Here I am with Susan eating at The Marketplace…the main school restaurant. Obviously you are not supposed to have gummi bears on your glasses, but hey…sometimes it just has to be done. Don’t tell the school!

This is a view from…of all places…a shopping mall in Sierre. Those are ALL wine grapes. This region is pretty famous for its wine. I should pick up a bottle or two…if I wasn’t such a cheap bastard.

Here we are being surprised. ‘Nuff said.

Andrea, Cal and Pierre checking out funny pictures.

Here I am out in front of my building…VERY hung over, not wanting to leave. Bah! It was a beautiful sunny day though…and the next day it rained all day, and now it’s cold as HELL. Wait…hell is warm right? Either way it’s chilly.

Winter is coming. It is very obvious. I’ve started turning my heater on at night…and with the rains (that seem to come every 3ish days) more and more snow appears on the mountains in the distance. I can just imagine the snow caps moving closer and closer…until that fateful morning I wake up to snow on the ground. People here are predicting mid-October for first “real” snow. Am I prepared for that? I sure as hell don’t know. It’s going to be a surprise for sure.

I’m not quite sure what to expect having never lived in snow before. Sure I’ve been in snow…do the Crawfords remember that Christmas YEARS ago…that we spent at Northstar? And sure I’ve been camping a lot in the snow (which is very awesome mind you). But these have all been fleeting times…a day, a week, a night…and not much more than that. Here…it is serious snow.

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Well, I just got off the phone with the folks…yay! It had been a while since I heard their voices (too long if you ask me) and it was great to talk to them. We set up some tenative plans for things…for the end of the semester, for Christmas, and for me returning to the states for my internship.

Things are still a bit up in the air here but this is a basic idea of how things will work…
-Graduation on December 14th
-Vacate the room by December 16th
-Travel around Europe with parents through Christmas
-Return to the states before the 1st
-Head to New York in early January to do my stage (internship)

I might go to Chicago for my final 2 semesters…I might now. Again these are tenative plans.

We shall see!

When I first started this whole thing, I was alone in Paris. I knew no one there and had nothing to do but entertain myself with rambling, walking, exploring and…posting. And wow, did I post a LOT. Looking back at all the stuff I said…well, I still dig it…but I can easily see that things have changed.

Back then I was alone…now I am most definitely not. I’m surrounded by people all the time (which can be a bit annoying…being an only child I can only handle so much attention…I guess). Anyway, when I was in Paris I was on Neil Time. Now I am on School Time and let me tell you…things are a HELL of a lot faster paced.

In other words…the random observations about little things is pretty much at an end. The world is once again macro, not micro. This happen fast and furious and it’s tough to keep up the pace of observing, thinking, posting, etc-ing.

I’m not saying the posting will stop. Heavens no! There is still a TON to talk about. It’s just going to be harder to get the fine details of what is happening down. Expect more broad and general sweeping comments…more posts of tiny little things in long lists.

And so the party continues. There are some wild fun people here, and I love ‘em for it. They can be a handful at times but hey…I was too, and am to a degree. But all in all it is nothing but good times. I’ve even been able to teach them that the “old man” needs sleep occasionally. The young learn quickly is seems.

Ethan…the New Yorker…looking oddly surprised. I’m not quite sure what it was.

Here is Pierre (Italy) and Rita (Lithuania). Pierre is being his typical very strange self. Oddly enough he had kidney stones last week and ended up at the hospital. That really sucked…especially for him!

Here I am with Andrea (Norway). She’s a total goof and a blast to party with. Her and Pierre wrestle a LOT. Is love for those two in the air? We shall see!

Neil and Magnus…good friends. Yeah, I went off on him a bit earlier but he is a great guy.

Cal being typical Cal…the lady killer. That is Pierre’s sister on his side, Andrea on the other. She came into town for Pierre’s operation. Did something happen between those two? YEP. And now Ethan owes me 20 Francs ;)