2/24/08

Today was our last day in Switzerland, so we tried to ski for as long as possible. Midway through the day we got to sit and watch Jess run off a mountain to paraglide, and she swooped right over our heads. Lauren and I fell off a ski lift because John fell off and they had to stop it which jerked us off, and we got stuck in a place where there were no easy slopes down! John let the lift drag him up further, while me and Lauren opted to try out the red slope. It was scary but really fun and I finally remembered how to ski! A few runs later, however, I forgot again and got my skis stuck in a mountain and had to lie there for 20 minutes waiting to be rescued. No one came to rescue me, so I had to pick all the snow out of every little crevice of my skis in order to put them back on, and then go straight back down the mountain. At the bottom, I was expecting everyone to be waiting, but we'd all accidentally split up! Alone on Murren in the Alps, I proceeded to take a lift in order to try to see Ethan's orange jacket, Lauren's pink pants, Tom's awkward pole movements, Sam's indistinctive black ski suit, or John upside down somewhere with his snowboard in the air. Jess was in the air still, so that was hopeless. I took a gondola down and after wandering around for a while ran into Ethan. I ran towards him and jumped on him and hugged him and almost cried, and he informed me that he had no idea that we were all split up. We waited at the bottom of the mountain and luckily everyone came down in the next gondola ride! It was getting late and it was time to go back and shower, eat, and get on another train. 

On the second of the three trains we needed to take, we were informed that the guy at Termini who booked our tickets made a mistake and put them for the wrong day. The Swiss man on the train was very nice and we just had to pay 8 franc to change it over, but when we got to our connection, we found out that the train we were planning on taking didn't run on Sundays. This was a big uh oh, but we got on a train to Rome an hour later. The only problem was that the 11pm-7am train ride was not in a sleeper car. It was probably the most uncomfortable night of my life, but kind of cute to see us all snuggled up trying to sleep. As Sam noted, "People always say that they are packed in like sardines, but....that's really what this is." John and Ethan saved us from a robber by giving him angry looks, and I buckled everyone's backpacks to a pole. It was a team effort, but we didn't get mugged! We arrived in Rome and had to go to class. Let's just say it was the worst day yet. Maybe even ever. For the unbelievable weekend we had though, it was so worth it.