Staying in the French Alps was absolutely amazing.  It was so beautiful and peaceful.  One morning, we even woke up to 4-5 inches of snow.  And it is summer!  I had a great time playing in it, but everyone was talking about how they didn't bring any snow gear...well neither did I, and I am the one who's hands turn purple when they are cold.  

We had all the intentions of going to church in France...at least 8 of us...but when we got to the building it was closed.  It was more like an office building with the church name outside it.  Then this other lady came up, but only spoke French out of the little we understood, church was suppose to start at 9.  Even she didn't know what was going on.  We waited a half hour, walked around town for 20 mins, came back, and it was still closed.  We were guessing that it was stake conference.  Just out luck.  So we went to the park and had our own little meeting, with our driver David who is Protestant.  We got to share our thoughts and beliefs while he listened in.  It was fun.  When we got back we had a little picnic in the field next to the river.  It was really a day of rest. 

After breakfast the next morning made kindly by the men, we went to another national park in France right by the border of Italy.  We wanted to go up the Tram to the very top of some mountain, but it was so cloudy that we knew we wouldn't be able to really see anything if we went.  So instead, one of our Professors joyfully announced how there was a hike to go see a glacier.  This is our Professor who is a writer and every enthusiastic about almost everything.  He knows how big of a deal seeing all this is while to us it is just like "Whoa! So cool!"  Anyways, we started the decent up to see the glacier, the only problem, it was muddy and wet.  My shoes were soaking after 5 mins of hiking and it was suppose to be a 40 min walk there and back. But that didn't stop me.  I walked on a snow-filled bridge, up a muddy terrain that was slippery and almost fell 4 times, and made it all the way up to the view point to see the glacier.  It was big, but that was just the front of it.  It extended for miles behind.  It was actually very beautiful.  We could see these bright blue strips in it included in the white almost as if it was shimmering.  The only sad part was watching a small river of water coming out from underneath.  The glaciers was for sure melting.  Global warming man! Afterwards, we got to spend a small amount of time in the lovely town called Chamonix. It is more like a skiing/tourist town.  It had a lot of snow gear, but also a lot of delicious pastries and treats. It was just so cute!  It looked like you are walking through a cute part of Italy with the buildings 3-5 stories tall next to the cobblestone street. 

That night we had a community dinner, meaning the program payed for food and we made it to share with everyone.  We did this every night we stayed in the French Alps. It was different from going out to buy everything every day while in Africa, but it was cheap to go out while here is a little more expensive.  Before the night ended, some girls decided to blast some music and have a dance party, unfortunately, we were not secluded where we were living and the boys could here our music, since they were staying right next to us. So our professor told us to turn it down so we couldn't hear it...which meant turn it off. But we kept it going because it was just one of those nights where we all wanted to dance. haha!  It wasn't blasting anymore, but it was just enough that we could hear the beat.  

The next morning we had to say goodbye to our beautiful chalet and the French Alps.  That day we had a choice, go to Italy and hike up to a waterfall, or go on the tram we were suppose to go on the day before.  We all decided to go on the tram, good thing we did.  I was not expecting the view to be so amazing.  We first started going up the green hill.  It was still a little cloudy but not as much as the day before.  It was like going up a ski lift, but there were about 50 of us crammed into one little space.  Eventually we had to get off to get on a different tram.  It was pure  rightness.  It was foggy and snowy, but the sun was still showing through.  The best part was getting to the top.  We were in fog for about 5 minutes, but there was one of those moments when angels start singing as we came out of the fog and saw the white capped mountains.  It was beautiful.  It made us fill that we were higher than the sky.  It was just such an adventure.  We were 12,602 ft above sea level, but I did not feel out of breath at all.  We watched as insane people went skying down the cliff slides of the mountains, and other people dress up in squirrel suits and jump from the top.  There are many thrill-seekers who come to this spot.  I even got to step into "the void" which is a clear box off the edge of a cliff that lets you look down and feel like you are floating over the edge.  All my time up there made me wonder, is this what the view is like for God?  Just this beautiful white and being able to look down and across.  Will heaven be this bright and white? Just everything was super!  

We arrived in Bern, Switzerland pretty late, but with just enough time to go walk around the Bern Temple (we didn't have time to go inside) and also just explore the city.  There was this big Swiss clock that was suppose to have things pop out of it, but we never made it in time to the hour it occurred (we tried twice).  It was just a very chill time to explore in Bern. Then we went off on the trip to the Swiss Alps.  We are currently in a small town called Sent.  Let's see the next adventure that follows.  And the house is very nice.  It is another cabin looking house.  I am sleeping in the "attic".  It's not really but it is at the very top with strange stairs that look like it should be leading to an attic.