Europe to Catch UP!

Wow I am so behind...

First off I apologize for those relying on my blog posts!

My excuse for my tardiness is that my iPhone isn't waterproof.

in my defense the new iOS 7 update said otherwise!
... I'm not that dumb for those who think I didn't already know that...
*sobs*

Sadly it wasn't as waterproof as it promised. 

OKAY.

France.

Our first help exchange!
First off I will introduce the family we stayed with!

John & Karen with their son Allister.

We were lucky to work with such amazing people.

It was a small holding, at least that's what I'm told.

We worked on building a fence for them,

WHICH WE COMPLETED. (LIKE A BOSS)
... After a month o.O

It was quite a lot of work but worth it for everything they did for us.

John and Karen.
The British Couple in France.

My god can they talk!

...more John than Karen,

But we had no idea any human being could talk so much!

John would usually ramble until Karen stopped him.

Honestly it was hilarious listening to them at first.
However I wouldn't recommend the monthly dose that we took. 

Safe to say we really got to know each other.

Karen was so amazing,
she constantly went out of her way to make us feel at home.
She cooked amazing delicious dinners,
She took us out to see around France.
She would tease us for sleeping in,
but made sure we did our work.
She literally became our British Mom.
John, he was a funny guy.
He would always be cracking jokes,
most of which we never understood.
But he just was a funny guy in general,
always lighting up the mood in the room.
Some people would say he is mad,
honestly Darien and I would call him awesome.
John although outspoken,
was always someone who could make you smile. 

Allister.

He was quite the funny kid.

Together played many card games.

We would do anything to make him laugh,
his laugh could make a cucumber smile.

He became like a little brother to us there.

We teased him and hung out here and there.

He also brought his friend Hugo quite often.

Him and Hugo were the same as Darien and I.

Although they were 13 and 16,

They were best friends who also loved to argue.

But all of us together always brought smiles.

Kévin.

During my stay in France I was able to meet a good friend of mine(:

Kévin and I had been friends for quite sometime before the trip.

So once I was in France we made sure to hang out!

He wasn't able to stay long when he visited,

however I visited him later on and his family was awesome.

They were very nice and took me around Tours.

Seeing their French architecture was amazing.

It's true, old buildings are everywhere in Europe.

It seriously was like walking through a whole new world.
Walking around somewhere full of rich history was an amazing experience. 

Anyways, it was nice getting to hangout with Kévin.

I really did enjoy France because it was our home away from home.

We planned on staying for 2 weeks,

However the HelpExchange we planned in
Holland notified us they had to cancel our stay.

So John and Karen were more than happy to keep us.

We stayed for a month all together.

The month of October seemed to rush by so quickly.

It just seemed weird leaving

it felt like it was not that long ago that we arrived!

To be fair it was our home away from home.

Which made us very home sick.

After leaving we have been talking non stop about 

how excited we are to come home.
3 Months is more than enough of traveling.

Here we are under the Eiffel Tower.
(I KNOW ITS DARK! WE WERE STUCK IN PARIS!
 FOR 7 HOURS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT!)

I couldn't get a good picture of the Eiffel Tower... ;(
Trust me I'm equally disappointed

Notre Dame
I did take this one!

I put a lock on this bridge <3

-----------------------------------

SWITZERLAND

Okay so this place honestly looks photoshopped.
You could take a photo from any direction and make bank off it.
We are lucky to be working in such a beautiful part of Switzerland.

Here is my million dollar shot(;

Getting here however was a bit of a challenge.
Our whole Eurail experience has been a bit rocky.

One of our trains broke down and well, 

we were behind schedule and just BARELY missed a train
Literally we stared at it slowly closing the doors to leave.
We didn't know it was our train.. *facepalm*

Traveling on trains sucks.

No actually, Traveling in general sucks.

Darien and I seem to argue more during these stressful times.

But none the less with a little trust and risks taken,

we finally get to our destinations.

Their spare house with a view.

OUR GRACIOUS HOST/FAMILY

We first met the Portuguese family,
They are temporarily living with Madame Pierrette.
They came from Brazil, and they are so awesome.

The kids specifically.

^Andre, Christian, and Clis^
Hyper kids, who never seem to be calm.
We don't speak the same language,
although I am learning French, which they know along with Portuguese.
But we constantly are having fun.
Ping Pong Battles, Dance Off's, Wrestling, Etc.
We all understand one thing.
How to have fun(:

Andrea & The Dad

The Mother and Father (Which apparently we never caught his name)

THE MOM COOKS SO FREAKING WELL!

Seriously she could be on a cooking show.
She specializes in Brazilian/Swiss foods,
At least I would bet on it.

The dad is very friendly and the only one who speaks english.

He gives us tips on where to go and tips and tricks(:

He invites us to see Switzerland,
John and Karen would do the same.
Honestly Darien and I are so tired of exploring,
We usually find excuses to bum out at home.
(We do go out most times though, but just ugh we would love to be bored one day)

Madame Pierette on the left
Clis dancing with Madame Pierrette
The Father in the back, Andrea(the mom) watching on the right.

Madame Pierette.

The owner and lady we work for.

She is interesting.

Very nice and a hard worker!

Seriously the first few days Darien and I were off the hook.

She is a stewardess so she is out flying quite often.
She hadn't showed up till the day after we arrived.

But once we worked we got to pick tons of apples,
and I mean TONS!

We were very privileged for coming this time of year.

Picking Apples was our job.

AND IT IS A DIRTY JOB.

Plus the fact that it is repetitive makes it quite boring.

Not to mention the weather making a muddy terrain made it worse.

However we get tons of apple juice and desserts from it(:

We took apples from every apple tree in town.

Luckily I got a break... Let me share with you,

The Story of the Impolite Brick.

Noémie, Madam Pierette Daughter, needed help moving out
So we gladly helped her move into her flat,
after that she offered to take us to Neuchâtel.

It was quite late, but we figured we needed to avoid picking more apples.

So we agreed to visiting this "Amazing Town"

She said she would drop us off while she headed off to her Horse Lessons.
Once there she told us the places we should visit while we were there.
We didn't have time to see them all so these were our options,
A Church/Castle that overlooks the town,
An old historic part of town,
Or a a big lake that we was very far away.
Obviously we went to see the Church/Castle overlooking town. 

Once their we enjoyed the view and played on it like a playground.
We are a bit childish, age is just a number guys.

...anyways we played the chainsaw game.
(Figuring out escapes if people with chainsaws showed up)
During this process we also used nearby rooftops that we could jump on.

Then I stumbled upon a cool ladder up to a chimney way high.

So the inner child in me said climb it,
So of course I yelled for Darien to join me.

We start climbing, Darien ahead of I.

We got to the top and Darien climbed onto the little chimney.

I looked down from the ladder debating if I should join Darien.
 It a tall glass of nope,

I GTFO'd down the ladder quickly as I could.

Darien disliking the height as well joins me.

Bricks be loose and shit.

Darien trying to maneuver his way to the ladder.

Loose brick be GTFOing off the chimney.

Darien yells "WATCH OUT"

I be like "what, what" guess I'll look up.

Brick be like "MOVE B**** GET OUT THE WAY."

Looking up into darkness I don't see anything.
*CRASH*
I feel something hit my eyes.
Unable to see anything anywhere else.

I stumble down the tall ladder to the roof.

Be in shock like WTF.

Curl into fetal position.

10 seconds in.

Darien says "Are you okay, I'm so sorry!"

I stand up like a boss, 

"Psh, Brick ain't got no manners"

Shock still absorbing pain.

I feel great.

Little goose egg on the eye.

Bit of blood.
Took a picture right away cuz it be cool and shit.

Went home.

ONE NIGHT LATER.
(This was actually taken in the middle of the night, during a pee break.)
As you can see my sleeping mask around my neck.

Whole eye be black n' swollen next morning.
(don't have pics of the eye being black sorry)

Family look at me like dafuq.
Cody ain't working today!

..and that's the story of how I got out of picking apples in Swiss Land.

...

Anyways, point being.

I got to rest a couple days!

Darien however got stuck taking the role of Prince Appleseed.

Which wasn't too bad from what I hear!

So anyways the eye is better and life is good.

I will post again, not sure when but IT WILL COME!!

Thanks for your loyalty to the blog!

I hope my story struck some pretty awesome imagination scenes!

TILL NEXT TIME!

Enjoy us doing the handshake song with three people