CHF 25? Really.

Today we drove. A lot.

This morning we drove by metaphor, the agency I will be working at. I will be meeting with my boss/mentor tomorrow morning so I will get to see the inside, but here's what it looks like. It's Sunday and since no one works Sundays here, they don't have the flags up.

When we were there, a guy in a Smart Car drove up. Since my dad is in love with those cars, he jokingly asked the guy if he could drive it. The guy excitedly said yes, so they went out on a short drive. My dad hated the transmission - it is an automatic but rides like a stick. So I guess they're not all they're cracked up to be. I wondered why the guy was so willing to let my dad drive it. It used to be his company car and he doesn't work for them anymore so they let him keep it. Guess it doesn't matter since he didn't pay for it!

After that, we drove to my flat (apartment). I didn't get to see the inside of that either, but I wanted to see what the building looked like. I will be moving my things there tomorrow and will take some pictures for ya'll to see since the ones I have of it are lame.

Then we drove to Thun (pronounced tune). Mostly everything was closed there but we ate lunch at McDonald's. For two meals, it costs CHF 25, which equals to $26 in America. Those same two meals in America cost $11 total. And they didn't even take Visa. CHF only. Luckily we found an ATM.

After that we wandered to a Kiosk store, which is really nothing more than a bunch of magazines and a few touristy items. I bought a bottled water (no gas of course), 3 postcards, stamps (CHF 1.80 for one stamp) and two Switzerland bracelets (that look like those Livestrong bracelets). My dad bought a huge Swiss flag. We're such tourists.

On the way back to the car, we found a walkway that led up to Thun Schlossmuseum, the Castle Museum Thun. From there, I got some awesome photos of the city and the Alps. See the photo album under the link "Pictures" on the side.

Then we drove to Steffisburg, a town full of cows and narrow, winding mountain roads. You'd think cows would graze flatter, bigger lands, but here they put them on the most vertical, New-York-apartment-sized pieces of land possible. Silly Swiss.

After that we drove to Interlaken (pronounced Inter-lock-in). Now this was fun. On the way there we drove along a lake (I have yet to figure out what lake it is) and the water was so blue - a pretty blue. It's a huge tourist town, so a lot of things were open. Just about every shop sold cuckoo clocks and Swiss Army knives. There were watch shops everywhere, and since the Swiss are obsessed with time, I do mean everywhere. Everywhere as in almost every other store.

I met an intern from Hong Kong Interlaken named Holly (her English name). She was really nice and told me she was studying Hotel Management and working on her second internship.

After that we walked around some more and saw parasailers, a marching band, Hooters (in Switzerland?!), gorgeous hotels and a sex shop. Almost everyone we talked to spoke English fairly well and were happy to do so - not like yesterday where everyone basically stared at us as if to say "You don't speak Swiss German? You are SO below me" then reluctantly spoke very broken English because they didn't want to be doing it.

What I learned today:
- The sun rises between 3:30 and 4:30 A.M.
- Interlaken is the most beautiful town visited thus far.
- It rains a lot here.
- GPS is the best thing since sliced bread.
- Eating at a restaurant is a better deal than eating at McDonald's.
- Just like when you live with Mom and Dad, you can leave your towels on the floor and they will wash them for you. Otherwise, hang them up.

Also, I downloaded Skype today (a phone program for my computer). You can call and text me now! (804) 212-2906

Love,
Jessica