annemccarty-blog

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Couldn't resist buying a Swatch in Switzerland!

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Bookworm Problems

I was reading on my way in to work today – North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell – and got to a very intense part of the book (well as intense as a Victorian novel will be) just as my train arrived. What?! Now I'm sitting at work reading a book on financial economics, when all I want to do is know what happens. Why must I waste my time reading about a subject I have little to no interest in? The real world sucks. 

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This is a picture from my first ski experience in Telluride, Colorado. I was so stylish. At least now I'm not wider than I am tall!

I had my first gondola/chair-lift experience in Colorado. The second photo was taken right before my friend's first experience on a gondola in Switzerland. I think I was probably calmer as an 18-month-old than she was as a 20-year-old. 

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We went and toured a cathedral in Lausanne and ultimately climbed to the top. Beautiful view.

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We went to these baths that have spring water in them. There were all these ridiculous/awesome things you could do. Fountains, weird bubbly seats, a pool that if you relaxed in would just whisk you away in the current, many saunas (including a nude one...), and a random room that was supposed to be color therapy (ie, it was a room of one color that changed colors every 15 minutes...) Going from the sauna  to the plunge pool was literally painful. One of the pools had classical music and whale sounds playing under water. It was, again, a gorgeous day. We were so lucky with the weather. Either way though, the pools were heated so no worries. 

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We went out in two paddle boats (that's pedalo to all you English people) which obviously turned in to bumper-boats. You're only supposed to have four people in each. Whoops. 

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Here we are at the top of the mountain. It was a gorgeous day. I really can't remember when I've ever had so much fun. 

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Cooking for eleven people can also be a massive undertaking. Everyone got involved (including Jack). Here we are cutting onions... apparently holding bread in your mouth keeps the onions from making you cry? It didn't really work. 

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As you can imagine, getting around with eleven people was not the easiest. I actually drove when we were going to the mountains (the Swiss drive on the right side of the road so all our English friends were out of luck) but when we were in Lausanne, we all piled in to one car. 

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Hugo worked it out so we could go sculling on Lake Geneva. Most of us are rowers, but have only learned sweep. We had a lesson before we went out (thank god) and were in quads (obviously). It was really gorgeous. You could see the mountains and the different cities and towns along the bank. At the end of our time out there we raced and won (four times in a row). I obviously had very little to do with our win (that's me, the only girl, in the bow). Hugo really put in a lot of time to make sure we had an unbelievable trip. We went to so many places and did so many unique things. Honestly, who gets to go sculling on Lake Geneva during their vacation to Switzerland? I'm so spoiled.

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Not everyone had been skiing before, so we decided it might be a better option to go sledding. Well, it's what I would call sledding, but other people called 'sledging.' You'd be very surprised how fast those little guys can go. I actually toppled end-over-end once. Pretty embarrassing, but luckily I was at the back of the pack. I hadn't been in a snowy place in so long that I kept chucking snowballs at Jack's head (which he paid me back for by pouring snow down the back of my coat) and just generally reveling in the novelty of it all. 

I can't take credit for the coat, it belonged to Hugo's mother. I was an idiot and didn't bring a heavy coat. I grew very attached to that coat – it made me feel very stylish. 

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This is the restaurant we were hiking to get to. There was an outside sitting area – where we took this first photo – but people got cold so we were forced to move inside. The second picture is of Jack and I post-hike, inside. I have no idea why my face is so red (sunburn? exertion? unclear.) but I do know that the steak we had there was unbelievable. 

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Panorama as we hiked to the top of a mountain. We could have taken a chair-lift, but the guys were too hard-core so we hiked. On the way up we saw a marker that said it was the most difficult hiking category in the Alps. Fortunately, we weren't hiking for long. We got up to 2,600 meters, and the air was so thin you could really tell a difference. We took it slow though (mainly because of my incompetence). Got this photo during one of our breaks! 

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Switzerland Photos

I'm about to put up a barrage of photos from Switzerland. This is your warning. 

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Thesising Almost Finitoed

I got the final edits for my thesis from my advisor today!

This week might actually be like a vacation after all! 

Bring it on Switzerland.

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Switzerland!!

Jack and I are going to Switzerland to visit Hugo, a friend of ours from Oxford who's actually Swiss. I leave tomorrow in the morning, which makes sitting here at my desk absolute torture. 

I can't wait to see snow! And take pictures and go hiking and not have to work. 

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sydneydiana: get involved

www.now.org www.rawa.org www.womenslaw.org www.amnestyusa.org www.globalissues.org www.globalfundforwomen.org