Wednesday Night Jam Session

Just to clarify, I did NOT spend last Wednesday night at home making jam (sorry mom, I have yet to pick up that talent or desire). Quite the opposite actually, I spent last Wednesday night hanging out with a friend and his band.

Hi, my name is Lisa, and I want to become a groupie. And not for the normal reasons of getting great concert tickets and all-access passes (although those would be nice), but in order to have more nights like the one I just had.

One of my Swiss guy friend’s, Christoph, is in a band and the group had rented a music room to record their next CD. I use the term "music room" loosely, as it is far from the standard Junior High band room with out of date instruments, even more out of date posters, and unknown smells. This music room had high ceilings, a private bar, recording equipment and vintage velvet sofas, enough for 30 of your closest friends. Realizing that this place was special, Christoph invited his closest friends over for some drinks and to hang out Wednesday night.

I got there a little late (due to work) and walked into the movie Almost Famous. The small group of friends were hanging out with the band, drinking a few beers, enjoying the ambiance of the room (think dark and lush, with candles, the wood of instruments and an overall smoking haze). While I was the only non-Swiss there and the conversations would sometimes shift to Swiss German, I held out for what I knew would eventually happen: the late night jam session. And boy did it pay off. Not to discount the great people I met and fun conversations I had (which were, in themselves, memorable), but there is something so amazing about the ability to play an instrument, with other people, unrehearsed, and still sound beautiful.

It started with just a guitar and solo vocals. And then the bass played picked up the stand-up bass, and by the fourth or fifth song in, the drummer had grabbed his snare and started to mix into the sound. Pretty soon, everyone was singing and tapping feet all to the private acoustic concert. To make the moment even more surreal, I was hanging out with Swiss, in Switzerland, but the music they were playing was Country, as in Nashville. I don’t think I will be able to hear another Hank Williams song without thinking about my time in Zurich…

Europa Park

When my friend Erin from St. Louis said that for her birthday she wanted to go to Europa Park, Germany’s very own theme park, I set my expectations accordingly. Not to sound rude, but I come from CA, home of Disneyland, the happiest place on earth, among many other top quality theme parks. So with that said, I am not sure if it was the lowered expectations, the actual quality of the park or the mass quantity of sugar and beer consumed, but I found myself pleasantly surprised.

The park is themed around the various countries of Europe, offering local cuisine, appropriately themed rides and the traditional structures and decorations from each country. Countries ranged from Switzerland with a Bobsled ride, Greece with Poseidon’s Revenge (a water ride), Portugal with Pirates (I guess that sort of makes sense) and my favorite country of all, Chocoland, located between Russia and Holland.

While the rides were fun (although slight knock-offs from various other parks), the highlight of the day was “winning” my 6ft long green crocodile stuffed animal. Quotation marks are necessary as I technically did not “win” the toy playing the shooting game, even with numerous “free” attempts, but rather, the he was given to me by the very nice game supervisor.

We wrapped up the day at one of the many themed restaurants adjacent to the park recounting the day, all the fun we had, the number of stuffed animals won (10 in total) and of course, all of the food we ate. To summarize, my 7 friends and I enjoyed:

· 8 slices of pizza
· 3 sides of french fries
· 3 chocolate bananas
· 2 bags of popcorn
· 2 cotton candies
· 2 bags of toasted sweetened nuts
· 1 waffle with whipped cream and chocolate
· 1 bag of chocolate covered churros
· 1 bag of chocolate covered donuts
· And 1 lollipop

And that was all before dinner.

Four in Four

Those familiar with this blog might have noticed a lack of travel stories recently. Especially when considering we just wrapped up summer, the best time to travel. The reason for lack of travels in Europe was due to my excess travels to the US this summer. In the past four months, I have been to the US four times…once a month beginning in June. The various trips can be summarized as follows:

June: A trip home for my sister’s bachlorette party (13 women on one houseboat at Lake Shasta). The week was spent, preparing for the weekend (I planned the entire trip from Zurich and had some last minute details to finalize), enjoying the weekend, recovering from the weekend with the family at Lake Pilsbury and then shopping in SF.

July: My big sister gets married in Tahoe! The week was spent preparing for the weekend (maid of honor duties), enjoying the weekend (including rehearsal dinner, wedding reception and floating down the Truckee river), recovering from the weekend and shopping in SF.

August: Surprise trip to New York for work. The three days were spent shopping and enjoying the city with Erin (my friend and traveling buddy who lives in NY), dinner with Buckles (another friend in NY) and some work.

September: Buckles gets married in Sonoma! The six days were spent shopping in SF, the weekend wedding in Sonoma and recovering from the weekend with the family.

I am exhausted and am looking forward to a few 2-3 hours flights that still get me to a different country.