Switzerland

Warning: this post gets a little graphic! This week I have found myself in Ascona, Switzerland. It is a town in southern Switzerland with a gorgeous lake that borders the northern part of Italy. Driving in from Milan I thought I was in someone else's body. God has been so good to me this year, blessing me with these opportunities to see the world. Last week in Slovakia pretty much sucked so I'll be brief about it. I flew in to Vienna from Amsterdam and went 5 hours east to Brezno, Slovakia. I felt like crap on the drive over and didn't get better as the week went on. The town doctor told me he didn't have magic medicine for me so I suffered last week. The golf course was pretty neat, sitting on the side of a huge mountain but the greens were by far the worst conditioned greens I've ever seen. Not only did they have elephants buried under them but the grass was sparse and just not legit. I know this is terrible but I will not be back to play that course. I almost withdrew from the tournament because of how bad I felt and the lack of preparation for the tournament but I figured if I'm still breathing, I can still play. I saw stars out there the first day. I had a local caddy named Milan who couldn't speak any English. He has never been to the United States. It actually shocks me what he probably doesn't know about the rest of the world, Slovakia is so far opposite of the US! I'm really learning patience by having local caddies each week who I can't communicate with. I really miss having my boyfriend on the bag each week. We're a great team and do great together. I gave it my all both rounds and missed the cut by a few. I took a 6am shuttle from Slovakia back to Vienna Sunday morning. I was ready to get done with that week and be back with civilization. I spent 24 hours in Vienna. I checked straight into my airport hotel and walk right over to the Vienna airport to find me a doctor. She looked at me for two seconds and wrote a prescription. I went upstairs, got the meds, and found a McDonalds. I was sitting there eating a burger that I couldn't even taste and started popping my pills. First one went down fine, second one, not so much. It was huge and acidic and once it hit my tongue, I knew something wasn't right but I downed it quickly with my Coca Cola Light. Immediately I started spewing and gagging. I grabbed my things, left my brand new McDonald's lunch sitting on the tray and sprinted for the nearest bathroom. Keep in mind I'm spewing as I'm doing so. It was a very low point in my life. I lost everything I had in my body for about the 15th time that week. Awesome. I'm a champ though and went back out for my McDonald's but someone had thrown it all away. Danget. If anyone was wondering, the second pill was supposed to be thrown into some water and drank... Later that day I hopped on a train to the city center of Vienna. I'm getting the hang of the trains and totally guessing what foreign languages mean. It's all a guessing game but it's kind of part of the adventure. I made it and walked around for a little while. I really wasn't feeling the whole site see, take pictures of a new city thing, I just wanted to be back in bed with a book and maybe my sudoku. Yes I'm sick with no energy but even on a good day I love being in my comfy clothes and being lazy, I'm great at it. Monday I walked across the street from my hotel to the airport and left Vienna for Milan. It was a short hour flight with the whole plane being tour players and caddies. Once we reached Milan we all got on another tour bus and drove two hours north to Ascona, Switzerland. The drive was unbelievable. I was trying to finish watching my Game 5 of OKC-San Antonio on my iPad (I'm a bit behind) but the views around us were incredible. We drove past Lake Como which is where I believe George Clooney owns a home. I'm going to try to get him to be my local caddy this week. I can't believe I'm here but I'm so thankful. Today was supposed to be our only practice round day but it was completely rained out so thankfully the tour is cutting the double pro ams tomorrow to 9 holes a piece so we can all get out there and squeeze in a practice round somehow. I did manage to hit balls today which was nice. Sometimes after traveling your body needs a day of just that to get back into rhythm. Even though my sports psychology coaches wouldn't like this, my mind wanders when I'm on a range. Today, I got to thinking about how much I've grown up in the past 7 years. When I first got to OU and we would head out for a golf tournament, it freaked me out if my coach ever asked me to check the team in at the airport. I didn't know the first thing about checking in for a flight. Now it didn't take me long to figure that out and to start driving the whole team to the airport but even more so, nowadays I'm traveling all over the world solo and not giving it a whole lot of thought. It doesn't make me a better person or anything like that, it just is funny how much experience changes you. I had a feeling leaving the country in May for 6 straight weeks that I might come back a different person. You know when you get out of a movie you feel like you've been changed? I feel that way after being gone so long and being thrown into some foreign things! Anyone ever play the game The Sims? Remember how they talk? German maybe? I feel like when I was in Germany especially I was surrounded by a bunch of Sims. Now you guys should see me this week. It's hilarious. The ladies running my hotel know zero English and I mean ZERO! Somehow I got a nice bowl of spaghetti and water last night for dinner and extra pillows and a blow dryer in my room when I got back up to my room. Perhaps it's because I went on a translation website and typed in some words and wrote it on my iPad. They were cracking up at me but a girl has to get what a girl needs! I think they're washing my clothes now... Just to give you guys an idea of how expensive this town is: my stomach was yelling at me on the driving range so I went into the clubhouse for some lunch. A sandwich and fries, no drink, was 32 Swiss Francs... I'm starving at the moment.