here we go

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Hey guys,

To summarize the past week....well. lets start in houston:

well i arrived smooth and sound. Saw some almost scarrily accurate texan steriotypes all discussed in the last post. So i pass through as quickly as possible. I get to my assigned gate and wait...wait... and wait. turns out the sign is labeled mexico city. I fugure it will swich. It never does. I miss my flight to newyork. go to customer service. they send me to a gate on the furthest corner of the airport. with 10 mins till departure... so i sprint through crowds of large southernly accented men with cowboy hats WAY bigger then god intended. But luckily i barely made it. Flight lands in luguardia. so more dippage to find a shuttle to JFK. When i get to JFK I'm greeted by norma sams a small elderly lady employed by franklin addmission who is almost as relieved as i am to know that i arrived. hop on the group flight and all is well after a crazy ass day.
When we land in Zurich, we are picked up by a large bus driven by a large blond italian man. his name is marcos. He is a school icon apperintly. If we ever take accademic travel via bus Marcos is our driver and bus DJ. Dude got euro techno remixes of alot of american songs haha. along with the originals ofcourse. Anywho we arrive on campus, jetlag kicks in and we crash at the right time to avoid any lasting damage.
Next day we are separated into our orientation groups. I met some cool people, got some names and we toured the city and campus. pretty nice. Local women are very attractive! so i will be doing my best to eliminate the language barrier as quickly as possible. haha.
Over the next few days we learn the ropes, get situated in our new surroundings by venturing out in our orientation groups led by our fearless Orientation Leader(OL) Kandyce.

quick facts
Jelato here is absolutely incredible.
The city frovides free wifi on lakeside parks along with coffee shops and a designated wifi hot spot.
they have milk that has no experation date till you open it.
The city is incredibly hilly.
I phones are 200 francs with a 2 year contract.
chocolate is copious and cheep. (dont worry girls i got you covered)

Anywho on to the day trips.
First day trip i elected to hike up a local mountain with some kids and a few more leaders. That was gorgious. on top of the mountain was a church. with a 360 view of surrounding cities vilages lakes and even italy. We were so high up Milan was actualy in sight pictures are on facebook but i'll try to throw afew up here as well.
Second daytrip was yesterday. we went to the valley of Versasca. where we hiked to a hidden away waterfall with a lake lying before it. that was pretty. Its franklin tradition to dive in so, stupidly i did. When i was in any deeper then my thigh i was breathing was completely messed up. i couldn't get a regular rate so i just help my breath and swam as fast as i could to the far side haha. That was by far the coldest water i have ever swam in. Its Switzerland so obviously its glacier run off. Next stop in the vally was the rocks. Another tradition where students climb on a high rock, about 15 to 20 feet high and ofcourse jump in. that was amazingly fun. Some brave souls jumped off the bridge. which was about 10-15 feet higher. potentially dangerous. but ridiculously entertaing to watch. these pictures i will do my best to post
today and yesterday are my first classes. yesterday i have political science at 830 am and i'm done for the day. today i have college algebra gametheory and french. next tuesday will be my london lecture.

anywho that should be it if i missed anything let me know i'll add it or just streight up tell you if its personal. i gotta go to class so i'll post the pics later

thanks guys

-John

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Photos

the waterfall
that was cold