Day 3:

Snow , Beautiful, Snow. And lots of it keeps falling from the sky all day long. I got up early, ate breakfast and decided to snowboard for the day with my new roommates Nick and Jana. Well it turns out, to much snow can be a bad thing, even for a ski resort. Most of the lifts where closed and the only run open was one super long one (about 5k) which took you all the way back to town. In itself this single run was cool, but the only way up from the bottom back to the top was a 30 minute train which was so pack with soaking wet skiers that by noon I called it a day and just set off to find some lunch.

I had lunch, a sandwich and éclair, and headed back down the mountain into Gryon, for a nap, a charge (Ipod, camera, computer), and a little writing.

When I woke up on the couch in the common room somewhere around 5pm, my new friends informed me it was friday night and we where required to get drunk. So much for my proposed sobriety. Damn. Spent the rest of the night drinking off the Shotski (a ski that is mounted with shot glasses and 4 people line up and do shots together), doing Jello shots, and having a merry old time. At some point everyone thought it would be a good idea to hike though the freezing cold a kilometer to get to the nearest bar. The walk there wasn’t horrible but did ended with numerous slips and falls onto the wet and muddy sidewalk.

Another glorious day in the Alps.

Day: 2

I was wide awake at 7:30am this morning, still exhausted, but I couldn’t sleep, especially with the glorious Alps sitting outside my window. I got up, went downstairs and realized that I still didn’t have any food. So I headed down to the market to stock up on some eggs, cheese and bread for breakfast.

I decided not to jump right on my snowboard the first day but spend the day just taking it easy, doing a little food shopping, and finally finish recovering from my last 2 weeks of non-stop parties/jet-lag.

Spent the afternoon wandering about looking for whatever I could find and take pictures of. It was cold. Well, I finally found a nice covered picnic table, so I decided to sit and do a little picture work. I turn on my computer and what do I find? WiFi! That’s right you virtual travelers, Rob found the perfect spot, out of all of the little town of Gryon, Switzerland to steal the internet. So don’t worry our daily update will try to remain daily. (unless of course there is a huge storm and I can’t muster up the courage to trek through the snow to my WiFi’d picnic table table)

I spent the evening cooking dinner, reading and having a debate with Nick and Jana about the values of a Capitalistic society vs. those of a Semi-Capitalistic/Semi-Socialistic society.

Other than excitement today was a pretty mellow day, but when you have views like this, who can complain.

Day: 0

Chicago O’Hare International Airport, USA. Feb 28. 2006

Wow, I never thought I’d be this nervous before I left. I have butterflies of anticipation and am starting to feel like a bride on her wedding day getting those last minute jitters. My plane takes off in 2 hours. I was up by 5am to shower and spend some time alone just thinking about the adventure I am about to embark on. I have been so excited about leaving for the last six months and now the day is here, it seems unreal.

I was up early and had breakfast at the Original House of Pancakes (wonderful restaurant and family favorite) with my Grandpa and brother Aaron. We chatted about travel, art (seeing as the are both artists), and a little family history After breakfast Aaron drove me from Orange County to LA and left me at the curb to begin my solo adventure.

Well, to start the day no one at American Airlines was in a good mood an spent the better part of 15 minutes bothering me about my one way ticket and when I was going to leave Switzerland, fortunately for me I bought my $0.01 ticket from Milan to Bratislava for 3 weeks from now and had the reservation printed out. They said they would let me slide and sent me to baggage security check. The only good thing that came out of check-in was that they didn’t charge me the $80 fee for bringing my snowboard like their website said they would. Two points for Rob!

Rest of the day was spent on a plane from LA to Chicago reading Wicked and listening to some Johnny Cash on my Ipod. A quick hour long layover and I was on a plane from Chicago to Dublin, where I should arrive at 9am tomorrow to grab a quick Guinness and my connection to Switzerland. Should be sitting in the Alps by sunset tomorrow.

Sunrise just east of Ireland, 6am March 1st, 2006