I spent my junior year in Switzerland; my roommate had cousins in Ticino and we visited them several times. The train ride included a section through a tunnel under the Gotthard Pass. Each time we came out of the tunnel, the sharp contrast between dark mountainside and clear too-blue-to-be-true sky thrilled me. Airolo was one of my favorite stops along the route from Berne to Biasca. Thanks for the memory jolt.
Thanks, Nora. I have some more photos from that area; I should run them by you. There's a plaque commemorating a 1799 battle in the Napoleonic wars, for example, and I wasn't able to find much when I looked.
I remember there being a connection between the sisters who ran our high school/your college and Switzerland (Sister Janice gave me a small Swiss bell), but I don't remember what it was.
They ran that junior-year-abroad in Fribourg, Switzerland that I took part in. My year was the last one; they were trying to sell the villa that had housed the program since the 1910s, and we were dispersed in apartments around town. My two roommates were Beth F. and Veronica T., from our high school. We lived in an 18th-century building down the street from the main cathedral. Lots of fond memories! I'm just sad that none of my kids did anything similar (Nick's 3 tours in Afghanistan aren't quite the same experience).
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Whoever built it had sand in their craw.
I spent my junior year in Switzerland; my roommate had cousins in Ticino and we visited them several times. The train ride included a section through a tunnel under the Gotthard Pass. Each time we came out of the tunnel, the sharp contrast between dark mountainside and clear too-blue-to-be-true sky thrilled me. Airolo was one of my favorite stops along the route from Berne to Biasca. Thanks for the memory jolt.
--Nora
Thanks, Nora. I have some more photos from that area; I should run them by you. There's a plaque commemorating a 1799 battle in the Napoleonic wars, for example, and I wasn't able to find much when I looked.
I remember there being a connection between the sisters who ran our high school/your college and Switzerland (Sister Janice gave me a small Swiss bell), but I don't remember what it was.
They ran that junior-year-abroad in Fribourg, Switzerland that I took part in. My year was the last one; they were trying to sell the villa that had housed the program since the 1910s, and we were dispersed in apartments around town. My two roommates were Beth F. and Veronica T., from our high school. We lived in an 18th-century building down the street from the main cathedral. Lots of fond memories! I'm just sad that none of my kids did anything similar (Nick's 3 tours in Afghanistan aren't quite the same experience).
--Nora
Ah! The bell was from Fribourg. I will look for it; it may be in the "Life Box." If I find it, then I will do a post about it.
I am glad to hear you had a great experience. Did you take some memorable photographs? (I feel that way about my time in Venice.)
Thanks again to Nick for his service! Amazing young people.
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