Italy, Lugano, and Couch Surfing

Lugano! You'd never expect a city in Switzerland to be a Mediterranean paradise, but the canton of Tucino is exactly that! The sun, the turquoise water, the huge, sheer, rolling green mountains! This isn't one of my photos, but seriously, the canton of Tucino took my breath away.



So beautiful! We spent the week walking the shores of its lake, exploring the windy cobblestone streets, and of course, attending briefings for class. Our study group had a hotel booked until Thursday night and a train ticket back to Nyon on Sunday morning, which meant that we had a weekend free. For weeks I had been trying to find a couch surfer who didn't already have guests and was getting increasingly frustrated and worried- Thursday morning and I still didn't have weekend plans, while other students were planning trips to Rome, Milan, or Germany. Thursday night Alessandro, a Venetian couch surfer, agreed to host me so Friday morning I hopped on the earliest train and went to Venice for the weekend! The city was absolutely beautiful, but what was more wonderful was the experience of couch surfing. I'd never couch surfed before and really didn't know what to expect... basically, it was a perfect weekend.

Alessandro, Marco, and Gianfranco were absolutely fabulous hosts- talkative, friendly, silly, smart, really interesting and nice- oh, and they had a beautiful apartment overlooking the water, lived in a really chill neighborhood minutes from the train, had a tiny kitten, and made the best italian food I've ever had. To top it off, Alessandro has worked in Venetian bars and fixed up some real Venetian Spritz- perfecto! We had two wonderful evenings of cooking, drinking, and exploring, and on the final night we celebrated Marco's birthday by staying up the whole night before I had to jump on the 6:30am train back to Lugano. Thus, I am now in love with couch surfing, and I vow to couch surf after my program as I explore Eastern Europe!