Life As We Know It

Happy April! 

Sam and I in Zurich

My life has been preeetty uneventful these past few weeks, as our independent study period gives us literally infinite amounts of free time. Free time that we are, of course, supposed to be using to write our papers, but everyone knows that doing things ahead of time is overrated. I kind of went on civil protest due to the fact that we are supposed to have a total of about 10 hours of interviews completed, and nobody in this godforsaken city wants to give me the time of day. I have sent out over 100 emails, have made over 20 phone calls, and have only received probably 10 emails back. SO irritating. Not only that, but some of the experts just flat out lie to me! One woman told me she was not an expert in the field of human smuggling and irregular migration... but, wait for it... I read a 312 pg PDF the day before that was authored by the same woman. That's okay, lady, I didn't want to talk to you either. Next time you decide to publish 312 pages of something on the internet and display your contact information, prepare yourself for the possibility that people might want to contact you and, you know, discuss the topic that you CLEARLY know a lot about. The other problem I've encountered is the fact that people here go on 2-3 week Easter vacations. Really!? Obviously they didn't get the memo that their vacation time is super inconvenient for me. However, despite some increasingly rude responses and the ridiculous amount of vacation time, I have had a few very interesting interviews that have me totally nerding out about school and my topic. Finally, some fire under my belly! 

The view from the Cathedral 

Last weekend I went to Zurich with Sam. As I think I've mentioned before, she is a Swiss citizen, so she has a large number of distant relatives in the country that she has been traveling around to visit. Thankfully, she was kind enough to bring me to meet her great uncle and great aunt in Zurich! 
Not a joke, I've never met more precious old people in my entire life. The couple, Marcus and Fleur, were about 80 and were more full of life than many people I know my own age. They were SO thrilled about our presence in Zurich, despite the fact that I wasn't even related to them, and promised to show us a FABULOUS day. First, they insisted on buying us a "proper" lunch. When we sat down, we realized they were eating, and were informed that "old people don't need lunch, we have years of fat stored up. Young people need to eat, eat, eat!" I mean... If you insist... 

The famous lake

Next, we walked around the Old City and Marcus and Fleur told us everything I could ever want to know about Zurich, as they had grown up there. We went to a cathedral, similar to the one in Geneva, and climbed all 60 flights of stairs... with Marcus! He took those stairs like a champion. Better than I did, I'm pretty sure. After the cathedral, we went to the Üetliberg, the tallest point in Zurich, where we could REALLY see the entire city. We climbed about 20 more flights of stairs, Marcus still in tow, and hiked up the mountain like champions. Switzerland is, without a doubt, the most constantly stunningly beautiful place I've been in my entire life. Later on, we met up with MORE of Sam's relatives, her mom's cousin or something, and had dinner at a beautiful restaurant. One thing I learned about my German roots? They LOVE meat. The more meat, the better. I had to hide my horror while reading the menu (the English version, of course... the German version looked like this: awia sdkngiwehg lswiurevnv mcsks hfhqo qlhsoidg je). SO MUCH VEAL. Veal kidneys, veal head, veal liver, veal ravioli, veal roast, veal sausage... I seriously was traumatized. So many dead baby cows. Luckily, I was able to settle for some pork. After dinner, we went back to Fleur and Marcus' house, a huge house in the Swiss countryside. 
However, my favorite part of the weekend was observing the way the couple interacted with each other. They still held hands, flirted, and joked around like they were teenagers. They told us stories about how they lived in Finland for a year and decided that when they moved back to Switzerland they needed a sauna (which they had in their house), and showed no signs of slowing down. Sometimes it's easy to think that a life like that is impossible to obtain and is a dream, but Marcus and Fleur proved to me that it is not. They were so in love, so happy, and so ready to take on the world, that I (naturally) became extremely philosophical and began to think about my life and the world around me. I want THAT for my future. Endless happiness, constant adventure, and a life so full of magic that I don't have anything negative to say. 

ALL of Zurich.

When I got back to Nyon, I was still in the middle of my philosophical thought process, and started to observe the people around me. I see people that are perpetually unhappy with their jobs and are constantly stressed, irritable, and tired. For what? To come home at the end of the day and barely talk because you're both so exhausted, and often fight? It doesn't seem like that would be a tolerable way to live. Then, I started to think even further. As I recently discovered that I can, indeed, create a state of happiness regardless of any situation due to the human brain's amazing capabilities, I started to wonder, it is even possible to blame anything but yourself for unhappiness? Some people blame their jobs, blame school, blame significant others... but we all literally have the power to change all of that. You don't like your job? Either find something you like about it, positive reasons to put up with it, or quit and find one you like better. Don't like school? You could drop out of school and work at McDonalds, or you can remember that you are privileged to have an education and one day will be a better person for the experiences and things you learned while you were at school. Don't like your significant other? Either you are perpetually unhappy with yourself and are taking it out on someone else, or you are dating someone really super lame. So, either change your mindset and change yourself, or stop dating a super lame person. Literally there is no excuse for unhappiness. Sadness, yes. But unhappiness? No. 
Then, there is this new "YOLO" trend. Personally, when I see it, it reminds me of a candy bar or something and makes me want to eat more chocolate. And, "you only live once" is a pretty valid saying, because to my knowledge we haven't quite figured out how to master death. I like it in the sense that I think it does push people to make changes in their life, like I mentioned before, that will make them happier, and take steps in their lives that they wouldn't normally take. I like that. I can use a little more adventure, you know? What I DON'T like, however, is people using the saying to act like complete idiots. 
"JUST CHEATED ON MY BOYFRIEND, OH WELL, YOLO!" "Just took 17 shots and woke up in a random man's bed, oh well lolz, YOLO!" "Got a girl pregnant and did coke last night... YOLO!" "Tonight I'm going to drag race my car down the street after drinking 8 beers and hope I don't die, YOLO!" 
No, you're dumb. The fact that you only live once does not mean that you should go around making decisions that could ultimately end your life, or decrease the quality of your life immensely. That, I would say, is extremely counterproductive. 

Marcus. Trying to be him.

My point, after this long rant, is this: life is always changing. I am in a place in my life that I literally did not think I would be in 3 months ago, and I could easily be upset about that. But I'm not. In 24 days I will leave Europe, and I could be depressed about that, but I'm not. I saw the epitome of what I want for my life in a darling, happy, 80 year old couple, and after observing the world around me, I wish that happiness upon everyone else. 
So if you don't care about anything else I have to say other than this- don't waste your life being a sourpuss. You will lose your friends, and probably even your dog will hate you. Be HAPPY! Always find the silver lining, and never settle. 
With that, I am confident I will be happy for the rest of my life, and I hope that all the people I love can be happy too. 
Adios, amigos!