Resurrection, Birthdays and Tunnels

It’s been a very full week up Riva way. I should have updated sooner, but there’s been so much going on!

I begin with last Tuesday: I took a class field trip to see the construction of the new St. Gottard Tunnel. This is the most ambitious and potentially important tunnel project in the world. You think the Chunnel from England to France and under the water was impressive, well you just wait ten years for the Swiss to finish this! The St. Gottard will be 57 kilometers (roughly 35 miles for us non-metric types), and through the Alps. One mountain in particular that I can’t recall the name off is being burrowed through as we speak. There are actually two lines running though the mountains, one North-bound and one South-bound, and this is designed to allow more freight trains to pass through Switzerland, thus reducing the need for heavy freight trucks on the highways. They’ll tell you all the statistics about saving fuel and road repair costs, and how this train line is so much better than the old overland one which is to be used for tourists if you visit. And what a visit it is.

We began with the informational power point, and then it was down to the Center of the Earth; the nice Swiss miners (who aren’t actually Swiss because as our guide said, the Swiss all work in banks. Mostly Germans down there. ) kitted us out in bright orange jumpsuits, heavy boots, hard hats (mine was blue for “Mechanical Engineer”), and an oxygen tank. I find it’s best to judge the quality of a learning experience by the number of safety precautions in place. Although, it should be mentioned that the mortality rate of this project is fantastically lower than all other projects.

We went down into the tunnel, looked around, saw some people working, and I kept looking for goblins. Surely in the bowels of the earth it would have been good to see some goblins. But they weren’t about, so lots of geologists and engineers. Roughly the same, right?

After the tunnel went out to see the town of Giornico, which was very cute, had seven churches, and a very odd museum. Basically a big block of concrete; I’ll have a photo album up soon to better explain.

On to Wednesday! Which was pretty average…So Thursday! Ah, yes, Thursday; that fateful day that I turned 21. For you see, I finally reached my birthday; as my mother’s e-mail said, the most exciting birthday venue I’ve had, although the funeral runs a close second. The day began with classes, not the finest of hours, but I took the opportunity afterwards to spoil myself with a bit of shopping at the outlet mall in the next town. For my evening entertainment, I went back to that town of Mendrisio to see the Maundy Thursday parade. Basically a procession highlighting Christ’s journey up the hill to Calvary.

We students were informed this even would be quite violent, and not the sort of thing one would take a small child to see. As Americans, this put us in mind of gratuitous and gory violence, blood filling the streets. Something from a Tarantino film, or maybe “300” seemed appropriate for that level of warning.

Culture shock sets in somewhere along the line. I expected blood, I got some pretty nifty costumes and 40 mounted figures. It would appear that Europe, the land of the Hundred Years War, the Thirty Years War, both World Wars, and the plague, can’t be bothered with a bit of fake blood. Alas and alack, I still had fun seeing the parade. It occurred to me later, actually during Easter Mass this morning, that that sort of display would almost never be seen in the States without hue and cry raised throughout the land about “Separation of Church and State” and “political correctness.” I love Europe.

After the parade I got out to the bar for my little celebration. The novelty of going out to the bar is somewhat lessened by being overseas, but it was still great good fun. The company was perfect, and it capped off a fairly decent birthday.

Friday I stopped off at the Lugano Easter Market, which I’m sorry to say was not half as cute as Prague’s, and went to Milan Saturday. Oh, dear, Milan was trouble. Beautiful day, wonderful people, but I couldn’t go into the Duomo. I had decided that morning to wear a little black jumper of mine. Admittedly it’s a bit sort, but I was wearing some thick black tights. Unfortunately the gentleman at the door after the security guard was nonplussed by my decency. The skirt was above the knee, so no observing God’s glory for me. My nylon-covered knees were just too much temptation. So, at the risk of being labeled the new Whore of Babylon, I retreated to some of the local shops. It seemed safer for all concerned, and I’ve already seen the Duomo.

That’s all the news from this week, other than mentioning that classes are kicking into high gear, so I have a busy week ahead. And I made it to Easter Mass this morning, so points for me. However, I’m flying out to Dublin Wednesday night, so that industriousness will have to be better than usual.

Happy Easter Everyone!