ANDY’S SWISS TRAVEL 21

Today I woke up at 5:45am, which is unusual for me. However since Sasha and myself were assigned tour guides of the day I made sure that by 6:05am everyone was awake. At 7:00am we all met in the lobby for breakfast. Since I am tired of eating bread, ham and cheese for breakfast, I decided to have coffee (black) and a croissant for breakfast. At 8:15am our lesson with Mr. Beat Wikki began and honestly speaking during the 3 hour lecture everything went into one ear and out the other one. I didn’t pay attention to him because I didn’t find him to be endearing, inspiring nor entertaining.

At 12:15pm we had our last lunch together as a group. Following lunch we went to a GEVAG, one of Switzerland’s waste burning facilities.  We were given a guided tour of the facility by the Mr. Francois Boone, Plant General Manager. During the tour Mr. Boone showed us how the trash is delivered, sorted and crushed in the compactor before it’s burned.  Also during the tour we were able to see how the the trash is converted into energy and deposited into the river. Once we completed our 2 hour tour of the waste facility, we went to a water sewage facility.  However, upon entry into the water sewage control room I felt extremely nauseated and sick, which was probably due the profound disgusting smell and the heat.  Therefore, Dr. Garely suggested that I step back out to the car, in order to get some fresh air and I took no part in touring the waste facility with the rest of the group.

After the waste facility tour was completed, Mr. Wicki and Sophie took us out for a traditional Switzerland farewell dinner, which involved a cable tram ride up a very high mountain, cows, a view of the beautiful Swiss mountains and some fabulous cheese fondue with potatoes, pineapples and bread.  The “Cheese Fondue” was hot, cheesy and very tasty and the group conversation was even better. I really did enjoy myself in spite of that fact that I was full of “cheese” and still a little hungry afterwards, but on the drive back to SSTH my stomach gave in to desire to sleep.

Once we arrived at SSTH around 9:30pm, I was full of energy once again and immediately started packing my clothes and books for out official last days in Switzerland.  Although today was a boring day, dinner was great. We only have two more days left in Switzerland I’m happy because I know soon I will get to see my loved ones and sleep in my spacious queen size bed.