Sam met me at the train station and we walked up to his apartment, about 20 minutes away. There were hills EVERYWHERE and most of the walk was up a large hill. The temperature was much warmer than it had been in Sweden - I definitely didn't need my giant winter jacket. We grabbed lunch at a little sandwich shop where the owners knew Sam and asked in Italian if we were married (Sposato?). I don't know how old they thought we were. The sandwich was one of the best I've ever tasted - it was huge and toasted with some kind of ham, spicy cheese, and various other vegetables inside.
I met a bunch of Sam's friends/roommates, many of them from the US. His school is tiny - around 500 people - and you can earn a bachelors degree that is accredited by the EU, US and Switzerland. It seemed like Sam knew almost everyone student-aged we passed on the street. Later, we ate dinner at an Irish pub about three minutes from Sam's house called The Drinking Hole - I had the "Obama" burger (fulfilling the American stereotype), mainly because it had guacamole on it. It was SO delicious.
On Saturday, we woke up fairly early and went downtown so Sam could show me around. I was pretty much blown away by how beautiful everything was - first we went up to the monastery, which was a 5 minute walk uphill from Sam's house. From there, you could see Lake Lugano and the whole city below.
The view from Sam's apartment when I woke up
Vines on the way up to the monastery
The view from the top of the hill - Lake Lugano in the distance and you can see Sam's building through the fence.
I loved how low the clouds were - when I first arrived at Sam's apartment on Friday, most of the mountain outside his window just disappeared into fog. On Saturday and Sunday the clouds floated around the tops of the mountains and around the lake.
The trek downtown was fun - we walked down the same street for most of the way, then through a tunnel that had recently been covered in newspaper. It was also lined with Banksy-style images.
Downtown was beautiful and reminded me a bit of the towns that lined Lake Como. The streets were extremely narrow and one hill in particular was incredibly steep and lined with shops. All of the buildings were colorful and some had flowers and vines.
We had lunch and walked along the lake for awhile - downtown Lugano was basically located all along the shore of the lake. There was also a little park along the lake with lots of random statues. Since it was Saturday, the park and downtown were full of people.
Sam had to go to basketball practice, so we walked back to his apartment. I headed back downtown to wander around (in reality it was mostly so I could buy more chocolate). I spent a lot of time in a little chocolate store. I bought bars for various people and decided to treat myself to one of the fancy little pieces. Unfortunately, the one I picked had peanut in the middle (which I luckily found by breaking it apart, not by eating it), so I brought it back for a friend in Lund who didn't mind that it had been dissected.
Pretty and deadly...haha
When I got back, Sam and I went to get apertivo (free food with the purchase of a drink) at the pub, then watched his friend DJ and hung out around the bar. I tried a crazy blue drink called the Blue Frog. Luckily it wasn't as big as it looks in the picture.
I don't know if they do this at a lot of pubs, but I loved that they had different types of glasses (all pints) with the name on the side for each beer. The owner knew Sam well and he and the bartenders came over to talk to us multiple times throughout the night. They were hilarious!
The next morning I woke up early and went up the hill to read at the monastery. I also explored a little bit and found an entire hill of grape vines.
We ate lunch at the dining hall for Sam's school called the Grotto - much nicer than the dining hall at DU. It was catered by chefs, unlike our lovely Sodexo. The food was spicy and delicious. Afterwards, I headed downtown again. This time, the city was extremely quiet since it was Sunday and most things were closed. It was barely recognizable from how it had been the day before. I intended to explore the city more, but I ended up spending a lot of time just sitting along the water.
A rainbow appeared while I was sitting by the water :)
Sam's friend advised that I visit Grand Cafe Al Porto. It was once a convent and was where US dignitary Allen Welsh Dulles met with Nazi and Italian representatives to organize an end to WWII. Clark Gable and Sophia Loren used to have coffee here as well.
Yummy gelato
I sat by this gate for awhile - it's a popular spot for people to take pictures and a great place to people-watch. One little girl posed with a leaf for her Dad to take a picture - so adorable.
I met an Italian couple along the water who asked if I could take their picture. We started talking - they asked where I was from and what I was studying. The man (Simon) said he had started a psychology website out of San Francisco, so he was very interested in my study of psychology.
From what I observed the culture didn't seem to be vastly different from Italy - probably because I was in the southernmost part of Switzerland. There was definitely less graffiti than there had been in Milan and it felt safer in general. What surprised me the most was the climate - it was incredibly humid with palm trees everywhere. It was unseasonably warm while I was there, but Sam said it was super weird in winter, because there would be palm trees covered in snow.
When I got back Sam and I went to get delicious pizza from a place just down the street from his apartment. The take-out boxes had a picture from the Simpsons on them!
In the morning I had to get up at 3:15am to make it to my flight in Milan. I was sad to leave, but also happy to return to Sweden and see all my friends (especially Kate, who had been in Rome for the past week).
Thanks Sam for letting me stay with you and showing me around! :)
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