Journeys of Summer Break 2016 (Part 1: Interlaken, Lyon, Geneva and Chamonix)

By Adila Apsara - 19:48

Hey people!
Maybe it's obvious that Europe is currently experiencing the summer and that means that the university students also have semester break (well not really a break because sometimes you still need to do papers and if somehow, failed an exam, then you have to study again *rolls eyes*). But in spite of that bitter fact, the summer break lasts for about 3 months. 3 months WITHOUT classes. It would be a shame if you don't use this time to travel a bit. Or work part-time. Or ... yea you know what I mean.

So I decided to go on an adventure with one of the student organization trips called P*2*M (I don't wanna tell the full name because I'm not here for promotions, okay?) But yeah so mainly they organize trips for students and this one is one of them.

I was alone on the trip but eventually met some other indonesian students (from interns to exchange students) from different places like Leiden, Netherlands.. or Soest, Germany. It was a really nice experience and when we were in Lyon, I was in the same room as the two master students from Leiden. But of course my favorite part are: The photos!!!

The first stop was INTERLAKEN, a very breathtakingly beautiful city in Switzerland. It's covered with the Thuner lake and the color of the water is just amazing.. it makes me speechless as I hop off from the bus and directly saw a river that directs to the lake with the water color. It was morning and the weather was good even though a little bit chilly.





Me and my two new friends decided to just explore the city side because we only had like 3.5hours to explore Interlaken and walking to the lake would take too much time. Mind you, this was a decision that I still regret until today.



I ended up taking some photos and by the time it was near noon, the temperature rose up high that I had to take off my sweater. Before the departure to Lyon, I had a glass of cappucino in the nearby restaurant.


I already have the thoughts that I would definitely go back to Interlaken, no matter how hard it would be. Maybe next summer.. and I wouldn't even mind if I have to go alone.

After that... it took 4 hours to get to our second destination, LYON


We checked in and got a hotel room for three people, and I immediately claimed for the upper bunk. Knowing we only have like the rest of the day in Lyon, we quickly changed our clothes and headed to the city for lunch and some adventure.

Mind you, Lyon was really, really hot at the moment. That's why I didn't take many pictures. Also, something creepy happened when a man (a stranger) tried to approach us on our way to the mall. He asked my friend something that I couldn't hear very good (we tried to ignore him but he kept on following us) and he even asked "are you scared?"

Like.. Are you crazy??? Of course we are! As if it wasn't creepy enough, he then said "see you tomorrow."

It was pretty upsetting since we then became scared and decided that we would go back to the hotel before it gets dark.


Setting everything aside, I like Lyon.. it gave me some Paris vibes but somehow cleaner and friendlier. The people also speak a lot of English and I had no struggle trying to pretend that I do speak some French even when I could only say "Bonjour" and "Merci."


Going on an adventure makes us hungry.. and so we had our dinner in a cute Japanese restaurant near the river.



We were already in the hotel again before it was dark. And then it was time for some real rest because early on the day after, we were already on our way to our third destination, CHAMONIX


The famous Mont Blanc is located in Chamonix. And so the main reason to visit Chamonix is of course, to go up with the cable car to the Mont Blanc. However, it costs like 56€ per person because they wanted to get us the fast tracks and it was too much for me and the other 4 Indonesian students. So we decided to take a walk around the villages instead.




The whole time I was here I felt like I was in a painting. Not even kidding.. it's so beautiful!


And since I judge the European cities by the ice cream, I would say that Chamonix passed the test :p





Most of the photos that includes me in them were mostly taken by my friends' cameras. I would add them up when I already get them.

And unfortunately, there was something that dramatically changed our plans in Geneva.

The others who were up in the Mont Blanc couldn't make it down in time for our departure to the last destination, GENEVA, and we lost like 2.5 hours of time.

As if it wasn't bad enough, there was some really bad traffic in Geneva that caused us to only like AN HOUR of time to explore Geneva. Mission impossible at it's best. And the Indonesians (all 8 of us) were already reunited and we decided to go to the nearby market to buy our dinner.


spotted this lil buddy though!


Oh and we also discovered this cool automatic toilet hahahah (the door will open automatically if you don't finish in 15 min xD)

It was near the building of United Nations, something that was always put in our textbooks but finally we could see it in real life. But of course the photos are located in my friend's camera -_-

And it ends the journey for this time. I went back to Köln and slept there for one night before going back to Bielefeld.

(Post will be edited soon)

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