A few quick things..

Since I've forced myself to stay in tonight due to a cold... I guess I'll give you a few updates on things that I've left out so far. Here it goes:

Earl. He is our Academic Director and basically our teacher/advisor for the program. Imagine a skinny white man, with a shaved head, little glasses, a scarf (in the color of your choice), AND the energy of well... the energizer bunny. Earl is always at least 10 feet ahead of us when walking. I asked him one morning if he thought we we're a slow group. His response was, "In what way?". Yikes. ha. Anyways, he likes, actually correction... LOVES the sound of his own voice. I don't think I've ever heard him speak just one sentence alone. There's always a detailed explanation for everything. Although he is an incredibly smart man, he ends up putting together sentences with about 239841 words and each word is at least 12 letters. It's exhausting (in other words, his English is very formal compared to the way you and me would usually converse. I have to concentrate to make sure I'm understanding what he is saying. Cmon... we're already having to decode French 75% of the time hahaha). On the other hand, he actually created this specific SIT Geneva program himself, which makes him very passionate about everything we're doing. He is extremely intelligent and wants us to get as much as possible out of this experience. It's nice to have someone who cares so much.

Trains. So I have to take the train to and from the city every day to get to class in the morning and to come home at night. I knew at some point that there would have to be a time when I took the wrong train. Well... tonight was the night. My train ended up never coming, but my friends convinced me that the one that came 5 minutes later was the right one. I, regrettably, believed them and hopped on the train. I had a wierd feeling that they were wrong and my worries were soon confirmed as I saw my host mom's house fly by. Woops. I was lucky that at the next stop I was able to get back on a train the other way within 15 minutes (oh and also that the ticket guy didn't come around because that would not have been good... my pass doesn't cover the train that far out haha oops #2). In the end, I made it home just in time for a yummy dinner of pizza with porciuotto (sp?), fresh tomatoes, mushrooms, and cheese. However, even if tonight ended up not being a big deal, it will be the first and last time I ever take the wrong train.

Dad. My dad is coming tomorrow! He coincidentally got scheduled for a business trip in/around Geneva while I'm here. I only get to see him for a day, but it's going to be so cool to actually show him where I'm living. Maybe he'll even get to meet the infamous Renate! We'll see.

More stories to come. Later gator.

PS:

This is Earl

Let me guess... you're asking yourself...Where is Earl? Well.

He is that little black dot all the way at the end of the walkway about 75 yards ahead of everyone. He's probably the fastest old person I know (maybe him and Renate should race????).