Pardon for the long time in actually recounting a story from my travels, but this is the debut story. When we first visited Germany, we didn’t just stop there-we went to Austria and Switzerland as well. We were driving through Switzerland when we needed a place to stay. However, we were in a rural part of the country, and thus were out of quick driving distance of a large town to get to a hotel. I’m talking about rolling fields shielded by mountains isolated. Therefore, we spent the night in a barn. Yes, a barn. At first glance, I was immature and fought with my parents to let me sleep in the rental car as I didn’t initially want to sleep in a barn. Fortunately, I relented to their spiel of “it’s a new experience that you probably won’t forget”, and grudgingly trampled into the barn’s entrance. However, this type of barn was meant for tourists to sleep there, so it wasn’t too bad; when I reflect on it, I disliked it at the time, but now, it was an absolutely great experience. What they did was clean and sweep the floors of any mess that the animals might have made, and put fresh straw down. Arguably, that straw was a better place to sleep on that some hotel beds, which was a surprise. Now, being a barn, the animals were right next door to us, meaning that we heard them a few times during the night. Fortunately we slept really well, and the next morning we were treated to local dairy products for breakfast-think goat’s milk and cheese. There was something pure about having the goat’s milk and cheese, though to be honest, I’d rather have my milk back here in the States. All in all, this experience of sleeping in a barn has to have been one of the most unique things that I’ve ever done, at home and abroad. Would I do it again? Most definitely. If you ever find yourself driving through Switzerland, don’t hesitate to sleep in one of these barns.

Another thing that I remember is how there was this little lake in the village that had absolutely radiant blue water. I guess that in Switzerland, their nature is unpolluted, so things are more pristine. Being the elementary school aged kid that I was, I found this incredible. Now that I know more about the environment and more about the world, I still vividly remember that little lake.