April 16 - Dudingen, Switzerland

Twenty minutes until dinner and the loudest soundcheck I've ever heard in my entire life (I think they're shooting to disturb the Richter scale with this bass. If I'd had a meal in the last six hours, I'd definitely feel the way one does after eating a disgusting theme park dinner and immediately hopping on a roller coaster. sick). Anyway, lets see what I can do.

The second show in Paris was awesome. I won't say much, other than we got to play acoustic which made it one of my favorites. This will sound stupid, but in the middle of a song, don't remember which one, I re-realized that we were in Paris. We were in Paris! For the second time in a year. Playing to a room full of people who were there just to see us. And though I've been playing shows across Europe every single day for over 2 weeks now, for some reason I was struck by it in a way that I hadn't been. I'm pretty sure I grinned, and definitely felt so excited and lucky to be doing exactly what I'm doing.

Last night we played in Chur, Switzerland and things sounded great. Travis's parents made another appearance, and it was great to see them again. I hung out around the merch booth and spent an hour talking to people after the show. When I'm in the mood for it, that is one of my favorite parts about touring. We signed a lot of cds and records. took a group photo. and eventually walked to our hotel and slept in. Oh man, how I love sleeping in.


I spent a lot of time writing in the van today, which I'm happy about. I've strayed from fiction for a long time and it's been great to come back again. Maybe I'll share it with some of you someday... I'm writing now from Dudingen, Switzerland at a venue called Bad Bonn. It felt so good to walk into a familliar place. We played here in October. This place is exactly in the middle of nowhere. It sits in the Swiss countryside. Green fields all around, adorable houses with horses and the sound of bells jingling from the necks of cows. It is great. I went for a walk with nicole down to the water and felt like a kid, running down the trails, picking up rocks. Switzerland is amazingly beautiful. That's all I can say. I'm in awe of the world again.

Sadly, on a less poetic note, perhaps I'm nearly over the hill as far as my ears are concerned, but I'd rather brave the cold than the decibel level in this room right now.
Only 11 days left!

-aisha