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     I sit, this relaxed Sunday, in the shade of a park built atop a university building, my stomach full of the barbeque served at the exchange program party. This week has been unusually cold and wet, but the skies are now clear and the air is a perfect shade of cool. On Friday I went after class to a festival held on Perolles Boulevard to commemorate the 800th anniversary of Fribourg. On the street there was much beer, food, and even absinthe to be had. The conversations I've been able to have in local bars with future lawyers about comparative law have been more fun and informative than most other parts of law school. After the street festival I went to a concert held at Fri-Son, a large dirty-looking warehouse-like building with graffiti inside and out, and which features a large disco-ball in the shape of a skull. Although the main act was quite technically good, I preferred the opening act. Featuring an electric guitar, an accordion, a toy electric saxophone with labels on the keys, and a short brass horn, the spaghetti-armed guitarist led the band with his voice ranging from contralto to Count-Chocula in such songs as "I eat my breakfast in the niiiiight."


     On Saturday I went to Gruyere and toured the cheese factory, Geiger Museum, and castle. Gruyere cheese is incredible, and there is a huge difference between the 6 and 10 month old cheese. It's well worth buying the older cheese, if you want a more crumbly texture and mature taste. It's also true that you can taste everything the cow's eaten. My mom tells me this is also true of chickens' eggs when stink-bugs swarm. The best part of the cheese factory was in the cellar, which employs a robot to carefully flip each 80 pound wheel of cheese. The castle of Gruyere was quite beautiful, but you'll have to see it for yourself if you want to understand. The Geiger Museum, however, is easy to describe. It's like walking into the set of Alien. The entire museum is dimly lit and futuristic, and even the floor tiles are of an alien texture reminiscent of circuit boards designed by Geiger. Everything inside is a blend between organic and machine, from the cyborg statues, to the bone and rubber chairs, and even the floors which are raised above an edging of river stones which runs to the walls. Geiger is crazy in a very good way.

     After the museum we met up with another friend who was too scared to go inside, and had lunch at a local Gruyere restaurant. Gruyere is best known for its cheese, but also known for its meringues and creams. I enjoyed a wonderful meal of two espressos and ice cream, which seemed to me better than strawberries and cream. But I would not have realized, except for my friends who ordered this meal, just what it means in Gruyere. The bowl of cream was larger than a cereal bowl. It was about 6 inches across, and 2.5 inches tall. This monstrous bowl was filled with a cream which flowed only until the cream had thinned to a coating of about 1mm. I have not had chemistry in a while, but I think this indicates fatty chains about a million nanometers long. So I wrote my name in it. Then Chris took a small bowl and began slowly stirring. Within two minutes, he had made butter. Judging from the amount of butter he extracted from the small amount of cream used, I think the bowl had about a half pound of butter fat for coating the little plates of strawberries. How tasty.

     Since I believe in saving the best for last, I'll mention now a new friend I met in the Geiger museum who will now accompany me on the rest of my travels: Grumpy. One of the seven dwarves created by Disney, and mass produced in the millions, this Grumpy is only #6/25 of a series of mute dwarf travelers who hitchhike across the globe by way of note tied to their person. If you see me, please ask about Grumpy. He'd love to have his picture taken with you.