Settling in Switzerland

What a crazy few days it has been! Since my last post I spent some more time in Geneva, met my host family, and went to my first day of classes. It has all been a bit overwhelming to say the least. However, I did manage to figure out the shower in the hostel eventually, but it was definitely a relief to use a real shower when I got to my home stay.

I fell in love with Geneva on Thursday when we went to visit the old part of the city. We saw the Protestant Reformation Monument, St. Pierre's Cathedral where John Calvin preached, and the birthplace of Rousseau. The history nerd in me was geeking out over the significance of all the sights we saw. After the tour I went swimming in Lake Geneva with a few of the other kids from my program. I even jumped off a 15' diving platform into the water, which was terrifying but fantastic at the same time. I almost didn't go because I was still jet lagged. I am so glad I went; if I had to guess, I think it will be one of my favorite  memories of my time in Switzerland. The water was incredibly clear and the view of the mountains was breathtaking. One thing I love about this country is how beautiful it is.  There really aren't enough words to describe some of the views I've seen on this trip so far.

Jet d'Eau

Friday we travelled as a group to Nyon, about 20 minutes outside of Geneva, where our classes will be held. While I love Geneva because it is such an international city, I love Nyon because it is a very picturesque European city. We got to see the school we will attend and then we were taken to a castle that in the middle of the city that overlooks the lake. From the castle you can see a medieval village in France that I hope to visit at some point in the near future. I will definitely be spending a lot of my time at this castle in Nyon. This picture explains why:

On Saturday we met our host families. I was incredibly nervous, and to make matters worse, the bus that was supposed to bring us to them was an hour late. After much anticipation, I finally met Gudrun, my host mom. She is incredibly nice and (luckily for me) is fluent in English. After we left the meeting place, we quickly made a pit stop across the border in France so she could get gas for the car. I don't think she understood why I was so excited about this. Later that afternoon she showed me around her apartment and we went for a walk around the village, Signy, where I'm staying. We had coffee and chatted about American politics, then we went into Nyon for ice cream. That night she introduced me to her boyfriend Hermann, who only speaks french. It is a little tough to communicate with him, but we've worked out a system where he speaks French to Gudrun, she translates to me in English and I respond in German. He understands German, but isn't able to speak it.

Hermann is a jazz pianist, an amazing one at that. Before dinner he sat down and played "Georgia on My Mind" and I got chills. It was incredibly comforting to have such great music around. On Sunday, I slept in and then skyped with my family and some friends. After I did some homework, I walked around Signy and took some pictures of the quaint little village. There are vineyards everywhere, and I have a view of French mountains from our terrace.

Monday got off to a bit of a rough start. I woke up at 8:30 for my 8:58 bus. Luckily after 2 years of rushed mornings at Saint Mike's, I was out the door by 8:45. However, I got halfway down the street and realized I forgot my bus pass. I sprinted back to the house grabbed the pass and sprinted back to the bus stop. Luckily for me, this bus didn't live up to it's swiss stereotype and was about 2 minutes late, so I caught it just in time. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. I listened to a lecture on public health and then we had a quick visit from a group called "Reseau Cancer du Sein" which is the Breast Cancer Network in Geneva. They explained that their NGO works as an advocate for breast cancer patients in Geneva and it was the first program of its kind in the country. The whole idea of the group is to act as a mediator between doctors and patients to convey what could be fixed in the treatment process. We will have a chance to visit their main office and volunteer at some of their events later in the semester.

After lunch I had a 3 hour French lesson. It was quite exhausting, I never realized French had so many pronunciation rules. I felt like a little kid again as I fumbled through pronouncing the letters of the alphabet. For some reason, I kept translating words from English, to German, and then into French in my head. It made the 3 hours quite frustrating. I'm excited for the challenge. Hopefully by the end of the semester I will be able to communicate with Hermann without too many problems.

I'm off to bed now, I have to rest up for another 3 hour french lesson tomorrow!

À Demain (I learned that today),
Mary