Touristy

Today was the last day of my internship. I feel like everything is happening so fast - when I first started the internship, I felt like it was going to be for-ev-er (said in the voice from Sandlot) and now I feel like I barely spent any time there.

But now the fun part. I get to be a true tourist! I'm gonna slap on my Puma backpack with the Swiss logo and really play the part this time. I bought a Swiss Youth Pass, which lets me ride every train, tram, bus and boat in Switzerland. I like that I'm still considered a youth when I'm under 26 - makes me feel all young and stuff. Here's what my agenda is:

Thursday 7/17: Zurich
Friday 7/18: Gornergrat
Saturday 7/19: Lake Geneva
Sunday 7/20: Jungfrau
Monday 7/21: Titlis and Luzern
Tuesday 7/22: Chocolate Swiss Train (Montreux, Gruyeres, Broc)
Wednesday 7/23: Schilthorn and an evening of fondue with my colleagues

All this also means I'm coming home on the 24th of July.

If you don't know what all these places are, you can look them up for yourselves or everyday when I get home, I am going to post my experience with a link to the website.

So yesterday I went into the city again. As I was waiting on the tram to get back to Breitenrain (the part of Bern I live in), I was sitting on a little bench. This bench also happened to be made only for one person. As I'm looking over the train/tram/bus map for my Swiss Pass, with stuff strewn across my lap, obviously needing this seat, this woman comes up to me and said something in German. My initial reaction was, "Huh?" So she repeated herself. I don't know what she said, but I know it meant, "Get up and give me your seat."

First of all, I know that Swiss people always give up their seats for the elderly. I do this as well, and I don't mind. But this woman was hardly of age to be demanding her seat. I doubt she was older than my parents. I would have willingly done this if she looked old enough to be deserving of my politeness. Regardless, I unwillingly got up and gave her royal heiney the seat. I wanted to tell her off, but not knowing German makes it tough to express what's really on your mind. Now that I think about it, I could have always said the word 'shit.' The Swiss embrace this word and always know that it never means good things.

Moral of the story? I do believe you can rank the Swiss above the Americans when it comes to being rude. But to balance it out, the guy who was selling me the tickets for special trains and making reservations was very nice to me. The Swiss are not usually friendly with tourists, but this guy didn't mind that I required about twenty minutes of his time or that I spoke English to him. He thought it was funny that I was cramming so much touring into a week: "You really want to see Switzerland, don't you!" He even asked where I was from and what I was doing here. That's customer service.

Did I mention yet that I dress European? According to Chantal, she couldn't pick me in the train station last Saturday because I was dressed very European. From my hairstyle right down to my shoes. She even said I don't look American - I always thought it was obvious I looked American. Guess that's the German in me.

Oh and I found out what "douche" meant in the McClean bathrooms. It's a shower. That really ruined all the fun for me.

Anyways, I'm in desperate need of sleep for tomorrow - I will be on my feet all day. Expect a story tomorrow night :)


Adios!
Love,
Jessica