Lugano, again.

Time for a more thorough update, I think! So, here's some fascinating information regarding my trip to Lugano.

On Monday morning we met at Wil Bahnhof, got the train to Zürich, then from Zürich got a train to Lugano. All in all it took just under 4 hours, which isn't too bad considering it wasn't far off 200 miles. Anyway, the train journey itself was quite pleasant- most of the Zürich to Lugano leg went through beautiful valleys, with lakes and mountains all over the place. Anyway, we arrived in Lugano around lunchtime, then got the bus to our hostel. I had been feeling somewhat dubious about what the accomodation was going to be like, but when we arrived there it was absolutely beautiful. The hostel was made up of one older building, which had the kitchens and dining areas, with dorms, and a more modern building which had a couple of dorms, but more private rooms. I stayed in the newer building and everyone else stayed in the older one- my room was great, with a nice double bed, a decent ensuite, a sofa and a table and chairs- more hotel-like than hostel! It was also facing the pool and the beautiful gardens, so it was bloody great! I have to say it was completely different to what I expected so I was rather pleased that we ended up there.

On the first day we just lazed about the place. most of the pupils opting to spend most of the time in the pool. I think I just spent most of the time sitting outside in the sun reading! After dinner though (made by the pupils: Greek salad, some kind of meat thing, and an apple dessert thing from Kosovo) I went for a swim myself, despite not having anything appropriate to wear. I improvised by wearing a vest top and leggings, because it seemed silly to have the pool right beside me and not use it.

On the second day, we spent the day at the hostel again, mostly by the pool, and did some "getting to know each other" type activities. The day was Italian themed, so we played some games based around the theme of Italy, and did an Italian quiz- all organised by the pupils. Dinner was also Italy themed- we had pizza, pasta and tiramisu, which was bloody gorgeous. Oh, this was also the day I pushed one of them into the pool. :) And also the day where we had the fashion show- it was great fun, we had to use bits of rubbish to make outfits. My group had to create a binman and a successful businesswoman (who ended up looking more like a prostitute)- the businesswoman was in fact one of the boys, who seemed to enjoy wearing high heels.

The first part of the third day was Brazilian themed, so we started off the day with a Portugese lesson, then played football. Alas, I did not have decent shoes, so I didn't play, just watched. Lugano is very hilly, and the ball kept being kicked over the fence.. onto the road, so every few minutes someone had to climb over the gate and sprint down the road to retrieve the ball. Had a BBQ for lunch which was great, had a load of salad and corn on the cob.. mm.

During the afternoon then the pupils played waterpolo, volleyball and some other sport.. although I spent most of the day sitting in the sun reading. I went to the supermarket with some of the girls, and sat about with them for a bit- they were all very pleasant and friendly, and we found a bench to sit on and share some snacks. The afternoon and evening were American themed, so we had a bit of a pool party, then for dinner they did hotdogs, burgers and salad- so I had potato salad and the normal green leafy kind. The potato salad was strange, it was basically boiled egg, potato and gherkins with mayonnaise, but it was actually rather nice! After that, we watched American Pie and ate muffins.

On the last day, we got up, had breakfast as usual (at 7.30) then once we'd all packed, headed into the town. Although we didn't have very long there, we did see most of the town centre- it was gorgeous- loads of old buildings, all built around the edge of the lake. Even the McDonalds was in a beautiful old building, complete with chandeliers etc!

We eventually left around 1pm yesterday, and arrived back in Wil at 5pm. I had a really nice time away with the class, as they were really good fun and very pleasant- including the teacher, of course! It was great to see somewhere I probably wouldn't've thought of visiting myself, but now that I have, I wouldn't mind going back to laze by that pool again for a few days..!