Life is a Box of Swiss Chocolates is a weekly column showcasing the life of a UFV student studying abroad. Jennifer is in Lucerne, Switzerland at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts this semester, and documenting the process as she goes.
For the record, I am not engaged to a large, friendly, bearded Swiss man, and I have no intentions of staying in Switzerland after my exams in July. Now that this is out of the way, this year’s April Fools Day was a major success. On my third date with a very nice Swiss man named Sam, I asked if we could pretend to be engaged and take a photo to prank my friends and family back home. He surprisingly did not run away from me screaming, but laughed and said “Yes of course.” So I pulled out the five franc ring I had purchased the day before and we snapped the pic.
I first tested the photo out on my parents before posting it to Facebook. My mom said she was fooled for about a second and my poor father almost had a heart attack. It’s funny to get a text saying “OMG!” from a middle-aged man. I made sure I mentioned Sam to my mom and some of my close friends so it seemed a little bit more believable. Both my parents received emails and calls from friends and family members. I’m not really sure how I feel about my friends and family believing I would do something that impulsively, considering I have only been here for two months. I guess they think I’m fun and spontaneous or naïve and dumb… I’ll go with the first one! April Fools 2017 will be the one to beat.
This weekend I went to a Swiss chocolate factory and we learned how their cocoa is sourced and what production of chocolate is like. We got to taste a lot of different types of chocolate, and definitely got chocolate wasted. At the end of the tour we had an opportunity to make our own bar. They poured the chocolate in a mould shaped like Chapel Bridge, and then we got to add whatever flavouring we wanted. Afterwards, we had coffees and chocolate on the patio before heading into town to have a beer by the lake. Have I mentioned you can drink everywhere here? It is so nice to just get a drink at the grocery store and dangle your feet over the edge of the boardwalk. We just had to make sure we created enough shade so that our chocolate didn’t melt. The weather has been so nice here the last couple weeks that I broke out my spring clothes.
This week coming up is going to be an exciting week! Thursday we have five franc unlimited bowling and then a beer pong tournament, Friday we have a student volleyball tournament, Saturday we are celebrating three birthdays by having a party at our apartment starting at 2 p.m., then an Italian aperitivo (Italian appetizer party) followed by an evening of dancing at the salsa club, and maybe a hike on Sunday. I have stayed home the last couple weeks to get caught up on some readings because the weekends are getting busier and the travel plans are starting to get real. I want to make sure I am not succumbing to the lazy international student stereotype in my group projects.
You might be thinking, how lucky! While we’re studying for exams, Jennifer gets to do all these fun things. Don’t! The university in Lucerne doesn’t have air conditioning, so while you’re out enjoying the sun and refreshing air conditioning at UFV, I will be sweating in a small room with 30 other people with all the windows closed because the trains going by are too loud.
So far I have a day at the Matterhorn (the mountain on the Toblerone bar) booked with my Swiss buddy for my birthday weekend, a weekend in Barcelona, and a few days in Italy during my exam break. For Easter I think I may go shopping in Germany or France for a couple of days but I will mostly stay in Switzerland and do some day trips here. It is such an incredibly beautiful country; you can travel 20 minutes and experience an amazing view. Plus, it is so easy to do day trips because you can travel across the country in about three hours.
To everyone at UFV, congratulations on another semester completed! I’ll be thinking of you as I lay on the Barcelona beaches. Or maybe I won’t be.
Ciao!
