J'aime bien le chocolat

My favorite thing about Geneva so far is that there really is chocolate EVERYWHERE.  I know I talk about food too much, but I would at least like to say that I seem to have picked the right country.  When I got coffee at the airport it was served with a piece of chocolate.  I could get used to this.  Getting used to all the rules on the other hand has been a little bit of an adjustment, but it is so beautiful and nice here that I can hardly complain.  People here LOVE rules, and they worry about details a lot.  Did you know that you are fined $100 if you put your feet up on the seat when you’re on the train?  That seems to be Switzerland in a nutshell.  The first couple days have kind of been a blur, given my severe jet lag, but I can already tell that by the end of this trip I will be very glad that I studied here.  Leaving Duke for a semester is daunting, but I think it will work out for the best.  Arriving at the airport and meeting the group was kind of overwhelming, because none of us knew each other and we were flying in from all over the place.  Luckily I quickly found that everyone is really nice and easy to talk to, and we all seem to share similar interests.  Surprisingly making friends has been the easiest thing so far, and because there are only 27 of us (mostly girls) I already know everyone.  There are a lot of people from the Pacific Northwest, which I find very interesting, because their lifestyle and world views seem to be very different from what we’re used to back East.  It’s fun hearing all about it, but I’m definitely proud to rep the South.  Transferring all of us and our luggage to the youth hostel via bus was no easy task, but we finally all made it (though we definitely attracted some stares along the way).  We have been staying in a hostel (5 people in each room) for the past few days until today, when we finally moved in with our host families.  I will talk about that in my next post, because I have so much to tell from the past couple days!  Suffice it to say that I love my host family.  The hostel was pretty nice (except the shower cuts off after about 10 seconds, so you have to keep turning the water back on all the time!), but it was hard because none of us were settled yet.  We were crammed in with all of our stuff, and honestly it was not hard to feel a little bit uprooted and very far from home at times.  That being said, I could already tell that I’m really going to enjoy this program, and I just need to give myself time to get acclimated.  And hanging out with my friends has made it much easier.

Walking along the lake my first afternoon

These first few days have been a blur of orientation activites…LOTS of paperwork and explanations of our coursework, independent study project, homestay, transportation, field trips, etc.  Trying to process all of this while fighting to stay awake has not been easy, and I’m very ready to just get started with everything.  On the first afternoon I walked along the lake with some of the other girls.  It was absolutely beautiful, and the snow on Mont Blanc was shimmering in the distance.  People were outside everywhere—in the parks, on the beaches, on sailboats, walking and biking, and even waterskiing and wakeboarding on the lake.  It truly looks like paradise here, and we really enjoyed just wandering and taking it all in.  We talked about all the things we want to do and see here, and how weird it is to think that we will be living here for 15 weeks.  By the time we reached the Botanical Gardens, we were so tired that we decided to turn around and head back to the hostel for showers and (finally) bed.  Thursday afternoon we got to have a guided tour of the Old Town, which ended right in front of the University of Geneva.  The beautiful park there was full of people enjoying the sunshine and getting cold drinks and ice cream.  We took a much-needed break before walking all the way back to the hostel.  We could have taken the tram, because all of our transportation is free, but nothing is really that far away in Geneva, and walking is much more fun.  The entire group went out for dinner at an Italian restaurant, and it was really fun spending time with everyone all together.  The food was delicious, and afterwards we were definitely ready for a couple glasses of wine.  The weather was so nice that we headed down to the lake, where there are some outdoor bars and tables.  The jet d’eau (HUGE fountain on the lake) was all lit up, and there were people everywhere.  We had a great time just sitting and drinking for awhile and admiring how pretty the city is at night. 

Swiss flag on a building in the Old Town

Yesterday morning was full of school-related activities…first a VERY detailed run-through of all the syllabi and expectations for our classes, and then lots of information about what to expect for our independent study project.  For the first part of the program, we’re in class every morning from 9:30-12:30, and then 3 afternoons per week we take French at the French school from 2-5.  Then during the 4 weeks of the Independent Study project we are completely free to structure all of our time—interviews, research, writing, editing.  The assignments and project sound a little overwhelming, but I have a feeling that it will actually be very manageable compared to Duke!  For lunch some of my friends and I went to the grocery store to buy food for a picnic.  Sophie and I shared some fruit, Brie, bread, and salami…so delicious!  The grocery store was nicer than anything I have ever seen back home, and many items were actually cheaper than Whole Foods.  I have a feeling that we’re going to be doing a lot of picnic lunches to save money.  Our lunch stipend gives us enough money for a sit-down meal, but I would rather buy cheaper things and use the money for travel.  We ate outside next to a church and then caught the tram to the French school, where we had to take a French language placement test.  The test actually took almost two hours and included both written and oral sections, but I did very well and will find out my placement on Monday.  For dinner a few of us girls took a water taxi (free with our student cards!) across the lake to the Old Town and had a nice meal of chicken, salad, and Provençal French fries before heading to a really pretty bar with seating outside in one of the old historic squares.  Most of the girls got beer, but the hot chocolate on the menu looked so delicious that I got that instead!  Fiona and Julia were feeling adventurous, so they ordered a mysterious drink called “Suze.”  Unfortunately Suze was nothing more than 1/3 of a glass of yellow, disgusting-tasting alcohol that left a very bad aftertaste.  Note to self: don’t ever order Suze.  It’s got to taste worse than Absinthe.  I was impressed that they both managed to finish it!  We sat outside for a long time just enjoying the weather and the beauty of the Old Town before catching the tram back to the hostel.  I have to say that I am definitely not going to miss living in this hostel...it's too hard dealing with 15 weeks worth of luggage!

View from our window in the hostel

I know that some people say Geneva is boring compared to many other European cities, but honestly I think that’s what makes it such a great place to live.  It’s gorgeous, clean, safe, and the traffic is not bad at all.  Just being here is so nice, and the public transportation can take you anywhere quickly and easily.  I definitely want to take advantage of the lake while it’s still warm outside.  We saw a public beach with two very tall platforms that you can jump off of into the water (one looked to be about 10 meters tall.)  I will definitely be doing that!  I’m going to try my best to keep this blog up to date and not bore y’all with too many details, even though it’s tempting to describe every single thing that I do.  In my next post I promise to tell all about Martine and the town of Gland!