I want to know, have you ever seen the rain?

Saturday Aug. 26th:

We wake up around 9 today, and split up pretty much immediately. Half the group had planned to go to Luzern with me, while the other half wanted to go to Interlaken to spend their Saturday and Sunday.

After saying our goodbyes, the six of us left took a day tour of Zurich shortly after checking out of the hotel. I was the appointed picture taker, so I missed a lot of the dialog, but I got some sweet pics of the city. Here are some personal favs.























After a quick lunch downtown post-tour, we all hopped on the train to get to Luzern by the late afternoon. We were told by another member of our group (back at the villa)that someone had said this city was the most beautiful they had ever seen, and I think I would agree, if it weren't for the pouring rain we saw when we arrived. It was that way the whole visit, unfortunately. But, that wasn't going to stop me from exploring. I figured I'm only going to be there once for a very long time, so regardless of the weather, I'm still going to make the best of my time. And I did just that.

After arriving in Luzern, we took the bus that hauled the 6 of us to a stop that supposedly was where our hostel was. It wasn't at all. We walked around in the rain for about 15 minutes before a very nice employee of the Youth Hostel we were staying at was walking back to it from her car. It took us about another 10 min. just to get to the hostel. We walked down this massive hill and several different sets of stairs to get there, and decided that without this kind lady guiding us we probably would not have found it.

The hostel was I think a very different experience for the boys than it was for the girls, but I'll get to that later. After unpacking our bags, we headed back downtown for dinner, and while we were there, everyone decided that they were really too exhausted to do much more. That, and the fact that it was still raining really hard didn't help sway their decision. But for me, I told them I would meet them back at the hostel later that night, and wandered the city on my own. The greyness really wasn't helping the image all that much, but you could still see a lot of the city's true colors at night despite the nasty weather.

I wanted to see everything, and ended up getting lost about 3 times down the winding roads leading up to the hostel, but definitely got the extra paces worth of pictures. I just wish it would have been a biiit clearer that night and next day. I even saw a hedgehog for the first time ever on one of the streets! My batteries were dead by that time, but here's a good one from the night of wandering Luzern


The city is lined with 5 (or so) castle peaks like that one and would have made for some really neat exploring, but they were closed for the night by the time I got to them. After taking lots of twists and turns I finally meandered my way back to the hostel for the night.

OK, back to the hostel experience. The rooms are set up like 20 bedroom dorms, all same sex rooms, with bunk beds lining the walls. I myself had no trouble going to sleep, because I literally passed out from walking around so much when I came back to my bed. Now that was in the guys room, but when talking to the girls later Sunday morning, they said their stay was quite unpleasant, mostly because of the other girls in the room with them, and the sheets the hostel provided bothered them. I think maybe had I been less tired at the time I might have noticed, but it really didnt phase me at all. I sure hope they caught back up on their sleep when we got back to Riva.

Movin' on to Sunday (anything but a sunny-day)in Luzern...

Keep on keepin' on peacefully,

B Ezie

Stop...HAMMER TIME!

WHAT A WEEKEND! I went to Zurich and Luzern (both in Switzerland), and it was definitely an eye opener, and lots of fun to boot!

Here comes the recap! I think this one will be lengthy, so brace yourself.
I'll try to keep it concise, but there are no promises. If it starts to become too long, I may break it up into multiple posts for your convenience, and easier editing :)

Friday, Aug 25th:

After class, I took the 1:47 train to Zurich through Lugano with about 12 or so other students. It was easily my favorite train ride thus far, because we travel right through the Alps, and you see such a stark difference in climate change between the cantons of the country due to the high peaks separating the lands. There is also a massive culture change as well. After crossing through the major mountain out of the canton Ticino and into the next one, Uri, the language immediately changes from Italian to German on all of the signs and shops you see.

It was about a 3 and a half hour ride, though it seemed faster because one of my roommates, Bryan, myself, and two other girls in the group, Monica and KT, were playing a card game similar to spades that took up a big chunk of the time. Lots of fun--Wisp I think was the name. If you haven't heard of it, I'll teach you when I get back!

Anyway, after arriving, we immediately hunted down our hotel that we reserved earlier in the week so that we could drop off our bags and explore the city some at night.

Zurich is in the northern part of Switzerland, is the largest of all the Swiss cities, and is all German speaking. I thought at first I would have a huge language barrier to overcome, being that I know not a single semblance of German. I was grateful to find out, however, that Zurich is also the country's cultural center, and the majority of the people there speak english well enough for us to get the help we need in situations that otherwise would find ourselves hopeless.

The hotel we stayed at (the Leoneck) was all about cows! Literally everything there had something to do with cattle. They had copper sculptures in the front, a mobile with papier mache cows and a milk tank hanging from it, and a silhouette of Switzerland decorated with cow-bell clocks designating times around the world. Even the keys had humongous wooden cow key chains. It was a bit much, but was cute nonetheless.

After settling into the room and putting our bags away, all of us wandered around town to explore a bit and see the shops and monuments. Soon after arriving downtown, we discovered we had arrived on the weekend of Dörflifest, a classical music festival! The entire place was PACKED in a way I would imagine New York to be most days, and it was really tough to get around, but it was lots of fun! The band played Stars and Stripes Forever, which I found odd, but still enjoyed the familiar tune before moving on.

When I finally broke away from the majority of the crowd and further away in the city, I came upon these three musicians panhandling under an awning and stopped for a while. Their music was absolutely beautiful and pitch perfect it seemed. I listened from afar at my spot across the street.

That same spot led me to some really great other pictures of a couple of churches and this bridge over the water passing through the city. It was really quite the romantic atmosphere away from the busy noise of mid-city.



When I rejoined with the group, we went out to the bars and clubs for a while to dance and share a drink or two. It's really amazing just how much the people here in Europe idolize American music. They absolutely love it! And they dance much differently here. Its not the bump and grind style most young Americans are accustomed to, more like the I'll-dance-my-way-while-you-dance-your-way-freely-with-me style of the 60s and 70s. Songs of note at the bar we ended up staying at: GhostBusters, Can't Touch This, Teenage Dirtbag, Naughty Girl, Crazy, and Promiscuous Girl. Not what you would typically expect in a mix together, but everyone had a good time nonetheless. Maybe it just happened to be the bars we went to, but it seemed to be pretty consistent wherever we peered in. After that we called it a night.


To be continued...

B Ezie

...I'm traveling at the speed of liiiiiight!...

Hey all, just a quick update. The trip was absolutely phenomenal! I got back safe and had a lot happen today as well, but, I've got to hit the hay. Details and pics to come tomorrow.

Oooh! A peace of candy! --Love brand,

B Ezie

This is a little song I wrote, might want to sing it note for note...

Don't worry. Be Happy!

I certainly am! I earned a grade of 97% on the midterm I didn't quite feel prepared for and life is good!

"Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish."-John Quincy Adams

Me studying in the early morning hours during the sleepless binge.

The book finally came the night before the exam, making my review day go by much smoother than previous study times. There's really not much else to say about it...I'm just thankful I was able to press through and retain all that information despite the odd study hours and some interruptions of having to hand borrowed books back. And, it's always nice when you can follow along in class with your own book to make notes in as the professor goes through the notes. It was definitely a plus this morning.

If any of this isn't clear I'll give you a brief run-through of the past few days. I wasn't exactly speaking in chronological order in these past few posts, and it was really kind of a mess. So here you go.

Monday/Tuesday: All nighter and reading/vocab work on
all 9 chapters to catch up

Tuesday: Final class material before exam; book arrives;
review until about midnight; GLORIOUS sleep

Wednesday: Midterm; Italian class; and then some fun...
more on that with further reading

Today: Back to normal!

Now then, on to yesterday's (Wednesday's) fun.

After the midterm, a bunch of the girls who are planning a trip to Nice, France for their first weekend trip, hopped on a bus with me to the neighboring city of Mendrisio, so that they could purchase their train tickets. I wanted to explore some of the city, but didn't get much chance. The bus was making a return run shortly, and we had to make it back in time to eat lunch with everyone else at the Villa. What I did get though, is a picture of the Landmark Map posted at the train station, so that I know what to scope out for the next time I get into the city. Have a look. Not a top quality pic, but it still gives me enough incentive to go back and explore, those churches and plazas (things labeled chiesa and palazzo on the map) look really cool and I want to go back soon and take lots of pictures.

Anyway, we all catch the bus back, and get some lunch before everyone starts relaxing and hanging out as most do in post-exam times.

That night, we had a special guest speaker come in before dinner, and he had some absolutely incredible stories to share with us. His name is Denny Lane, and he lives some 20 minutes down the road from the Villa. He served in the US army for 30 years, the Red Cross for about 4 or 5 years in Kosovo, and then returned to the military as an advisor for the Department of defense. He's lived in some 12 or so countries, including but not limited to Cambodia, Great Britain, China, Albania, Iraq, Thailand, The United States, and Mexico. There are more that I know he mentioned, I just can't recall at this point. He talked to us about democracy, for the most part. On that subject, he offered several different cultural views on what justifies the needs of people... He mentioned that everyone, no matter what religion, race, etc., all need and want the same basic fundamental things: food, running water, shelter, and a promising future--and that a great majority of people don't appreciate that when receiving help they are told what they are doing is wrong and that there is only one way of doing things. He said this may be a part of the reason so many countries are feuding, including the United States, because some of the clashing governments and groups have lost sight of what people really want, and focus only on the surface(or basis) structure attempting to regulate those needs. It was a very interesting perspective, and may elicit a feeling of controversy to whoever listens or reads, but I'll leave that up to everyone's personal interpretation. Could spark up some good debate, and brings up a lot of questions, personally. But, that's something I'll have to explore in my own endeavors.

Denny also is the step-son of the man many consider to be the model for Ian Fleming's famous James Bond character, Peter Smithers. For more information on that,

go here.

Denny lives in Smithers' estate, and has invited the students out to see his garden and winery whenever we all as a group have some free time. Very Cool.

Here he is (right-center, seated) with us after our special formal dinner.


Then today (Thursday), the schedule has returned to morning class and work/free time in the afternoon. I had originally planned to go on a hike to a famous bear cave around here with some of the group and a guide, but it's absolutely POURING sheets of rain outside :(. We re-scheduled though, so I'm still really looking forward to that whenever it comes up.

And, in new news: this will be the last post for me until at least the 27th, maybe the 28th, as I will be traveling starting tomorrow afternoon!

Where to? Guess you'll find out when I get back!

Peace, and also love.

B Ezie

I couldn't sleep at all last night...

Still, just lyrics people, but for those who did worry, your assumptions were indeed correct. I didn't in fact, sleep at all... last night.

Yep...Eurotrip all nighter #1. The first, and hopefully the only I'll have while here in Riva. This afternoon and tonight I'll be sleeping like a narcoleptic with a shock inducing trigger to get lots of rest before the midterm

A lot of things were thrown at me at once yesterday, but thankfully I was able to put it all behind me in the long hours of the morning. Although, a few surprises along the way made the night/dawn go by so smoothly because I was in such a good mood. Read on to find out why.

Lets see, where to begin?...

Ah, old news.

The books didn't come in like they were supposed to, and I was then two days away from the midterm without my own printed copies to write notes all over or highlight. I'll be honest I was definitely getting edgy about it. Apparently the latest scoop is that the books have been shipped back from customs with no fees, but they were en route to the local post office when Jeffry went to try and pick them up. They closed before the books got there (if at all, it still remains to be seen). Now even without the books, I've fared reasonably well, meaning I've outlined about 4 chapters with pretty in depth detail. However, if I had remained at that snail's pace, there is no way I would be fully prepared for all nine chapters included in the midterm. So tonight's objective was to do all the vocab for the chapters and scan over the key points..I knew it was going to be a long night already.

We also had our first Italian class yesterday, which was fun and useful, but a big deterrent from the study time I needed. After class I started to get even more stressed too, but not because of the work I had to do. I had recieved several emails from fraternity brothers, and discovered on my own that someone in Blacksburg was on the loose, escaped from prison, having already murdered two, and was still considered armed and extremely dangerous. I first found out on CNN.com where it was their TOP HEADLINE...no joke. Here's a pic of both the local police website when the suspect was still on the loose and a CNN article from today after his capture. I got extremely worried about all my friends at home, and started to contact as many as I could for a good 3 hours, even better for my late night studying cause.

The surprises I got came soon after though, and one actually was while I was seeing if a few of my fraternity brothers (and sisters actually, but we call them brothers too) were alright. Everyone seemed to be ok, which was a great relief, but what made the feeling oh so much better was when I was told my friends got engaged!!! CONGRATS MIKE & LIZ!!! It absolutely made may day, it really did.

The second surprise came on here when I was looking through post comments, and discovered that my parents are now blogging! Now to most that may not seem a very big deal, but my parents and I, though it's tough to admit, don't talk as much as we should when I'm at school, both due to stubbornness on both sides, and the fact that we never know what's going on at the other end of the phoneline, and now we get the chance to do that on a fairly regular basis!

I literally just glided happily through the chapters from that point on, despite it taking me until 6:30 to get it all done. I could have waited to do some this morning and spread it out, but I feel better knowing the hard work is complete and the rest is just review.

For now though, I'm gonna take a good 4 hour nap, continue studying, then sleep for real...

peaaaczzzzz...

B Ezie

We'll get there fast and then we'll take it slow...

A few of the boys outside smoking Cuban cigars in celebration of Todd's (the one lighting his) 21st birthday.

I didn't partake, but that was the general motif of the day. Chillin'.

Class was postponed until 2:00 so that the group of students who were in Lugano past midnight could get their rest this morning. That gave me a great opportunity to sleep in until 10:30, which was, for lack of a better typical college kid word, RIGHTEOUS!

I then got in for some good brunch, which included this really tasty chili-sausage dish along with my cereal and OJ. Went home to clean up and headed back for class.

There were no real big changes today, other than the time. It's pretty much becoming a standard in class as it seems they all tend to do, whether it be in Blacksburg, or at least 6000 miles away here in Switzerland.

The post class happenings though were something new yet again! I wandered down to the lake by the Co-op building (where we buy our groceries) and the ATM to snap some shots of the scenery, the locals, and a few of the group members that were swimming.

The lake -- I.Can't.Breathe. Yeah, its pretty much that beautiful. Have a look see!

So after that I walked around town, and back to the Villa to get my study on. The midterm is in three days and I still don't have a book, so I keep borrowing other people's and filling in my notebook as much as I can before they need it back. I'll probably be at it for a while tonight, as I have two more chapters to cover yet. So until tomorrow....

Goodnight, and good luck.
Plus Love and peace.

B Ezie

And if at first you don't succeed, you can dust it off and try again...

Dust yourself off and try again. Try again.

At last, after lots of work and side travels, I've finally gotten the chance to catch you all up to date here on the blog.

For the second attempt, today in class I tried to pay more attention to what Dr Littlefield was saying rather than what was on the slides, and It seemed to work. I'd write down some general summary of the things he'd point out and just key words from the slides. Looking back on the notes, they seemed to actually have some structure this time and made sense to me when putting piece to piece. So I'd say I won that small battle of figuring out how to keep up.

He's got some pretty great stories, and has seen a lot of the worlds different ways and customs through several abroad programs, jobs, and places he has lived. There's really a lot you can learn from someone who is so well traveled, and not only in the business context we are thrown into in class. Of course a bunch of things relate to the subject at hand, but just talking to him outside of class has already provided me with an invaluable wealth of information on how to travel smarter, some of the differences between European and Asian ideologies, and what to look out for when heading into the cities around Riva. He also loves his daughter very much, as any father should, and talks about her constantly, both in and out of class.

Dr. Littlefield let us out a bit early today, and after lunch and some more catching up all of the students left for a train trip North to Lugano, a large lakebound city a short 10 minute ride away.

The city is almost too appealing to describe in words, so I'll show you some of my favorite snapshots. The only real downsides were that most of the stores had closed by the time we had arrived, and the whole day was pretty much overcast. Still, I immediately fell in love, especially with scenes like this one in the park by the lake.

Here are a few more personal selections for your enjoyment, and as per always, new pics are loaded :)

You've finally got a peace of the pie! Love pie, that is.

B Ezie

We've only just got started; we've only just begun.

Please forgive the uncouth grammar in the title; it's merely a quote from a song. Rest easy compadres.

Friday August 18th, 2006

Today was the first day of class. Not really all that much different then a class day down at Tech really in terms of getting ready. Since it started at 9, I got up around 7:45 and did the hygiene routine, grabbed some grub at the Villa and headed up to class on the 1st floor.

The first class I'm taking is Marketing. Now normally, this would be a class I'm generally prepared for, but there was a great deal of adjusting to manage today.

First off, I don't have my textbook, or any of them for that matter. All of my books were taxed in Zurich customs by mistake, and were sent back to the customs office by the Villa caretakers to resolve the issue without me having to pay extra fees. I was told they should be back here by Monday, but by then I'll be pretty far behind. There's really nothing I can do about it, except borrow the book when the other students aren't using it. In the meantime, all I've got in class is my notebook, so I still felt reasonably ready for the crammed semester to start.

I wasn't...

The professor, Dr. Littlefield, moves at a lightning pace when running through his notes on the slide projector. From the time he placed a slide down, I can get maybe two words onto my notebook before he removes it for the next slide. All of this happens while he's saying a few other things that may or may not be of critical importance, but I found it hard to keep up, trying to balance the slides and his words together and write some from both all the while.

Ultimately I didn't get much out of either, so I'll have to try a new strategy tomorrow. No worries my friends...I borrowed a book and outlined the chapters later on :).

Class had a 10 minute break around 10:25, and then continued on through to about 12. The rest of the day was given to the students to explore the town, catch up (like me), and do some reading and homework for tomorrow.


After I finished up, I whipped out my camera and decided to explore the views in and around the Villa because it was such a beautiful day! The picture above is a panorama from one of the girls' rooms on the 2nd (3rd) floor.

There was also this GORGEOUS setting in the garden in the back yard...












All that and more now updated in the photoalbum link.

That night, a group of us students went to a MASSIVE church to see some locals perform a classical concert. It was very VERY tall, maybe 200 feet to the ceiling I'd guess, but width wise it was only about the size of a traditional family room and kitchen. It sounded as if performed at the Kennedy Center, I guess is how I could make a comparison close to home, despite small numbers in the band and the small proximity. The singer had a very powerful, yet soothing voice and the entire band was very pleased to see the American audience amid the rest of the village people, (Y!M-C-A!!...just kidding) and our praise for their performance as well.

The culture is very rich here, and I've only just now had my first real taste. It really is only the beginning. When I have time to sit down and reflect on it I'll be sure to include another post. For now though, I need to get ready for tomorrow's set of class and activities.

Lots of G Love and speaceial sauce,

B Ezie

Don't know much about history...

Thursday, August 17, 2006

Early morning wakeup today, 7:45 AM, (Riva time) and it was the first of many I predict. After a quick hygiene routine (shower, brush, floss, etc.), I walked over from my apartment (view from front door seen here) to the Villa (Yellow building on the far left) for some buffet style breakfast.




The food is great! They have all kinds of stuff to choose from, such as my staples: milk and cereal; oj; iced tea; coffee; yogurt; assorted fresh fruits; and freshly baked bread with choice of fruit jam or gnutella spread.

Anyway, after colazione(Italian for breakfast) everyone met in the main classroom for Orientation part 1. In this portion of orientation, we were given a plethora information on the history of the house and its ownership, the reason the region I am now residing in is a part of Switzerland and not Italy, how the abroad program ended up in Riva, and a bunch of other cool things about the local culture. Here are a few of the things I remember.

The abroad program CESA, or the Center for European Studies and Architecture, started off in Salzburg, Austria and was pretty successful for a few years. The professors wanted a more central location, however, and attempted to first move to North Switzerland. Because the location was in the city, the students never got a chance to connect to the culture, as they were constantly seeing different faces, and the learning experience dropped a large amount. So in the following years, they moved back to Austria, and then finally, down here to Riva in 1991, which is a very small town about 5 miles from the border of Italy.

Originally, the school was only an architecture program. It was changed to include business in 1993, and has continued here consecutively until now into its 13th year of existence.

The building itself was built in 1756 at the latest, at least that's what the owners can guess based on old records passed through the library that show it has existed. Regardless of definitive concrete age, the building is at a minimum 250 years old and is surprisingly in AMAZING shape structurally. It was bought in 1991 with no heat or water from an 80 year old couple who had lived here for several decades.

At the time, it was tattered and decrepit, but the staff here worked hard with the community and completely renovated the building. It looks great now, complete with refurbished paintings designed to give the appearance of three dimensions on a flat ceiling.







Oh, and one more really surprising thing. Virginia Tech President Charles Steger is the one that we students, professors, and assisting staff can thank for continued occupancy of the Villa in Riva San Vitale. He started the VT foundation for the Architecture department, and its funds pay the salaries and servicing fees associated with all things having to do with maintenance of the program.

The rest of today was spent continuing through the class portion of orientation, rules and regulations of the house, and fantastic meals provided by our in house chef, Luigi. More on that later...

For now, mind your Peace and Q's with love,
B Ezie

Well I was sittin', waitin', wishin'...

Pic of the group waiting for the next flight in Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris.

To most, this stop was a grueling 4 and a half hours where sleep deprivation was finally taking its toll. As for me, since I had gotten that little nap on the first flight, I wandered around exploring the airport's little shops, newsstands, and general structure of it all. The architecture of the building is pretty neat, check out the ceiling trusses here. It kinda reminds me of a backbone.

Before I get too far ahead of myself though, let me prep you on the Charles De Gaulle airport should you ever have to travel through Paris. No matter what, you will be spending a minimum of about 2 hours transferring from flight to flight. When we landed, we spent about 30 minutes just on the runway getting to the stop for the bus to the main terminal. The bus to the terminal took 10 minutes as well, but we were at a different gate, so we needed to wait for another bus to transfer us over shortly after. None of it was a huge ordeal or stressful, but its not what I'm used to seeing at an airport. The place was just monstrous. When leaving on your following flight be prepared for another 30 minutes on the runway as well.

So that was that, a little waiting and a bit of exploration before the flight to Milan. I gotta say, that second flight was not as fun as the first. I got the middle seat in a row of three on a smaller plane, where I could neither stand all the way up when going through the aisles, or sit comfortably because my knees were jabbing into the seat in front of me. I was definitely thankful that this one was only two hours instead of the eight hour trek of the first flight.

When arriving in Milan, all of the students raced out to baggage claim to get our stuff, and wheel away our bags to yet another bus about a half mile away. A few of us weren't so lucky, however. Two students had lost some luggage in customs miscues, and one of my roommates, Bryan, had only his carry-on with him. Now it's friday, and he's still without his bags. We've been told they are now on their way, but don't have any idea when they will arrive.

The bus trip from Milan to Riva, the final stop, introduced us to Jeffry. He is more or less our resident advisor, but he is also the cultural events coordinator that helps us out when wandering around town while we are still re-learning the italian language. He knows every single person in town, and has a vast knowledge of everything local, along with several things about places we will be going later on in the trip.

After about an hour or so, we finally arrived at the Villa Maderni,(Maderni Manor) where the majority of us are staying. It also houses the classroom on the 1st floor (2nd in America, as we usually count the ground floor as the 1st).
After unloading all the luggage from the bus, we all filled out our paperwork that was still yet to be done. After finishing, we turned in our deposits for room keys, digital key-cards for entry into the Villa, and towels. Once all that was taken care of, each student was sent free to explore their rooms, the manor, or their apartments before heading to bed.

So there it was, wacky wednesday in a nutshell.

Orientation day coming soon...

Peace and Carrots,
B Ezie

Lord I was born a ramblin’ maaan!

Wednesday, August 16, 2006.

That’s right, ramblin’…the entirety of today’s (and most of yesterday’s) events was spent traveling to the home base.

The first flight began from Dulles airport around 6:35 PM Eastern Standard Time after about four planned hours of waiting to get through security. We left 10 minutes ahead of schedule, actually, so it was looking as if this trip would be done a bit quicker than anticipated. When I checked my bags, I requested to be placed in the exit row so that my tall, lanky self would not be so cramped up on the long flight to Paris. General rule of thumb: Exit seat = LEG ROOM!!!

Anyway, back to the flight.. About 2 hours in I looked over and saw this out the window...


Easily one of the most beautiful sunsets I've ever seen. There are more now posted in myphotoalbum :)

Shortly after it set, and a VERY nice airline dinner, I fell asleep for a surprising 3 hours, which effectively overcame the jet-lag most of the students are now dealing with. After waking, sunrise peaked at around 1:00 AM eastern time, and we landed shortly afterward (2:45) in Paris at their/my new local time, 8:45 AM.

More to come in the next post...(also the 16th...lots to explain yet)

Peace and love,
B Ezie

You say goodbye, I say Hello...

Hello Hello!

Time for a little pre-trip fun...just to pass time before my flight in 5 hours.

While packing over these past couple days I have been playing my music on the computer as I went along just to avoid the silence. Yesterday, I became curious as to "what kind of mainstream music has come out of Switzerland"? So, being curious as I am, I decided to do a little research on the musicians that have become internationally famous and may have crossed over into American airwaves.

One of note...



Urs Buhler, tenor member of world famous opera group Il Divo.
My parents have the album, and I have to say it's not as bad as some would imagine it is to listen to. They all have beautiful voices. Check it out if the mood strikes ya!

And then there were these shockers!



Yep, Cyndi Lauper and Jewel, though not directly. Cyndi's father was Swiss-German, and Jewel's Grandparents were both Swiss, and immigrated to Alaska in 1941.

There is also some interesting American/British music history found in Switzerland. The rock n' roll legendary track Smoke on the Water found its origin in Montreux Resort on Lake Geneva.

On December 4th, 1971, during a concert given by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, a rocket-flare was fired into the ceiling and the building was suddenly engulfed by flames. As clouds of smoke soared above the waters of the lake, Ian Gillan, of the band Deep Purple, who was watching from his hotel room, was inspired by the sight and wrote the song that became just about every beggining guitar player's first learned melody.

Also on that same lake, there is a statue of Freddie Mercury, lead vocalist for the band Queen. While not Swiss by any stretch of the imagination, he made his second home in Montreux, and was his final resting place when he passed away in 1991.

And so begins the sponging of info, hope you all find this stuff as interesting as I do!

More to come from a far away place!

Peacechops and applesauce,
B Ezie

A fresh start. So fresh and so clean clean!

And so it begins, my first official post in what I hope becomes a long lasting habit-- the blog; bloggery; entering the blogosphere; fighting for freedom and glory in the bloguseum; frequenting a McDonalds for bloggy meal and toy; impulse shopping at blogazon.com; painting a blogture, a self-blogtrait perhaps? So maybe I've gone a bit far, but any way you wish to look at it, it's something I plan on doing frequently.

After debating for the longest time on how best to preserve my memories from abroad while keeping in touch with friends and family, and, thanks to an urging by a good friend, (thanks again Rex!) I've decided that this is the best way to go.

Pictures with commentary could have worked, but in time I feel that looking back on them, unless there's that little something extra describing the context, a large portion of any memory can be lost along with the words that never documented them while still fresh on the mind.

So the versatile blogarang will take care of that, keeping the stories by my side until throwing it your way and sending it and your feedback (should you choose to comment...please do! it's always good to hear from you) right back to me down-under style. Looking forward to sharing lots of stories with you all!


Peace, love, and blogmony
B Ezie