Luzern- fail.

My friend Mel and I left school Friday afternoon with our little bags packed ready for the relatively short train ride to Boniswil, a small town about 40 minutes outside of Luzern, Switzerland. We were on our way to April's house, Mel's friend from forever ago who now lives, works, and has a family in Switzerland. She moved over here 10 years ago when she was 23 for an awesome job opportunity, fell in love, and never moved back home. What a story. Anyways, the sun was shining, though it was cold. There was nothing that would have made us think this weekend wasn't going to go as planned. April and her family welcomed us with open arms, cooked us a fabulous dinner and let us watch their movies in English. SCORE.

Saturday morning we woke up around 9. Ready to let some sunlight in, I opened the blinds.

"WHAT THE @#($*!?" The ground was covered in snow, the wind was howling, and there was no sign that the weather was going to improve anytime soon. We went upstairs and April told us to have breakfast and then see if it was going to let up with time. Wrong. We couldn't even see fifty yards out the window. I felt like I was in the lodge at the top of the lift at Mt. Bachelor. Not really the weather we were hoping (or packed) for to go wandering around Luzern for the day.

In the end, we hung out with the family for the rest of the day and didn't end up getting into Luzern. We ate a lot of great food/snacks, then had some steaks for dinner. The steaks were fine, but definitely overcooked... nothing beats a steak cooked by my dad. I guess I'll have to wait until May to fulfill that craving haha. All in all, it was GREAT hanging out and having an "american" weekend.

Tomorrow morning I'm off to Lugano with the program. We're there until Thursday, then off to Venice (on my own expense... ha) Friday morning. I can't wait!

Crossing the border

Last week I was in Paris from Monday until Thursday morning. The trip was with my program so they arranged hotel for us, and most of the time spent there was in lectures at Medecines du Monde (Doctors of the World). However, after taking the four hour TGV (train a grande vitesse!) ride, we had the rest of the afternoon free to explore the city. After getting lunch at a small cafe, a bunch of us decided to walk over to the Louvre. The weather seemed to be working out for us sooo we ended up walking through the Jardin des Tuileries, up the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe.. then UP the Arc de Triomphe. The decision to go up to the top was probably the best decision of the whole trip. Although it was a little (but actually REALLY REALLY) windy, we got some great pictures of Paris with the sun shining.

Now.. let me just tell you about the hotel we stayed in: the room was so tiny that there was almost no floor showing. We basically had to scale the wall to get there. Then when we decided we should probably take showers, we proceeded to flood the bathroom because the door on the shower would swing open. HA. Ok, enough complaining. Overall the beds were great, the toilets flushed, and the water was hot (well, warm... but you can't have everything haha). Over the next couple days, Mel and I were able to find the best bakery EVER. It was a five minute walk from our hotel, so convenience was not a problem. In Paris, they're into this formula menu trend... so we got a drink (orangina of course), a HUGE baguette sandwich or a slice of fantastic quiche, AND a dessert for about 7 euros. Life really doesn't get any better. That being said...we went back twice.

Moving on. Ok, so some of my really good friends are in Paris this semester. I was lucky enough to be able to see all of them. Monday night I went to dinner with two of my roommates from last semester, Bri and Ari. Ari was able to pick out a fantastic french restaurant (in a sketchy area, but if the food is tasty, who cares?). Since she made our reservation through a website we got half off (!!!!) of the formula menu. So, with some wine included, it turned out to be about 15 euros each. AMAZING. (thank you ari and bri). Then, after minorly freaking out that I wasn't going to be able to see her, Ellie got ahold of me on Wednesday. We met up at the Louvre and walked around for a couple of hours, mostly talking and not admiring the art... haha. We also ended up finding a Starbucks inside the Louvre, and had to take a picture. This is our place. It was a sign. So obviously we got a snack and sat for 10 minutes. Great stuff. Later, we walked to the Eiffel Tower and were then blown over by the wind and rain.... It was a quick visit to the famous site, but I mean, we were cold and wet. Give us a break. All in all, I can't tell you how great it was to see these friendly faces from home and school.

The next morning we were off the Barcelona (not with the program, but about 10 of us went). I can't tell you how excited we were to go somewhere with sun and warmth! For a little while we were scared that our flight wasn't going to get out because obviously on the day of our departure the Paris air traffic controllers decided to go on strike. haha GREAT timing. No worries though, our flight was only 30 minutes late and we made it to Barcelona while the sun was still shining on Thursday. Once we arrived, Mel and I split off from the group to go meet my uncle Kevin. He's been living and working there for almost 2 years now. He was nice enough to let us stay in his apartment for the weekend. Ok... so talk about a more than great city. I can't rave enough about Barcelona. It is really a beautiful place and has waaay too much to offer for just the two days we were there. With that in mind, we took my uncle's advice and took one of the double-decker, open-air tour buses that takes you to pretty much every big thing in the city. We basically saw everything Gaudi (an out of this world architect), and other great parts of Barcelona. My favorite place was Parque Guell. Probably the coolest park I've ever been to...

My uncle was great to us. Not only did he let us stay with him, but he also took us around the city and bought us dinner at these amazing restaurants. The tapas were out of this world. Well... basically everything I ate was delicious. You couldn't go wrong. Finally, on the last night, we were able to get nosebleed tickets to the FC Barcelona game with the other kids who came from my program. Ok, the Portland Timbers are great and all, but nothing compares to going to a soccer game in Spain and watching one of the top teams in Europe. I had to buy a scarf. Memorabilia.. of course.

Summary: really crazy week, but worth every penny.

Now I'm back in Switzerland. I got home Sunday night and was welcomed with a big hug from Renate. This weekend I'm going to Luzern, Switzerland. Then, Monday we leave with the program for Lugano. This city is in the south of Switzerland where everything is in Italian. Yikes... should be interesting. From there, a couple of us are moving along to Venice for a couple days. Wish me luck/send me energy. Whichever you prefer. Be back soon. :)

THE super long post

Ok... so it's been WAY too long since I've written a post... and to make up for it, this is going to be the ONE and ONLY super long post ever on my blog (because everyone knows that long blog posts are super intimidating and I don't want to push any of you away). Usually I'll try to keep them at a decent length. ha.

First story. Dad was here for a day (ok actually I think I saw him for a total of six hours...) and it was GREAT. He got to meet my host mom for a little bit. She made us coffee/tea and bought us all little pastries from her favorite little patisserie. yummm. Then I took Dad for a little walk around Rolle. It was kind of a glummy day, but I think he got the picture. Rolle is a small town right on the lake with a small amount of people and vineyards everywhere. K great. Glad we're on the same page. Aaanyways, we went to dinner that night in Geneva at this really cute traditional swiss restaurant. It turned out great, and then Dad was nice enough to give me a ride back home. yay! Thanks Dad :) It was awesome that I actually got to show someone from home where I'm living and who I'm living with.

I'm not sure when this happened, but I know it was a Sunday and it was sunny out. I woke up and my host mom was like... "Let's go to Montreux". I had no idea what this place was, but I had nothing better to do. So, we gather our things and take the train about an hour to Montreux, which I found out is a city at the end of Lake Geneva. My host mom compared it to St. Tropez... hahaha I've never been there so I wouldn't know. BUT, it was so beautiful. I felt like I was in the mediterranean. There were palm trees, luxury hotels, etc... (it was still cold though and there were snowy mountains across the lake... I definitely didn't forget that I was in Switzerland). It was so prettyyyyyyy:

I also got to go into the famous Chateau de Chillon in Montreux. It's on almost every Swiss postcard... EVER (well the Matterhorn is tough competition, but more on that later). The castle was incredible. HUGE on the inside, but also freezing. I don't know how those people lived in that huge stone building in the winter. It was colder inside that it was outside. (Mom, we wouldn't have survived if we had lived back then).


My next adventure was to Lausanne. A few friends and I went last weekend to check out the official Olympic (games) Museum. It's only about a 25 minute train ride, so we we're all about going there the day after the Olympics started. Obviously, they had a bunch of things going on because it was the first day of the Olympics, definitely good timing on our part. They had every Olympic torch, every medal, and tons of apparel/shoes/things from past Olympic athletes. Basically, if you like sports... it's the place to be.

Hmm.. I think the next thing worthy enough to mention is my trip to Zermatt today with my host mom and her two friends. Zermatt is this little village that is home to chalet-looking hotels and electric taxis and horse-drawn carriages. There are no gasoline cars there.. it's against the rules. So, we had to take the train four hours from Rolle. All I can say is that the 8 hours of train was worth the 3.5 hours in Zermatt. Why, you say? Because it was a beautiful, sunny day and this village is also the home of the Matterhorn. Pictures say everything:

Attempt #1 by Renate's friend to take a picture of us with the mountain...

HUGE FAIL.

Attempt #2... Success. Also, see those skiiers? Ya, I almost stole someone's skis because I wanted to ski down so badly.

Ok, enough for now. I'm off to bed so I'll be ready for the TGV tomorrow. We're going to PARIS!!!!!!! I can't decide if I'm more excited about the super fast train, or the fact that I'm going to see the Eiffel Tower. haha. On Thursday, I'll be off to Barcelona. I'm SO EXCITED. Gaudi is calling my name.

Be back soon.

(Western) Switzerland Survival Guide

Even though I've only been here a couple weeks, I can't help but share with you how apparent some things are in this little region of the world. If you come/live here, you must:

a) do some kind of winter sport. If you don't, you're a loser. The mountains are ALL AROUND. Every weekend during the winter, families will go up to the mountain. Activities include: downhill AND crosscountry skiing, hiking, snowshoeing, snowboarding, toboganning (aka tubing i think), sledding, ice skating, etc... Basically if you like the snow you should come here. You would die happy.

b) speak at least two languages. Here in Switzerland, there are 4 official languages. With that in mind, it is definitely to your advantage to speak whatever the language they speak in your region PLUS another one of your choice. In the region that I'm in, obviously everyone speaks French. In terms of choosing the second language to learn, there are ups and downs to both. Italian would be easier to learn because of the similarities it has to French, while German is spoken by about 70% of Switzerland... (and the fourth language doesn't really matter, Romansch? i think.) ALSO, if you're gonna speak a language, make sure you speak it the Swiss way.... I'm talking about how they don't actually speak true French or German, rather they are more inclined to put their own little twist on things. Swiss German is actually COMPLETELY different than true German.. so watch yourself.

c) take the train. I mean come on, the Ministers take the train. Here, commuting to and from school/work/wherever on the train is relatively pleasant. Don't think DC metro, or NY subway, or the T. Think Amtrak. Everyone gets a seat. It's clean, it's fast, and there are ultimately way less cars on the road! PS: always buy a ticket. You'll get an CHF 80 fine if they come by and check, which is pretty often! yikes.

d) if you're a girl--- wear a puffy jacket with an awkward sheen. I don't know what this trend is, but every female -babies, toddlers, teens, mothers- has a dark-colored puffy jacket. Not only are they puffy but they are shiny. It's not the best look, but you'll fit in if you have one.

e) if you're a guy--- you better have a scarf. Obviously women wear scarves, but it is essential for men to have them too! Even the guys on our program have been on the prowl for the perfect scarf. It didn't take long for them to realize that it's cold here, and that scarves actually keep you a lot warmer. So why not get one too since all of the other guys here have them? (I'm not sure if these scarves will eventually make it back to the States with them though, haha we'll see).

f) if you're a human being--- you better eat bread and cheese. period. Oh and also, you'll fit in better if you say bonjour/bonsoir to people if you pass by someone on a little stroll. People are really nice here, so it's ok to be nice back :)

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????).

CLASS

What it looked like on my first day of class on my way to the train station. I think I can get used to this....

Speaking of classes...

1) Monday was our first day of French classes. My teacher is very........ well i'm not sure how to describe her. I think the best way to say it is that she is A LOT like many of the FAIS teachers I had growing up (strict, no smiles, smug). You get the picture. Basically NOT like teachers in the U.S.

2) We've had two seminar classes already. Basically it's the program's version of lectures, but they are very interactive and we only have them a couple times a week when we aren't out in the field (more to come on that). So far it has been pretty cool. It's great being surrounded by kids who have the same interests as me. I think our first lecture was 3 hours long, but it ended up only feeling like an hour. EVERYONE knows TONS about public health. And, it's not just one part of public health... all the students have different interests. So, as a result, we are able to get many perspectives on all the different things we are discussing. It's fantastic.

3) Being "out in the field" means that we get to have tours and lectures held at many of the different governmental and nongovernmental organizations that are here in Geneva. Today we went to the United Nations. I am officially allowed to go there and use their library for research. I think I can handle have to look out this window while taking a little break from reading some really important document that I will have most likely checked out...

Here are a few other photos I took inside/oustide the UN. The first is of the loan desk surrounded by the original catalogues (what the library used before they put everything into the computer). The next one is at the front of the UN campus. You can kinda see some of the member nations' flags in the background.

PS: we went to the Red Cross too, and look at the view they have (UN buidling + Alps). Could you ever get enough of this?!?!!?!

And so it begins...

First of all, I'd like to give as much credit as possible to all those business travelers who travel around the world like it's nothing. Dad? Ravi? Ya, that's for you. I have never been so tired upon arriving in Geneva at 7:30am. Although many had informed me to pop some pills and sleep on my 8 hour flight from DC, I barely slept 10 minutes. It didn't seem to be a problem until I sat down at the airport and realized that I still had a whole day ahead of me. Reminder to myself: pop the pills next time. The only good part of staying awake was that I was able to see the sunrise from the airplane as we flew into Switzerland. The mountains were just peeking over the clouds...here is a little taste of my first Alps sighting:

After getting picked up at the airport, we were off to the hostel for our three day orientation before going to our homestays. I could barely see straight at this point, but they were still throwing papers at me and asking me to sign my life away. It was almost torture. All I could think about was when I could eat some real food and when I could hit the hay (and I'm pretty sure it was only 4pm at this point hahaha...I was struggling). The next couple days were all very similar, mostly full of logistical things, i.e. showing us how to use the trains, the tram, where we meet, etc... nothing too exciting. However, we did get a tour of Old Geneva (La Vieille Ville), and it was absolutely beautiful. FREEZING/SNOWING, but beautiful.

I didn't really feel like things were going very well until Friday night. It was the last night at the hostel and everyone decided that it would be best to just buy a bunch of wine and stay in because we were meeting our host families early the next morning. We all gathered in one of the rooms and basically just chatted and got to know each other. It was the first time I felt like things were going to be OK this semester :)

When Saturday finally came, I couldn't wait to get out of the six-person room at the hostel. So, they put us on a bus again with all of our baggage and brought us to a hotel where we were going to meet our host families. It ended up being a very stressful, open house kind of reception. All of the students waited anxiously to see which family was going to walk in next. The funniest part of the whole thing was "la bise". Although I have already been exposed to this European greeting from my previous experiences with FAIS, many of the kids on my program were freaking out, especially the boys. We were hysterically laughing when one of them said: "Am I supposed to kiss my host brother???", and then another one said: "Wow, I just realized that you don't actually kiss their cheeks, yikes, that would have been awkward". Haha. Let's just say... it was all very entertaining. With all that said, everything was fine and everyone survived "la bise", myself included. My host mom walked in and found me almost right away. Her name is Renate, and I am her 10th (!!!!) student. She speaks English, but insists on speaking to me in French since that is one of the reasons I'm here. I didn't argue.

So to finish this post, I'm just going to give you a little taste of what my homestay is like. Since I'm Renate's 10th student, I pretty much have it AMAZING here. She lives on the main floor and then I basically have the basement. The bedroom is great with a desk and a bathroom connected to it. The only bad thing is that I don't get any signal down there because I'm basically underground. I think I'll get over it... BECAUSE I do have one window and it looks out to a little vineyard, and really it's a great set-up. Anyways, Renate is retired, but she is one of the most active retired people I have ever met. After getting settled, we ended up going for an hour walk around her town, Rolle. She told me to tell her if she was walking to fast... I told her that I was used to it thanks to my mom and Hadley (they've trained me well). On Sunday, after letting me sleep in, we promptly ate breakfast and left for the mountain. She packed a nice little sack lunch which we ate once we reached the lodge. We walked for about an hour and a half in the snow on the cross country trails. Everything was covered in snow and there were families everywhere. It was beautfiful, and I was only just a little bit cold. For the most part, it was a reassuring first weekend. I was afraid that having a single, retired host mom was going to get a little boring, but I'm not worried anymore.

Ok. I think that is it for now. My next post will most likely be about my classes and maybe some random adventures. I guess we'll just have to wait and see... A bientot!