a big circle and played cards and if I'm being honest drinking games with cards haha. We had a lot of fun just sitting around talking and enjoying eachothers company. That was the last time that I saw a lot of the people. Sad :( 
Side note: they have the wierdest bugs here. They are not American bugs. I don't like them any more. I might even like them less. I don't know what they
Are or what they do. I have a spider living above my bed and he drops all his dead things on my headboard eww. I let him live though. Big of me. 

I went to bed about one and then woke up at seven. It hit me pretty hard this morning that I was leaving to travel alone. Might have been tears involved. I'm making though. And I don't need any inspirational comments on this blog... They will prob just make me cry so don't even think about it. I had a momentary freak out about my hotel. Thought it was in the wrong town and emailed to cancel. Went to breakfast and then came back down slighty calmer. Not in the wrong town. Haha so emailed them back to add another night and remove a person. I called them. They still don't speak English ugh. This language barrier is getting old. I had to make a couple other calls. So difficult! I'll copy and paste the email so you can see what I'm dealing with. And keep in mind this is good English!
"we thank you for your booking and we work about it for you prepare a pleasant stay in our establishment" 
Whaaaat? That is probably exactly how stupid we sound when we use a translator online. The higher up this mountain I go the less I want to cry so I'm going to stop writing and start looking out the window. Mom I almost called you at 1:30 in the morning freaking out. But I didn't. And don't you dare say I could have. I love you all.

The Asian next to me just got up and moved seats because there was a fly on the window. Hahahha. I wish you could see the view I just got when I cam out of this tunnel! Snow capped jagged peaks of the French alps! Wow! Bill told me about an extreme skiing place called chamomix. I am going there today and I haven't even gotten off the train and I am in love! It is goregous here!!! Amazing. Can't wait to go hike all around and go canyoning! I may not even goto Lyon!

So when I got off the train I went to the map to find the information office. Walked all over and finally went into a hotel and it was right around the corner haha. I went and got a map and went to find a converter. Closed. Then I went to my hostel to check in. Closed. So I put my pack in the back under a table and hoped that no one would steal it. I pit on my gear and then headed off for lunch and to hike. I was planning on hiking with my purse because I only have my giant pack or my purse. I didn't make it past too many backpack shops until I stopped in and got a small one. Best purchase ever! My heavy purse turned into the lightest pack ever! I then went and got lunch and chose which hike I was going to do... Decided on a traverse accross the mountain starting at one lift and ending up at another. I was looking aroun and saw the lift so I started walking toward it. Bought a two day pass and got on the gondola. When I got up to the top things didn't look right. I wasn't sure what they were supposed to look like but I had a feeling not like it did. I couldn't find where I was anywhere on the map so after a few quick pictures I went and asked the lift operator. Yep the mountains that I had just taken pictures in front of. That is where I was supposed to be. Haha so I rode the lift down and walked through town And got on the lift on the other side of the mountains. A giant cable car took us half way up. I was worried that I wouldn't have enough time to hike to the other lift so I was just going to hike around and ride the cable car back down. I asked another person what time the last train down was and when she told me I had enough time to make it I continued on my way. It took me about 2.5 hours to do the whole thing but it wasn't too tough and the scenery is breathtaking! I can't even describe how goregous it is here!!! Posted some on facebook. When I got to the train I bought a well deserved ice cream and got on the train. I was so tired that I was falling asleep on it! Oops. When I got down I made my way back to my hotel and took a shower. Felt sooo good!! When I worked up the energy I went out to find some dinner. I menu shopped for probably 20 minutes before deciding on a place. Oh my god it was amazing. So far I have cleaned my plate everywhere we go, but this place not so. And the guy spoke to me in English! ahhh english. So nice. It was top 5 best meals of the trip! Chicken pasta with penne noodles in an Alfredo like sauce and fresh Parmesan with mushrooms and sun dried tomatoes. Wow. After dinner I went to go watch the semi finals of the world cup. The pub the guy suggested was really busy so I went back to my hostel and got a beer and watched it there. When the game was over I passed out! Long day but such an amazing place!