I went to Lugano in September for my Erasmus semester. The choice was not well received, since I didn't speak Italian, the city was seriously expensive and to top everything else, it was said to get REALLY cold in the winter - exactly when I was coming - and it snowed a lot!
As you can imagine, non of this stopped my excitement and I didn't really care about any of it - I was going to live in Switzerland! What else would matter? Besides, the idea of seeing snow and wake up with the city covered in white appealed to me even more!
As you can imagine, non of this stopped my excitement and I didn't really care about any of it - I was going to live in Switzerland! What else would matter? Besides, the idea of seeing snow and wake up with the city covered in white appealed to me even more!
This cold thing was an issue to my dad, whose concern got to the point I really thought he was expecting me to die during that few months out in Switzerland because of the super low temperatures!
As I was packing, I realized how insane it was to choose clothes to fit in only one bag for 3 months. I think If I could I would take my entire wardrobe with me - it would have made my life a lot easier! I was even forced to take out all my dresses I had packed - for night outs - because of my father's annoying comments like "why do you need dresses? Aren't you going there to study? Do you have any idea how cold it is there?" Taking my dresses was a BIG mistake!!!
To sum-up: I ended up just taking winter clothes!
As we arrived in Lugano I already regretted not having some clothes I unpacked last minute, since we stepped outside and it was hotter then in Lisbon! The first week was a drama! Lucky for me I had like 2 summer shirts I had packed and one pair of shorts. Of course then it got a little bit colder, but nothing like I was expecting!
One day, a few weeks after we arrived, I got up with this view from our balcony - it was already snowing in the mountains! This made my dad freak out, thinking it was really soon to be that much cold and again he thought I was going to die during that winter! Well, nothing happened: the sun kept shinning and the snow melted in a few days. No, it was not going to snow in Lugano just yet!
As I was packing, I realized how insane it was to choose clothes to fit in only one bag for 3 months. I think If I could I would take my entire wardrobe with me - it would have made my life a lot easier! I was even forced to take out all my dresses I had packed - for night outs - because of my father's annoying comments like "why do you need dresses? Aren't you going there to study? Do you have any idea how cold it is there?" Taking my dresses was a BIG mistake!!!
To sum-up: I ended up just taking winter clothes!
As we arrived in Lugano I already regretted not having some clothes I unpacked last minute, since we stepped outside and it was hotter then in Lisbon! The first week was a drama! Lucky for me I had like 2 summer shirts I had packed and one pair of shorts. Of course then it got a little bit colder, but nothing like I was expecting!
One day, a few weeks after we arrived, I got up with this view from our balcony - it was already snowing in the mountains! This made my dad freak out, thinking it was really soon to be that much cold and again he thought I was going to die during that winter! Well, nothing happened: the sun kept shinning and the snow melted in a few days. No, it was not going to snow in Lugano just yet!
A girl from my class had been doing her Erasmus here the year before, and told me it would start to snow in the beginning of December, so by this time I was more excited then I should have and couldn't wait for it to snow!
One day I remember I was talking to my dad on Skype and he told me that was the night, it was going to snow during the night! FINALLY! I was so happy that I set the clock to ring at 4am, got up and went to the balcony in the middle of the night thinking it was going to be snowing. Poor me...it wasn't even raining!
After this day I lost hope. Instead of being colder with days going by, all I could see every morning was another sunny day! I went back home in December for the holidays without seeing a single snow flake.
On 11th January I went back to Lugano, for my exams season, and noticed how it wasn't cold at all for what I was expecting - again! You know how I keep saying the Universe likes to laugh at my face and always seems to be against me? I believe this was another one of those situations. The Universe said to himself that since I was going to be in Lugano that winter, there should be no snow for anyone. Like a city being punished for my presence!
One day I remember I was talking to my dad on Skype and he told me that was the night, it was going to snow during the night! FINALLY! I was so happy that I set the clock to ring at 4am, got up and went to the balcony in the middle of the night thinking it was going to be snowing. Poor me...it wasn't even raining!
After this day I lost hope. Instead of being colder with days going by, all I could see every morning was another sunny day! I went back home in December for the holidays without seeing a single snow flake.
On 11th January I went back to Lugano, for my exams season, and noticed how it wasn't cold at all for what I was expecting - again! You know how I keep saying the Universe likes to laugh at my face and always seems to be against me? I believe this was another one of those situations. The Universe said to himself that since I was going to be in Lugano that winter, there should be no snow for anyone. Like a city being punished for my presence!
One day I woke up REALLY early to get to my 8am microeconomics exam and as I got to the building door my jaw dropped: SNOW EVERYWHERE! I remember not knowing what to do! Happy, Happy, Happy! I Went upstairs running to get the umbrella - glad I did that or I would have been hit in the head by huge pieces of ice falling from the houses - and stepped outside. I was SO HAPPY! I looked like a child smiling, like I had never seen snow before in my life, and it was a beautiful day. I even got to do my microeconomics exam looking at the huge windows with everything white outside and lots of snowflakes everywhere - and I keep saying this beautiful vision was what made me pass my microeconomics exam!
So if you ever go to Lugano during the Winter, and they tell you there'll be snow all the time and everywhere, they are lying! Or maybe I'm really unlucky! It doesn't matter. I'm just happy I got to have one day of fluffy snow in this beautiful city!
So if you ever go to Lugano during the Winter, and they tell you there'll be snow all the time and everywhere, they are lying! Or maybe I'm really unlucky! It doesn't matter. I'm just happy I got to have one day of fluffy snow in this beautiful city!