Picture Time!

We're crazy and FRICKING FREEZING in this picture


On top of the mountain in Gruyere


This is the Chateau de Chillion (oooOOOoOOo)

Supernatural Wierdos

Yesterday I was standing at the bus stop in Geneve waiting to go to the WHO (!) When out of no where this man, along with his sister, comes up to me and starts talking. It wasn't as creepy as it could have been. It was 2 in the afternoon and I was standing with about 30 other people waiting for the #8. So, we started talking, and then I told him to speak slower and he said are you American etc. As, I continued to talk to him, his sister, who was with him, started giving me the look like, "I'm sorry you have to put up with this" which I found funny. Then the guy was like, "You know there are 53 states in America?" "Actually, there's only 50." "Are you from Minnesota?" SERIOUSLY! I had never seen this guy in my life, hadn't been talking with anyone for the last 3 hrs, there was no way this dude could have known I was from MN. I started to laugh and told him, well yeah actually. He then told me he guessed right because he prays to God every morning. Then he made sure to note that on the US currency it says "In God We Trust" and pointed out that he did too. That was the extent of the conversation. It still makes me smile just thinking about it.

Anne + Julien x 2 = Good Times

Anne came this week and stayed in lovely Suisse with me! It was so much fun. We monopolized on Julien's car and went to Montreux and the Chateau de Chillion and then went back along the other side of the lake (the French side). It was nice to see teh other viewpoints from the lake.

That was only one day. I took Anne to the WHO were I wrote three pages of my paper (!) as she sat patiently and surfed the web. Then we walked around Geneva to show her the happenin' places in Geneva. We ate at Chez Ma Cousine, which I do not recommend because they specialize in chiken dishes and the chicken isn't even that good. Word to the wise...

Later on in the week, Julien's friend, Julien 2 came from Paris. It was funny to ask them both questions and finally I began distinguishing between the two: Juju et Julien. We went over to Shannon's house for a hot tub night which was fun. And, Greg Stone (someone else I have met since being in Geneva) played a concert on his guitar. It was excellent.

The following day I went to Gruyere! Where they make the famous cheese for fondue and chocolates. Although I didn't partake in the cuisine, it smelt good in the streets. Instead, the Juliens and I ate on a hillside in the middle of the Alps. I felt like I was an extra in The Sound of Music and was waiting for Julie Andrews to start singing. It was that beautiful. I'll put some pictures up later. We then thought it would be a good idea to go to the top of a mountain on the gondola. It was, until we walked outside and saw snow. I was not wearing proper attire, but still hiked to the summit and ruined my shoes in the process. But, it was fun.

When we got back home, we were famished so I made the boys pancakes. It was kind of cute because they were used to eating crepes so they ate them like they would a crepe. They put cheese on them, jam (not that wierd) and nutella. I couldn't find syrup because really I think that pancakes and syrup must be an American phenomenon.

That was my exciting week. On the side, I also made some progress on my monster of a paper. Eek!

Heart-Stopping Fun...literally

Today I went swimming in Lac Leman and, boy, was it cold. Much similar to Lake Superior water, only colder because the water comes from the mountains. The first time, I stayed in for about 20 seconds before my body started to go numb. Then, after a little warming up exercises, we went in again and stayed in for about 2.5 min. Pretty daring considering that people don't generally swim in the lake unless it's the middle of August.

After about a min. of being in the water it starts to warm up, or rather you adjust. But, it really is hard to breathe and your heart slows down significantly. When I got out my skin felt like it was burning with a cold zing to it. All in all, the pictures and videos we have of the Lac Leman escapade are excellent and I'm glad we did it, even if my skin is a little itchy from the lake water.

Nyon à Genève par vélo

That's right folks, I went from Nyon to Geneva yesterday on my bike!! I think it's about 35 km which averages out to be about 20 miles. It was a wonderful day yesterday too. The sun was shining, I could see the Alps on my ride in, people were outside enjoying the warm weather. It really felt like Spring. And then it went back to gray and rain today. Oh well, we can't have it all.

Later, Julien and me went to Rolle and Morges to just walk around and enjoy the weather. In Morges they had a huge park filled with Tulips! For those of you who don't know, Tulips are my favorite flower, so I was in heaven. All in all, it was a really great day.

Here's a map for you to gage the distance of the cities I went to yesterday:

http://www.bwg.admin.ch/lhg/map/M2028.gif

Chambéry

Today, Julien took me to Chambéry, a small town in France not too far from Geneve. It was a gray, rainy ride out there, but once there, it wasn't too bad. The ride was actually quite beautiful because we took small backroads to get there. As we were driving through the countryside we picked out houses we liked and looked at the Alps.

When we arrived we ate at a little resto called La Taverne in the main square, St. Léger. It was nice and filled with foreigners. There was a Spanish family, a couple that was composed of an American and Frenchman, and two old ladies who were French and were gossiping. It was quaint to say the least. After, we walked down to the castle, only to find that it was closed on the weekends. Instead the ticket office suggested a walking tour of Old Town. We looked at the crowd (married, old couples) and politely declined. So, we made up our own tour filled with picture taking and a lot of walking down the same streets.

Chambéry used to be the old capital of the region of Savoie, so it had a lot of important buildings etc. There is still a Duke of Savoie who apparently lives in Geneva for whatever reason.

After a while of walking and drinking we had to use someone's facilities. So, we decided to go to The Musée Savoisien. Really, the musée wasn't that great. It had a lot of old relics and iconography. The paintings of the mountains were the only thing of interest. Thankfully, it was onlz 1.50 euros to get in.

I'll be sure to post pictures next time.

Requiem

Last night, Lizzy, Jo, and I went to a choir and instrumental concert of Mozart's Requiem. It was fabulous! It was in la Cathédrale Saint-Pierre in Geneva so the acoustics were great. It was in honor of the 250th anniversary of the birth of Mozart. There were three pieces: L'Abîme des oiseaux by Olivier Messiaen, which was a clairnet piece, Quintette pour clarinette et cordes en la majeur K 581 by Mozart, which was actually my favorite because it reminded me of Spring time (!), and then Requiem by Mozart. It was so relaxing after all the recent stress that's been building. It put me in a good mood and it made me a little sleepy, so I fell right asleep last night. It really was fabulous and I'm very glad I went.

Feel Africa

There is a large department store here in Switzerland called Manor. Comprable to Marshall Fields. They had advertising up for their spring line of fashion and the theme this year is 'Feel Africa'. As you can imagine I was not thrilled at all. Rather a little dissapointed that internationally inclined people, like the Swiss, would stoop to an artifical level of fashion that has more earthy colors and large print designs and call it African. BUT, much to my surprise it isn't like that at all. For the next two weeks in Manor stores everywhere in Switzerland there will be a full blown African culture experience. For instance, African makeup (I'm still a little skeptical about that), and African hair braiding for free. I was randomly wandering through Manor yesterday and there was a Senegalese group of musicians and dancers. It was like African Culture week at Illinois Wesleyan, but in a commercial clothing store. It was really cool. The dancers got people from the crowd to try to dance. Very different from the States, where, African inspired fashion lines stop at the clothing. Instead, in Switzerland it's more of an educational experience. By no means is it purely for education, it's to make money, I can see that. But, still I think it's cool that they would go to the trouble of integrating African culture with inspired fashion as a marketing technique.

p.s. sorry if I spelt a lot wrong, the spell check isn't working....

Thanks!

A quick thanks to my 'real' family for coming to visit me. I had a lot of fun showing them off and showing them around Switzerland. If anyone else wants to come over I wouldn't be opposed.....

Luck of the Irish

Yesterday, it was beautiful, warm and sunny in Geneva. I think I want my parents to stay because it is obvious that they are good luck. Normally, it's sunny for 2 hrs and tehn cold, cloudy, and sometimes rainy. My parents leave tomorrow and it's supposed to snow on Tuesday. Coincidence? I think not.

Yesterday we went to Parc de Bastions and had a picnic. It was so nice to be able to see people outside enjoying the weather. There were a few avid games of giant chess going on too. The kind where the chess pieces are larger than normal...hopefully you all know what I'm talking about. We walked over to reformation wall as I call it. It's a wall in the parc dedicated to the leaders of the reformation like Luther, Calvin, Cromwell etc. It has larger than life statues of all the MEN because there are no laides in Swiss history that have monuments. Interesting...

We then walked to the market. My dad found a really old scooter with a side car that he really liked. It was a huge market though, and of course everything was not at typical 'market' prices because we are in Switzerland. So, a piece of jewlery was going for 100CHF which is about 80 dollars. It was lots of fun to look though and to see all the different kinds of people that were there.

Also, last night we ate the best piece of fish I have ever eaten in my life. It was perch from Lac Leman. If anyone is ever in Nyon, definitely go to Au Cheval Blanc and get the perch. It was fresh and delicious.

Graffiti

We also went to this place in Geneve where graffiti is allowed and the paintings/tags are amazing. It wasn't in any guidebook either, which makes it a little cooler.

Parents are here

My parents arrived last Saturday. It's nice to see familiar faces that are happy to see me. It can be a little lonely in a different country. We walked all over Geneve on Sunday because it was so nice out. We walked up to the top of St. Pierre and could see the Alps, Jura, Geneve, le lac Leman, everything. It was really nice. Then it started to downpour. Not just rain lightly, but rain cats and dogs and thunder. The only explanation I had was that we were in Geneve and that's how the weather patterns are. We also ate dinner with my host family the first night. That was humorous...I was the translator for the evening. It was fun.

Then we went to Lausanne and it was a gorgeous day! We went down the hillside to the lac. The section of town is called Ouchy (pronounced oushy) We could see the mountains and around the bend in the lake. It was nice and I got a little tan. The next day, however, was cold, rainy and gray. The rain eventually turned into snow, boooo. My parents and brother then went on to Zurich and I went back to Nyon to start researching...it's ok, I get the whole month of May to travel around.

My family is coming back to Geneve for the weekend before they leave on Monday. I'm trying to plan things that I think are fun in hopes that they will also think are fun. So far, everything we've done has been successful so, I'm not too worried.