Lugano

What an incredible weekend I had for my first travel opportunity. We decided to stay more local to see what places encompassed our town and it was a great decision. Ticino is a gorgeous part of Switzerland and I am glad I got to see two other towns!

After our midterm exam we trained to Lugano for the afternoon/evening. The train ride is only 15 minutes to Lugano. But then you have to take a cable car to get down to the town, which was super cool and a lot better than walking! Once we got down to the town we wandered for a bit looking at the expensive shops as we made our way to the lake. Not even 10 seconds after getting to the lake we decided we had to go paddle boating. It was so much fun although super tiring. It was a great way to see the town and the lake!



Afterwards we explored the town some more, there is a lot more people and activity going on in Lugano compared to Riva which I really liked. We went into the H&M in town and it is very different than the American H&M. Due to this experience in H&M, it has now become my goal to get a european looking outfit, their fashion is just so funky and cool.

Once we had enough time shopping we went back toward the lake for dinner. Other girls in our group said there was an excellent pizza restaurant right on the water, so we went to try it. They were absolutely right! The pizza was amazing. I had carpaccito which has parmesan cheese and carpaccio (raw steak) it was insanely delicious. Italian pizza is served individual size but it honestly could be shared; I had to leave two pieces behind. The waiters can immediately recognize us as americans, which would annoy most but I like it because then they speak English to us. One of these days (after more italian classes) I will try to have a full conversation to the waiters in Italian.

To burn off the pizza we went to the park and the beach. There were families everywhere which was really nice to see the local children. These kids are still stuck in the 90's though- they all have scooters, heelys, and ripsticks- It was a nice trip down memory lane. We enjoyed the beach for about a half hour because it was sunset so the water was pretty cold. Afterwards we went to a local place to people watch, it had comfortable beach chairs right on the water. Every time we go to a restaurant or bar I am amazed how many people smoke in Europe, that is one thing I don't think I will get used to.

But overall, it was a great afternoon/evening in Lugano. I will definitely be going back during the week or when we have saturday classes. It's nice to have a bigger city to go to because Riva is very rural.

XOXO RIVA DIVA