I looked out the window to see towering, snow covered mountains peaking above the clouds all around us. We hadn't even landed in Switzerland, yet the beauty of these grand formations had me in awe.
This past week, Gabrielle, Amelia, and I made our way to Interlaken, Switzerland, a small town near the center of the country that is surrounded by mountains and beautiful, turquoise colored lakes. Before stopping there, however, we had the once in a lifetime opportunity to have an individual guided tour of CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research. CERN is home to the first, and the world's largest, particle accelerator, a machine that uses magnetic forces to spin protons at a high speed. Their goal is to have two of these protons collide, which would ultimately recreate the conditions of the big bang in a controlled setting to help us learn more about our universe. Crazy right?! Even though a lot of the physics behind the machines went over my head, I definitely learned a lot and now I can brag to all of my friends that I got to visit this place.
After touring CERN, we started our trek towards Interlaken. Along the way, we stopped in Montrux to see a statue of Freddie Mercury and then later to Gruyères, a small, medieval looking town, where we got Fondue. At this point it was dark, so we did not see that much, but from what we saw, It was absolutely breathtaking.
After stopping in Gruyères, we continued on towards Interlaken. Boy, what a ride this was. Going up and down switchbacks on the sides of mountains in the dead of night with buses and cars racing towards you from the other direction definitely wasn't my idea of fun. Luckily though, we all made it to Interlaken in one piece, with only a little trauma, and settled in for the night.
The next day, we explored Interlaken, hiked in the snow, and drove around to various other towns in Switzerland. This trip made me realize how much I really love being in the mountains and in nature. I am sad that we only got to be in Switzerland for two days, but I know that one day I will be back there hiking up the Alps and eating all the cheese I can.
After our short trip, we came back to our host family with warm smiles and endless jokes about whether or not we could glow in the dark now from the radiation at CERN. Switzerland was my last trip away from Denmark until I go back to the US. It is bittersweet knowing that in only three short weeks, I will be leaving them and going back to my home in Illinois. I will miss the Saturdays of eating cake and watching the Danish Bake Off, the early morning wake up calls for different birthday celebrations, and the feelings of love and togetherness that comes with seeing them at dinner each evening.