Here I went to school in Brig at Kollegium Spititus Sanctum as an exchange student during my gap year 1995-96. To the left of my right earlobe (shown above) is the window from our classroom where I basically spent 9 months of daydreaming. I spoke no German beforehand and the classes were taught in German. Outside the classroom all the people spoke local dialects “walliserdietch”. In the classroom I was enrolled in the “Languages curriculum”: German, French, Italian and English. I think the “Latin Curriculum ” would have been just as obscure to me and possibly more useful for my later years of medical school. The only class I really understood was Math! Ah, maths, the universal language! I still recall the moment of mirth in comprehension that the word “root” was also a word with two meanings in German when we received instruction on square roots. I recognized the word “Wurtzel” from plants, trees, orchards and vineyards, and found the [] surprising and amusing!

Today we returned on pilgrimage. Lake was duly impressed!

In the afternoon we walked in The Goms Valley and had a lovely dinner outside at the Source du Rhône Restaurant which is literally at the origin of the Rhône River. Tonight I sleep at my host parents home with the rushing sound of the Rhône River just a few meters out the window. My trip down memory lane is filled with good stories and we’ve just added a new chapter!