So it begins!

I apologize if this post is a little disjointed and messy. I'm writing this all on an iPad and i am very sleep deprived at the moment.

We arrived in Zurich this morning at around 9am local time (3am est) after taking a connecting flight from Frankfurt. The Frankfurt airport was distinctly German with its numerous pretzel and sausage stands. I tried a German pretzel and would say that it is basically on par with the American soft pretzels that we know and love with the only difference being the mustard, which was amazingly delicious. We then took a 1 hour drive from Zurich to our hostel in Basel. Basel is a very small city that, as I learned today, is the biomedical industrial center of Switzerland. The city (I would almost considerY it a town because it is so small) is covered with cute European houses and old churches. We were forced to drag our jet lagged bodies through the town since our rooms were not ready until 3pm. I was really surprised to see stored like Hermes intermingled with the tiny, local Swiss shops. I would consider Basel an old, classic European city with some modern sensibilities.

A few of us then took a walk along the Rhine where locals were gathered on the banks as well as in the river itself. It seems like the locals really take advantage of their public bodies of water as we also saw a group of Swiss children jumping and frolicking about in one of the town fountains (don't worry, pictures to are to come!)

It started raining later in the evening so we weren't able to go the the town festival that took place tonight but we are going on a walking tour of Basel tomorrow, which I'm really looking forward to.

Anyway, this was a very short overview but I need to get some sleep because I have not slept for more than a day but I will update a bit more after I get some rest! Widerluege!

9 days? Crap.

The title to this post says it all. I leave in a nine days and I seriously do not feel ready at all. Most (if not all) of my anxiety is stemming from the fact that I am a really bad packer and I don't want to be embarrassed by either A) having the largest bag in the group, or B) having a bag so large that it is over the 50 pound airplane limit. Both are real possibilities and B has already happened to me before on a group trip. If I can get on the plane without having to open my suitcase and frantically switch things from my suitcase to my carry on, in the process spilling all of my unmentionables on the airport floor and thus further mortifying myself, I will be happy. Indeed, it's the little things in life.

I also really hope I don't leave anything critical at home. Like my cellphone. Or my passport. That would suck.


But really, I'm so excited. Let the countdown begin.*


*Disclaimer: Don't worry, I am not blogging everyday until I leave, lowering the number of days I have left in each subsequent blog post title. I don't have the time and frankly, that would be pretty annoying.