Greetings from the Alps! Below in the picture is a beautiful city of Lucerne in Switzerland. In this photo, you can also see me along with three other geniuses who thought it would be fun to go climbing. I chose this photo because I believe it perfectly captures my exchange experience.
The story begins with the White Sheep, the second-best nightclub in Lucerne, right after the Black Sheep. We were a group of students celebrating a welcome party hosted by our student organization. It was probably around 3 AM when Sasha (on the right in the photo) asked, “Have you guys been to the most famous landmark in Lucerne, Mount Pilatus?” We replied, “No, should we go?” I then suggested, “Why don’t we go hiking in the morning? A hangover would vanish too.”
Since we were in Switzerland, we held a referendum on the matter and decided that we would meet at 9 AM at the main train station to begin our journey. In the early hours of the morning, the idea seemed brilliant. The morning arrived, and I barely had time to grab my stuff (a bottle of water and running shoes), and we set off.
The first question was whether we should hike from the very base of the mountain or use the Swiss wonder invention called the “condula” to take us halfway up. After a brief discussion, we decided that the hike from the very bottom would take around 7-8 hours to the top. So, we immediately chose Option B: we started our journey from the middle of the mountain.
Being a cautious Finn, I had brought a bottle of water with me. During our hike, We realized that I was the only one who had brought water. Thanks to my water bottle, we reached the summit in about 6 hours. Once we got to the top, we realized we needed more water. To our delight, we found water for sale, priced at only 7€ per bottle. Sasha, eager as always, went to buy water and returned with a beer, claiming it cost the same.
In the end, we made the collective decision to take the mountain train down. At that moment, it felt like a better option than walking back down. Once we reached the bottom, we headed straight for breakfast at an authentic Swiss-German döner kebab restaurant.
Overall, the trip was a six/5 experience.
I believe this trip perfectly represents my exchange experience outside of school. If I were to sum up my exchange experience in three Finnish words starting with K, they would be: Kaunisluonto, Kaverit and Kalja.
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