Ciao! The end of my program is approaching quickly. We present our final projects tomorrow in Locarno next to Leonardo Da Vinci's Il Rivellino. After that I will officially be done with class. Mom and Dad, you guys should be on your way to the airport in a couple hours. I cannot to wait see you and for you guys to experience Europe. You're going to love it!  (below: House by Mario Botta below)

Since my last post we have traveled a little around Ticino (the surrounding area) but mostly stayed up in Scudellate working on our studio project. It's so nice not having 3 other classes and finals to worry about at the same time. Definitely the best/easiest quarter yet! Oh, and we got a tour of Mario Botta's new office. He's an architect, basically a celebrity in Ticino! (below: And there the celeb is with our teachers)

Myself and 3 others from our group took the day off and went to Locarno to do a little work, a little wandering, and see a film at the famous international Locarno Film Festival. Unforgettable night. Hundreds of people come there each year to watch movies in their Piazza Grande. The main street is closed off, the piazza is filled with hundreds of seats, and an enormous screen stretching from building to building is used to project the movie on. Since no bus goes up to our town late at night we decided to stay up most of the night and sleep a little in a park next to the lake. I can check that one off my bucket list!

There's a little cafe/bar next to our hostel owned by an amazing little lady named Piera. She's basically the town grandma or town greeter. I swear everyone in Ticino knows her! She's alwasy giving us free drinks and food even though we cannot understand 95% of what each other are saying. Last Friday she made oso bucco for our entire class, and supplied us with, lets say, generous amounts of wine, champagne, and amaretto:) Life's good in the Scood
(below: the oldest Christian church in Ticino)

15 day trip and then some

Sorry its been so long since my last post. They've been keeping us really busy these last few weeks. Our class took a 15-day trip around Switzerland and its surrounding countries (Austria, Germany, France, and Italy). Here's a recap of the trip and my favorite cities...
Zurich... My second time visiting the city this summer, and as awesome as the first visit. Our class rented bikes for free and rode them around the city, so much to see! The best/cheapest meal in the city were kebaps from a street vendor. Some locals we met took a few of us around the city after dinner to see all the hotspots. Pretty interesting even on a Monday night. We took day-trips to nearby cities each day including Ron Champ in France. Gorgeous chapel way up in the hills. Another great day-trip was to this architecture-kind-of exhibit. A bunch of famous architects designed buildings all within a mile of each other for all of us architecture nerds to enjoy. (Ron Champ below)

Vals... aaaahhh the most relaxing place I've probably ever been! We stayed here two nights, soaking in the thermal baths and exploring the tiny little town. Ive never been to a spa before, and will probably never go to one any that compares to it again. (below: hydrengeas for you momma! they're everywhere in Switzerland!)

Basel... another great urban city I'm in love with. Kate, Andrea and I met a bunch of really fun locals who invited us to their celebration of Swiss National day which they celebrated in a park. Well, more like a forested park with a grass opening in the middle where a couple guys had set up music and a barbeque. It definitely helped make up for missing the 4th of July in the states! (Below: a museum in Bern)

Lugano... If I'm ever rich I may have to buy a vacation home here like George Clooney has. Best lake town I've been to... sorry Lake Wildwood. 5 of us rented a boat and took it out on the lake for an hour. So glad I knew how to drive a boat:) It felt awesome being out on a lake again but made me miss the lakes back in california and wakeboarding a lot more! Somehow we planned it right so that we could celebrate Swiss National Day on the 31st in Basel and again on the 1st in Lugano. Our entire class sat up on a hill by a castle and watched fireworks. Pretty sweet.

The rest of the trip included traveling around Ticino (the state in Switzerland that our study abroad hostel is located) so we got to stay at our "home" the last few days. This last Sunday there is a celebration between our town Scudellate and a nearby town Erbone (which is actually in Italy, about a 15 minute walk through the woods).  A bunch of people from nearby come for the festivities, live music and great swiss/italian food! (below: A castle in Bellinzona)

I'm glad to be back to our hostel but now we have to get back to our studio project and finish it up in the next 2 weeks. Wish me luck!
Miss you all