After waking late in the afternoon on Saturday, my host parents Alice and Robert took me up a ski-lift like lift up a mountain outside our town.
After arriving at the top, we looked out onto Zurich and the neighboring cities. It was just like out of a postcard. Amazing views.
We then hiked down the mountain, a steep but easy walk in a beautiful trail covered by trees. Next up was a visit to the train station to get my ID pass for the 3 weeks and then home. I plowed through my current book, which I will be reviewing later on my main blog, and then had an excellent dinner with the family (minus my host brother, who was at an Iron Maiden concert). I went to sleep, 7 hours after waking up, still exhausted. Tossing and turning to the thunderstorms outside, I couldn't get to sleep after 1 AM. Spent some time online and reading. Now, I'm paying the price for my lack of sleep since this is turning out to be the 3rd or 4th 20 hour day in a row.
This morning, Monday, was the first day of official school at this Swiss high school. We met the headmaster and deputy headmaster, got a tour of the campus, and had lunch at the cafeteria (free). They are really proud of the architecture of the bldg, which is weird. Things were a bit wet from the night's rain but nonetheless pleasant.
A few of my UHS friends and their host brothers and sisters took a few hour break we had by taking the "tram" into downtown Zurich, going to the legendary (and secretive) main Credit Suisse bank, and checking out the stores. A Swiss coffee shop? Nah, it's a Starbucks. Authentic Swiss clothes? Nah, all Nike, Adidas, and Reebok.
In the afternoon, as I started losing steam from my sleepless night, we met up with the walking tour guide who did a 1.5 hour walking tour of Zurich. Bottom line: the views are right out of a magazine or postcard. Just like in SF where on Chrissy Field and elsewhere the views are jaw-dropping, same here in Switzerland.
After the walking tour which included a stroll through old Zurich, some famous churches, and other tourist hotspots, we concluded our afternoon at Zurich City Hall. We met the mayor and other government officials. I picked up my 5th book about Zurich, more maps, knives, and chocolates, etc. What a deal! We were all talking about how expensive it must be for the SF-Zurich Initiative to do this all for us, but that there WILL be a payoff. The Zurich kids now love SF and the US and may want to go to college in the States, and likewise the SF kids would love to come back and do business in Zurich later in life.
Now, it's an evening catching up on email, US news, and then hitting the sack. We have a stressful day of chocolate tasting and boat-lounging on Lake of Zurich, tomorrow.
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