Surprise!!

A few weeks ago, Taylor and I made a spur of the moment decision to surprise our friend Phoebe for her 21st birthday. She and Taylor's boyfriend are studying in Geneva, and our other friend Liz was visiting that weekend too, so it seemed like the perfect plan! We quickly bought our train tickets online and started scheming with our friend Rachel, who is also studying in Geneva. Finally Saturday arrived and we hopped on our trains (separate ones due to a booking mishap... whoops).

After a beautiful ride through the snowy country side, we met Rachel in the train station. We then quickly dropped our bags off and ran to meet them in town. Luckily, almost everyone else on their program knew and helped us with the surprise. As we were walking up the cobble stone street towards them, they turned and saw us. Tears, laughter, screams and hugs ensued. It was a perfect surprise! They had no idea, and the looks on their faces were priceless!!

We then spent the rest of the day at the Escalade celebrations, which celebrates Geneva's defeat over a surprise attack in the early 17th century. Today, Escalade is a big festival filled with children in costumes, lots of food and hot wine, and 17th century garb (including cannons being shot off). After wandering around, we went back to their dorm to rest before surprising Liz, who was flying in from Madrid. On our way to dinner for Phoebe's birthday, they met Liz at her bus stop while Taylor and I hid around the corner. As she turned we popped out to surprise her. She stopped dead in her tracks and couldn't believe it! Surprise Success! Then more tears, laughter, screams and hugs followed!

The rest of the night was filled with yummy food, lots of champagne, and great friends! The next morning we woke up, put on our reindeer onesies, which we purchased in London, and made pancakes, eggs and coffee. Unfortunately Taylor and I had to catch our train back (still in our onesies), but the quick trip was way more than worth it. I know that this was a surprise we'll never forget! Being all together again makes me more excited to go back to Baltimore in January!!