Grüezi!

Grüezi from Switzerland!
Whew! A tired, yet excited girl is sitting in Switzerland drinking a cup of tea. I'm here! How wonderful!
So from DIA, I went to Washington D.C for a layover. Well, let me backup. In Denver, our flight was 40 minutes late leaving. I was incredibly stressed and nervous. Why you ask? Well I had only an hour layover in D.C. To make it better, we were coming in at gate 24, and the flight to Zurich was leaving from gate 2. If you haven't tried sprinting through an airport, what are you doing with your life? It's thrilling! The rush in your hair as you weave past innocent travelers... The look in a window as you realize you look ridiculous running with a backpack... The terror of missing your flight... Let me tell you, this is why we do what we do. (This is all sarcasm, in case that didn't come through.)
Luckily, I did make it to the gate as they were loading the last group. I went and sat on the plane, got al comfy, and realized... Wrong seat! I awkwardly gathered my things and moved forward. Sitting next to me were two little girls- probably 4 and 7. The 4 year old became my buddy and even ended up sleeping with a head on my lap.
I guess that's when it hit me. I'm leaving my home for 5 months to be on my own. I'm not going to see my friends on the weekends, make phone calls easily, or even read English as the first thing I see. And suddenly, I was terrified. Not only terrified but sad as well. Could I really do this?! What in the world am I doing on this plane?! I had heard that once you're on the plane, it's all excitement from there. Well I was practically in tears. Why wasn't I feeing excited? And honestly, I felt that way the whole flight. I distracted myself with TV shows and movies. Tried music and books but realized that wasn't distracting enough for the pit in my stomach. I couldn't believe I was sitting on a plane by myself watching my home fade away with its familiarity as I ventured into a world of unknown. But here's the thing... I kept going. Partly because I knew I couldn't go back, partly because, as one of my best friends pointed out to me, I'd never forgive myself if I didn't go. I had to keep going. It's as if a part of me needs to be retrieved from this trip. As if a puzzle piece of my spirit will be completed by venturing into the unknown and watching familiarity fade. So I kept going.
I kept going and landed in Zurich. I got off, and my first thought... "It's so clean and quite..." And it was. My goodness. That being said, DIA is still awesome because the people watching is way more fun. Hands down better because of that.
I got my bags, went through customs, and went through the gates. I waited for Florian who so graciously came and picked me up. And in his perfect cousin greeting, grabbed my bag, and started walking- not even a hello. Just how I like it. The fog had settled low early in the morning. It was beautiful. I gawked at the beautiful building peeking through the low set clouds as Florian sped past the town- headed home.
At "home" (my home for a while at least!), I said hello, and went to bed. Fortunately, Tom woke me up two hours later for lunch. Delicious!
Afterwards, we went on a quick walk around Adliswil's country side. It was gorgeous. The sun had come out and was just starting to set. It was pretty much the ideal Swiss mountin scene- a shepherd calling his sheep to him as his herd dog worked diligently, the church bells tolling in the distance, sun shining off gorgeous mountains. As I watched this scene fold out before me, I began to feel more confident I'm where I need to be. I'm sure it will have hard, lonely, frustrating, even sad times. But I'm confident that puzzle piece of my spirit will be found as well.
As for now, I'm trying to stay awake till everyone goes to bed to get myself on the right schedule. We'll see how it goes! Thanks for all the feed back on the last one! Please keep it up! Love love it.
Until next time, prost!