traveling

May is the month that I've been looking forward to.

I took an exam on the 12th, so it was study study study up until then. Work was also really busy.

The day after my exam I flew with Christina to Naples. We rented a car and drove to Sorrento and stayed there for 3 days. We were orignially staying at a hotel outside the city on the ocean where we got a good deal online. Shortly before we were supposed to leave we found out that the hotel staff went on strike, so we had to find a new hotel.
Honestly, that was the best thing that could have happened. In the end we found another hotel much closer to the city and the pier. The Hotel Bell Air. (http://www.belair.it/)
I STRONGLY recommend that hotel. It's right on the water and every room has a balcony with a sea view. (Pictures coming soon!)
The staff were so friendly. They told us the best way to get into town with the bus, where to take the ferries, recommended some restaurants, etc. The hotel even had a shuttle that went to some of the restaurants in town. Granted they were touristy places, but still really good. We took that option one night and went to a seafood restaurant near the marina. Great seafood, but a little pricey.
The first night we passed a place called the Corner Shop in Sorrento (http://www.surrentum.it/cornershop/). They had a bit of everything, but mainly a huge selection of Lemoncello in really cute bottles. We stopped in and the old man that worked there was SO nice. He gave us samples and we promised we'd be back. We came back the next night and bought lots of gifts and a bottle of wine to share that night. Before we left we asked if he could recommend a restaurant. He walked us across the street to a little place where he said they ate lunch all the time. He walked us into the restaurant and seemed to be best friends with everyone in the restaurant. (I love that about Italy, the people are so freaking friendly!!).
He told the owner that we were his friends and that he should treat us well. They brought us a free glass of wine as soon as we sat down. It was great!
It was all locals eating there, which was so great. They brought us the menu which was just a copy of something handwritten on a piece of paper. The prices were great too. I had veal and I think it was 12 Euros...and it was amazing! We ordered dessert and they brought us 2 lemoncellos and our whole dinner for 2 people was 40 Euros. Love it!

Tonight I'm flying with Christina to Amsterdam for the long weekend. We're meeting Marie, our friend who now lives in London.
It annoys me a bit that everytime I tell people I'm going to Amsterdam they ask me if I'm going to do lots of drugs. Honestly, I'm more excited about going to the Van Gogh and Anne Frank museums and I'm a little bummed that the Concertgebouw doesn't have any concerts this weekend. Yeah, I'm an arts nerd. :-)

busy busy

I have to say, I've been terrible about updating this blog, but I really enjoy reading and commenting on other Swiss Expat Blogs.
I recently went on a tour of the Zürich Google office organized by the Swiss Expat bloggers group. Thanks Ellen for organizing that! It was a blast and really made me wish I had taken a few more programming courses in college so that I could work there. ;-)

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind and it's still going. We had our quarterly busy time at work so I worked through most of Easter weekend. Luckily we got the day off on Sunday and I was able to enjoy a wonderful brunch at Hiltl with my friend Mimi and a nice Easter dinner with Matthias' family in St. Gallen.

Matthias left for China this afternoon. :-(
He's going to be in Shangai until the beginning of August working at the Swiss Pavilion for the World Expo. I can't wait to go visit in June and have my first trip to Asia (!!), but I miss him tons already.

Tomorrow morning I'm going with Christina to Davos. We're going to stay Saturday night and try to get one last ski weekend in.
Monday I leave for Chicago! I'll be there for a jam-packed 6 days. Tuesday I'll be visiting my old office and meeting friends and colleagues for drinks and Wednesday and Thursday I'll be visiting Jonanne and Travis (friends from Drake) in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City and Saturday I'll be in Chicago watching my cousin Kalya in Animal Farm at the Looking Glass theater and visiting with the family over an early dinner at Bistro 110. After that I'll be shopping on Michigan Ave. and meeting a few friends for drinks in the city. I'm also fitting in a mani-pedi and a haircut and lots more shopping. It's going to be crazy, but I can't wait!

I miss American cheese

I just looked at this blog and saw that I haven't posted anything in about 6 months. My how time flies!

I've become more of a reader of blogs than a writer. After moving here expat blogs were really helpful and fun to read and I still keep up with a few.

I was recently back in Chicago for Christmas. I went a little crazy shopping, but it was so much fun. :-) I really love Switzerland, but being home made me realize how much I miss all of the little things.

One of my coworkers is going to be moving to Chicago in March and I'm having a blast telling him about Root Beer, diet Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper, deep dish pizza, bars in the city, the Blues Fest, etc.

Matthias (the Swiss boyfriend) and I wanted to cook something for New Years eve. I started looking through my American cookbooks and realized we would have to improvise with a lot of things...there are so many silly little things that you just can't find here.

We wanted to make pineapple chicken....but you need brown sugar.

A few times I've thought about making nachos. I guess I could make them with gruyere or something like that. All I want is shredded mexican cheese. I understand that Switzerland is pretty far away from Mexico, but it's funny to me that there are hundreds of kinds of fancy cheese in the store, but when you look for packaged shredded cheese you're more likey to find 10 kinds of parmesan.