Day 8: Lake Como Cruise, Driving into Switzerland, Arrival at EF Tours Summit

Hello all, sorry it has been awhile since we’ve checked in. Yesterday was not a great day for wifi, as it was spent almost completely in the bus. Here’s a quick recap:

• Many, many hours in the bus. It was supposed to be five and it ended up being twelve because a large truck ended up catching on fire and blocking the road. #highwayadventures
• We did enjoy a high-quality lunch at a gas station, which, we promise, was a lot better than it sounds. There was pizza for some and focaccia sandwiches for others. Also, we found out that Rosemary & garlic Pringles are wonderful.
• Then, we watched Los Otros (The Others) on the bus. There was a lot of screaming, but we all made it through it the film.
• We finally arrived in Lake Como and ate dinner (pasta, veal, salad, and ice cream). Of course, there was another course of gelato for most once we were given a chance to walk around the town for a little while. There was an epic frisbee game, somehow involving Clemson college students (it’s a small world) and Mr. Timothy Gibson became great friends with a street salesman, from whom he purchased a personal fan.
• We then settled into the hotel, which was nice, but, as mentioned above, lacked free wifi.

So, here was today:

• We woke up and headed to Lake Como. It was breathtaking. The water was gorgeous, the mountains were beautiful, and we were given the chance to walk around Bellagio. It was a perfect little shopping village: some of the girls had virgin mojitos, espresso, and pizza. Naturally, there was also more gelato. Also, we learned that the most recent sale of a villa on Lake Como was for 30 million Euro’s. Wow…
• We then boarded the bus and headed for Davos. The drive was once-in-a-lifetime. The roads seemed to continue going up forever, as we got closer and closer to the ice and snow. There was cyclists, motorcyclists, a caravan of Mercedes sports cars, and a few hold-your-breath moments involving oncoming trucks and buses. But, we made it!
• Also, we stopped for lunch at a restaurant in the middle of nowhere, right before the border of Switzerland and Italy. We shared our spectacular lunches with a bazillion flies, which went away if you sat in the sun. After eating, we toured the wine, cheese, and meat cellar, which was refrigerated using air from deep in the mountain. It was a memorable lunch!
• We arrived in Davos and immediately went to dinner at the convention center: 1,500 students converging to eat all at once. We then got together and learned more about the Design Thinking Process, as well as our individual strengths: it involved a lot of hand-shaking and shoe-tower building. Once we finished up, we ate yogurt and gummies in the park outside before heading back to the hotel. We are now settled in: there is a lot of card playing and fun being had before bed.

For any pics of the day, please check out our Instagram feed @SGSummit!