A Few Coincidental and Planned-at-the-Last-Minute Meetings

A couple of weekends ago I was so busy that I had absolutely no time to blog. But I had a lot of fun adventures that I'd like to share with you.On Friday night, I went to Fribourg with the intention of taking the train to Luzern, but I arrived an hour before the train I was planning to take because there aren't many buses from where I live. While I was looking at the train schedule, a friend of mine that plays the flute in my orchestra here came up and said she had some Americans with her that I should meet. So I met the Americans - they were all from Alabama, and they studied law and were doing an exchange in Switzerland. My orchestra friend, Delia, also studies law and is going to Alabama this summer with the same program - that's how she knew these students. At the time, there was the Fête de Pérolles in Fribourg.So I hung out with Delia and the Alabamans for an hour before going back to the station. It was funny to see them react to the high food prices because that was also my reaction at first, though I would say I have gotten used to everything being so expensive. The Fête de Pérolles happened to be where I met my next host family. Their parents were hosting one of the Alabamans, and they agreed to take him into Fribourg because the parents didn't want to go out. I started talking to them in French and mentioned that I would need a host family for about a week in July before going home and they immediately said that I could stay with them. Since I met them I've gone to visit them a couple of times and we get along really well. So that was a really nice set of coincidences for me.

La Fête de Pérolles

Speaking of coincidences, as I went back to the train station to catch my train, I ran into these lovely people (plus Elisa, not pictured) who were going to a jazz concert in Fribourg. I ended up hanging out with them instead of going to Luzern. We walked back through the Fête de Pérolles then took a hiking path along the Sarine River, past the dam, and into the old town where the concert was. Unfortunately the concert was really full and there was no room left so we went and sat by the river instead. 

Molly, Quinn and  Joelle being spies behind the umbrella.

I did still end up going to Luzern on Saturday afternoon. I visited the city with my friends Paula and Sini, who are exchange students from Germany and Finland. We spoke German the whole time, which was nice. Paula speaks quickly sometimes and I didn't always understand her but I think she has the same problem understanding my English when I talk too fast. 

Paula, Sini and I

It was Paula's first time to Luzern so she wanted to go see the sites. We walked along the wall and Sini wanted to climb up all of the towers, so we were pretty tired by the end and naturally had to go eat ice cream.

Luzern seen from one of the towers.

Sini and Paula going down the tower stairs.

The taste of summer.

Spring colors were everywhere.

It was nice weather until the very end when it began to rain. Then we took our trains home. I had to wait around in Fribourg because Katie was going to come spend the night so I was going to meet her at the station. I walked around the city and decided to take a short bike ride around the area by the stadium. 

After that, I walked back past the cathedral towards the train station. It was the Nuit des Musées (Museum Night) so there were lots of people out going to the museums and wearing funny yellow hats. As I made my way toward the station I ran into my Alabaman friends again, who were eating a fondue dinner at an outisde table. It turned out that Katie's train was going to be late, so I stayed and talked with the Alabamans and Delia plus another Swiss law student that showed up. I used to be so excited to eat fondue but now I have eaten so much of it that I can definitely wait until next winter. Then Katie eventually arrived and we hung out with the Swiss and Alabaman law students for a bit before peeling off and taking the bus back to my host family's house.

The next day, Sunday, was a Fribourg adventure with Katie. We went into town in the afternoon after sleeping in and got ice cream at that awesome ice cream place. Then we saw Date Night in the movie theater. It's the first movie I had seen since the Michael Jackson movie that I saw with Jessica and the Rotary counsellor. Interestingly, the foreign title of the movie was "Crazy Night," because I guess that makes more sense to non-English speakers. The movie was dubbed into French. It was weird to see Tina Fey's mouth moving and to hear a different voice coming out. I think dubbing is a terrible idea. Everything (books, movies, etc) is better off in its original language, whether that be English, German, French, Russian, or Chinese. You get the point. 

After the movie we headed over to Marly, a neighboring village, to see Katelyn's dance recital. I tried to take pictures but flash wasn't allowed, so this is all I've got:

After the show, we went to Katelyn's house and met her host family and ate dinner with them. Then we watched The Hangover (in English) and I really enjoyed it. Sadly, I had to miss the very end because I needed to catch my last bus home.