à la Suisse

Oh my goodness this weekend was so so beautiful. Between clear blue waters, tropical tree-covered mountain peaks, and walks through endless Italian-inspired Swiss sidewalks, this weekend was a time to laugh, loads, to meet new awesome friends, to hold your jaw from dropping to the floor when you gaze at the scenery around you. The memories made this weekend were bright, colorful, and warm by the Ticino sun.

For me this trip was kinda a last minute decision. I hadn’t really been able to prepare to buy my tickets on the day they went on sale since my head was buried under assignment details for class. But I decided to sign up for the waitlist and got a spot for the trip (yay!).

We explored the cities of Bellinzona, and Locarno, and we stayed in Lugano. Here we stayed in a “hostel”, which by Swiss standards is like a luxe room, but with just more people in it. We hiked through the forests of Monte San Salvatore and sat on the shores of the bright blue waters surrounded by a tropical Italian-Switzerland.

So I think this would be where my story begins…. near the water…. with my phone in my pocket…

Haha do you see where this is going?

Okay well, so, we finished our hike. And we were waiting for the bus to take us back to Lugano. And hey, this beautiful blue water was calling to us, and hey well, dipping your feet in on the dock and under the sun sounded pretty inviting to me. But hey, little did I think about how odd of a position my phone was in while in my shirt pocket around my waist. And there was this one hole on the dock. Not sure what for, but just one, it was right there just by where I was sitting. And I was sitting on the dock and then thought maybe it was a good idea to sit back down in the shade (flashback two days, my face+sun+not enough sunscreen=lobster sunburn thing going on). And so anyways I got up to go sit in the shade and .. *whoooooooooosssshhhh* .. that’s the sound of my phone gliding right into this hole with high precision and accuracy, almost like it was made to perform this sort of thing. And well, me, I was kinda confused and startled. It kinda plopped and sank afterwards, real fast, it’s not exactly feather material. Anyways, this dock was a some 3-4 meters from shore and enough for the bottom to be out of sight, and the phone, well, that was that.

And then I guess slowly it kinda hits you that you shouldn’t have brought it on the dock on the first place and that you should have backed up all your exchange photos on iCloud or any other form of accessible technology. And that you really can’t afford a new phone right now you know, it kinda just sucks.

So this was all really sucky. But you know, then Isabel, and two of the girls that we became friends with during the trip, they were there, and they were really supportive and there with me through this. And when I was there trying to calm myself in the shade which I finally got to, they were still right with me. And they helped to talk me through all the post-phoneless logistics. Which aren’t super fun when you rely on your phone for probably too many things like me, and are also smart enough to not back it up often.

And yeah, stuff like this can spoil your trip, it’s hard not to let it affect you.

But can you believe I’m in Switzerland right now. And my friends are giggling over sillies while hiking down, where you look down and see greenery, look to the side and see lush forests and endless lake waters. It’s. So. Cool. Yup.

Well now I think somehow I’ll be able to get my hands on my old phone for the rest of my semester. And maybe some epic photos are down under lake waters, but but my memories will still be here. :’)

And mmmmm did I mention about the gelato we had on this trip? Mmmmm pistachio…

à bientôt:-)
Yuliya