Day 1, June 1

Before leaving for Switzerland, I worked until 3:30 am. That gave me enough time to run home, shower, finish packing, fill up with gas and pick up a fellow Switz Traveler. So my memory of the first day is blurry. I remember being zombie-esque for most of the major travling period. I don't sleep well on planes/buses, so my first full night of actual sleep wouldn't occur for quite some time. Fun stuff.
So, the first day went like this: SLC @ 9 am to Dallas. Dallas to Zurich. Zurich bus picked us up and drove us to our little ski town, Leysin. It's nestled in between a few snow-covered mountain ranges. It's very green, very high and provides quite the view, regardless of the time of day. Our teacher told me about the town today. It goes like this:

The town boomed pre-WWII. Tuberculosis was rampant. It was believed that the air and sunshine in Leysin provided a cure for the TB. Rich people paid to have their relatives shipped up to this town to be cured. A very efficient cog-wheeled train was built and the building craze started. WWII came along, antibiotics came with it, bucking the clean air & sunshine cure hooplah. The town has struggled since to regain its strong economy, although tourism is proving to help the recovery. (that's the short version, as I'm trying to get this done before I get too tired) {see photo of the Leysin train in winter, this is the train we take every morning and every night to get to the main valley, to allow us to hook up with the rest of the Swiss rail system, which is very impressive}