I think that there are certain times in your life where everything just seems to come together in a perfect moment. It happens in different ways to different people, but I think that everyone has that one particular moment that they can look back on and just be happy that they were there.
Right now, I am sitting in a hostel with the windows open, my friends (not so quietly) sleeping, and memories of the last couple of weeks going through my head. The last weeks have been a rush full of new experiences and old, wonderful, familiar ones.
I arrived in France about three weeks ago after a nice flight next to an old French lady who was on her way to Cherbourg to visit her family. We talked lightly on the plane, but by the end of dinner, her very quiet and unassuming personality was heavily sleeping in a position that, almost assuredly, left her great discomfort once we landed. After landing and be berated by the customs in Paris for wearing my Olympique Marseille jersey, I quickly found my luggage and met my friend Sebastien and his father outside the airport. It was amazing to see them. Sebastien was in the process of finding an internship for the next few months and had refused to shave until said internship was found, therefore he had a very thick matting of facial hair, that his mother was much less fond of than he. After reaching the car and saying goodbye to Dominic (Seb’s dad) we headed off to the house. This adventure was incredibly ridiculous because what usually takes only 20 minutes took us just shy of 2 hours thanks to rain, silly French drivers, moto’s, and roads that are almost as old as the Louvre. Once we arrived at the house, it was great to get back into “my” room and settle in. Seb and I then ate some lunch and watched the warm-up for the world cup. Over the next week, I spent the majority of my days eating, sleeping, having picnics in the park, and watching exorbitant amounts of the World Cup. (Insert random joke about the pathetic showing of the French team here….). Christoff, Seb’s brother, and I also saw Supergrass’ last show ever at Cigalle. That was an amazing concert and my love for Supergrass has tripled since that amazing concert.
Then, on Wednesday the 16th, the work started. At about 5 in the afternoon I met my friend Fritz at a train station outside of Paris and we then headed into town to get him situated in an apartment. After dropping off all of his bags, we headed into town and had some great dinner and watched some great soccer. After spending the night wandering around Paris, we agreed to meet up the next day and get some work done. We grabbed breakfast at a small café and spent the entire day working on reservations, housing, trains, planes, etc. Then early on Friday morning, I headed out to Charles de Gaulle Airporte to meet the first group of students.
In a word…awesome. That is probably the best way to describe the first trip. Our kids were great and we had such an amazing time. We walked around Paris and saw all of the great things to see and do including Versailles, Montmartre, Le Louvre, Palais Royal, Luxembourg, Tour Eiffel, etc. Then last Monday, we headed to Switzerland.
It had been about 3 years since I had been to Switzerland before last weekend. In my memory, I remembered a bit about what it was like, the natural beauty, the lakes, the temperature, everything. However, I was not prepared for what I saw when I got there. The lakes were blue, I mean the deep clear blue with a greenish tent that you see on postcards from Aruba. The sky was perfectly clear and the towering Swiss Alps were still covered in snow at the very top with waterfalls cascading down their faces from the snow that had already melted. I love Switzerland. After arriving in Geneva and meeting our guide Robert, we headed off to Anzere, where we would be spending the next couple of days. Fritz was stoked to be going back to Anzere and frankly, I was just as stoked as he was. When we arrived in Anzere, our hotel was right on the edge of town so we had a perfect view of Dome Blanche and the mountains surrounding it. The town had one bar called the Peter Pan which was owned by a guy named Ughi and had the best Heineken that I had tasted in a while.
The next day, we spent at the Chateau de Chillon which was a medieval castle situated on the banks of lake Geneva. Following the visit to the Chateau, we headed down next to the water to have lunch. During lunch, Kent, decided that he had had enough just sitting around and he decided that he was going to jump into the water. Since we had told the kids to bring their bathing suits, this was no problem, however, once he hit the water he immediately regretted that decision. Then, of course, everyone had to jump in and experience the incredible feeling of 40 degree water all over you. I’ve got to tell you…if you ever get the chance to jump into water that cold…do it. It only hurts for a second.
The following day was filled with mountain biking down the mountain from Anzere and then hiking around the top of the peak. The biking was great and the hike was incredible. The vistas from 15,000 feet are incredible in Switzerland and when you are that high, you are past the tree line, so there is nothing that can get in the way of your view. Our guide, Laura, showed us all around the mountain and we got to taste some amazing cheese from a small farm near the peak. Cheese is everywhere in Switzerland and it is always incredible, no matter which town it is from.
Thursday was by far, for me, the best day of the trip. We awoke very early around 6:30 and headed off to breakfast. After eating, we hopped on the bus and headed off to Chamonix for some Canyoning. If you are not familiar with Canyoning, let me explain it to you. You head off into the woods in Switzerland wearing a wet suit, a neoprene jacket, booties, shoes, an oversuit, a life-vest, and a harness, you find a huge freaking cliff with a glacial waterfall that goes into a large pool, then you jump off of it. Awesome. It was one of the biggest rushes I have ever had. I jumped off of a 40 foot cliff, a 30 foot cliff and ziplined down a 150 foot cliff. It was incredible. All the while being knee deep in freezing water that has just melted off of a glacier. The rest of the day was spent at a high ropes course swinging from tree to tree and enjoying being outside.
That night was when it all came together into one of those perfect moments. All the kids were outside and were talking about how much fun we had on the trip. Some were tired, some wanted to play soccer, and some (myself included) wanted to find a way to stay as long as possible. It was after that meeting, sitting in the Peter Pan with Fritz, Laura, and Robert, watching the Swiss team play when I realized how incredible the experience was and how thankful I was that I could have been a part of it. I miss those kids and the times we had, but I know that at some point it had to end. I can only hope that they will come back and do it again.
Thanks for reading.
-Pondhopper
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