Okay okay, I’m late I know. I’m going to divide this into three posts: leading up to Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving to Christmas (I essentially did nothing), and Christmas break.
This is the Thanksgiving post.
So first thing that happened: the kitchen died. It was the weirdest thing. All of our appliances were suddenly only operating at like 10% capacity, including the fridge. Me and Z called Jo (our President, don’t know if I’ve mentioned that) and she came over a few hours later, messed with something on the wall next to the breaker, went to the store, came back, screwed this battery looking thing into the wall, and it was fixed. She told me that our apartment essentially runs on this battery and that we can’t have all of the appliances going at once or it will drain the battery before it can recharge…I said no problem, I try to avoid using appliances altogether ever since the potato bomb incident. (#rawtil4 #jkjkjk) Z has adjusted her cooking regime accordingly and the kitchen has not died since.
Next, we played Luzern and won 3-0. Taylor Milton (one year older than me, from Santa Clara, a team we played every year in preseason) plays for Luzern, imagine my surprise when we were starting our film session and I actually knew someone on the other team. After the game two of the coaches from the NUC Juniors program tried and failed to break the world record for most serves made in a minute. Aaaaaaand we also filmed a mannequin challenge that lowkey went viral. FIVB (volleyball’s FIFA) put it on their Facebook and Instagram so basically the entire world saw it. Mic and Carole look like idiots in it, it brings me so much joy, I highly recommend you watch it.
Next we played Chesauex. Their gym is pink. We won in 4. Thea taught me how to say the days of the week in French and I showed her some new music. We also discussed the universal pain that is braces/middle school on the bus. I don’t know why I remember this. Monika secretly got me and Mic very very drunk on her family’s homemade wine and I spent Sunday recovering. Later that week Monika turned 20! We had a little pasta lunch and tiramisu to celebrate. Here, if it’s your birthday you bring things for other people to eat, not the other way around. Seeing as my birthday is in August and I will not have to do this, I enjoy this tradition.
Our club organized a nutrition clinic for our team, which was really nice of them since I cannot read labels in the grocery store. It was interesting bc the main point of the talk (from what I understood) was about hydration. Everyone kept giving Z looks bc the girl sweats like no one I’ve ever known before so staying hydrated is difficult for her.
The main event: Milan. We had a free weekend in November, which meant that I needed to get the hell outta dodge. Neuch is a fantastic place to live, but if you don’t get out every once in a while, it gets kinda small. As does anywhere. Anyways, Z was going to Paris to meet her parents and everyone else was going home, so me, Mic, and Carole went on a little road trip. Carole loves to drive (???) and drove the entire 4 hours there and all 4 hours back. God bless her. When we got to our Air Bnb, we were pumped and wanted to celebrate our successful navigation into Italy without cell service with some of Carole’s dad’s really nice wine. So, of course I broke a wine glass getting it out of the cabinet. Strong start. Bought our hostess a new, cooler wine glass. Then we went out.
Can I just preface this with the fact that my nights out are never just normal, danced a little, laughed a little, went home nights? I always do something embarrassing or something absurd happens. This night was no exception. First, we went to a club that had no mirror in the bathroom, just a window into the guy’s? I was dancing around, waving at the guy on the other side, thinking he couldn’t see me…and then he waved back. Secondly, upon actually entering the club, we realized that this was a 16-year-old birthday party and two of the attendees were having an amateur rap battle on stage. We left.
Found ourselves a club that was more age appropriate. Left a strong impression. The bartender gave us free shots bc I told him I was American and he felt bad about Trump being elected. There is always a bright side to things. The bartender also thought that Mic was from Kenya, not Canada…honest mistake. Carole thought that the bar extended into another room behind the DJ booth, so all three of us started jogging over to see what was happening over there and ran SMACK into a mirror. Weren’t even drunk, just dumb. Mic had to excuse herself to the bathroom bc she was laughing so hard, meanwhile me and Carole had a dance battle with the bathroom attendant. It got weird quick. I asked someone if they were from the Volturi (read the Twilight books for reference), we got into a VIP birthday party, Carole and Mic stole Captain Morgan hats, I FaceTimed Conner Crane for an hour at 4 am, had to figure out how to make the futon a bed (seriously challenging), etc.
We woke up feeling a little out of sorts.
Mic decided we were getting pizza for breakfast. I was out of it and ordered pizza with cooked spinach on it (thought it was arugala) and almost threw up on the spot bc of the smell. Did not eat much pizza, the owner came out and asked me what was wrong. I was honest, she understood. We dragged ourselves to the street where you shop in Milan (I forget the name, sorry) and I had a come to Jesus moment with myself in the dressing room of H+M where I had to stare myself in the face and tell myself to buck the hell up. Carole later told me she was having the exact same experience in her own dressing room. Mic was fine. We all survived. Made it to the Duomo, which is FREAKING gorgeous. Obviously, my phone died as I went to take a picture of it, so I stared at the thing for 30 mins in awe while Mic and Carole took a million instagram pics. And then we got charcuterie (lol, inside joke with my mother) at a place called the Mozzarella Bar, which is a terrace right next to the top of the Duomo. I could have died happy right then and there. But then we went to endless sushi for dinner (the Italians are known for their sushi, didn’t you know?) and I was even happier. We left early the next morning very happy and very ready to be back in Neuch, Milan was good to us.
The next week, Z’s parents were here. I’ve adopted them as my own and pretend that I can speak Spanish with them. I just laugh when they laugh. Honestly, I do catch more Spanish than French/German though, so high school Spanish is apparently still somewhere deep in my brain. Z’s aunt and uncle also drove down from Germany and got an Air Bnb to host Thanksgiving dinner (our apartment isn’t exactly designed for hosting), and it was freakin delicious. Mic and I tried to contribute pumpkin pie, but after getting all of the ingredients except for pumpkin, discovered that the Swiss groceries stores don’t have pumpkin puree. Just not a thing. They do not have it. Sad. We made Oreo cheesecake instead. I haven’t been home for Thanksgiving in a while, so I’m kind of used to being apart from my family during it, nonetheless my family put one of my framed Senior pictures on the table while they ate dinner…kinda looked like I had died but I appreciated the thought.
Random Things:
If my friends and family could please coordinate and not all call on the same day and spread the love a little, that would be great. I’ll get no FaceTimes for like 4 days and then all the sudden everyone and their mother wants to talk. Cool guys.
Turns out most of the kids in my Thursday practices DO speak English and just think it’s hilarious to make me try to speak French/mime.
Wore my shirt backwards to practice twice during this time period. One time I caught it on my own, the next I did not. Silvan thought that was real funny.
Caught a dishtowel on fire. Honest mistake guys.
Happy extremely belated Thanksgiving everyone. Thanks for missing me enough to read this!
Bugg
