So much to update about. I guess well go in chronological order.
The rest of the week was fairly uneventful, with the exception of finding out that my family was not the worst by far haha. My friend Kat was napping and was awoken to her host mom talking on the phone to a friend about how much she didn't like Kat. Needless to say she was really upset and she too is joining the moving families club.
Yesterday was about 60 degrees out and sunny and was beautiful. We had half a day of classes and grabbed some lunch, changed some money for the Brussels/Paris trip on Sunday, then I headed home to pack up the room. Around 6pm my mom drove me around the corner to my new house. I quickly got set up and settled in (pain in the ass that it was).
The dad, who is an astrophysicist for the University of Geneva (and may actually be a mad scientist) gave me a tour around the house, which includes a nuclear fallout shelter (apparently it was Swiss law at some point to require houses to have one. There are also more books in this house than I have ever seen in my entire life. We had a really good dinner and the family seems really tight knit. The mom is really cute and tries hard to speak English which is really nice. The younger son Antoine doesn't speak much English and is really shy.
After dinner we played a quick game of rummy cube with the parents and Antoine, and then went upstairs to play some Wii with Nick and Antoine. After, around 10pm, me, Nick, Chiara (the sister), and a few of their friends went to go play laser tag in Geneva. That was an interesting experience but a lot of fun. We got home around 1:30 and I pretty much passed out.
Today is even warmer than yesterday, and I think David, Rikki, Jake, and I are going to go explore/hike around the mountain a bit.
Super excited for the Brussels/Paris trip and we leave really early tomorrow and get in to Brussels in the afternoon.
Oh, and Vasco (the beautiful black lab) is amazing, finally I have a dog!
Miss everybody back stateside.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
February 19, 2008
Sorry it's been a while, I got loaded with some work and laziness recently haha.
This past weekend was pretty chill, just hung around my house and did some work on Saturday and watched a movie with the host bros Sat night. On Sunday Steph and I went to Lausanne, a small city about 20 minutes from Arzier. The headquaters of the IOC is located here, so there is a cool Olympic Museum that we went too. It had all the torches and medals and a bunch of equipment from all the modern-era Olympic Games. After we walked around a bit, we headed down to the pier (Lausanne is right on Lake Geneva), and walked around here. There were a ton of people and little kids out and it was a beautiful day. We headed back in the late afternoon and enjoyed a good Sunday day trip.
This week has been somewhat interesting. We have been at different UN agencies for the past two days hearing people speak on human rights and international law. We went to the UNHCR, UN Coordination Office, and some others (they were not as interesting haha). Other than having to dress up and look nice every day, its been pretty cool.
As for my family situation - it's official, I'm moving. I think I'm actually just moving around the corner to family friends of my current family. They have three kids, two sons 20 and 10, and a 17 yr old daughter. The mother is Swiss-Italian and the father is a scientist. Apparently they also have a black lab!!! and a cat. I'm headed over in about an hour to meet them and see if I like them. If all goes well I should move in on Thurs or Friday.
Other than that, not much else is going on. We're headed to Brussels/Paris for a week on Sunday, so everybody is looking forward to that.
Oh, its officially 4 weeks into the program and I can't believe its been so quick. After we get back from Brussels/Paris (which I'm sure will fly) the program is nearly half over. CRAZY!
Alright, time for dinner and an awkward meeting with the potential family soon.
This past weekend was pretty chill, just hung around my house and did some work on Saturday and watched a movie with the host bros Sat night. On Sunday Steph and I went to Lausanne, a small city about 20 minutes from Arzier. The headquaters of the IOC is located here, so there is a cool Olympic Museum that we went too. It had all the torches and medals and a bunch of equipment from all the modern-era Olympic Games. After we walked around a bit, we headed down to the pier (Lausanne is right on Lake Geneva), and walked around here. There were a ton of people and little kids out and it was a beautiful day. We headed back in the late afternoon and enjoyed a good Sunday day trip.
This week has been somewhat interesting. We have been at different UN agencies for the past two days hearing people speak on human rights and international law. We went to the UNHCR, UN Coordination Office, and some others (they were not as interesting haha). Other than having to dress up and look nice every day, its been pretty cool.
As for my family situation - it's official, I'm moving. I think I'm actually just moving around the corner to family friends of my current family. They have three kids, two sons 20 and 10, and a 17 yr old daughter. The mother is Swiss-Italian and the father is a scientist. Apparently they also have a black lab!!! and a cat. I'm headed over in about an hour to meet them and see if I like them. If all goes well I should move in on Thurs or Friday.
Other than that, not much else is going on. We're headed to Brussels/Paris for a week on Sunday, so everybody is looking forward to that.
Oh, its officially 4 weeks into the program and I can't believe its been so quick. After we get back from Brussels/Paris (which I'm sure will fly) the program is nearly half over. CRAZY!
Alright, time for dinner and an awkward meeting with the potential family soon.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
February 14, 2008
Happy Valentine's Day
I just got back from Bern (the captiol) and I'm pretty wiped, but I'm going to attempt to fill in all that we did in the last three days.
We got to Bern after about a two hour train ride on Tuesday afternoon, grabbed a quick lunch and then headed out for a guided tour of the city. The city is built on a hill and is really old and has tons of cool fountains and buildings and a huge old church. Also, there is the Swiss Federal Bank and Parliament building. In addition, there are bears everywhere (not real of course)!!! They are on fountains and buildings and signs and cars....legend has it that when Bern was founded, the founder claimed the city's mascot would be the first animal he killed - and he killed a bear. There are also two live bears in "bearpits" in the city. It was actually really depressing cement habitat, but apparently there have been live bears in the pits since like the 1400's or something. Also, the city has a famous clock tower from hundreds of years ago that puts on this show every hour on the hour that involves dancing bears and bells and stuff, it was pretty cool. On Tuesday night we went to a cool microbrewery that was a bit pricey but still enjoyed the night.
On Weds we woke up early to go to a few lectures on Human Trafficking and Swiss foreign aid that were pretty interesting. Then we had the rest of the day free. We got some real German Brats (Bern is in the Swiss-German part of the country so everybody spoke German and all the signs were in German, it was really funny) on the street and chilled for a bit. Then a bunch of us went to get a tour of the Parliament building which was absolutely beautiful. It was completed in the early 1900s so its fairely new, but really ornately decorated. It certainly puts the US Capitol Building to shame. It was funny to see how small the houses of government were! Also, interesting to learn that women didn't receive the right to vote in Switzerland until 1971.
After the Parliament tour, it was around 4 and everybody was draggin a bit so we went back to the hostel and chilled until about 7 when we started drinkin a bit. Then some of us went out for some pizza, and after some wandering and arguing about where to go, finally met up with the others in the group at this Cuban bar where we danced the night away. Every one of the 26 of us were there and we took over the bar. My friend Steph even ended up hooking up with a guy from the Swiss Army hahah. It was a fun but longgg night.
This morning we woke up early to check out of the hostel and then had til about 3 to do whatever we wanted. A bunch of us headed back to the crazy big old church and paid to climb up to the top of the highest tower. It was a really long walk up a crazy steep old spiral staircase but when we got out to the balcony it was amazing (and really scary!). You could see all of Bern and the surrounding area. Then we climbed even higher and it was even crazier!! I couldn't stay up for very long and soon took a dizzying climb back down to ground level. Then we went to go see the bears in the bearpit (which was quite upsetting) and finally ended up in a cool restaurant in like a graffiti alley part of town. The people were really nice and the food was great and me, Steph, Greta, Alex, Kat, Kellen, Chris all chilled and ate there. Then we caught the train at 3 and headed home.
Now I'm updating and looking back it was a fun three days. It was really interesting to experience Swiss-German culture and compare it to Swiss-French culture (Swiss-German dominates most of the country). It was also good to be with the group all together again and have a good amount of free time (not that the program is all that demanding).
I can't believe i've been here for over three weeks already. I can't decide if it feels like I've been here forever or for no time at all.
Oh and it looks like im definitely going to be getting a new host family soon. I'll keep you posted on the details of that.
That's all for now, time to go relax
I just got back from Bern (the captiol) and I'm pretty wiped, but I'm going to attempt to fill in all that we did in the last three days.
We got to Bern after about a two hour train ride on Tuesday afternoon, grabbed a quick lunch and then headed out for a guided tour of the city. The city is built on a hill and is really old and has tons of cool fountains and buildings and a huge old church. Also, there is the Swiss Federal Bank and Parliament building. In addition, there are bears everywhere (not real of course)!!! They are on fountains and buildings and signs and cars....legend has it that when Bern was founded, the founder claimed the city's mascot would be the first animal he killed - and he killed a bear. There are also two live bears in "bearpits" in the city. It was actually really depressing cement habitat, but apparently there have been live bears in the pits since like the 1400's or something. Also, the city has a famous clock tower from hundreds of years ago that puts on this show every hour on the hour that involves dancing bears and bells and stuff, it was pretty cool. On Tuesday night we went to a cool microbrewery that was a bit pricey but still enjoyed the night.
On Weds we woke up early to go to a few lectures on Human Trafficking and Swiss foreign aid that were pretty interesting. Then we had the rest of the day free. We got some real German Brats (Bern is in the Swiss-German part of the country so everybody spoke German and all the signs were in German, it was really funny) on the street and chilled for a bit. Then a bunch of us went to get a tour of the Parliament building which was absolutely beautiful. It was completed in the early 1900s so its fairely new, but really ornately decorated. It certainly puts the US Capitol Building to shame. It was funny to see how small the houses of government were! Also, interesting to learn that women didn't receive the right to vote in Switzerland until 1971.
After the Parliament tour, it was around 4 and everybody was draggin a bit so we went back to the hostel and chilled until about 7 when we started drinkin a bit. Then some of us went out for some pizza, and after some wandering and arguing about where to go, finally met up with the others in the group at this Cuban bar where we danced the night away. Every one of the 26 of us were there and we took over the bar. My friend Steph even ended up hooking up with a guy from the Swiss Army hahah. It was a fun but longgg night.
This morning we woke up early to check out of the hostel and then had til about 3 to do whatever we wanted. A bunch of us headed back to the crazy big old church and paid to climb up to the top of the highest tower. It was a really long walk up a crazy steep old spiral staircase but when we got out to the balcony it was amazing (and really scary!). You could see all of Bern and the surrounding area. Then we climbed even higher and it was even crazier!! I couldn't stay up for very long and soon took a dizzying climb back down to ground level. Then we went to go see the bears in the bearpit (which was quite upsetting) and finally ended up in a cool restaurant in like a graffiti alley part of town. The people were really nice and the food was great and me, Steph, Greta, Alex, Kat, Kellen, Chris all chilled and ate there. Then we caught the train at 3 and headed home.
Now I'm updating and looking back it was a fun three days. It was really interesting to experience Swiss-German culture and compare it to Swiss-French culture (Swiss-German dominates most of the country). It was also good to be with the group all together again and have a good amount of free time (not that the program is all that demanding).
I can't believe i've been here for over three weeks already. I can't decide if it feels like I've been here forever or for no time at all.
Oh and it looks like im definitely going to be getting a new host family soon. I'll keep you posted on the details of that.
That's all for now, time to go relax
Sunday, February 10, 2008
February 10, 2008
Je suis fatigue.
It's about 9:30 am on Sunday morning and I'm writing mostly to pass some time. This weekend was fairly low key. Friday night a few of us went into Nyon to a couple of bars and had a fun time, they helped me drink away my homestay sorrows (haha more on that later). Then yesterday I spent most of the day working on a paper and then went to get my haircut. That was an experience - try explaining how you want your hair to look when the hair cutter doesn't speak a word of English (no worries, it worked out fine). Last night, a few of us went to Kellen's homestay apt because his family was out of town all weekend and so we had a mini-party there. Me, Chris, and David spent the night and left early this morning, and thus I'm up at 9:30 am updating my blog.
As for my homestay sorrows, it turns out I'm moving. Whether or not I'm switching families seems to be the question. The family has apparently already rented out their current house next month, because I think they assumed they would have found a new place already. However, if they cannot find a new place then I will have to move in with a different family. It's not a huge deal, but more of an inconvenience and I may have to go through the whole readjusting period again.
As I am writing this, however, my host mom just informed me that she is taking me to the oldest Swiss castle in the country in a town called Montreux. So I will pause here and update the rest of this later today.
I'm back! haha its about 3pm now, and we just got home from Montreux. It was amazing! We went to the Chateau du Chillon, the castle in Montreux. It was so cool, seeing stuff that was built in the 13th century and earlier. Obviously I took tons of pictures. The castle itself was under many different rulers, but we walked through prisons, houses, dinner halls, and just about everything else. Everything was so old and it even had that super authentic old rustic smell hahah. The castle sits right on the edge of Lake Geneva and looks out onto the alps. Needless to say the pictures are quite amazing.
I guess its time to go do a bit of homework now.
Miss everybody back stateside.
It's about 9:30 am on Sunday morning and I'm writing mostly to pass some time. This weekend was fairly low key. Friday night a few of us went into Nyon to a couple of bars and had a fun time, they helped me drink away my homestay sorrows (haha more on that later). Then yesterday I spent most of the day working on a paper and then went to get my haircut. That was an experience - try explaining how you want your hair to look when the hair cutter doesn't speak a word of English (no worries, it worked out fine). Last night, a few of us went to Kellen's homestay apt because his family was out of town all weekend and so we had a mini-party there. Me, Chris, and David spent the night and left early this morning, and thus I'm up at 9:30 am updating my blog.
As for my homestay sorrows, it turns out I'm moving. Whether or not I'm switching families seems to be the question. The family has apparently already rented out their current house next month, because I think they assumed they would have found a new place already. However, if they cannot find a new place then I will have to move in with a different family. It's not a huge deal, but more of an inconvenience and I may have to go through the whole readjusting period again.
As I am writing this, however, my host mom just informed me that she is taking me to the oldest Swiss castle in the country in a town called Montreux. So I will pause here and update the rest of this later today.
I'm back! haha its about 3pm now, and we just got home from Montreux. It was amazing! We went to the Chateau du Chillon, the castle in Montreux. It was so cool, seeing stuff that was built in the 13th century and earlier. Obviously I took tons of pictures. The castle itself was under many different rulers, but we walked through prisons, houses, dinner halls, and just about everything else. Everything was so old and it even had that super authentic old rustic smell hahah. The castle sits right on the edge of Lake Geneva and looks out onto the alps. Needless to say the pictures are quite amazing.
I guess its time to go do a bit of homework now.
Miss everybody back stateside.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
February 7, 2008
Wow I'm full. Tonight we had raclette (rack-let) (see picture below) which is the most traditional Swiss dinner. All of the kids on the program were invited with their host families to a restaurant in a nearby town to have raclette. Basically, there is a massive half block of this special kind of cheese and they put it under a heater which melt the top layer of cheese.
Then they scrape off the layer of cheese onto your plate and you eat it with potatoes dipped in the cheese, and then with tiny pickles and sweet onions on the side. They also claim you need to drink hot tea or wine while eating it because if you drink water or something cold, the cheese will congeal into a giant ball in your stomach and give you a bad stomach ache.
Besides that, class was really interesting the past two days. On Weds we went to the ICRC (Red Cross) and had a few lectures on the role and goals of the Red Cross. Then today we had a guy come to talk to us about the UN who served in Bosnia and Somolia and served directly under the Secretary General a few times. He was an amazing speaker and his stories were even better.
Other than that, not much is going on. I've started bonding better with my family as we become better adjusted to each other, but all of the kids have holiday (vacation) next week, so they are going to Vienna. A bunch of us on the trip are thinking of going there for Easter weekend.
My French is slowly improving, and each day I try to choose one phrase that I can use and I repeat it over and over and it becomes a joke in the group. Today's phrase was "Il y a monstre sous moi lit" (there is a monster under my bed!)
That's it for now, got to go sleep off the massive amount of cheese in my stomach.
Then they scrape off the layer of cheese onto your plate and you eat it with potatoes dipped in the cheese, and then with tiny pickles and sweet onions on the side. They also claim you need to drink hot tea or wine while eating it because if you drink water or something cold, the cheese will congeal into a giant ball in your stomach and give you a bad stomach ache.
Besides that, class was really interesting the past two days. On Weds we went to the ICRC (Red Cross) and had a few lectures on the role and goals of the Red Cross. Then today we had a guy come to talk to us about the UN who served in Bosnia and Somolia and served directly under the Secretary General a few times. He was an amazing speaker and his stories were even better.
Other than that, not much is going on. I've started bonding better with my family as we become better adjusted to each other, but all of the kids have holiday (vacation) next week, so they are going to Vienna. A bunch of us on the trip are thinking of going there for Easter weekend.
My French is slowly improving, and each day I try to choose one phrase that I can use and I repeat it over and over and it becomes a joke in the group. Today's phrase was "Il y a monstre sous moi lit" (there is a monster under my bed!)
That's it for now, got to go sleep off the massive amount of cheese in my stomach.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
February 5, 2008
Bonjour! The last few days have been a bit of a blur.
We'll start Tarantino style and say that by the time I went to bed last night, it was the first time I slept in about 40 hours.
So as we all know, the Giants won the Superbowl in amazing fashion, which is where this story begins. Four of us from the trip braved the night and went into Geneva around 11:30 to a British pub that was airing the game. It was really strange to hear announcers during the pre-game with British accents, but it was nice to see T.V. in English at all.
When we got there they were running "specials" on American beer ($60 franc for 12 bottles of Sam Adams, MDG, or Corona [That's not quite American but what can you do?]). As the game progressed we made friends with a student who was interning at the ILO and had just arrived in Geneva, as well as many ex-patriots who were happy to talk to us. I even was able to interview people to hopefully write one of my cultural papers on how the Superbowl is viewed in Switzerland/abroad!
After a few buckets of beer between us and the Giants winning, we got thrown out of the bar because they were closing (keep in mind its about 4:30am now). Now, the trains don't start running until about 5:30 so we wandered the streets for a while unsure of whether it was worth it to go home and come back into Geneva for class in four hours (no worries, Switzerland is super safe), and then ended up having to run for the first train to Nyon because we decided to stay at our friends apt and try and sleep.
This is where the night gets interesting...so as were running for the train, my friends make it on, but I don't. I call them and decide I'm going to meet them in Nyon on the next train. I get on the next train, but of course I fall asleep and end up going two stops (about a half hour) past Nyon. I get out, no idea where I am, its about 6am, and I'm still not entirely sober. Needless to say, it was interesting. I figure out the next train back to Nyon (where I was supposed to get off), get on it, and spend the next two hours somewhat sleeping in the Nyon train station hahahah.
Class yesterday was QUITE a challenge and we were all struggling. I was actually falling asleep during French class (which is only 6 people) but the teacher was really nice about it hahah
Then I finally get home last night only to find out we are going to the dad's house for dinner which I went to. But it was worth it because as a hobby he collects wild gourmet mushrooms so we had an amazing dinner and then watched Meet the Fockers in French.
Today I got back on track and class was pretty easy. We also found an amazing chicken restaurant in the Old City for pretty cheap for lunch and it made us super happy.
Moral of the story is it is a great story and I'd do it exactly the same again if I had to, just to see the look on the Patriots' faces as they watch their perfect season slip through their fingers.
We'll start Tarantino style and say that by the time I went to bed last night, it was the first time I slept in about 40 hours.
So as we all know, the Giants won the Superbowl in amazing fashion, which is where this story begins. Four of us from the trip braved the night and went into Geneva around 11:30 to a British pub that was airing the game. It was really strange to hear announcers during the pre-game with British accents, but it was nice to see T.V. in English at all.
When we got there they were running "specials" on American beer ($60 franc for 12 bottles of Sam Adams, MDG, or Corona [That's not quite American but what can you do?]). As the game progressed we made friends with a student who was interning at the ILO and had just arrived in Geneva, as well as many ex-patriots who were happy to talk to us. I even was able to interview people to hopefully write one of my cultural papers on how the Superbowl is viewed in Switzerland/abroad!
After a few buckets of beer between us and the Giants winning, we got thrown out of the bar because they were closing (keep in mind its about 4:30am now). Now, the trains don't start running until about 5:30 so we wandered the streets for a while unsure of whether it was worth it to go home and come back into Geneva for class in four hours (no worries, Switzerland is super safe), and then ended up having to run for the first train to Nyon because we decided to stay at our friends apt and try and sleep.
This is where the night gets interesting...so as were running for the train, my friends make it on, but I don't. I call them and decide I'm going to meet them in Nyon on the next train. I get on the next train, but of course I fall asleep and end up going two stops (about a half hour) past Nyon. I get out, no idea where I am, its about 6am, and I'm still not entirely sober. Needless to say, it was interesting. I figure out the next train back to Nyon (where I was supposed to get off), get on it, and spend the next two hours somewhat sleeping in the Nyon train station hahahah.
Class yesterday was QUITE a challenge and we were all struggling. I was actually falling asleep during French class (which is only 6 people) but the teacher was really nice about it hahah
Then I finally get home last night only to find out we are going to the dad's house for dinner which I went to. But it was worth it because as a hobby he collects wild gourmet mushrooms so we had an amazing dinner and then watched Meet the Fockers in French.
Today I got back on track and class was pretty easy. We also found an amazing chicken restaurant in the Old City for pretty cheap for lunch and it made us super happy.
Moral of the story is it is a great story and I'd do it exactly the same again if I had to, just to see the look on the Patriots' faces as they watch their perfect season slip through their fingers.
Sunday, February 3, 2008
February 3, 2008
Yesterday was our first trip outside of the Geneva area. After waking up only minutes before I had to lead because I set my alarm for 6:30 pm instead of am, I ran out of my house and caught a series of trains eventually leading to Les Diablerets. The first train was really scenic and ran around the entire of Lake Geneva. Then we had to transfer and take a tiny regional train that ran up into the mountains. The train looked like something out of Harry Potter and was full of skiers and people headed up to the mountains.
The town is a small ski town that was originally just a few ski chalets. Then a few more were built, then a few hotels, then ski lifts, and so on. There is a main street with some restaurants and shops, but for the most part, the town looks completely snowed in. It is clearly very expensive to own or vacation there, as there were tons of BMWs and incredibly rich looking people. As we were snowshoeing, we found more houses and restaurants that were completely snowed in and must only be accessible in the summer. I think it would be really cool to go back once the snow has melted and see how different the town looks.
We finally got there at about 11am, rented snowshoes, and then took about a 15 min bus ride to one of the snowshoe trail heads. Steph, Jess, and Ida went off to ski so that left me, David, Aubrey, Ali, and Alex to blaze our way through the snow. After some small adjustments early on, everybody quickly got the hang of basically hiking with clown shoes on.
We hiked/snowshoes for about 1.5 hours up a mountain. Along the way, there were snowed in towns that must only be open for the summer season, incredible views (pictures are up on facebook), and just utter beauty of nature. It was actually pretty warm for a while and the sun was out for most of the hike so it was really nice. After about an hour and a half we turned back and headed down the mountain. By the time we reached the road at the bottom my legs were burning and my feet hurt, but it was definitely worth it.
After, we stopped for a small snack and then caught the bus back into town. We walked around for a bit and eventually found a small restaurant/bar to chill in for a while. Soon the skiers met us and we all had a bit to eat and some drinks, and then we headed out of Les Diablerets around 6pm.
We got back to Nyon earlier than expected so we decided we couldn't go home quite yet. We went to a bar called Les Brasseurs (which roughly translated means the..... i have no idea). Some people started to bail because everybody was pretty tired, but me, David, Steph, and Alex hung around until about 11pm and ordered a few 3 Liter test tube things of beer. They bring you a massive cylinder of beer with its own tap and stand and its pretty cool (see the pictures). At about 11pm David and I headed out and made it back home alive and basically passed out.
This morning there was a ton of commotion at like 8:30am and apparently the Dad of the family came to take Adri and Seb skiing. I met him briefly, and now I'm sitting here not doing much, trying to procrastinate doing work.
Tonight should be interesting - as mentioned before, we're headed into Geneva around 11pm to watch the Superbowl. Because it goes on so late, we are all just going to stay in for the whole night/morning until class. But no worries, it does have an academic side to it, as I think I'm going to do an assignment on the perception and popularity of the Superbowl abroad (its one of our assignments for our culture class) hahaha.
I'll put some pictures up of the weekend below, but they cannot do it justice.
Go Giants!
The town is a small ski town that was originally just a few ski chalets. Then a few more were built, then a few hotels, then ski lifts, and so on. There is a main street with some restaurants and shops, but for the most part, the town looks completely snowed in. It is clearly very expensive to own or vacation there, as there were tons of BMWs and incredibly rich looking people. As we were snowshoeing, we found more houses and restaurants that were completely snowed in and must only be accessible in the summer. I think it would be really cool to go back once the snow has melted and see how different the town looks.
We finally got there at about 11am, rented snowshoes, and then took about a 15 min bus ride to one of the snowshoe trail heads. Steph, Jess, and Ida went off to ski so that left me, David, Aubrey, Ali, and Alex to blaze our way through the snow. After some small adjustments early on, everybody quickly got the hang of basically hiking with clown shoes on.
We hiked/snowshoes for about 1.5 hours up a mountain. Along the way, there were snowed in towns that must only be open for the summer season, incredible views (pictures are up on facebook), and just utter beauty of nature. It was actually pretty warm for a while and the sun was out for most of the hike so it was really nice. After about an hour and a half we turned back and headed down the mountain. By the time we reached the road at the bottom my legs were burning and my feet hurt, but it was definitely worth it.
After, we stopped for a small snack and then caught the bus back into town. We walked around for a bit and eventually found a small restaurant/bar to chill in for a while. Soon the skiers met us and we all had a bit to eat and some drinks, and then we headed out of Les Diablerets around 6pm.
We got back to Nyon earlier than expected so we decided we couldn't go home quite yet. We went to a bar called Les Brasseurs (which roughly translated means the..... i have no idea). Some people started to bail because everybody was pretty tired, but me, David, Steph, and Alex hung around until about 11pm and ordered a few 3 Liter test tube things of beer. They bring you a massive cylinder of beer with its own tap and stand and its pretty cool (see the pictures). At about 11pm David and I headed out and made it back home alive and basically passed out.
This morning there was a ton of commotion at like 8:30am and apparently the Dad of the family came to take Adri and Seb skiing. I met him briefly, and now I'm sitting here not doing much, trying to procrastinate doing work.
Tonight should be interesting - as mentioned before, we're headed into Geneva around 11pm to watch the Superbowl. Because it goes on so late, we are all just going to stay in for the whole night/morning until class. But no worries, it does have an academic side to it, as I think I'm going to do an assignment on the perception and popularity of the Superbowl abroad (its one of our assignments for our culture class) hahaha.
I'll put some pictures up of the weekend below, but they cannot do it justice.
Go Giants!
Friday, February 1, 2008
February 1, 2008
Firstly, when the hell did it become February?!?
Things are more of the same at school, today was a relaxed day, we only had to go into Geneva for a short meeting this afternoon which was nice because I caught up on some sleep and work this morning. Me and the cat, Caleen (spelling?) bonded this morning while we were alone in the house. She basically is a dog, and will meow at you or lick you or nudge you until you pet her. And if you get up, she'll follow you and keep after you until you pet her more. Who knew i'd actually like a cat?!? After the meeting, a couple of us stocked up on some snacks and food because all of our houses seriously lack snacks. Seems like they eat large meals, but lack good snacking habits haha.
Yesterday before French class a few of us were walking around the old city and we passed a fancy pastry/desert shop. We all stopped to look closer (they were inside in a slanted glass case). As we leaned in to look at the prices, I proceeded to look a little too closely. I soon slammed my head into the plate glass window causing people inside to stare at me, and all of my friends to crack up at me. Apparently I'm just as clumsy in Europe as in the states (if not more, because apparently everything in Europe is far too small for me).
After French class we were able to coordinate all 26 of us meeting up at the same cafe/bar and had a really good time drinkin a bit and bonding after we got out of French class. We celebrated one of the girl's half bdays, but really just celebrated getting through the first week. It was a good time.
Tomorrow I'm headed out early in the morning to go to Les Diablerets. Les Diablerets is about 2 hours away by train and its a big skiing/outdoors destination. Our plans are hopefully to snow shoe (hike with tennis rackets on your feet) and maybe sled down the mountain. We're planning on coming back late at night because we couldn't find anywhere to stay over.
As for the superbowl, we finally found a British pub that is having a party and it starts at 12am because of the time difference! But I think a bunch of us are going to go into Geneva to the pub around 11 and watch the game (which should end around 5 am). But the trains stop running until about 6am so I think we will just stay in Geneva all night/morning and just go straight to class...should be an interesting experience.
Tonight I think I'm going to watch a movie with Adri, Seb, and one of their friends and call it an early night because I have to get up at like 6:30 manana. Still adjusting to the family...the mom left for Italy this afternoon to visit her bf for the weekend.
More pictures should be up soon, probably after our day trip tomorrow.
Hope all is well stateside
Things are more of the same at school, today was a relaxed day, we only had to go into Geneva for a short meeting this afternoon which was nice because I caught up on some sleep and work this morning. Me and the cat, Caleen (spelling?) bonded this morning while we were alone in the house. She basically is a dog, and will meow at you or lick you or nudge you until you pet her. And if you get up, she'll follow you and keep after you until you pet her more. Who knew i'd actually like a cat?!? After the meeting, a couple of us stocked up on some snacks and food because all of our houses seriously lack snacks. Seems like they eat large meals, but lack good snacking habits haha.
Yesterday before French class a few of us were walking around the old city and we passed a fancy pastry/desert shop. We all stopped to look closer (they were inside in a slanted glass case). As we leaned in to look at the prices, I proceeded to look a little too closely. I soon slammed my head into the plate glass window causing people inside to stare at me, and all of my friends to crack up at me. Apparently I'm just as clumsy in Europe as in the states (if not more, because apparently everything in Europe is far too small for me).
After French class we were able to coordinate all 26 of us meeting up at the same cafe/bar and had a really good time drinkin a bit and bonding after we got out of French class. We celebrated one of the girl's half bdays, but really just celebrated getting through the first week. It was a good time.
Tomorrow I'm headed out early in the morning to go to Les Diablerets. Les Diablerets is about 2 hours away by train and its a big skiing/outdoors destination. Our plans are hopefully to snow shoe (hike with tennis rackets on your feet) and maybe sled down the mountain. We're planning on coming back late at night because we couldn't find anywhere to stay over.
As for the superbowl, we finally found a British pub that is having a party and it starts at 12am because of the time difference! But I think a bunch of us are going to go into Geneva to the pub around 11 and watch the game (which should end around 5 am). But the trains stop running until about 6am so I think we will just stay in Geneva all night/morning and just go straight to class...should be an interesting experience.
Tonight I think I'm going to watch a movie with Adri, Seb, and one of their friends and call it an early night because I have to get up at like 6:30 manana. Still adjusting to the family...the mom left for Italy this afternoon to visit her bf for the weekend.
More pictures should be up soon, probably after our day trip tomorrow.
Hope all is well stateside
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)