Happy one month in Zurich to me!! - March 21, 2014

Technically my one month is tomorrow, but who's counting.

Now I know what you're thinking, not another picture of a sunrise and the view, well yeah, I know, sorry, but this one comes with a message. 

This picture doesn’t really begin to convey the absolute beauty of the Swiss Alps with the sunrise shining on it at half six on a Wednesday morning. But it gives you an idea and I really hope that it can inspire you to go after what you want in life. 

Yesterday morning when I woke up, I hadn't really slept that well, I was super tired and it made me feel a little bit sick, needless to say my 6:30 start was not appreciated and I wanted nothing more than to just roll over and go back to sleep. I have a job though and I needed to get up and do it, so I climbed out of bed and headed up the stairs to the kitchen to start making breakfast. As I got to the top of the stairs, I just stopped and looked out at this view and as it  has done on previous mornings, it just stunned me. There has been a lot of mist the last few weeks so this was the first morning in a while that I had been able to see the Alps in the background and the sun was shining on it and I thought wow.

Not everyday is great, we all have shit days in life, it's part of living and being human, but having something like that to wake up to every morning, it just makes the day a little better. It doesn't have to be a view, it might be a person (although don’t let your happiness depend on something you may lose), music, a tv show, anything, it doesn't matter as long  that  brings a smile to your face. You have to find your own joy and happiness in life, because you are the only one that will have to live with the regret of being unhappy and not making the most of everyday.

If you don’t like your job, then don’t do it. Look for something that you will enjoy doing, or even just start taking an evening class that will help you to get you to where you want to be. Get a hobby, when was the last time you tried something new and stepped out of your comfort zone? You will be so amazed what can happen to your life if you do, life is there to be lived, and I don’t even care that some of you will be rolling your eyes, like whatever, because seriously, roll your eyes all you want, but your the one that will suffer if you don't find something that makes you want to get out of bed every morning.

Looking out at the mountains yesterday morning just put things in perspective for me. I was in another country, living my dream, and there are even more amazing things coming in the next few months, I didn’t need to be a bad mood, because it isn’t going to do me or anyone any good at all. Okay, I still felt a bit sick and tired, but I felt motivated to try and change the day around. I turned the radio on, made a fruit salad and put a smile on my face, and it's amazing what a smile can do. 

People are just as happy as they make up their minds to be” 

- Abraham Lincoln

So be happy, be the happiest you have ever been, you are never as young as you are right now, and forever isn't going to last. 

Also a big thank you to everyone who is reading my blog, I love you all enormously.

See ya laters potaters
xxxxx

Sunday, March 16, 2014

Hello explorers,

This weekend I went to Uetliburg, which is a point, near where I live, where you are able to look down the mountain over the whole of Zurich. The views were incredible, the sun was shining and it was a perfect day to have a little wander up there. There isn't much to do up there, other than enjoy the view, so that is what April & I did, we had ice-cream and sat on the grass for a good two hours, just soaking up the sun and watching everything that was going on around us.

It was a pretty picturesque day, and I can't wait to spend more sunny sundays relaxing up there.

I have a pretty exciting trip coming up next week! Eeeeeek! I am so excited, so keep your eyes out of that and I will blog again sooooon.

Love you all a great deal xx

p.s. Happy Birthday Emma!!

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Saturday, March, 15, 2014

The most important thing that happened to me today can be explained in one picture.

Need I say anymore....

xx

Sunday March 9, 2014

Sunday March 9

Rugby daaaay!! 

Wales were playing England in the Six Nations today, so this was obviously a very good day and the only reason that I would ever voluntarily spend 2 hours indoors on another blisteringly hot day. April came over in the afternoon and we sat in the garden again, making plans for the future and choosing places to go and visit. We have a few parks that we want to see and some walks that we would like to do, so keep your eyes peeled for those, I’m sure they will result in some great photos. 

I will gloss over the rugby match, as I’d rather pretend it didn’t happen. Poor Wales and poor Leigh Halfpenny!! Out for the season - devastated. But it’s okay, Scotland - Wales this weekend, so hopefully we will have a better result. Blaah. Enough rugby talk. Although I do missing playing so so so so so so so so so so much. :( Hard life!! 

Now you can see why I didn’t bother blogging the weekend, nothing of any interest. It is Wednesday now and the highlights of my week so far have been ordering a Starbucks in German from the grumpiest Starbucks employee in the world and burning my arm trying to make lasagna. 

I have red some really cool articles on iPhoneography and have downloaded some super cool apps in order to take some great photos on my iPhone, so keep an eye out for those too.

Not much else to report. This weekend, we are planning a trip to Uetliberg to have a picnic, it is a little bit further up the mountain from where I live, and the views over the city are supposed to be even better than where I am now, so I am sure you will all be delighted to hear there will be some new panoramic shots coming soon!! 

Anyway the dishwasher is beeping at me to be emptied and I suspect the laundry is finished too so I will leave to enjoy the rest of the afternoon. I hope that wherever you are the sun is shining and there is a smile on your face.

Mucho amore,
See you laters my little potatoes.

xxxx

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Saturday March 8, 2014

Hello my little explorers,

Sorry for the silence recently. I haven’t been on any big adventures, so I haven’t got many photos or videos to show. But here is a little run down of whats been going on since I last wrote. 

As I write this the sun is beating down and it is a truly beautiful day, there is something about the sunshine, it just seems to make the world a much better place. 

This morning I went into Zurich, to go to the English book store. I bought some marmite and cookie mixture. I know that’s cheating, but trying to work out all the difference ingredient names here, is just exhausting so I was giving myself a break. Plus cookie mixture = minimum mess. 

It was a really hot day. And when I say hot, I mean the sun was shining, and there was no clouds. For me, that means a tshirt/shorts/skirt/flip flops kind of day. There wasn’t much of a breeze so I thought, ‘why not bust out a skirt, they haven’t had an outing in a while’. Apparently though in Switzerland or maybe just Zurich, skirts are clearly not approved of until later in the year. I got some one the dirtiest looks ever. Like yeah, my legs were a bit white, but they’ve been wrapped up in tights and jeans all winter and I am from England. It was a really nice day and people were legit walking about in winter coats and boots, and I was in t-shirt, skirt and converse. The phrase sticking out like a sore thumb comes to mind. So after a bit of food shopping, I scurried home to the refuge of the garden, where I knew the squirrels wouldn’t judge me for my summery attire. 

I had the house to myself all weekend, so I just sat in the garden for a little while. I read my book, ate some berries and soaked up the sun. I even saw a butterfly, which proves that summer is on the way. 

For dinner I made pea soup. I was extremely impressed with my efforts, this isfirst time I have ever made soup and it was bloody delicious. 

After pea soup I made the cookies that I had bought earlier. I don’t know what it is about pre-made cookie dough but I always seem to mess it up. I always over bake the cookies, I don’t know how I manage it, so they were very crunchy cookies, but they still tasted yummy, so never mind. 

I can’t remember what I did Saturday night, proof that it wasn’t that exciting. 

Pictures from my weekend

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Sunday March 2, 2014

I was going to go to the Zoo today, but the weather was still really cloudy and cold, and I wanted to save the experience for a sunnier day. Instead I met up with April, who is nannying for another family in the village. We went back in to Zurich and she showed me around a bit more, we got Starbucks (Only my second since I’ve been here, promise!) and chatted about all the things that she has done in Zurich as well as the other nannies, that she has met and all the things that she would still like to do before she leaves in May/June time. The lady in Starbucks spelt my name wrong, which brought me great amounts of joy. 

After Starbucks, April showed me where my German class would be as they were starting on Monday, and then we went to another Italian restaurant and just had dessert and chatted a bit more about life, amongst other things. It was a lovely day and I am grateful to have made a friend here. On Tuesday, we are going to go around the village and see where the swimming pool and the library are, etc. We are also making plans to go to the Bear Park in Bern, which will be fun. But the same as with the Zoo we are waiting for the weather to warm up. We got back at seven in time for dinner, and then just time for a shower, before I got into bed exhausted after my busy weekend, which is how weekends should be. 

Have a great week everyone!!
xx

Saturday March 1, 2014

This morning, I had a tiny bit of lie in, then after that it was time for my trip into the city. I had a couple of things on my list, but I was kinda just planning to wander round and try and get to know the city a bit more. 

The first thing I did when I got there was visit Grossmünster, which is a really big church on the west side of the river, to get there, I had to walk through all these bendy, cobbled streets. It was pretty impressive, the stained glass windows weren’t as pretty as the ones in Fraumünster, but it was bigger so you can’t have everything! jks. The one cool thing about this chuch thought, was that you could climb to the top of the one of the spires, which was a really long way up.

The first set of stairs were stone spiral ones, that you could barely fit two people up, and as I was halfway up there was this group of ladies coming down, so I had to like smoosh myself against the wall to let them past. It was one of those really awkward situations, that there was no way out of. However, the spiral staircase eventually opened up into a bigger wooden one, that allowed for more than one person to go up and down. There was literally no one else climbing up or coming down at this point though, so it was really eerie and I definelty felt like Quasimodo, climbing the tower to ring the bells

The view at the top was worth the spooky climb though. It was a really cloudy and grey day though, I imagine on a clearer day, you see further out and the city will obv look a lot brighter, but even I had a lovely view of the city.

After visiting the church, I had a wander round the cobbled streets, looking in at some of the shops. I stumbled upon this kinda plaza, which was at the top of this steep hill. It was really nice up there, there was a park with kids playing and these old gentlemen playing bowls and chess, the cuteness of it melted my heart a little bit. I sat and watched the chess game for about fifteen minutes and then it got cold so I decided to walk back into the centre of town and try and find the National Museum. I passed the chocolate shop on the way and went back in to see them making the chocolate again, today they were making the chocolate bunnies for Easter, and there was a news reporter there, interviewing the two chocolatiers. I did make a note of the name of the store to tell you, but I cannot for the life of me remember what it is. I will do better next time, promise. I also found an English book shop which stocked lots of English goodies, like Cadbury’s chocolate, Marmite(!) and Heinz Salad Cream, which I have clearly taken for granted because I miss it. After restraining extortionate amounts of willpower in both the book store and the chocolate store, I went in search of the museum, which I found on the other side of the Hauptbahnhof (Main station). 

It cost 20CHF to enter, which I didn’t think was that bad for a a museum, there was lots there, but a lot of the descriptions were in German, Italian or French and it was kinda difficult to figure out where the English descriptions were, so I just kinda looked in awe at all the cool stuff that had been dug out of the ground, from the past. There were these really cool rooms, that they had moved into the museum, with all wooden panelling for the walls, which had been had engraved, and these massive tiles stoves that were used to heat the rooms, although obv they hadn’t been dug out of the ground.. Most parts of the museum were really empty, so I was wandering around the museum by myself, which again was insanely creepy especially when surrounding by loads of old stuff, which could definitely haunted or cursed or something. I also have the most irrational fear of the mannequins that they dress up in museums to display clothes, but was relieved to see that they didn’t really use them. That was until I walked into this room, and there was about 5 mannequins in there. I don’t understand why they need faces, it’s just creepy and weird. 

I jumped like 10ft in the air, the fact that I was completely alone made the situation 1000x worse, so I got out of there sharpish and went in search of some signs of life. 

By this time it was about 5pm, and the museum was closing so I headed back out into the city. I wandered over this bridge that had all these padlocks on it, put there by couple I assume. Cute. After that I went in search of somewhere to eat by myself, comforted by the wise words of Mencken ‘He who eats alone, chokes alone.’ I eventually found a Italian restaurant, where I managed to eat some pasta, without choking, and read my book. The fact that I was surrounded by couples, feeding each other and making sappy faces at each other across the table nearly put me off but I was super hungry and managed to keep my food down. After I ate, I made a swift exit into the rain, and walked along the river before eventually catching a tram back to the station, to get my train back home.

When I got back, I was soaked through, from having to walk back from the station, and so had the hottest shower in the world to warm up. Vodafone had finally unlocked my phone so I have my Swiss number now! And that was the end of my very exciting Saturday. 

Video from my weekend

Pictures from the weekend

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Thursday, February 27, 2014

HAPPY FIRST WEEK IN SWITZERLAND TO ME!! 

I just thought I would add some photos, that have sort of have summed up my week so far, excluding any that I have already posted in previous posts.
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Photo 1: This weeks quote, couldn’t be more true and probably my favourite quote at the moment. Life is short - cliche but true and if you always stick with what is comfortable and familiar you will never get to experience new stuff, and trust me new stuff is amazing. Get off your butts and do something before it’s too late. Look at me, I get to wake up every morning to the most amazing view, I’m going to be able to spend my weekends, seeing loads of new places and best of all, I have my own bathroom that I don’t have to share with my stupid brother (yes James, that means you). Step out of your comfort zone and you’ll be amazed at what is out there.

Photo 2, 3 & 4: The pretty view I get to wake up to, and also it snowed today - pretty random compared to the previous two.

Photo 5: This one is for the uni lot - made me smile when I opened the cupboard and found these and they constantly remind me that I have loads of friends! ;) (prv jk sry)

Photo 6: Laundry day yesterday and I realised that I own maybe too many  owl socks. 

Photo 7: Received this little message yesterday from one of the favs and I cannot tell you how much I laughed. I thought it deserved to make it to this little summary of photos from my week. I miss you too Jenny! 
Anyway one more day until the big exploration of Zurich commences, I need to start planning my itinerary. Very excited.

Sunday, February, 23, 2014

Sunday February 23.

This afternoon we came home from Arosa. The trip down was lovely, very scenic, as are most places here in Switzerland. The road down from the mountains had 360 bends in it!! We got back around 4pm and after unpacking, I went for a drive, to get used to driving on the other side of the road, which isn’t actually that bad, and driving automatic - having been so used to manual, this was a very weird experience, which is gonna take some time to get used to, I kept hitting my hand on the door, when I accelerated, as I automatically went to change gears. 

After that, it was dinner and time to read my book quickly before bed and a 6:30 start - to get the girls up and organise breakfast. 

As I am now back in Zurich and started working, my days will probably be filled with lots of laundry and cleaning, so I won’t be blogging as much, because thats not really interesting stuff. I will, however, be endeavouring to travel as much as I can on weekends, so I will most likely be updating my blogs on Saturday & Sunday nights.

For now though, have a great week, wherever you are in the world.

See ya laters potaters xx

Saturday, February 22, 2014

Today after breakfast, I went for a walk around Arosa. It is so pretty. The mountains are just absolutely stunning, I can’t get over the beauty of the whole area, and that people get to wake up to it every morning. 

I climbed up onto the of the mountain, not very high or far, as I didn’t have the right shoes or anything, just enough to get a nice view. There was this cute little church there, I wandered around took some photos, and videos. And I slipped over 3 times. Luckily there was no one around but I still laughed and hoped I didn’t look like a crazy person. 

To get up to the little church you had to cross from one side of this hill/mountian to the other side over a ski path. I swear to goodness, I thought I was going to die or at least crash into the skiers coming down the mountain at 1000mph. I wanted to try and get across quickly, but at the same time, the ground is slippy and I was obviously on a slant, so it made it really hard. I will leave you to imagine how riducilous I looked, trying desperately not to fall over but at the same time maintain an air of ‘everything is fine, I do this stuff all the time’ which hello!! I don’t’ 

But risking my life, was definitely worth it to see this little church and the view.

After having a little wander round the churchyard, I had to then get back down the mountain. Luckily, this time, there seemed to be a break in the skiers, and going down hill was slightly easier, so I think I looked less ridiculous, but only slightly. Halfway down I stopped to watch some little kids learning how to ski, it was very cute, and they kept falling over when they tried to sit on the seat things that pull you up the mountain, 

It was about four pm then so I decided to get back. As I got to the bottom of the mountain, I slipped over again and I really wish I had someone to laugh it of with, because it was really funny. I hope that you are all laughing now. 

I managed to get back to the apartment okay, although there was a slight moment of panic when I thought I was lost, but then I wasn’t so it was fine. 

Nothing much happened in the evening, just had some dinner then went to bed, as I was super super tired from all my falling over.

xx

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Friday, February 21, 2014

Friday, February 21.

Today was a very quiet day. we slept late, then had some breakfast - yogurt, bread, cheese, meats - very Swiss. Then I had an hour or so to read & just potter about before we went sledding. 

Sledding was incredibly fun - never done anything like it & I have never seen so much snow. It’s so thick and just covering everything, amazing. The views from the sledging run were pretty impressive - the pictures aren’t that great because of all the white, and I only have a little iPod, not really qualified for the job. 

We came back to the house afterwards and I watched Wild Child with the girls before dinner. Dinner was mashed potatoes, carrots and like a stewed beef - it was another incredibly delicious meal. I definitely need to polish up on my cooking skills and German!! 

And that was pretty much it for today - like I said very quiet and relaxing before the real work starts on Monday. Had another lovely chat with the family after dinner, and now I am in bed. 

Goodnight! x

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Thursday, February 20, 2014

Thursday, February 20.

What a perfect day! Had a bit of a lie in this morning as I was up til late unpacking and sorting my room out. Such a beautiful and sunny day, the temperature is like a British spring day. A little bit cold, but in the sun, it is nice and warm.

I left the house around 12, and caught the bus to the train station, all my myself (!!) then on the train to Zurich, I tried to be polite and let this elderly lady on the train first but as I stepped back I hit another lady with my bag. Fail. 

The train took about twenty minutes, not too long at all. Barbara had drawn me some maps of where to go in the city, so I managed to make it out of the Hauptbahnhof (main station) quite painlessly and was delighted to see not one but TWO Starbucks. I had to find an Apple Store to try and get a new adapter to charge by phone and MacBook as the ones I brought were the wrong size, silly me. So I found one on the Main Street called Bahnhof Strasse. Could I be anymore in love with Apple. I spoke to this really lovely guy you helped me find the right charger for my phone and then when I explain that I needed one for my laptop too, he had to go and check which was the right one, when he came back he brought one with him and gave it to me for free! Amazing, that’s twice I’ve gone to Apple to help in a foreign county and they’ve been so generous. Majorly impressed, please all go and buy Apple products.

Anyway, it’s about 2pm and we aren’t catching the train to Arosa until 4:40 so I’ve found the most beautiful place to sit and look out over the river. 

I’m going to sit here for a bit and enjoy the view then head back into town for some lunch, because I haven’t eaten yet and I’m starving, and then it will be on the train to Arosa. 

3:30: I’ve had a lovely wander round Zurich today, not too far as I didn’t want to get lost. I visited a couple of churches - St Peter Kirche & Fraumünster - love a bit of culture. Really beautiful architecture and stain glass windows. Went into this amazing chocolate shop, that literally smelt like heaven, it was incredible.

Then I did the unspeakable, I had a Starbucks. An absolute travesty, I know, but it was familiar, easy and scrummy so I just did. I can’t wait to learn German, I feel terrible not knowing the language, and everyone here speaks English which makes me feel worse, so I really need to get going with the sprechen sie Deustch. 

4:30pm: Time to catch the train, and here we are in the mountains, it was dark again when I arrived so I haven’t seen much yet, but I am sure they’ll will be some photos to follow in the morning. 

See ya laters potaters xxx

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Wednesday February 19, 2014

Wednesday, February 19

Guten tag amigos.

How are we all.

Big today today!! Moving day!

I got up early this morning… 9am, that is very early for me, and finished off the last of my packing - toothbrush, make up, excetraaa. Then I had to go and pick Piers up because he was coming with us to the airport, cute, then I had to go get some passport photos, for my Swiss train pass, not my passport, I like to leave things to the last minute but not that late.

After that it was airport time, check in, security, blah blah blah. Then onto the plane, I found the sun, hiding above all those horrible rain clouds that insist on hovering over the UK, it was so nice to see the sunshine! Flight was very quick, I read for a bit, listened to some 1D and had some apple juice and a cookie - I really want to make sure I record the very fine details.

After my amazing cookie, we landed. In Switzerland!! Nearly lost my passport twice - left it in the pocket behind the seat, then on the side in the bathroom - absolute nightmare, but I was really tired and at least I didn’t actually leave it.

Getting my baggage off the carousel was so much fun(!!). My bags were really heavy, and everyone was standing around watching me struggle, felt a bit silly. Why do I need so much stuff?

Then I met up with Barbara, who is the lady I am working for, she was very friendly and happy to see me, as I was her. After all the talking and planning it feels so good to finally be here, in my home for the next 5 months. We went and got my train pass sorted for our trip to the mountains tomorrow, and then came home to get settled in. Barbara drove through Zurich, it was dark but from what I could see, it looks so pretty. Can’t wait to have a proper explore in the daylight. We then had beetroot soup for dinner, never had it before, but was very interested to try and it was scrumptious - go and make some right now.

Now I am in bed! Facetimed with the familien (look a German word!) obv, then took a shower, and I was going to go to bed, as I am so tired, but I’d pulled all the stuff out of my suitcases to try and find other stuff and it was everywhere so I decided to just tidy up and unpack now, so I can sleep a bit longer tomorrow.

Home alone for the morning, then taking my first solo adventure into Zurich to meet Barbara and Sinja and travel up to the mountains for some fun in the snoooooowwwww!! I love snow.

This is a very condensed version of the day’s events, I haven’t mentioned the six other times I left my passport lying about because I don’t want to bore you, but I hope you got the general idea, because I’m too tired to write anymore. (Only joking!!) (There were only two other times.)

It goes without saying that I miss all of your faces a ridiculous amount.

Catch ya later potaters.

xxx

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The beginning.

Impossible is merely a word that others use to hold themselves and each other back. Nothing is impossible if your heart and souls wants it badly enough. I want to travel the world and see things for a different perspective. And it all starts here. 

3 days till my first adventure.
5 months in Zurich. 

YOLO babbbbby!!

I’m going to write it all down. Well as much as I can and it’s all going to be here, in this little corner of the internet. I hope that you can find something that you enjoy and somethings puts a smile of your face. 

I have to get back to packinnnng. But hope to see you soon!! :) xx