Fußball

So I finally made it to a European soccer game.

Thousands of drunk old hairy guys with their shirts off, singing incoherently, and screaming their guts out.

Who wouldn't have a blast? It was totally awwweeesome!

The two major teams in Switzerland are Basel and Zurich. Basically their rivalry is comparable to the Utes and Coug's.

Everyone must pick a side, their are no fence squatters.

So I went to Basel's game, and decided they are pretty legit.

I went with Lisi (18) and Simon (20), they are brother and sister. I like hanging around them because they can both speak English really well. Their mom is actually from Utah, but married a Swiss guy. What are the odds?

Their older brother, Nathan and his wife Michaela are really cool too. They are the ones that came with us to Sardina, so I've got to know them pretty well. Afterwards they showed me around to all their favorite "hangouts" in Basel. Probably one of the funnest weekends since I've been here.

And this Friday I'm going with all of them to..... HARRY POTTER!!!!!

I can't even control my enthusiasm about this long anticipated event. Seriously.

Anywho, here are the pics!

This was a poster advertising for the game we were heading to. If my German is correct, and it probably isn't, it translates to something like, "fight against your autumn depression, cheer on your team." So we posed in front of it.

Nathan, Me, and Michaela

Luzern

I finally hopped a train to probably the most famous city in Switzerland.

And it is probably the prettiest city I have ever seen in my life.

The Wasserturm (water tower) is the most photographed thing in Switzerland. Weird, right?

It was built some time around the 1300's and was used as a treasury, prison, and torture chamber.

Who'da thought to lock up all the treasure with the thieves? Strange.

A use-to-be-castle turned into an overly priced hotel. Still awesome.

city wall...

Luzern Lion... some statue representing some dudes who died forever ago... or something.

Sardegna

Well peeps, I returned yesterday from my two week vaca to Sardegna/Sardinia Italy.

Two weeks of laying on the beach... was so great.

Italy is also awesome, of course.

I found that Italy is famous for four things:

1. Ice cream/gelato. AMAZING. They basically deserve every award on the planet for creating something so delectably divine. I would write a whole post about it if I had a longer attention span. Basically, you haven't lived until you try an authentic gelato. Just saying.

2. Pizza. This was a major letdown for me to be honest. We honestly had pizza EVERY night for dinner, so I tried a good number of different ones. Yet they were all the same thin-spongey crust with weird toppings. Little Ceasers is better then that.

3. Crazy drivers. This could not be more true. They are absolutely out of control. I feared for my life whenever I got in the auto. It's one of those things you gotta see to believe. Or just watch "When In Rome" with Kristen Bell and you'll understand.

4. Homeless/Stray animals. So sad, but true. And it was so hard for me to just walk by and leave them. If I weren't living with another family I would have totally smuggled a puppy home, and my mom knows how true that is.

Anyways, my vacation.

Coming into port...

La Cinta Beach, five minute walk from the villa.

Other villas on the street..

Cala Brandinchi

One night we drove an hour up to one of the bigger cities called Sassari. I use to think that Italy was a really rich country... but I guess not. Maybe it was just the island, maybe just the city. I'm not sure... but this city, for lack of a better term, was ghetto to the max. Buildings everywhere were falling apart, neglected, and forgotten. The people there too looked like they hadn't had a good meal in a while and were living day to day. It was easy to tell who were the tourists and who were the locals. It was just all around sad, and made me realize how blessed I am.

The second week, us and the other group of people we were there with took a boat trip down the coast line for the whole day, which was so gorgeous! We stopped at one of the beaches and climbed up about 15-20 feet on some rocks to jump off into the water, but I'm not a fan of ocean... creatures/things. So I was hesitant to say the least. But I was PROMISED there was nothing in the water that could hurt me. Lies, lies, lies. I dove off and was fine until I started swimming back to the boat and felt this really sharp sting/burn/pain go down my arm. I looked and saw a bunch of nasty jellyfish swimming all around me. So naturally, I starting freaking. And panicking. And inhaling sea water. And freaking out some more. Perfectly normal thing to do when you are surrounded by jellyfish, right? I eventually made it back to the boat, though I'm not sure how, but I did. It goes without saying that I didn't get back in the water after that. And am not sure if I will ever jump blindly into the ocean again. So that was quite the adventure...

All in all, it was awesome. I wasn't too excited to come back to the cold and rain but what can you do? The leaves are starting to change here, and it's really pretty. Anyways, ciao!

Pictures

I wandered some more around Basel for 5 hours today just taking pictures.

I couldn't help myself.