I met some of the girls from my group shortly after claiming my bags and then we waited for the other members to arrive. We were entertained by our program leader, Monica, who is originally from Mexico but has lived in Switzerland for 15 years. Maybe it was the lack of sleep, but there is something quite overwhelming about hearing Swiss-French spoken in a Mexican accent. While we waited for the others, we introduced ourselves and did whatever any other college students arriving in a major international city would do; we went to the nearest Starbucks. I was half asleep until a bird flew past my head and hit my neck with its wing. Just the day before, I went to the beach at home and a seagull landed on my lap in a failed attack on my sandwich. Hopefully this isn't the start of a new trend.
After the Great Bird Fiasco of 2013, we met up with the rest of our group and took a bus to the hostel. We had some free time, so some of us walked down to the lake and took in the views. For dinner I ate at a restaurant called "Holy Cow" with a few other group members. Mom, Dad, Ashley, Becky: believe it or not, I even ate kale.
The rest of the day was a blur because I was quickly approaching 30 hours of no sleep. I got a chance to see some break dancers on the Waterfront, which was awesome. I'm thinking if this whole Political Science thing doesn't pan out I'll try my hand at breakdancing. We turned in for an early night and of course I feel asleep before I could even take my shoes off. I woke up an hour later and attempted to shower, but much to my surprise, that was no simple task.
Overall, I'd say I had a pretty great first day. I think the over exhaustion made me a little more homesick than I expected but having a photo album helped. Tomorrow we're touring the city, and I'm hoping to conquer that strange shower that shuts off every 15 seconds. I'll let you know how it turns out.
-Mary
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