Still getting settled into my new city and country, but so far, it's been pretty smooth. I successfully registered with the local authorities and am now the proud owner of a Swiss bank account. I hate being one of those people who when they move, gush about the merits of their new location compared to their old one. And to be sure, I miss many things in the states. Having said that, one area where Switzerland is far superior to the States is, as you might guess, in the area of banking. There are no such things as checks here (though I know we're getting there in the states). But they don't even exist here. Everything is completely electronical in nature, which makes your bills and so forth quite easy to pay. They don't have 'debit cards', like we do, but they have these cards accepted everywhere in Switzerland, and that you can add 'cash' to to use on transportation and other areas, like restaurants. Just like college! Pretty handy. Plus you can buy a soda with a 100 CHF note and no one will look at you funny. People just carry a lot of cash here. But one area where Switzerland is lacking (and it's not a huge deal of course), is that nearly NOTHING is open on a sunday. There is one convenience store that will be open, but that is it! No other stores are open, and it's a pretty dead day. Though I could get used to this!
Went skiing yesterday outside the states for the first time. In line with my earlier theme of 'what is better', it's really no comparison. First of all, at least where we
skiied, was HARD. Their 'easist' trails are blue, the harder ones are 'red', and then 'gray' is the hardest 'slope'. Then there are miles of off-piste (or trail) skiing. Basically, there are few boundries. You just ski where you feel like it. Which is insane to someone like me coming from the east coast where there are trails, and that's what you ski. But the rankings here are relative (as they are in the states, but as a rule they are uniform there). So yes. A blue was 'easiest' at this mountain. But it was NOT easy. One was the equivalent, easily of a black diamond at Okemo or Killington. A red I skiied from the top had pitches of double diamond steepness and ice. God. Plunging 4000 vertical feet was pretty awesome, though. For the size of the place, there are a number of official trails, but you can pretty much go off piste where you want. See picture below for example.
That is insane. And this was a lift that was already halfway up the mountain. The 'run' to right of the lift was one of the steepest things I've ever seen in my life. I didn't take a picture of it, but I rode a lift over to the right of this one to 2277 metres (appx. 7500 feet) and took a run down. It was NOT easy, and it certainly was not off-piste. But riding up the chair, they had these craggy, rocky chutes that people were skiing. It was absolutely insane. Because this area, like many, is connected to other areas, we ended up far away from our car. Kurt, my boss, and I went on a rescue mission to ski back to our car. Found out we couldn't do it and were told to take the chairlift DOWN the mountain. And when I say down, i mean DOWN. This was the steepest lift I had ever ridden going UP the stupid mountain in the morning. Heading down was, shall we say, slightly neaseating. Imagine taking a short lift (about 5 minutes or so) but going down the equivilent of 3000 feet. Down a cliff. With the alps all around you. I would have taken a picture but was too busy holding on. hahaha. That's the first time that i can remember in ages being actually nervous at how high i was on a ski slope! unreal! But fun as hell. More skiing stories to follow. Go Giants!
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