Five Senses in the Alps
Since you aren’t up in the Alps Mountains with me, I thought I’d share a bit about each of the five senses so you can get a feel for what it’s like here.
SOUNDS ~ While hiking in the mountains here, we hear these cow bells all over across the hills. Someone told us that cow bells are a status symbol for farmers here, and sometimes cost $2,000 a piece — but owning cows is very difficult to actually turn into profit.
SIGHTS ~ There are so many beautiful sights. Photos don’t do these mountains justice, but here are a few that might give you a taste. 
Don’t let these photos fool you — the weather hasn’t been perfect this whole time. We tried to go up to the top of a mountain to see the view, and ended up in a cloud. We’ll try again tomorrow, but here’s what we saw at the top so far:
It’s a cloud. Eventually, we got some nice views from the Cable Car, once we got out of the cloud:
SMELLS ~ Ah, the flowers! I have really enjoyed stopping to smell the wildflowers in the mountains. So many colors and varieties!
The village of Allmendhubel is famous for its flowers, and they even have a flower playground and flower walk, where you can learn about all the types of flowers you’ll see while hiking. This little garden had an exhibit with a wooden platform to lie on, inviting visitors to lay down to smell the flowers. Who am I to refuse?!
And then I tried out the playground too… it was an extra good one.
TASTE ~ We’ve been eating lots of cheese, served every day with bread at breakfast. We also had fondue the other night (the dipping bread into melted cheese kind), along with the traditional bratworst sausage and rösti, a kind of potato fritter. Mmmmm…
FEEL ~ We visited a waterfall that was inside of a mountain! It felt very… wet! Here’s the evidence:
This was a neat experience, but as you can see, it was pretty touristy. Even better was the next day, when we were hiking and came upon a sign we didn’t understand. 
We used Google Translate, and saw the word “caution” but decided to proceed down the trail very slowly anyway. It was very steep, and in the woods.
Eventually we were rewarded with a beautiful waterfall. 
I was very careful, but we figured out that it was safe to walk underneath and through to the other side, which was pretty amazing!
Can you see me on the other side after I made it through?
So, there’s a little taste of the Alps (and sounds, sights, smell, and feel)! I hope you got a little bit of a sense of what it’s like here.
And after 7 different legs of trains, trams, or cable cars, and about 7 miles of walking, according to my phone’s GPS, we arrived in the mountains. The Swiss rail system is really incredible.
Some students wrote letters to their representatives asking for more funding for services to help people experiencing homelessness, while others made phone calls arguing against funding Trump’s border wall. 
We had students calling the Department of Homeland Security, giving their input on train safety in America, and others calling the Department of the Interior, letting Secretary Zinke know that they want National Monuments protected. One group even made a petition that you can sign, which is now public on Change.org. Check out their video, and if you like what you see, sign their 
When studying world geography, I often describe what we do in class as “virtual travel.” 
“I woke up early, got ready and hopped in the car. I wanted to get there early to beat the crowds. We got there and I was invited in by the tourist guide who spoke English. He gave me a presentation of what we were going to do and where the bathrooms and the souvenir shop was. I was very excited. First we went to the stingray tank he offered me to touch them. They were very slimy in my opinion but it was still very fun. After that we went straight to go snorkeling. I got my bathing suit on and then the guide showed me how to use the mask and the actual snorkel itself. The guide said that the snorkeling takes 45 minutes to 1 hour. After it was done all I could say that it was so fun! I really wanted to go here because I love learning about environment and I thought it would be very important.”
From Rio de Janeiro, Brazil:
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“Apparently locals call this specific place the last “real beach.” I instantly fell in love with the beach once I stepped on the soft sand and saw the beautiful crystal clear beach. In fact I think the water was the clearest i’ve ever seen! I laid out all of my beach things and the wind was warm but not too cool. Perfect. I noticed a little building that had a sign on it: 
“We went to the La Aguja Dive Center first so we could do the early morning dive. I learned about the coral, plants, and animals that live around and in the reef. Also I saw shipwrecks from a long time ago. I even got to go inside one. I never knew how cool coral walls could be. I also learned about the invasive species that are killing off the coral and other plants on the cuban coast. We were in a medium sized group, just about 10 people. I visited the La Aguja Dive Center because I wanted to learn about the environment under the sea and learn about the animals, coral, and other plants in Cuba.”
They were interested in Massachusetts ballot question #3, which argues that animals not be allowed in cages where they can’t turn around, stand, or fully extend their limbs. After a lot of discussion, they decided to focus on going further than question #3, pushing our senators to fight for a similar law across the entire country.
“When my dad was a kid he could not afford a lot of things. He got healthcare because his father was in the army. But some kids aren’t as lucky. So I want more people to have healthcare.”
al things like that. It is important to me because they cost like $300 or $3,000 for an EpiPen! What if people can’t afford it? Then they take a bigger risk of dying or something because this item is a life-saving item and it they can’t afford it, what are they going to do if they have an allergy attack?”
don’t want people to die in a horrible nuclear explosion especially if it came from us, because even though it’s not my fault, I would feel like a piece of poo. I don’t want animals becoming mutated. Oh, and also I don’t want to die but that’s not important.”
There are still more days of sunshine on the horizon, but my summer is ending. This week teachers at our school are back at work, prepping our classrooms for the start of a new school year. I’m holding onto a little bit of summer by remembering my favorite places I visited back in July: Slovenian tourist farms.
