Roman - CS #7

Laura and I are getting much better at arriving to places early. We were a record 45 minutes early to our train headed to Frankfurt, where we transferred to a train that took us to Bern, Switzerland.

Laura found us some sweet seats. However, since we didn't want to shell out 8 extra euros to reserve a seat, we were soon kicked out of our nice seats by people not quite as "frugal" as us. Bummer. We happened to meet an American named Jacob who is in the military. He was on a two week leave from Iraq and was touring around Europe. So we collected him as our newest insta-friend and went to find new seats. Then we found new good seats! But as soon as we got to the first stop, people got on the train that had also reserved those seats. So we were ousted again...with nowhere to go except the small kitchen area of the train that caters to the first class passengers. So we played it cheap and busted out our baguettes and one of our six blocks of Alkmaar cheese and pretended to look like we belonged there.

It was really interesting to talk with Jacob. He was very animated and had lots of good stories. This was his first big traveling trip, and I love hearing about others' excitement traveling. He is originally from Michigan and we decided his favorite adjective is "stupid". It sounds funny so I'll give you an example: "The transportation system is so good here, it's stupid easy to get around!" Hahaha. We'd never heard sentences like that before...lol. Jacob also told us a little bit about the war and what was going on in Iraq. I didn't really know if it was okay to ask about that, because I figured since he was traveling he might not want to think or talk about it. But he was very open about it. He hasn't been there that long and there have been no casualties in his battalion; he says they are in a pretty safe area. He works in intel and told us tips on how to tell if people are lying! He has a psychology background so it was really interesting to hear how he uses that in his work in the military. Still, hearing about Iraq firsthand was really, really weird. It was so depressing the way he described things. It just sounded like no progress was being made and that the Iraqis are so corrupt I don't understand how progress will ever be made. He said they're extremely difficult to work with and his "boys" are really antsy to do something - anything - but all of their ops have to be done with Iraqis, who aren't very cooperative or helpful. It just sounded like a mess.

Then, since I'm pathetic and fall asleep far too easily on moving vehicles, I had to go find a seat and take a nap. Laura talked to him until Frankfurt and I'm a little bummed I missed out, but...sleep was calling. In Frankfurt, I was happily surprised to find that our layover was only 20 minutes. Can you even imagine trains that run that well? Efficient, safe, on time...amazing. So before we knew it, we were on our train from Switzerland.

We arrived in Bern at 6:50 - awesome, since we told our host Roman we would be there at 7. Seriously, we're getting so good at this early/on time thing. We went to the grocery store where I saw....the hugest basket of Landjaeger EVER!!! Apparently it's a Swiss treat...? I am in heaven. I definitely bought a big bag of it.

Roman was waiting for us exactly where he told us he would be. It was maybe the smoothest CS pick up to date. Roman is awesome! He is 22 years old and a student at the University of Bern studying.....Business! So we all click pretty well together. We also introduced him to the term "business kids" which he thinks is hilarious. He's been telling all of his friends here that he's a "business kid", it's pretty funny. I love seeing what foreigners like out of all of our weird phrases! He lives in an apartment with lots of students in it. It is HUGE compared to what students in the U District live in. He lives with 3 other people but 2 of them aren't home right now. His roommate Patricia is here though and she is so sweet! It is really fun to be with people our age. Their apartment is three floors with two bathrooms and a sweet balcony. I am jealous we don't have places like that back home. Also, Roman's room is the smallest and it is bigger than most rooms in the U District. Not fair! They have collections of post cards and coasters on their walls, and they also have a really cute little art exhibit. Each roommate has a little yellow rubber ducky. Each time somebody travels somewhere, they need to take a picture of the yellow ducky somewhere. So they have a whole wall of random yellow ducky photos, and I love it.

Roman apparently is an excellent cook, which we learned when he made us dinner as soon as we got home. It was a delicious chicken vegetable stir fry - one of the more healthy things we've eaten in a while. So that was very refreshing. Also refreshing was finally getting to shower in a bathroom that didn't make me feel dirty (i.e. Hans' bathroom). I came out of the shower feeling like a new person! Which is what I always tell Laura when I get out of the shower. We know some way too personal things about each other at this point, we also like almost exactly the same types of food, and we also say a disturbing amount of the exact same things at the same time. It's weird...

After shower time, we were ready for Saturday night in Switzerland! Roman took us to a bar that used to be a school gym that was really cool. Tons of people our age were there and he bought us a local beer that was really good. It had a really funny top, and you are supposed to turn it upside down before (carefully) opening it. Mine didn't fizz - woohoo! Laura's fizzed a little bit and Roman's friend Martin's fizzed a ton and it was hilarious. Roman's friends are all really laid back, friendly, and fluent in English. Roman told us the pace of life and even the pace of speech here in Bern is very slow, and it is so wonderful. They speak a dialect of German that they just call Swiss German. Somehow, they make it sound pretty - not harsh and ugly like real German. Anyway, after the Gym Bar we went to a wine bar with a few of his friends. We stayed here til we got kicked out around 2:30. At this point my eyes were drooping and I was getting so tired. I'm not used to being up that late! But his friends' bus didn't come for another hour, so we went to this other bar in this Mexican restaurant. We got kicked out of there around 3:30, and finally made it home by about 4. I am soooo pathetic at staying up that late!! But it was a super fun start to Switzerland!

Quotes:
"That's what she said." - Hilary, to Laura. Then we both burst out laughing and looked like maniacs probably. Then we had to explain That's What She Said jokes to Roman and Patricia, and that was the best part...trashy American jokes...spreading the love.

"Aw...I can't read my wish." - Laura (Roman had candy with "wishes" written on them in French and German on the inside of the wrappers.)

Accomplishments:
Made it to Switzerland!

Nice People Alert:
All of Roman's friends, Roman, and his roommate Patricia - everybody here is awesome!

Travel Tip:
Being early for trains is awesome. Also, consider reserving your ticket for longer train rides. Like, the kind of international train rides that involve transfers and 7 hours of transit...


So happy to be here. Switzerland was one of the countries I was most excited for, so I am really looking forward to this week!