The Hills are Alive

From Geneva we headed northeast to two different cities.  For this week, our cast was living in two cities near each other.  This was the first of several split-cities on our European tour.  Half of the cast lived in Weinfelden while I lived with half the cast in Frauenfeld.  Throughout the week, we would do community service in our respective city, but we would come together for our shows.  We performed one show in each city.

My roommates for the week were Robin, from Sweden, and Brian, from New York.  We lived with a mother and her 19-year-old daughter.

Tuesday was the coldest Community Impact day I have ever experienced, yet it was one of the most interesting and unique opportunities I have had.  I went to work at a vineyard with eight other cast mates.  We were divided into two groups and one group went into the woods to help clean up the branches.  I had the opportunity to tie the grapevines to wires in order to help the grapes grow in an organized manner so it is easier to pick the grapes during the harvest.  We got to use this special tool that makes tying the vine to the wire very simple.  We froze outside because we were working in the snow, but our community service was so unique that we were not even worried about the cold weather because we were so fascinated with the process of growing grapes.

After a full day of working in the fields, we came in and got to taste some of the products sold at the vineyard.  We tried the most delicious grape and apple juices.  Furthermore, they make cheese at the vineyard, so we tried several different kinds of cheese in addition to the freshly baked bread they had waiting for us.  It was a perfect way to end such a fun day.

Wednesday was our first show in Weinfelden and Thursday was our show in Frauenfeld.  Our show in Frauenfeld was extra special because we had 60 alumni from Switzerland attend our show and they loved every minute of our performance.  It was a very energetic and enthusiastic audience.

Because it was Easter weekend, we were given three days off with our host families.  Our host family helped me, Brian, and Robin plan a trip to Salzburg, Austria.  Friday morning, the three of us headed to the train station for a six hour train ride to Austria.  As we left the city, we slowly began to get closer to the mountains.  They grew larger and more magnificent as we got closer until they were right outside our window.  I cannot even describe the stunning beauty and grandeur of these massive boulders jetting out of the ground capped with untouched snow at the peaks.  I felt as if the train ride was taking me into a postcard.  The six hours flew by as I stared out the window trying to take mental pictures of the beauty I was witnessing.

We finally arrived at 2pm and quickly headed to the hostel down the street to drop off our things and head out exploring the town.  We made our way to Old Town where the streets were laid in stones and the buildings looked like they were constructed in the Medieval era.  Salzburg is the famous city where the Sound of Music took place, so many of the sites we walked by were scenes from the film.  I could not help but sing Do-Re-Mi all afternoon as we roamed the streets of Salzburg.

We kept walking until we came to what looked like a mountain with a massive castle at the top.  It was the mountain fortess that overlooked the city.  We began an endless trek to reach the top-first with an infinite number of stairs followed by unending pathways that felt like 90 degrees straight up.  After several pitstops, we finally reached the top and began exploring within the fortress gates.  I felt like I had stepped back in time and was a knight living in a castle.  We made our way to an open area that overlooked the entire city.  It was like I was on Mount Olympus looking down at the Earth and all the commotion of everyday life.  I could have stayed on the top of the mountain forever with the crisp spring air blowing on my face, but we had to make our way back down the hill for dinner.

We walked back through Old Town stopping in all the cathedrals we could find.  The peace that I felt as I entered the cathedrals made me aware of my surroundings and how blessed I was to be standing in such a glorious place.   As we left the cathedrals we began looking for restaurants to have dinner.  We could not make a decision until it started raining, which forced us to find the closest restaurant.  We sat down and warmed up with a delicious bowl of beef soup and a beer.

That evening we made it back to our hostel and looked through our pictures from the day.  As we looked through the pictures we started realizing that we had visited almost every spot from the Sound of Music without even knowing it.  I laid in bed that night struggling to fall asleep because of my excitement for another memorable day in Salzburg.

The next morning we woke up and had a nice breakfast before heading back out to explore.  We spent the morning checking out a few stores and making some nice European purchases.  After buying some new clothes we made our way back to Old Town and found a nice pizzeria for lunch.

After lunch we decided to walk around the giant mountain with the fortress to look at what was on the other side.  We slowly made our way around the mountain stopping every once in a while to take pictures and make some funny movies.  Once we made it to the other side of the mountain, we realized we had a long way back to walk.  We decided to climb the mountain instead of going around, so we followed the path that cut through the mountain.  Little did we know that once we reached the top, we would find multiple castles surrounding the giant fortress.  We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the mountain looking at all the castles and buildings.

We made our way back down the mountain as it began to rain, and eventually, made it back to our hostel to change for dinner.  We took a little break to rest at the hostel and then walked down the road to have a delicious traditional Austrian meal.  Once we had dinner, we walked around looking for a bar to have a drink and enjoy our final night in Austria.  As we sat down to have a beer, all we could talk about was our experience over the last two days and all the memories we shared together.

I woke up Easter morning with a smile on my face thinking about how blessed I was this Easter.  Spending Easter away from home made me miss my family, but it also made me grateful for the experience I was given in Austria.  We took the train back to Switzerland getting to enjoy the natural beauty out the train windows once more.  When we arrived home we greeted our host mom with flowers and she had prepared a special dinner for us called raclette.  We sat down and had a feast with melted raclette cheese covering potatoes.  She also made us some chocolate fondue that I could not stop eating.

After dinner our host sister, Rachel, invited us to go out to the karaoke bar with her friends, so we ended an incredible week relaxing in great company.

First Stop-Switzerland

Monday morning began in a mad scramble to pack for our trip to Europe.  After triple checking my suitcase, we all headed to our drop off facility for the day.  Our flight to Europe was scheduled for 9:45pm, so we spent the afternoon working on our cast movement and vocals for our European medleys in the show.  After lunch and our education workshop, the staff threw us a little celebratory party with balloons and dancing in honor of our final hours in the United States.  We then loaded the buses and headed to the airport.

When we arrived at the airport, we discovered that our flight was delayed by four hours and would now be departing at 1:45am.  Not surprisingly, the cast was very excited to have some free time to hang out and roam around the airport.  After restless hours of riding the train to other terminals, working out on the carpet in front of the gate, and practicing and teaching dances, it was finally time to board the plane and head to Switzerland!

With a quick layover in London, we arrived in Geneva and were greeted with Swiss longhorns echoing in the crisp Alpine air.  This week I was hosted with a family that owns a Bed and Breakfast and I was hosted with nine other cast mates.  After making our way to the Bed and Breakfast by public transportation we settled into our rooms.  The two staff staying with us stayed in a two-person room while all eight students shared a large dorm room.  We knew it was going to be an awesome week together in our first European city.

Although one day was not enough time to adjust to our new environment, we had a show the next day-Wednesday.  Furthermore, not only did we have one show, but we had another show the following night.  As challenging as it was to find our energy, we pulled through and performed two great shows for our first city in Europe.

This was my final week as an intern and it was my responsibility to step in as the dance captain.  I had the chance to make many of the decisions in the show relating to dance, give show notes and make corrections, and lead my final warm-ups for the cast.  For the last six weeks I have led my warm-ups using different musical themes.  For example I led a Disney-themed warm up in Orlando and an American theme in our last US city.  For my final warm-up I went all-out with an 80's theme.  I wore a sweatband, tube socks, and short shorts.  It was a great way to end my internship with a successful and smooth transition into our first European city.

Friday, I had the opportunity to facilitate a workshop on global leadership to university students.  I had such a wonderful time with the students because they were so engaged in conversation and so willing to learn from one another.  It is for this reason that working in classrooms is my favorite Community Impact that we do.

Saturday was a relaxing day that was spent with the second-semester students.  We do not often have time to come together as second-semester students and hang out.  Because this is our second semester, we are learning new things about ourselves and facing new and different challenges than we did during our first semester.  It is always nice to have the chance to come together and talk about how we are growing from the previous semester as well as how we are being challenged.

The eight students living in the Bed and Breakfast decided to go explore Old Town Geneva on our host family day on Sunday.  We spent the morning roaming the streets until we came upon a beautiful cathedral.  We found several different street musicians playing their instruments and we could not pass up the opportunity to dance in the street with them.  We came across a cozy cafe and decided to sit down and have some hot wine which tasted like candy.  I could have drank several cups had it not had alcohol in it.  We continued the day stopping in pastry shops until we came to a park with life-size chess boards, so we decided to stop and play for awhile.  We then continued on our way until we walked into a traveling amusement park in the middle of the city.  We could not pass up the opportunity so we walked through the rides and games while enjoying chocolate crepes.  It was a wonderful afternoon together full of laughter and in good company.

That evening we came home for our final dinner with our host family and had a feast called Raclette, which is a very traditional Swiss meal.  Raclette is a type of cheese that you melt using a hot plate and then you pour the melted cheese over steamed potatoes.  Because it is such a heavy meal with the cheese, it is important to drink some form of alcohol to help settle the food.  Since we lived on a vineyard, we enjoyed delicious sweet wine that came from our own backyard.

We had such an incredible week with Sylvie in her Bed and Breakfast and it was a unique opportunity to live with so many cast mates and we certainly made a lot of special memories together.