Hello Switzerland!!!

So I have officially landed in Luzern, Switzerland. Mind Blown!!!

My airport experience departing from Toronto was smooth and efficient.

I anticipated long lines and waits given the recent news reports and arrived with 4 hours before departure. I was lucky and able to check my bag without any lineup only waiting

behind 10 people to clear security and it is a good thing as I neglected to retrieve my laptop

from one of the bins and half way to my terminal, realized what I had done.

Having already passed through security, I had to go back out, clearing customs along the way, all the way back through departures, clearing security once again, before they handed me back my forgotten laptop.

On the upside, I will forever forward, always double check to make sure I have everything before departing security. Once you pass through those glass security doors there is no simple way back. I am thankful for the kind people at the screening area for keeping my device secure while I foolishly made my way back.

Switzerland thus far has been amazing!! The people have been very inviting and kind.

I have enjoyed 2 meals provided by the culinary students here at IMI (International Management Institute). They serve Breakfast, lunch (Brunch on weekends) and dinner, buffet style, 7 days a week with fresh baked breads, wonderful crisp salads, hot entrees and various desserts. The view from the dinning room is world class, surrounded by the Alps on the shores of Lake Lucerne.

They offer a fine dinning experience in the swiss room, reservations required, and I will be sure to make many over the course of the next 3 months I am here. Today it has been raining but the tranquility of the location makes for a beautiful day regardless the weather.

I have traded in the sounds of traffic and sirens for the chirping of birds, sounding of church/city bells and the ever present crickets echoing on the sounds of the waves lapping up from the lake. My mind is blown. The shear brilliance of this land, and how the people living here, have seemingly intermingled with nature to live along the lake shore whilst still leaving the area pristine. Even though there are residences, some very large to say the least, dotting the shore lines and clinging to the sides of the mountains around me, they have been built in a way that seems natural, as though they were always there. Some having been there since 750bc when the Benedictine Monastery of St. Leodegar was founded.

Tomorrow brings with it a tour of IMI in the morning and a guided tour of the city of Luzern (Lucerne) in the afternoon. It is a little like going back in time here. For example, most stores are not open tomorrow. Why? Because it is Sunday and that is the law. People need at least one day to spend with family and there for, businesses are closed. The exception may be at the train station as it is a central hub that operates 24/7 & 365. Many shops close by 7pm Monday to Wednesday, open until 9pm Thursdays and 5pm Saturdays. Restaurants are the exception, as it seems everywhere in the world, to these rules. Canada and North America in general could benefit from a little time travel. The Swiss seem to have managed to prosper within this time line since just after the fall of the Roman Empire. 4am pizza delivery seems great unless you are the one doing the delivering, just sayin. Honestly, I am just hoping to take note of some landmarks to help navigate so that when I return, I hopefully won't get lost. Perhaps a stop to have a Café Swiss avec du Chocolat.

For now I leave you with a video I shot from the balcony of my living space here at IMI for the next 3 months. Something tells me I will not tire of this view any time soon.