Lugano and Bellinzona

After only two weeks, I am already done with my introduction to Finance course. The final was Saturday morning from 9 to 11 am. The way that class is set up here in Riva is very convenient. I feel as though I am learning all of the material a lot better than I would be back at Virginia Tech. There is absolutely no way that you can procrastinate and everyone studies together too, which is very helpful. This week we are starting International Finance, which I think should be very interesting.

Since we had our final on Saturday, I decided it would be a good idea to stay in the area this weekend. Most of the architecture students went away and there were a few business students that left as well. Around 1 o’clock in the afternoon, the girls from my apartment and I headed to Lugano. We wanted to do a little bit of shopping and figured it would be one of the only times that we would be able to spend a day there. It was so simple to get there. We went from Capalago, hopped on the S10 train and were there in about 20 minutes. I am really starting to enjoy the convenience of trains and I wish we had a better public transportation system in America. Most of the trains are comfortable and fairly clean, so I really do not mind being on them for a couple of hours at a time.

Once we got to Lugano we just walked around and went into any shops that looked interesting. The streets were beautiful when you first walk to the main part of town. They are very steep and the surrounding buildings are so colorful! Pictures cannot even capture the beauty of the Ticino region. There was an amazing chocolate shop that had massive squares of chocolate stacked up behind the counter. The flavors were unique and I was able to try the white chocolate raspberry one. Too bad everything was very expensive; otherwise I would have bought something. We went into H&M as well, but I noticed that it was a lot more expensive than the H&M in America. One of the shirts that I bought for 20 dollars back home was around 40 Francs here. After shopping for a few hours, we went to a small café and got Irish coffee. The café was not crowded at all and it was so relaxing to just sit down and take in the surroundings. While walking in the square, I came across this second hand book vendor who was set up outside. After glancing at the table, I immediately saw a Virginia Tech book. Out of all books to have in the world, there was one from my school! I could not believe it. I also saw a scarf that was Hokie colors while in the Coop. Later in the afternoon we headed towards the park. It is probably one of the prettiest parks I have been to. There were hundreds of flowers and everything is so well-kept. I was surprised to see so many olive trees; I never knew that the area had a climate to support them. Luckily my parents sent me a new camera earlier in the week so I was able to capture some of the beauty. Overall my day in Lugano was just what I needed after a couple weeks of non-stop intensive learning.

The cool streets!

The amazing chocolate shop!

The second hand book table with the VT book!

Apartment girls in the park!

Lake Lugano!

The flowers are beautiful

Cool trees!

Awesome fountain

Hokie scarf

Sleeping in on Sunday morning was amazing. The entire time I have been here, I wake up at 8 am every morning and have not yet had the chance to just sleep in. I woke up around noon, ate brunch at the villa, and then a group of us decided to visit Bellinzona. The train ride was only about 45 minutes, so we were able to spend the entire afternoon there and still make it back for dinner. Bellinzona is the administrative capital of Ticino and it is famous for its three castles. We went to Castelgrande and spent a couple of hours walking around on the fortification. The walls of the castle are amazing, I felt as though I was on the Great Wall of China for a moment, because it went on for longer than I expected. The views from the top of the main tower were phenomenal, but the steps to get up there were slightly scary. It is great to be able to just make a day trip to such a historic place. As we walked through the town, we came across a mushroom convention. It is by far one of the most bizarre things I have seen so far. There were hundreds of mushrooms and people were absolutely engrossed by them. We got an email from Daniela earlier in the week telling us that there was supposed to be some kind of festival/market on Sunday, but none of us could find it. I suppose the mushroom festival will have to suffice.

Staying in the area this weekend was a great idea, because I was not only able to unwind and catch up on some sleep, but I was able to see some of the unique towns in the area that I would probably have never visited otherwise. 

Castelgrande

the stairs...

View from the top

Mushroom convention

Some cool mushrooms