Ciao. This is Dan writing to you at the beginning of my 4th week here in Lugano. Having spent a little bit of time here now, I am pretty-well oriented to my surroundings and the weekly routine. This translates into a less chaotic and more enjoyable time. I have also started sitting in on some Italian classes with the students, and am getting better about taking time for solitude. 

The greatest need of our time is to clean out the enormous mass of mental and emotional rubbish that clutters our minds. - Thomas Merton

  

Solitude is really important at a place like TASIS, where your day can easily be filled with activities, although wonderful, from dawn 'til dusk. But, what are some of these wonderful activities that I speak of?

Last week we put on a Casino Night for the students.

They all got dressed up,

tried their luck at games like Black Jack, Poker and Uno,

and bought prizes.

Here is the high rolling Saudi crew who did well enough to buy this large Swiss chocolate bar. Look for these guys in Forbes Magazine in 20 years. They needed to eat the chocolate quickly before their fasting for Ramadan started two days later.

Another night we had a Mystery Van evening - students got into a van driven by us counselors not knowing where they would be taken.They were thrilled when we arrived at the carnival.

Then the weekend came. On Saturday I got to chaperone the Milan trip, which I was very happy about.

The students did their Gucci and Prada shopping at the Victor Emmanuel II Mall,

we spun three time on the bull of Torino for good luck,

and marveled at the Duomo (cathedral) di Milano. This place took 500 years to build .... that's more than twice as long as the USA has been a country!!!

The entire Duomo is made out of marble. Its elaborate carving, from foundation to roof, were amazing,

as well as interesting.

We also got to see some of Da Vinci's work including the Last Supper (sorry no photos were allowed). It might have been the highlight of the trip.

But the sharing gelato with the other counselors was close second.

Life is about balance, so Sunday found us away from the cities enjoying Switzerland's great outdoors.

 It is hard to believe, but the first of the two summer sessions is almost over. This group of students goes home next week, which means my time is about half over here.

I guess all we can do is live in the moment. Arrivederci.

Hello again blog-followers! Thanks again for checking in. In my last entry I had just finished my first week in Lugano, the students had recently arrived and I was looking forward to getting to know them better. Well, I have been able to through all the awesome activities we do together each day. The picture above is the setting for these awesome activities - the picturesque Lake Lugano. I am not the only person in history to think this area is special. The author Herman Hesse made his home ten minutes from our school's campus. Anyways, here are some of the typical activities that fill my "work week:"

horseback riding

Here's one of my favorite advisees, Ayoub. He tells me about how he races horses when he is back home in Libya.

ice cream social/limbo competition

Advisory Group Olympics during which the students had to construct a boat out of cardboard, duck tape, and plastic bags. Our advisory team name was the Snoragnes. 

The boat races were a lot of fun.

On Thursday evenings we go down to the city of Lugano (our school is a few kilometers above it), to shop, eat gelato and basically get a sugar-high.

On Friday we windsurf

on Lago Maggiore.

Here's a student (and faculty) soccer tournament ... the Spaniards beat the Russians in the finals this week.

Here are all the students that I do these activities with. The are an awesome bunch.

Although I have no right to complain, doing all these activities tires you out, but the other counselors (above) are amazing. We keep each other going and have a great time together.

On the weekends we always head out of town - Saturday for a full day trip and Sunday for a half day trip. This past Saturday, we went to Switzerland's capital, Zurich. Although it was rainy, we had still got to know the old town around the River Limmat,

explored some cool churches (Grossmunster = big cathedral),

and wandered through the back streets in search of souvenirs and espresso.

Here's what the country side looks like between Lugano and Zurich...not a bad view to stare at during the three hour bus ride.

The students seemed to have a good time on the trip too.

And finally on Sunday, we got some sleep-in time, and an afternoon at the Ascona lido (a public, open-air swimming pool or bathing beach).

Hoping you're well from a happy camper in Swizterland.

 Hi Everyone! Thanks for checking up on me. As I may have told you I am in Europe this summer working at an international boarding school, TASIS, as a counselor (more to come on what that entails). I am writing to you from Lugano, Switzerland right now, where TASIS is located. (see map below)

Allow me to get you caught up to speed. I had a few days off between the end of my school year in Santa Rosa and the start of the summer program in TASIS. Since I was headed to Europe anyways, I decided to see what Rome was all about. I went and saw all the main tourists things you're "suppose" to see when going to Rome, which was great.

Colosseum- our guide really explained how the Romans truly were an incredible civilization: architecture, government, military, art, religion, etc.

It was cool to see some of the origins of the things that I teach about in school - Euclid, Pythagoras, Plato, etc....they were actually Greek, but close enough.

I also check out (the Catholic) HQ.

St. Peter's Basilica was probably my favorite thing about Rome. The Rick Steve's guidebook says it well, "Calling St. Peter's Basilica massive is like calling Einstein smart."

I did a lot of walking in Rome, including the 500+ steps up to the top of St. Peter's Dome.

On the last day, I enjoyed some of the smaller, more human parts of Rome, which I enjoyed.

After 3 and 1/2 days in Roma, it was time to get up to Switzerland to start my summer work.

home sweet home

I was warmly greeted, in true Swiss fashion (note the chocolate bars). My good friend Michael Brew, who introduced me to TASIS, is here for his second summer. We are roommates.

Myself and the other two dozen or so counselors and teachers spent the majority of the first of eight weeks learning the ropes of how the program works. We also got some time to explore Lugano and the beautiful nearby sites.

Here is Lugano, which is situated right on Lake Lugano....I know it is tough, but someone has to do it :-)

Michael, two other counselors (PJ and Dane) and me.

After a lot of preparing, the students arrived in (my) week 2. The are from all over the world. Here are countries which my small advisory group comes from just to give you a taste: USA, Dominican Republic, Russia, Kazakhstan, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Italy, and Japan. On the first full day they were here, we went hiking on a nearby mountain, Mt. Tamaro.

Half way up it started pouring rain and thundering, but when I asked my group if we should turn around, they said "Onward!" They are awesome and I'm looking forward to getting to know them in the coming weeks.