J'adore Paris

First Day in Paris and It has been everything I ever dreamed it would be and more! We arrived on the train with help from our 60 year old friend Doris. Only problem was that the metro wouldn't take our debit cards to buy tickets nor would anyone give us coins in change for our Euro bills. So I walked around the station begging for someone to change me my bills (in true gypsy fashion.) We found our change and were able to go through without anymore problems. First stop was the Eiffel tower (of course how tourist right?) then on a beach cruiser bike tour around paris which was amazing! Especially since it was hot enough to cook an egg on the sidewalk. After the tour and drinking about 60 ounces of water we made it to the Arche De Triomphe and the Champs Elysees (which is the fifth avenue of Paris) For the First day it was amazing! Obsessed with Paris. That is all
Couple things about Paris:
1. My fake name is Lisa Frank. I know awesome.
2. We bought rings so it looks like we're married when creepy guys start to talk to us.
3. Paris is dirty but it's because there are no garbage cans. seriously. we walked around for 30 minutes trying to figure out where to throw away our ice cream cones.
4. It's just like you see in the movies. beautiful
5. Most romantic place on earth.
...to be continued


Here's the Itinerary for Paris
Saturday:
Eiffel Tower
Fat Bike Tour
Arche De Triomphe
Champs Elysees
Sunday:
Flea Markets
Les 4 Temps
Luxembourg Gardens
Catacombs
Monday
Montmarte to Sacre Coeur
Moulin Rouge
Louvre
Notre Dame
Night Bands & Dancing on the Seine
Then on to flowhouse bedford! So stoked!

Eat your heart out Julie Andrews

I crossed number thrity off my list: Ride a train through the swiss alps! And it was beyond beautiful. we actually took a train then tram to the schilthorn. (same place where they filmed James Bond "On Her Majesty's Secret Service") Standing at the top I had my Sound of Music moment twirling in the air picking flowers and I couldn't believe that I was actually there. I don't want to sound too cheesy but it really was a view that will be burned into my mind forever. The Lord did a good job and I can't believe that we have things in this world that are that majestic and beautiful. I don't even feel like words or pictures could ever do it justice but here's a few just so you can get a little taste. And you definately shouldn't take my word for it, go see it for yourself! You won't ever regret it!


And I didn't really want this picture of Olivia and Amanda I just needed to figure out a sly way to take a picture of the character sitting behind them. Not only did he have a buzz mullet complete with fountain scrunchy ponytail he was also wearing a floor length skirt...classic switzerland

The strawberries taste like strawberries, and the snozzberries taste like snozzberries.

Ok, there wasn't an edible room at the Callier chocolate factory, but there was a free tasting room which I think is probably just as good. Callier is a higher end Swiss chocolate brand (now owned by Nestle) that uses all natural ingredients (not like the waxy stuff we have in America.)An oompa loompa I mean nice lady walked us to the sliding door to begin our tour. She started off by asking us, "Is anyone caustraphobic? And please when one door opens hurry through to the next room." I knew we were in for a treat. about 25 of us walk into a 10 x 10 room with jungle sounds that doesn't have a door out. Why didn't it have a door you ask? Because it was an elevator! It lowered us down into a jungle complete with fog and light show with props that explained how chocolate was discovered by the Mayans, taken to Europe by Cortez and eventually wound up in Switzerland. I don't want to talk it up to much but I'd say it was just as good as The Indian Jones ride at Disney. Eventually we made it to the factory portion where we saw the chocolate being made (and sadly, no it's not mixed by a chocolate waterfall.) Immediately followed by the tasting room which had every kind of chocolate they made. You couldn't take any from the room but you could eat as many as you wanted or until you puked dark chocolate truffles all over your neighbor. And as if that wasn't a great enough day already we went to a medival festival in the village of Gueyeres. Complete with knights in tights and armor. And I'm pretty sure I had Olivia take my picture with each and every one of them. I would maybe compare this to a giant larping (Live Action Role Playing) festival but way cooler and one that I would want to be apart of. And this has also inspired me to hold my 22nd birthday at medival times in vegas so pencil it in your schedule for December. Don't forget your tights and chainmail. Just call me jousting Jessie

I take all my pictures like an Asian tourist

Barefoot Pilgrimage & the "poo choo"

This week has been quite the eventful week! Wednesday we visited the town of Fribourg. And if we wanna get technical I was actually an hour behind the group because I couldn't find my train pass. By the time I realized it was missing I had ten minutes until the train came. (and just for reference it's about a fifteen minute walk from our hotel to the train station that is on a 70 degree incline.) So as you can imagine I was bookin it. I made it back to the train station just in time to see it pull away.boo...oh well I was able to catch the next one with a friend and didn't even miss anything. When we got there we toured around a bit, And when I say tour around, I mean under the cover of porches and umbrellas because it was dumping rain. (If you were wondering before why Switzerland is so green, well I guess the secrets out now. Regardless of the weather it's still beautiful) Anywho...we get to this station that smells like, well...$h!t. And that's because it was literally run off of raw human sewage. I'll spare you the rest of the dirty details but it's adoringly refered to the "poo choo." The Swiss are some pretty inventive people huh?

We walked through town to a scary puppet museum which if you've ever seen the feature length film Dead Silence you know what I'm talking about. It was actually very interesting and the tour guide let us play on the puppet stage so overall I gave it a solid A. (note-I still think marionette puppets are scary as hell) Next Bob took us to the top of the ramparts of the St. James Pilgrimage. He described to us how in the middle ages thousands of people would walk this path to Spain as a religious journey or as a way to repent for ones sins. And if you really wanted it to count for something you had to suffer in some way ie-carrying a large boulder. So we decided to walk it barefoot...in the pouring rain...all the way to the cathedral, and the dean of the business school even joined in ha! It was actually pretty fun. We all cleaned our feet in the fountain next to the cathedral...which I'm hoping no ones tries to drink out of. The cathedral was absolutely beautiful with a lookout that is 360 stairs to get to the top..needless to say my quads were a little sore the next morning. In spite of the rain it's been one of the funnest days so far.

Swiss life is the life for me

I've finally made it to Switzerland!! I wanted to blog the first day I got here but we've literally been running from one thing to the next! And I can't believe how much we've been able to do and see in just a week! And I can't believe I still have a whole month left! The time change here is 8 hours ahead of Utah, so my body had a rough time adjusting at first. We live in the small village of Leysin which is about a 30 minute train ride (very steep train ride) from a larger station in Aigle. Our group of 40 students occupies the entire bed & breakfast run by pretty much the coolest couple ever, Dominique and Josian. Every night they cook us traditional Swiss & French cuisine (last night was fondue.) And get a load of this: every morning when we look out our window we see the alps and gaze over beautiful lake Geneva on the train ride down. It seriously is the most beautiful thing I've ever witnessed and words honestly do not do it justice. I've fallen in love with the people, the busy cities, the small villages, the food, the culture, and everything Swiss. And slowly but surely my French is improving! School is also going great, I've found so many things for inspiration and have had the privilege of being surrounded by some amazing designers.

I didn't even have to pay for this screen saver because I took it myself...whaaattt!!


I wish all buildings were painted cool like this in the U.S...and this is only a grocery store!


pretty cute, ya?


Here's a few things so far that I love about Switzerland:
1. You can drink out of the fountains because they're glacier water and they're everywhere!
2. The Swiss people are extremely friendly.
3. Even though I don't understand a lot of French still, it's a beautiful language to listen to.
4. I could eat croissants w/ cheese or nutella everyday...and I usually do!
5. Hazelnut is hands down the best nut. ever.
6. You take the train to anywhere you need to go and it's beautiful scenery all along the way.
7. The Swiss Alps are like Utah on steroids
8. One word: chocolate
9. Great cheese. I love cheese. Every kind.
10. Castles are everywhere. It's like living Robin Hood the movie but with less tights and Russel Crowe.
11. I want to kidnap all the babies that speak French.
12. You can swim in Lake Geneva.
13. Evian is bottled off the shores of Geneva. The people here drink it in their tap and shower in it daily.
14. No tax & their money is pretty!
15. Dinner always consists of 3 courses and considered a social gathering.
16. The Alps are literally right outside my window. I stare at the Matterhorn daily (when it's not overcast that is)
17. Wake up to the sound of cowbells when the cows graze in the field/ski resort behind our chateau.
18. Everything is Fantastik' here (that's fantastic pronounced with a k.)
19. Beautiful design on posters, the cobblestone patterns on streets, magazines, ornamentation on buildings, inside decor including furniture, money, street signs, clothing, you name it!
20. Did I already say Chocolate?

Waiting for the train...Gypsy life

This and dat..

Here's some design work I've done in the past bit...some stuff I've done for school events and random jobs! I feel like a lot of this stuff has been more on the "cutesy" side which I don't feel describes my design style. Looking forward to my BFA review which I'm hoping will be a complete line of snowboard topsheets! Most of my portfolio is on my external hard drive at home so will upload more when I'm back in the states!