I have to first apologize that this has taken so long. As long drawn out as the time between arrival and this posting is, it is nowhere near as delayed as it should be for the amount I would be able to compile on this forum. Indeed, if I tried to put it all down it would become so entangled that it may be better just to give a broad idea of what has happened to act as a foundation from which I can better describe future posts. As I type now, I sit in the Falcon’s nest, a student facilitated common room in the Airone dorm of campus where I act as the monitor on Monday and Thursday nights from 6 to 9 pm, or more appropriately, 18:00 to 21:00.
At the San Francisco airport the Franklin pre-boarders all met at the Swiss Air terminal. I spent the day in transit and swamped by the humidity of New York City, a place I can now mark off of my list and never return to. After being overwhelmed by all of the new faces and names, we boarded and I quickly fell into a heavily Ambien induced doze. The last things I remember before waking up were the Swiss flag stamped on the wing tips of our airplane, and the sound of Sigur Ros waving me asleep.
I awoke to sunrise over western Switzerland, the captain’s announcement to blame for both my return to conscience and immediate excitement, “We will be landing in Zurich in twenty five minutes.” Between this announcement and landing on the bus, little happened. We shuffled through the airport, I was assigned my dorm, Panera, and I realized I had a lot of luggage.
The bus ride was absolutely spectacular, the photos are all I need say about it.
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Then, something that I could have never imagined, we arrived in Lugano.
We immediately went to our dorms where we had several hours for the preliminary unpacking, something I cannot currently imagine undoing.
This is the view of the back entrance to Panera 7, our home, complete with a private lawn and a few of the rest of this residence.
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The first week was filled with some very tiring activities, mostly formal and in an auditorium setting.
The highlight of the week was a hike up Mt. San Salvatore and a trip to Valley Versazca, a small town situated two hours away in the Swiss mountain-countryside complete with waterfalls and glacial melt.
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My roommate Greg and I
At Valley Versazca we ate lunch by a glacial stream then walked up to a breathtaking waterfall where we swam in freezing water, posed for awesome pictures and prepared for the Franklin initiation, jumping from the bridge into glacial pools.
Needless to say orientation went by in a blur. After such an exhausting week there is little to say other than *phew*, but with classes the next Monday there was little to do other than choose classes. After an afternoon on the Panera lawn deciding if I wanted to enjoy my first semester or get requirements out of the way, I gave in to reason and took the latter path. This semester I am taking five courses and a travel class to Lausanne, Geneva and the Alps.
My English requirement is being fulfilled by my English 100 class with a Mrs. Professor Gardiner. So far in her class I have written an essay arguing that America’s moral fabric is falling apart due to the obvious evils of consumer capitalism, and one defending the use of torture not only to save lives but to punish, procure and control. Quite the interesting contrast.
My mathematics professor is a Mr. Erich Prisner, who teaches us Introduction to Game Theory in the most entertaining broken English I have ever had to understand for a class. We are currently working on multiple person sequential games, and I have to say it is very confusing so far.
After arriving to my Italian 100 class on day one, the teacher (a Signora Gebhardt) decidedly moved me up to Italian 101 where I discovered I was much better suited, and much happier with the teacher I would get to learn the language from. Signor Moscatelli has been teaching Italian for over twenty years and brings more enthusiasm to the room than I thought possible, but try to tell that to some of the hung over upper class men lingering in the back. We have so far taken one test and I received one of only four A’s in the entire class. Yay.
Each freshman must take one semester of a First Year Seminar course. Mine is on Global Social Movements and the Media. It is taught by my favorite teacher, Professor (Mrs.) Vogelaar and although the course reading is dense I have learned many interesting things that I will try to take with me on my future travels. There will be more said on this topic later.
Last but not least of my general courses is Global History: From the beginnings with Professor (Mr.) Pyka, pronounced “pyooka.” Probably the most brilliant of my teachers, his discourse on speculative early world history is nothing short of spellbinding. I have had the opportunity to equally entertain him with some of my own ideas, and just today I was caught after class in his office by campus PR photographers. Lets just say I will be appearing on the website and or in brochures for the college somewhere in the near future.
The last thing I can say about my classes thus far is this: I know I am doing too much work for them. That isn’t to say that I couldn’t do more (I could, I would die) and it isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but I have been on the ball like a seal balancing act. It has given me few truly social moments outside of late night or early morning excursions. I have been getting better at this, but learning to manage school and social needs will be one of the challenges as I try to work out being a top student at this college.
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As you imagine Lago Lugano, Sorengo (our campus home) is situation just up the hill, a fifteen minute walk from the lakeside. Once there, it is a forty minute walk along the coastal portion of the city of Lugano to a more secluded protrusion of land where there is a large rope swing. A few weeks ago (I think, time is blurry, I really have yet to settle in, clearly) a group of six (Pauli, Ryan, Kali, Adrienne, Acacia and myself) all went to swim in the warm lake for one of the best afternoons I can remember.
en route
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we live in paradise
Other photos on Flickr include day trips into town and a night hike up San Salvatore, pictured immediately to the left in my left arm in the above photo as I fly through the air.
I have almost forgot, the roommates and friends! Greg Wen and Ryan McCarthy are my two roommates in Panera 7. Greg is from the south Bay Area, China and Norway, and Ryan is from New Jersey. It is an amusing grouping but it has ended up working out really well (I think…). Then, there are the girls down the hill. Acacia, Quinn and Kayla (respectively from Alaska, Colorado and the Bay Area) are always up at our room doing homework and hanging out with us. It has in some ways evolved into a 6 person apartment for three. Above us are the other girls, Cora, Tamiah and Alexi. They have since become known for their dance parties and their incessant stealing of my Bose speakers… I must find a way to recover them for good sooner or later. Included in this fun is Pauli, our other adopted roommate, and our neighbors next door that include Emma, Aleja and Clara. So far it has been all too overwhelming having so many people around, but it means quiet times like right now become even more appreciated.
For now, this is all he wrote. I will update now more frequently with the awesome events coming up in my life.
