I arrived in Switzerland exactly a week ago. After getting pampered at my parents home the first day, I drove down to the Tenero. I’m currently staying at the Centro Sportivo Tenero. The Centro serves as a training center for Swiss Swimming and many other sports. The pool is surrounded by beautiful mountain landscape and warm weather makes for a comfortable climate. I really like coming here before competitions because it gives me space from the outside world. I got here a few days earlier than the Swiss Team because I needed some extra time to acclimatize and get used to the 9 hour time change to California. It took me about 3-4 days to be able to sleep through the night. Fortunately by the time my teammates arrived, I was good to go and not a party pooper because I needed to go to bed early. 

Since arriving in Tenero I've been in touch with my coach, Dave Salo, via e-mail. He sends me a different practice every day, for which I give him brief feedback after training, so that he can alter the next practice if necessary. On Saturday my fellow Trojan teammates arrived in Tenero. This is the first time for Markus Rogan and Dominik Koll (both from Austria) are in this part of Switzerland and I have yet to take them up to the Verzasca valley and for a nice Swiss Italian pizza :)

On Sunday I had a photo shoot with Patrick Kraemer. Be sure to check out his site to see some of the pictures. I will post some of them as soon as the become available. One of my favorite shots is one of Flori Lang and I underwater, sitting at a table with an umbrella drinking Switzerland's favorite drink "Rivella". Pretty cool stuff. I look forward to sharing the pictures with you guys.

On Monday we had a small BBQ at the lago maggiore. It was nice bonding with the Swiss Swimming team and eating some great food. Many who know me well, know that I LOVE to BBQ. I try and BBQ at least 2 or 3x a week.

On Thursday I will leave Tenero and head home to St. Gallen for a night, before driving to Zurich on Friday and flying to Budapest. 

Until then I hope everyone had a safe 1st of August (Switzerland's Birthday) and that all is well.

Take care guys!