While I was in Morocco, I decided to try a service called couch surfing. The idea behind couch surfing is that people can offer to host travelers for free. There is a website, couchsurfing.org, and people have profiles and write comments about their stay with different people from all over the world. I decided this would give me a different perspective than just staying in a hostel the whole time...so I spent two days and one night with a man named Aziz. He drove me around Marrakech on the back of his moped and took me to a couple different cafés for mint tea. We came home and he taught me how to dance to traditional Gnawa music and modern Rai music. The above picture is me eating home made cous cous at his mother's house. It tasted great even with all the flies that kept landing on it.
Breakfast with Aziz on his coffee table. Bread, some cheese I had brought from Switzerland, and his attempt to make American coffee.

Aziz with his niece and nephew at his mother's house

The walls that enclosed the tombs of Marrakech that are home to 'el Debhi,' a famous Moroccan. Many other ancient sultans are buried there as well

One of the guys who worked at our hostel. He was always joking around with us, teaching us how to make Moroccan mint tea, and teaching us how to make henna.
Le Place Jemma El Fna at night from a rooftop

The Place Jemma El Fna is at the heart of Marrakech and its vibrant colors, sounds, and smells make it an overwhelming place to be. Snake charmers trying to get money out of tourists, men

with monkeys, and carts selling fresh orange juice.

Mom and I in Chamonix, France. Awesome weekend trip. We drove down from Switzerland towards Milan and across northern Italy towards Torino and up into the French Alps.

Apartment wall back home full of pictures, maps, flags, etc.
Mom going to town on a crepe in town. Got some much needed sugar after a long day of walking.
Mom and Kate in the kitchen doing who knows what
Chamonix Mont-Blanc ridgeline.

Seeing the pope drive by from our balcony at the hostel in Barcelona.

The park in Barcelona where we took a break to cool off and have a beer after biking around town.
Went out to London Bar Saturday night where Picasso and Hemingway were said to have drank. A little locals hole in the wall place. We were definitely the only visitors there.
Gaudi's Segrada Familia that the pope was coming to consecrate this weekend
First time I'd been swimming in a long time. Nice warm day in Barcelona.

Had a great time on Halloween. The guys on my balcony and I dressed up like the characters from that 70s show. I was supposed to be eric...didn't really work with facial hair...

Dance party on main campus
Kate and I before potluck dinner for Halloween night...Nick and I made some wild rice with a mushroom saute and people brought sloppy joes, stuffed bell peppers, home made ravioli, greek salad...best dinner in a while.

Hiking in the alps with laamas!...great hike in St. Luc, Switzerland. Town population: 50 ppl

At the top of our hike. 7,550 ft above sea level with our group from lugano
At the Lindt chocolate factory making chocolate torte.
Too much fun making truffles

Kate and I sitting on the window sill
Kate and I bout to get on the Ryan air flight from Milan to Faro, Portugal
Taking pictures at sunset and goofing around.
Lisboa market place Saturday morning. Picking out some Christmas gifts a few months early.haha

The end of the U2 concert as the lights came back on...amazing concert...my friend is family friends with Bono so we got free tickets, backstage passes and she introduced me to the band!
The city of Lisbon, Portugal...amazing skyline...nice warm weather!
Local man making necklaces out of coins...he used a metal drill and a jewelry file to cut away around the pictures of the coins. He grew up in Lisbon but has traveled all over Europe doing this as an occupation.
Sun setting over Lison. The bridge seemed strikingly similar to the Golden Gate
Lana and Kate in the main square in Lisbon

Rented a boat and drove across the lake to the other side which is in Italy then dropped anchor...put on some climbing shoes and jumped in and swan towards this cliff face. Here we're deep-water soloing which is essentially free climbing over deep water on on sheer face so if you slip you just fall back in the water. Pretty challenging.

This past weekend we all headed up to Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany. It was the 200th anniversary so we had to get in line to get into the tent around 6 am...stood in line for three hours in the rain before getting in. Finally got in and got beer, pretzels and roast chicken...then proceeded to sing bavarian songs and dance. Was quite the experience. Drove home the next night through Austria, Lichtenstein, and eventually back to Lugano...4 countries in four hours

Children playing with pastels in Luzern
A weekend fruit stand by Lake Luzern
The river leading into Lake Luzern with a view of the famous bridge in the distance on the right

All these photos where taken for and edited during photography class

This weekend it was my room mate, Nick's (black shirt), birthday so everyone on our floor took him out for a birthday dinner while his little brother, Matt (green shirt) was in town. We went out for calzones and pizza at a local place down the street.
On Saturday, my first year seminar professor took our class to Luzern, Switzerland to visit a museum and check out another Swiss town. This is a picture of the river that goes directly through town and leads into Lake Luzern. This also offered me a good opportunity to get some good photos for my photography class.

Putting a move on the wall to get to the top.
At the top of the climb posing for the camera.

Here's our group finally ariving at the wine festival at 6pm after a 5 hour day of climbing near Locarno. Was quite a trek making it back for the end of the festival but we got a chance to check it out before it all ended. From left to right Dani (Freshman, Los Angeles), Karen ( Junior, Boulder, CO) Nick (Senior, Dallas, TX), me, Rivet (Senior, Manitou Springs, CO), Lana (Freshman, Davis, CA)

Here's one of the faces that we climbed that day. We were getting ready to have Rivet set up the ropes for the afternoon.
We missed the 9am bus to the town where we were going climbing so we were going to hike 3 miles up a hill to the spot where we had to climb. Luckily a nice Italian woman pulled over and took us the last two miles. After picking up four of us and driving us to the trailhead, she came back for the other three to help us get up there with our friends. We took down her address so that we can send her a postcard or something.

The Bellinzona Wine Festival in the Canton of Tichino was today. Wine makers from all over the canton brought out their wine (mostly merlot that the region is known for) and a festival was held with free wine tasting, live music, and cheese tasting.

After some wine tasting and a slice of cheese, we grabbed a kabeb and headed up to the Bellinzona castle to watch the sun go down and eat after a long day in the sun climbing near Locarno.
Walking in to the castle.