Interlaken Italians (30-3)

(Left: In Florence with Hercules)
Wow, I can't believe how long it has been since I last updated my blog! I mean I guess its really only been about 6 days, but so much has happened that if feels like weeks! My last couple of days in Florence were enjoyable - I toured the academia and saw David, which was much more impressive than I ever imagined, and hung out with my roomates. We all became pretty good friends and I think I'm going to go visit two of the guys in the Netherlands (they are graduate students, studying there until July) and/or in South America at some point (they are from Chile and Columbia).
                                                                                                            
                                                                                                       (Hiking in Interlaken, had to prove that I was there...)

Lets see, so last wednesday I took the train from Florence to Milan to Interlaken. Some of the scenery we passed along the way was absolutely stunning. Small towns on green, rolling hills located on the edge of huge lakes with massive, snow capped mountains rising straight out of the water. I wish I could figure out how to get my pictures up to show everybody! Interlaken itself had me speechless (not that I had anybody to talk to when I arrived haha) and had me thinking of moving there as soon as we reached it.  A river runs through the middle of the town, a huge lake is a mere 5 minutes away and jagged peaks lock the town in - I felt like it was as close to Hoovile ("The Grinch") as anybody could ever get. I spent my second day in Interlaken wandering around, climbing hills and exploring the lake side. I don't know if I've ever taken so many pictures in only one day.

(Left: My first impression of Interlaken - I was ready to move there with that one view; the following 3 pictures are of Interlaken)

Anyways, now to explain the title of this blog. One of the beauties (and somewhat nerve-racking) things about staying in hostels is that, every time you open that door to your room, you don't know what your going to find. Are your roomates there? Do you have roomates? Are they American? Are the friendly? Well, I opened the door to my room in Interlaken to find 2 bunkbeds scrunched together, a couple feet of floor space and 3 Italian guys. They seemed nice enough, but they didn't speak English too well and I will admit that I was a bit disappointed at first. But, with anything in life, you just need to give it some time - which, in this case, was about one day. There were 4 other Italians that they were traveling with in an adjoining room and they all invited me to spend New Years Eve with them. We played fusbol, pool, sang, talked and learned about each others culture. They were hilarious guys and a couple were actually very good at english and we became pretty fast friends. The next day I was supposed to leave to another hostel in Interlaken so I didn't think that I would see them again, but the first hostel we were in was overbooked for the next 2 nights and the Italians were kicked out and put in, as luck would have it, my hostel.

The owner of the first hostel told the Italians that he would drive them to the second hostel at around 11 in the morning of the 1st of January and so I decided to wait for them to leave to see if I could hitch a ride too. We woke up at 10, at breakfast, waited until 11, then 12, then 1 and the owner still had not shown up. We went and ate lunch at McDonalds and when we got back he still had not shown up. At around 4 the owner finally got to the hostel and told us that he was in no good state for driving and that we would have to get there ourselves. He gave us directions and told us what bus to take so we all set off down the road, 7 Italians and 1 American, suitcases dragging along behind us as we made our way to Lake Lodge. This hostel was located in Iseltwald, about 30 minutes outside of Interlaken, but there is another Lake Lodge located in a neighboring town 15 minutes outside of Interlaken and, of course, the owner had 'mistakenly' given us those directions. So, after a bus ride, some walking and a little bit of confusion, we showed up at this hostel to see a sign reading "closed until April". At this exact moment, maybe the man above was sad for us, it began to pour. We were about 15 minutes from the nearest bus station and had no idea where we were supposed to go. It was this experience, that easily could have upset about 90% of travelers, that really brought us all together. We joked, laughed, sang in the rain (they love the Beatles, Bob Marley, 'singin in the rain', and blink 182) and eventually made our way to the bus and, miraculously (as it usually is when it comes to me and hostel finding/destinations in general) found the hostel.
                                                                                                    (All of the Italians that I met)

We cooked dinner that night (in water that took one        hour and 15 minutes to boil) 'murphys law' they all kept saying, and went to Burn together the next day. In those couple of days I learned much much more about Italy, Italians and Italian culture than I did in 4 days in Florence. They are from Bologna and invited me to come visit them around the 15th of January (near the end of my trip). They were probably the most easy going, chill, funny people that I have ever met. They knew more about American movie culture/actors/ect than I did, but it was the first time they had ever met an American and I think its safe to say I gave them a pretty good impression. It was a bit sad leaving, but more adventures/people to meet are ahead!                      

I am currently in Zurmatt, Switzerland - home of the famous Matterhorn; though unfortunately I have yet to see it as the clouds are covering it in, but I'm hoping to catch a glimpse of it tomorrow morning if I wake up early enough. Its a neat little town (only accessible by train) but incredibly expensive - definitely the aspen of switzerland. I was thinking of skiing here, but I've already wasted enough money in getting here/finding a hostel, so tomorrow I'm probably going to leave and head to Zurich for a couple of nights.


(Above: pondering the next move with Paolo)

I think that about brings everything up to date! Happy 2010! Lets go Broncos!