Last Thursday a rather large group of L’Abri people spent our day off visiting Montreux. I honestly don’t have much to say about it other than it was gorgeous… so this post will be mostly pictures. Sorry, not sorry.
We had plans to walk around a castle which was about a 30 minute walk from the trainstation. It was kind of a long walk, but also super gorgeous.
I mean the Swiss manage to have beautiful gardens even during the winter.
The other advantage of this day trip was that I wasn’t alone. Thus I have actual pictures of myself and the kind people I’ve been getting to know.
When we finally made it to the castle we met up with a group of people who had hitch hiked. (Which is apparently fairly safe in Switzerland). We decided we were hungry and sat down on this dock to eat our packed lunches from L’Abri.
It was a pretty idealic lunch, except for the huge swans who wanted our lunch. Next we toured the castle, which was pretty cool.
We then walked the 30 minutes back to Montreux and went to a grocery store.
We stopped at a cafe after the grocery store to get a caffeine pickme up. Switzerland is a weird place where you can buy good chocolate for a dollar, ok wine for three dollars, but a small black coffee costs four bucks.
One of the group members dreams for Montreux was to stare out at the lake while drinking wine. She purchased a bag of potato chips and a bottle of wine and we shared it on some steps.
We then caught the train home… well we got on the wrong one at first, which meant we missed our orginal bus. However, the bus comes ever hour so we just chilled at the train station. At which point I was asked if I knew which bus went to Villar, a question I could actually answer. Do I win brownie points for being asked directions in a foriegn country and knowing the answer?
Not so Idyllic Things
Just to even out this post a bit, I thought I’d mention some annoying things about L’Abri so no one gets too jealous looking at all the gorgeous photos.
The Chalets are pretty drafty. This means that sometimes when I’m studying my hands get super cold and I have to take a break and hide under my blanket.
Pretty much every floor squeeks and the walls are super thin. This means getting dressed without waking up your roommates is super hard. Also there’s a pretty strict quiet time after 10 pm.
There are hills everywhere and I’m pretty sure my calves haven’t stopped hurting since I got here. The mountains are beautiful, but sometimes I just wish I could walk on flat ground.
Switzerland has super hard water in the mountains and since we air dry everything all the towels are stift and crunchy.
Two showers a week isn’t horrible, but if you time it incorrectly you can end up sweating a lot post shower and feeling gross for three days.
Also Not having access to internet consistantly can be extremely frustrating, especially if you’re cheap like me and didn’t buy a phone plan. It has made me realize how addicted to my phone I am. Often when I do get wifi I end up feeling really stressed out and wished I had just stayed off of it. Maybe there’s something to a no phone life…
In all honesty I find most of these things charming or quirky. I love it here and am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to be here.
Well that’s all for now folks. Love you, bye
My Life in A Variety of Places 