Paragliding

I’ve always been a bit of a daredevil.  When I was younger this took the form of trying to fly by jumping off our tree house into the sandbox.  In later years, this has encompassed cliff diving into the Susquehanna near Bucknell, sky diving and bungy jumping in Australia, and hang gliding and shot over jetting in New Zealand.  While we were in Interlaken, Kelly, Susanna, and I resolved to seize the day and go paragliding.

Gliders in action

After spending the morning cannyoning with Luki, we decided to spend the afternoon with him flying.  The three of us suited up in our flying gear, got in the van, and headed up the mountain with our flying partners.  Our guides laid out the parachutes, strapped us to them, and we were ready.  In paragliding, you run but a few paces down the hill until the wind picks up the chute and you are lifted up.

Luki setting up our chute

Luki was a fantastic partner.  We glided amongst the clouds, dipped behind the mountains, skirted shockingly close to trees, flitted amongst the leaves, and only came close to colliding with a few birds.  When we were solidly over the center of Interlaken, Luki amped up the paragliding experience by maneuvering our glider like a roller coaster with flips and turns.  Sadly before I knew it the flight was over and we were skimming across the grass.

Me in my flying chute post flight

Birthday Abroad

Growing up birthdays meant a special dinner out with the family at your favorite restaurant, blowing out the candles on an ice cream cake from Baskins Robbins, and Dad serenading you with his wonderful and off-key rendition of Happy Birthday.  As the boys and I moved off to pursue our educations and more recently careers, birthday celebrations have evolved.

Birthday crew

This year I spent my birthday in Basel at a wines of the world fair held at a posh restaurant Ferraris parked on the street outside that I’d never otherwise visit having not drawn a paycheck for a year and a half now.  For a nominal fee, you got to try as many of the 315 wines as you wanted from tuxedo-clad waiters.  We flitted between the white, red, and desert wine rooms and took a virtual tour of the world through our palates.  The gang surprised me with a box of my favorite wines in the parking lot after we closed down the restaurant. 

Checking out my new loot

After we took the tram back, it seemed like a good idea after four solid hours of free wine tasting to crowd clown car style in the lift in our apartment.  Imagine our surprise when the elevator sank instead of taking us up to the fourth floor for cake.  Apparently the Swiss are serious about their weight requirements and six people in an elevator built for two caused us to be stuck between the ground floor and the basement.  I’ve never been trapped in an elevator before but it was pretty hilarious.  Karla was convinced we were going to suffocate and worriedly kept pushing the emergency button, Asvin thought we were going to overheat and insisted on taking off half his clothes, and Kevin opened a bottle of wine to quench his thirst.  The superintendent rescued us after about thirty minutes and pulled us out between floors.  We celebrated our brush with death birthday cake and more wine. 

We really should be in a sitcom or maybe a reality tv show

In a nod to my proximity to France “Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose” or “The more things change, the more they stay the same.”  Though it may not have transpired in Greensboro, NC, I still spent the evening out at a special event with my Swiss family, partook in candles and cake, and was serenaded by Dad through the technological marvel that is Skype.  

Oktoberfest

Celebrating Oktoberfest in Munich has always been a bucket list item akin to Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Halloween in Salem, or New Year’s in Time Square.  Check another item off the list!  The Switzerland crew and I headed to Munich the other weekend for the last two days of the bicentennial Oktoberfest (way to up the bucket list ante huh).  A group of MITers made the trek across the ocean to meet us for a long weekend of debauchery, lederhosen, oopmha bands, and general shenanigans.  Here a few of them are in their lederhosen and dirndls.        

All decked out in their German finest

Although the inaugural Oktoberfest was to honor the marriage of King Ludwig I and Therese of Bavaria, these days its devolved into a celebration of German beer.  The festival grounds house 14 tents each staffed by a Bavarian brewery serving their own brew in addition to an enormous carnival of rides, games, and food stalls.  I was expecting the Mardi Gras like atmosphere to permeate the event and was surprised by the number of families at the Oktoberfest grounds.  However the grounds were packed and unless you’re going in the morning during the middle of the week, I would not recommend taking small children.     

Oktoberfest grounds

We woke up, took the train, and were at the festival grounds by 8:30AM to be in line for when the tent doors opened at 9:30AM.  Wow how grossly we underestimated the throngs of lederhosen-cladden people.  Our lot hoped to spend the day at the Hofbräu-Festzelt tent, waited in line in a crush of people for about two hours, and then were saved from near claustrophobia when Karla paid off the doorman and got us all in.  Thanks Karla!  After our unwelcomed two hour interlude in line, we were eager to join our classmates who had gotten up at 5AM, arrived way earlier, and managed to hold us seats at tables inside the tent.  Each tent holds 3K – 7K people so seats can be tough to come by.

Allen & I enjoying our beers

Oktoberfest is a highly entertaining event.  At least two thirds of the people in the tent were dressed in traditional attire.  Waitresses scurry between drunken hordes miraculously carrying ten liters of beer.  Waiters hoist half chickens, pretzels, dumplings, and wurst through the air at hungry patrons.  The band takes the stage in the middle of the tent playing lively oophma music.  The Hofbräuhaus in Munich actually inspired what seems to have become the Oktoberfest theme song "oans, zwoa, g'suffa" (Bavarian dialect for: "one, two, drink").  Every twenty minutes or so, the band breaks into the above song and the cheering crowds jump to their feet on benches or sometimes tables, hoist their beers, and scream.

Hofbrauhaus Band

A few liters of beer, half a chicken, a pretzel, and many rounds of singing later, the tent was closing for the evening.  Somehow we managed to spend fourteen hours at the Hofbräuhaus tent and went back the following day to try out a few more tents and further soak up the Oktoberfest culture.  I have no idea when, where, or how I acquired the hat below.

Decked out in our new hats

Cool as a Cucumber

Between traveling and working, it’s easy to get behind on other responsibilities so on Sunday I skipped out on a day trip to France and headed to the local Starbucks to be a good friend and write somebody’s grad school recommendations.  Yes Starbucks is a stereotypical American hangout but on a Sunday in Switzerland one’s choices are limited to Starbucks, the train station, or a handful of gas stations.  Four months in and I still have no idea what everybody does on Sunday. 

I met my friend Said at Starbucks; we got oversized lattes and settled into work.  A sudden commotion broke me from my productive trance.  Two guys of north African descent were yelling at each other in French.  Not that unusual in NYC or even parts of Boston but in Switzerland I feel like I’m yelling when I speak in my normal voice.  Then one of the guys pulled a hammer from his satchel, lunged at the second guy, and began chasing him around Starbucks.  They ran out and Said who is Lebanese and speaks French explained to me that they were having an argument over a girl.

The most baffling component of the whole incident was not the fight or the fact that some guy was carrying around a hammer on a Sunday afternoon at Starbucks.  Rather it was that none of the Swiss customers seemed perturbed.  Most of them didn’t bat an eye, put down their cappuccinos, or even look up from their German edition Wall Street journals as two crazy, hammer wielding men chased each other around Starbucks.          

The phrase “cool as a cucumber” doesn’t even begin to adequately describe the Swiss.         

When in Switzerland ...

Ah Switzerland – the land of chocolate, Heidi, the Alps, and army knives.  The national museum in Zurich currently has an exhibit on the latter so a few of us went to check it out.   In addition to the exhibit, you were able to assemble your very own Swiss army knife.   You’d think three MIT engineers would have an easier time machining a Swiss army knife but wow are there way more parts than I was expecting.  Luckily we had Swiss army knife personnel on hand to guide us at every step … in German … but hey pantomiming translates across national tongues. 

Two MIT engineers hard at work - well Asvin's supervising the work on his knife

I learned that I had better continue working towards a thesis as I do not have a future career in assembling Swiss army knives.  

Sweet Success!

They may not be as famous as Niagara Falls, but the Rheinfall waterfalls about thirty minutes outside of Zurich are the biggest waterfalls in Europe.  After knife building, we struck out to see how they compared to Niagara.  What we discovered is that “biggest” is a bit of a misnomer as the falls have the largest volume of water passing over them and are not very high.

Rheinfall

Regardless, the falls are in a beautiful setting with the Laufen Castle resting on a cliff overlooking the falls.  We had a grand time taking a Niagara-style boat out to the falls where we felt the full force of the “biggest” distinction and got rather wet.  

Gang with the Rheinfalls

Lugano

A few weekends ago, I set off for a girls weekend to Lugano, the “Monte Carlo of Switzerland”.  Switzerland is an enchanting and often baffling amalgamation of fairly autonomous cantons.  Lugano is the largest town in Ticino, the Italian speaking part of Switzerland, and boasts an expansive, crystal blue lake, a Mediterranean-style town square, and gastronomic wonders.

Christie & I overlooking Lake Lugano

We took a funicular up to the top of Monte San Salvatore for breathtaking views and a meandering trail along the lake, through well-preserved villages to Vivo Morcote. We celebrated our triumphant arrival to Vivo Morcote lounging by the lake, our feet dangling into the water, feasting on champagne and cheese.

Tanja & Christie in a quaint Ticino village

That evening we explored Lugano, ambling around aimlessly, turning down cobblestone-strewn paths, and following the sound of street performers.  Eventually we settled on an outdoor café for dinner where Tanja and I shared a mascarpone pizza.  It was a slice or six of heaven.  All pizzerias should include options with mascarpone.  The next morning we hiked away from Lugano towards the village of Tesserete passing a beautiful abby hidden away in the hills. 

Tanja with the abbey

 On the way back to Basel, we made a quick detour to Bellizona to check out its five castles.  Another wonderful weekend exploring stunning Switzerland. 

Mediterranean beauty

Things that baffle Europeans about Americans

• Colloquial expressions & idioms
• I’ve had a heck of a time explaining the relevance of “fell by the wayside”, “drop of a hat”, “more than one way to skin a cat”, etc
•  They also don’t understand why we use soda, coke, & pop to represent the same product
• Our sense of humor
• Nobody seems to find “that’s what she said” amusing
• Everybody wonders why Americans haven’t embraced Arrested Development and enjoy Family Guy
• Our love of big cars & our reluctance to use either our feet or public transportation
• Why we talk so much about so little
• Our perpetual air of informality
• To a European, “hey what’s up” is not an appropriate greeting
• Similarly every email should have a formal salutation & personal closing such as best regards, sincerely, etc
• Our insistence on showering and wearing fresh clothing everyday
• My boss wears the same shirt Monday - Wednesday.  Seriously
• The coffee - they hate our coffee