Day 2: Continued

After the castle tour we went to Migros which is the grocery store chain all over Switzerland. I spent $30.87 for :

• 4 cans of apple sauce
• 2 cans of minestrone soup
• 3 apples
• sandwich meat which is either turkey or chicken (i am not exactly sure)
• asiago cheese
• half a loaf of wheat toast (they sell bread toasted here)
• a can of peas and carrots
• rice cakes
• fruity granola (they have amazing chocolate flavored granola I am avoiding
• plain oatmeal

**Another fact about grocery stores here is that you have to provide your own bags or pay .10- $2.00 for a reusable bag that they sell at the checkout. You also have to weigh your own fruit and mark the price instead of at the cash register (we held up the line for 5 min because of this.)

Our first shopping trip! Only professional tourists document normal activities in foreign countries.

*** As I said earlier in my things I learned, they do not refrigerate all milk and some juices you would normally see in America.

Partners in crime.

That night almost everyone in our group decided to have dinner at a local pizza place. We tried to go to some place that may or may not have started with a "z." However, we would end up at a place called 1664. I had the most amazing prosciutto pizza and shared delicious red wine with another girl on my trip.

Things I have learned about restaurants:

1. They do not split up checks- you either put your money together or pay at the register
2. They do not ask you if you want the check once you are done eating because it is customary for people to have dinners that last over 3 hours.
3. It is not customary to take leftovers ( I knew this from my Grandpa who never ate a leftover a day in his life)
4. It costs money for water unless you ask for tap... it still might cost a little depending where you are
5. It is not polite to put your water bottle on the table at a restaurant (I personally was never reprimanded but other people in my program tested this)
6. They do not use salad dressing here.

It is absolutely true what they say... you cannot get a bad bottle of wine in Europe. I did however test that theory when after dinner we decided to save money by buying bottles of wine before we hit up the Coyote Ugly next door....

Hooligans/fans of Vino de Cuisine... the most exclusive of wines.

At first when I was a bottle of "Vino de Cuisine" for $4.40 I thought I was getting a deal over the "Vino de Pasta" that was $4.50. Clearly I need another Italian lesson not to notice the obvious translation to "cooking wine."

Soooo I bought the cooking wine and googled the next day if it would have negative effects on my body (which it won't! #winning!) Then we became Lugano street hooligans and finally went to the Coyote. There I met two very different Swiss-Italians. One was a very polite balding man who wanted to know where all the Americans came from and told me he sold meat in the city of Lugano... this probably should have weirded me out, but I am open to new occupations. We had a nice chat and he bought me a rum shot chased with pineapple. Then I met a Swiss-Italian youth that confirmed all the rumors I heard about the typical Italian stereotype.

Breaking it down at Coyote Ugly.

The expression here is "Italian men think "no" is the beginning of a conversation. The guy was inappropriate but he bought me a beer so I took it and proceeded to ignore him and tell him he was creepy (I am a poor student after all.) Then, I ran into him later and he approached me with the glorious line," You buy me a drink, then we F*ck." I am assuming he thought his small investment would have a large payoff? This gem of a pick-up line will stay with me... while that creep I will never see again. I will end my post on that note... & don't worry family I will not get taken... just passing on a little culture lesson from abroad! ;)