Monday was the first day back at school after two weeks of vacation. As you can probably imagine, that was a bit of a drag. We changed places, and I think we will keep them for the rest of the year. I now sit in the front row facing the teacher's desk (worst spot ever) next to a boy named Dusan. Bérénice is just across from me, and Andréanne sits behind me. It's not a terrible set up but I miss sitting next to Sylvain because he talked all the time and that was entertaining, haha
Tuesday was uneventful.. we played soccer in gym class and that is about all that is of interest.
Wednesday was sort of a strange day. It was the school sports day which they have every year. Me, Andréanne, and some other friends had signed up for the 15km walk activity, which took place in the afternoon (well there was a morning one too but that was already full when we signed up.) So we were able to sleep in that morning, (which was amazing, and made me wish I could sleep in every Wednesday.) In the afternoon we took the bus to school and had to sign in for the walk. There were probably at least 100 others doing it too. We walked through Romont, then made a big loop through the countryside before coming back. The time limit was 2.5 hours (if you didn't finish in the time limit you'd have to come back on Saturday to do it again) and I think we finished in a bit less than that, keeping a fast walking pace the whole time. Afterward my legs and feet were really sore but it was better the next day. We took the bus home at the normal time.
Thursday was pretty boring for most of the day. We watched a movie in biology about clones that was cool. It was sort of like a more sophisticated French version of Bill Nye the Science Guy I guess. We had gym on Thursday this week but luckily we didn't have to do endurance training (everyone was sore from the day before) and we actually played soccer and then baseball. I have to say, it is really funny playing baseball with school here. Nobody besides the teacher (and even then..) understands all the rules (it was the first time, so he explained a bit, but we played a dumbed down version of the game.) They catch with the hand that doesn't have a glove on it and use a tee to hit the ball. I mean, I have been playing baseball and kickball in school forever, I think baseball is the only sport I ever really played as a kid with Emily, Luke, and my dad (besides croquet..), so I never really thought about it as complicated. But it sort of is, if you aren't used to it. My host sister says that she has watched baseball on TV before and didn't understand it at all. I hope we play again sometime because it was really entertaining.
Friday was an average day in school. We talked about the preference to have boys in India in geography and in history we learned about French society under Louis XIV. After school Béatrice went to pick Tata up from her house, and then we all went together around five to go to the WWE wrestling event. We drove to the stadium in Geneva where the event was being held. Béatrice and Bernard parked the car at the stadium and then took the bus to go out for dinner in Geneva while Andréanne, Tata, and I went to see the wrestling. At the beginning we had to wait outside for maybe a half hour before they opened the doors. There were some food and merchandise stands, much like in the US. It took a while to get through the doors once they opened because they searched in everyone's bags and frisked everyone too. Eventually we got in and found our spots, which were fairly good ones. We had to wait about 40 minutes until the event started so Andréanne and I played hangman.
And then it began! What can I say? It was WWE wrestling, exactly like on TV except with less of the long speeches (you know, the arguments that set up the matches.) Every wrestler had their entrance, there were different kinds of matches (normal, no disqualifications, tag-team, etc.) and all of that. I found it entertaining, though I'm no wrestling fan. In pro wrestling each wrestler has their own story, and in basically each match there is the popular figure and the one everyone wants to lose, so it was easy to know who to boo and who to cheer on. I definitely liked The Undertaker, who had the coolest, scariest entrance, and also Dave Finlay, "The Fighting Irish Bastard", with his midget "son" (it's not really his son, that's just the story) Hornswoggle, the best. It was stupid, but highly entertaining, as it's supposed to be. When the wrestling was over we went to meet Béatrice and Bernard at the car, and then drove home. I think we got home around midnight, and I was exhausted so went straight to bed.
Yesterday I woke up, showered, cleaned my room, finished writing a letter, etc. After eating lunch I went to Romont at three. It was really nice out so I walked around the town and took pictures with my film camera (I've hardly used it since coming here), visited the cathedral, and toured the ramparts (last time I went it was snowy so it was a different experience.) Everything is so green here, the cows and sheep have come out of their barns, and everyone was out walking or gardening so it was just fun to walk around the town. At 17h30 I met Sakshi at the train station because she was coming to spend the night here. We took the bus home fifteen minutes later. After eating super my host sister went to babysit and my host mom and dad went to play cards at the neighbor's house, so Sakshi and I watched movies that she had borrowed from her neighbor and brought over. First we watched "La Cité Interdite" (known as "Curse of the Golden Flower" in English) which was a Chinese movie about the Tang dynasty and this horrible guy who wants to become king and all of the bad things that happen because of that. We watched that one in Chinese with French subtitles (there weren't English ones but we understood the French ones fine) because we agreed that watching movies in the original language is a million times better than dubbed. Afterward we watched the Sex and the City movie.. it was so so stupid but I expected that. When the movie was done it was midnight or so, so we went to bed.
This morning I woke up around 10h30. Sakshi and I ate a small breakfast. Then my host mom and dad went to the annual stockholder's meeting of the village bank of which my host dad is the director, so they weren't around for lunch. Andréanne made chicken, fried potatoes, salad, and steamed spinach and then Sakshi, Nicolas, and I cleaned up afterward. After that Sakshi read my "Stop in the Name of Pants!" book that I got from Aunt Amy because I had to do some IT homework (making vectorial drawings in Powerpoint!) Around three I walked Sakshi to the bus stop and then she left to go back home.
Nothing big is coming up this week, besides two tests on Friday.. more school is all! I am planning the huge excursion of maybe buying a new pair of jeans next weekend (my favorite ones have a large hole in the crotch and are now suitable only for gardening) and that's about the most exciting thing on my schedule.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Sunday, April 19, 2009
The Weekend
Alright, so just a post to fill you in on Friday, Saturday, and today since I already posted on Thursday for the other part of the week.
On Friday I woke up at 03h45, which, you know, was pretty early. I showered and ate a quick breakfast, then Béatrice drove Andréanne, Nicolas, and I to the Migros parking lot where a coach bus was waiting to pick us up. We had to pay 82.- each which covered the transportation and the ticket for Europa-Park. At 04h45 the bus left and we made a tour of pretty much the whole canton, stopping at various bigger towns to pick up groups of people. I slept through most of it though. Around eight we got to the German border and the bus stopped but we didn't have to get out and no one actually looked at our IDs, strangely enough. Then around nine we were at the theme park. The theme as you might guess is Europe.. so there were different sections with different countries, and each one had buildings and rides related to that country (for instance in "Switzerland" there is the Matterhorn roller coaster, in "Greece" there is a boat ride called Poseidon, etc.) The shops, buildings, and scenery were actually pretty cool with a large amount of detail and care put into making them. I definitely liked Iceland the best, if only because of the Icelandic Sheep pen..
We went on all of the bigger rides, the favorite of all of us being the newest roller coaster which we rode on three times (click here if you'd like to see one of those slightly nauseating roller coaster ride simulation videos!) Unfortunately the lines for everything were long, even though the weather wasn't great. In the morning it was rainy but luckily waiting in lines and boarding the roller coasters were all under shelter so the only time we actually got wet was walking between them and for the duration of the rides. In the afternoon things cleared up too so that was good. A highlight for me was definitely a house of horrors ride in which everything was in German.. cackling mad scientists, skeletons, ghosts, you name it, it was all incomprehensible. But funny. At four thirty we went back on the tour bus, which took us to some Swiss German town in the north of the canton where the French speakers (there were only five of us and we all lived in the South part of the canton) were picked up by a van. We were driven back to the Migros where Béatrice was waiting with the car, and then we ended up at home around eight. We ate a late dinner and then I watched Desperate Housewives in French with Béatrice and Andréanne until around eleven.
On Saturday, I had plans with Margaux, who was coming to pick me up at one. I don't think I've ever slept much later than eleven since coming to Switzerland (maybe the first bit when I was jet-lagged and overwhelmed by French, but it's been months) so I didn't think to set my alarm clock to wake up. But I probably should have since I woke up at 12h15 and almost died when I looked at the time (I had thought it was around ten.) I jumped out of bed, went into the kitchen to say that I had to quick shower and everyone should all start eating lunch without me, and then ate quickly afterward. At one Margaux, her mom, and her sister came to get me. Remember back at the beginning of the year when I went to the Cailler chocolate factory? Well in February they said we should go there together (it had been like four years since they'd visited) and though I said I'd already been, they suggested we go anyway. Who would argue with that? So we took a tour of the factory (with samples, of course) which lasted about an hour. Afterward, though we hadn't planned it, they suggested we visit the Gruyère cheese making factory which was more or less on the way back. We took a small tour which had an audio guide.. it was Saturday so there wasn't anyone making cheese but we still saw the facilities, the cellars where there is a robot that sprays the cheese wheels with salty water twice a day and flips them over and where they age afterward, videos on how the cheese is made, and the exhibit about the cows and culture of the Gruyère region. It was all very interesting. I learned that 2/3 of all the Gruyère cheese made is eaten in Switzerland, and that 60% of it is produced just in my canton. It takes 400 litres (105 gallons) of milk to make one 35 kilo (77 pound) wheel of cheese. They also gave us cheese samples to taste the difference between Gruyère aged for six, eight, and ten months. After that I went home.
At eight in the evening I headed to the village Salle de Gym to listen to the village brass band play their annual concert. It was packed, and the concert went really late since they also gave medals to people who had been in the band for a long time (25 years, 40 years, and 60 YEARS.. the last one was 72 years old! And he was a retired farmer!) They were surprisingly great, I have to say. It was funny because my host mom was pointing people out to me, like "oh that's the wife of the dairy shop owner playing percussion, and there's the dairy shop owner himself playing the euphonium.. over there's the daughter of the band director- she goes to your school." All in all it was very impressive (seriously, they could have been a professional band.. who would have thought?) They played a wide range of music including Rimsky-Kosakov, Riverdance, and the theme from Shrek. Afterward we went home and I went to bed around midnight.
Today my host family went pretty early to the first communion of a niece on Béatrice's side of the family. I stayed home (I don't do church-related things with my family, which they are fine with, and they understand.) I did homework and relaxed, and am just trying to enjoy the last day of my marvelous vacation (which went much too fast!)
On Friday I woke up at 03h45, which, you know, was pretty early. I showered and ate a quick breakfast, then Béatrice drove Andréanne, Nicolas, and I to the Migros parking lot where a coach bus was waiting to pick us up. We had to pay 82.- each which covered the transportation and the ticket for Europa-Park. At 04h45 the bus left and we made a tour of pretty much the whole canton, stopping at various bigger towns to pick up groups of people. I slept through most of it though. Around eight we got to the German border and the bus stopped but we didn't have to get out and no one actually looked at our IDs, strangely enough. Then around nine we were at the theme park. The theme as you might guess is Europe.. so there were different sections with different countries, and each one had buildings and rides related to that country (for instance in "Switzerland" there is the Matterhorn roller coaster, in "Greece" there is a boat ride called Poseidon, etc.) The shops, buildings, and scenery were actually pretty cool with a large amount of detail and care put into making them. I definitely liked Iceland the best, if only because of the Icelandic Sheep pen..
We went on all of the bigger rides, the favorite of all of us being the newest roller coaster which we rode on three times (click here if you'd like to see one of those slightly nauseating roller coaster ride simulation videos!) Unfortunately the lines for everything were long, even though the weather wasn't great. In the morning it was rainy but luckily waiting in lines and boarding the roller coasters were all under shelter so the only time we actually got wet was walking between them and for the duration of the rides. In the afternoon things cleared up too so that was good. A highlight for me was definitely a house of horrors ride in which everything was in German.. cackling mad scientists, skeletons, ghosts, you name it, it was all incomprehensible. But funny. At four thirty we went back on the tour bus, which took us to some Swiss German town in the north of the canton where the French speakers (there were only five of us and we all lived in the South part of the canton) were picked up by a van. We were driven back to the Migros where Béatrice was waiting with the car, and then we ended up at home around eight. We ate a late dinner and then I watched Desperate Housewives in French with Béatrice and Andréanne until around eleven.
On Saturday, I had plans with Margaux, who was coming to pick me up at one. I don't think I've ever slept much later than eleven since coming to Switzerland (maybe the first bit when I was jet-lagged and overwhelmed by French, but it's been months) so I didn't think to set my alarm clock to wake up. But I probably should have since I woke up at 12h15 and almost died when I looked at the time (I had thought it was around ten.) I jumped out of bed, went into the kitchen to say that I had to quick shower and everyone should all start eating lunch without me, and then ate quickly afterward. At one Margaux, her mom, and her sister came to get me. Remember back at the beginning of the year when I went to the Cailler chocolate factory? Well in February they said we should go there together (it had been like four years since they'd visited) and though I said I'd already been, they suggested we go anyway. Who would argue with that? So we took a tour of the factory (with samples, of course) which lasted about an hour. Afterward, though we hadn't planned it, they suggested we visit the Gruyère cheese making factory which was more or less on the way back. We took a small tour which had an audio guide.. it was Saturday so there wasn't anyone making cheese but we still saw the facilities, the cellars where there is a robot that sprays the cheese wheels with salty water twice a day and flips them over and where they age afterward, videos on how the cheese is made, and the exhibit about the cows and culture of the Gruyère region. It was all very interesting. I learned that 2/3 of all the Gruyère cheese made is eaten in Switzerland, and that 60% of it is produced just in my canton. It takes 400 litres (105 gallons) of milk to make one 35 kilo (77 pound) wheel of cheese. They also gave us cheese samples to taste the difference between Gruyère aged for six, eight, and ten months. After that I went home.
At eight in the evening I headed to the village Salle de Gym to listen to the village brass band play their annual concert. It was packed, and the concert went really late since they also gave medals to people who had been in the band for a long time (25 years, 40 years, and 60 YEARS.. the last one was 72 years old! And he was a retired farmer!) They were surprisingly great, I have to say. It was funny because my host mom was pointing people out to me, like "oh that's the wife of the dairy shop owner playing percussion, and there's the dairy shop owner himself playing the euphonium.. over there's the daughter of the band director- she goes to your school." All in all it was very impressive (seriously, they could have been a professional band.. who would have thought?) They played a wide range of music including Rimsky-Kosakov, Riverdance, and the theme from Shrek. Afterward we went home and I went to bed around midnight.
Today my host family went pretty early to the first communion of a niece on Béatrice's side of the family. I stayed home (I don't do church-related things with my family, which they are fine with, and they understand.) I did homework and relaxed, and am just trying to enjoy the last day of my marvelous vacation (which went much too fast!)
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Genève
Hello folks,
I figured I would split this week up into two blog posts, since I just got back from Geneva and I'd like to get a post up so that I have less to write on Sunday (when I'll probably need the time to do last minute homework. I don't know.)
On Monday I spent the day organizing my room, packing for the next day, making sure I had everything in order, and taking a nice bike ride. It was 15km which sounds like a lot until you realize that kilometers are not miles. It was really hot out though but I still enjoyed myself.
Tuesday I woke up at 06h30, ate breakfast, showered, and did some last-minute packing. At ten to eight I was out the door. I took the bus to the train station and then caught the 08h44 to Geneva. Sakshi had gotten on in Fribourg (the stop before) and luckily I saw her in the window as the train came in so I knew which car she was in and I didn't have to walk through them all looking. When we got to Geneva a little before ten, the first thing we did was locate my hostel so that I could put my duffel bag into one of their day lockers (the rooms weren't available until two.) The hostel was a five minute walk from the train station in a busy, ethnic area.. the Genevan ghetto I'm told. It seemed pretty tame though compared to cities in the US (this is Switzerland, after all) but I was careful to not walk around alone at night and all. I checked in at reception and they gave me a padlock for their lockers for a deposit, a map of the city, a public transport pass for the duration of my stay, and the key card to my room. We went downstairs to stash my bag, then took a bit of a walk. We headed in the direction of the botanic conservatory but since we didn't know how far it was exactly (it was off the map) we lost heart on the way there. Instead we found a park that contained the (small) Musée d'histoire des sciences de la Ville de Genève (Geneva Museum of Scientific History, I guess, but I don't know the official English name.) It was closed but that didn't matter because they had these cool experiments outside. There were two parabolic sound dishes that were really far away and when I talked into one of them Sakshi could hear me at the other (please Google if you don't understand.) Then there was this chart drawn on the pavement and when I stood along the date axis at the correct date, my shadow fell onto the time axis and told what time it was.
After walking around the park we walked along the lake to the main area of the city with the shops and businesses. By this time we had walked pretty far and were hungry so we stopped to eat at a pizza place. After lunch neither of us felt like going to a museum so instead we walked around a bit more. In the afternoon we headed to the train station and I saw Sakshi off. I went back to the hostel to put my belongings in the dorm, get my sheets and towel from the reception desk, and make my bed. After this I was quite tired from walking (and also I hadn't slept very well the previous night) so I read a book and listened to my iPod. At dinnertime I went out to find something to eat.. at first I went to the Migros to buy a sandwich but it was very picked-over so I ended up buying a kebab from a little place next door. That evening I went to bed around nine because I was so tired and had a big day the next day. I was in a three person female dorm but the other two beds stayed empty the first night so I had the room to myself, which was kind of nice (usually you have to pay extra to not have roommates!) [For day one, refer to pictures 1 through 8 in the slideshow]
On Wednesday I woke up a bit before eight after sleeping very peacefully. The communal bathrooms were busy but not so much that I had to wait for a shower stall. After getting ready and locking up my things in the locker in my room I went to the cafe next to the hostel for breakfast (coffee and un pain au chocolat.) I was a bit ahead of schedule (the UN, where I was headed next, didn't have tours until ten) so I sat at the cafe and read the journal. Then I took the tram over to the UN and walked for about ten minutes to the visitor's entrance. It was 09h40 so I sat around and waited until I could go in. After going through security I went to the visitor's desk and signed up for the 10h30 English tour.. they checked my passport, took a picture with their webcam, asked for ten francs, then gave me a printed out ID badge I had to wear around (hey, a free souvenir!) The tour [pictures 9 through 19, 32, and 33], which lasted about an hour, was really cool and informative. I remember going into the UN in New York, at least in the lobby and bookstore, without taking a tour (do they even have them?) but at the Palais de Nations you can't enter the grounds without tour authorization and an ID badge unless you work at the UN or are there for some other business.
After the tour I headed over to the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum which was right across the road. It was just a bit before noon so I ate lunch at the museum restaurant before actually seeing the exhibits (fish, rice, cooked carrots, cucumber salad, pellegrino.. my lunch I mean, not the exhibits.) The museum was okay, and parts of it very interesting.. I guess it was worth going to see but I'm glad I went to the UN at the same time instead of making a special trip over there. I found the part about what the Red Cross does now, for disaster relief, landmine victims, prisoners, etc. the most interesting part. At the end there was a temporary exhibit of photography that I liked a lot, it was called Stigmates and it featured six different photographers from around the world [pictures 20 to 31 are of the museum]
After the Red Cross Museum I went to a clothes store and bought some much-needed lighter clothes since it's been really warm lately. Then I went back to the hostel where I met the girls who would be my roommates that night.. two university students from Hong Kong who are studying business for four months in Glasgow and who were traveling on their break. Their names were Rainy and Grace but I don't know if Rainy is written like that at all (but it's how it sounded.) They were really nice so we spent some time talking. Then I went over to a Japanese grocery store right next to the hostel after that and bought my dinner (sushi- the first in months, it was amazing!, bottled green tea, assorted rice crackers with tiny whole dried fish mixed in, and some chocolate dessert.) At eight I went to the train station to meet up with my friend Colleen (an American AFS student living in Geneva) who had sent me an SMS that morning asking if I wanted to go out. I was surprised to meet not only her, but Fernando, Amanda (another American in Geneva), and her host sister. Fernando was going over to France the next day and spending the night at Amanda's. We went to this cute little cafe where I ordered a beer for the first time (I've had it before, just never bought it myself).. they don't even ID here. Then we just hung out there.. eventually three other friends of Colleen and her host sister met up with us too (with the Swiss there we spoke more French than English.) Around 23h15 we left.. yes, it was pretty late, but Colleen, her host sister, Amanda, and Fernando walked with me through the perilous Genevan Ghetto to the hostel so that was fine.
This morning I woke up at seven for no real reason but after that I couldn't sleep. I got up and took a shower (this time no one in the bathrooms), rousing my roommates a bit in the process (I was really quiet, too..) When I got back they were more or less awake. I packed up my bags, gathered my used sheets and towels, said farewell to my roommates, and headed out. I checked out at the desk but kept the padlock for a while longer, locking my duffel in the day locker again, then went to eat breakfast.. I walked in the direction of the conservatory and botanical gardens (determined to get all the way there this time- turns out Sakshi and I had given up about 9/10 of the way) and found a cafe to eat. It was drizzly but I had a raincoat, fast driying capris, and sandals on. At the conservatory I walked around a bit, but it didn't actually open until 09h30 (I noticed that in tiny letters on the door of the third greenhouse after already walking through the other two.. oops) so I didn't stay long. [Pictures 34 through 37]
At this point it was getting pretty cold so I caught the bus and just took it to the other side of the city and ended up in this cute residential neighborhood where there was a little farmer's market on the street. After walking a bit I took another bus back to the shopping district, at which point it started downpouring.. great. I bought a few Geneva postcards and went to the overpriced (even more so than in the US) Starbucks to fill them out. Then, after warming up, I decided to brave the rain by walking around some more (for whatever reason I just didn't really want to go to a museum.) It was cold and very very wet. Eventually (taking a bus and two trams) I made my way back to the hostel to pick up my duffel bag and get my ten francs back for the padlock. Then, because I realized I might not eat it again until August, I went back to the Japanese grocery and got some more cheap (by Swiss standards), delicious sushi. At 14h10 I had my train (there were later ones too, but I was longing for the comfort of my host home and itching to start writing my blog post) so after eating I headed over to the train station. I bought some stamps using exact change from this yellow postal machine- I swear it took twenty minutes to figure it out- and mailed my postcards. I bought my train ticket. I paid two francs to use the "clean, safe bathroom" (and that is not translated, it was written in English.. go figure, only anglophones are afraid of squat toilets.) And then I took the train, and then the bus, to come back home. I just got done eating dinner, and it was good. It's fun eating in restaurants but it's nice sitting around the host family table and eating a meal too.
GENEVA PICTURES (Go HERE for bigger and better versions)
Tomorrow, Nicolas, Andréanne, and I are going to Germany to go to Europa-Park (it's cool I'll be able to say I've been in Germany but actually it won't really count much, culture-wise. But technically I'll have been there.) We are taking a tour bus that drops you off there (much like I did for the Christmas market in Bâle, except it's farther.) We'll have to leave the house at four thirty in the morning, eeek.. But of course the idea is to sleep in the bus.
But I'll let you know about that once it's happened.
I figured I would split this week up into two blog posts, since I just got back from Geneva and I'd like to get a post up so that I have less to write on Sunday (when I'll probably need the time to do last minute homework. I don't know.)
On Monday I spent the day organizing my room, packing for the next day, making sure I had everything in order, and taking a nice bike ride. It was 15km which sounds like a lot until you realize that kilometers are not miles. It was really hot out though but I still enjoyed myself.
Tuesday I woke up at 06h30, ate breakfast, showered, and did some last-minute packing. At ten to eight I was out the door. I took the bus to the train station and then caught the 08h44 to Geneva. Sakshi had gotten on in Fribourg (the stop before) and luckily I saw her in the window as the train came in so I knew which car she was in and I didn't have to walk through them all looking. When we got to Geneva a little before ten, the first thing we did was locate my hostel so that I could put my duffel bag into one of their day lockers (the rooms weren't available until two.) The hostel was a five minute walk from the train station in a busy, ethnic area.. the Genevan ghetto I'm told. It seemed pretty tame though compared to cities in the US (this is Switzerland, after all) but I was careful to not walk around alone at night and all. I checked in at reception and they gave me a padlock for their lockers for a deposit, a map of the city, a public transport pass for the duration of my stay, and the key card to my room. We went downstairs to stash my bag, then took a bit of a walk. We headed in the direction of the botanic conservatory but since we didn't know how far it was exactly (it was off the map) we lost heart on the way there. Instead we found a park that contained the (small) Musée d'histoire des sciences de la Ville de Genève (Geneva Museum of Scientific History, I guess, but I don't know the official English name.) It was closed but that didn't matter because they had these cool experiments outside. There were two parabolic sound dishes that were really far away and when I talked into one of them Sakshi could hear me at the other (please Google if you don't understand.) Then there was this chart drawn on the pavement and when I stood along the date axis at the correct date, my shadow fell onto the time axis and told what time it was.
After walking around the park we walked along the lake to the main area of the city with the shops and businesses. By this time we had walked pretty far and were hungry so we stopped to eat at a pizza place. After lunch neither of us felt like going to a museum so instead we walked around a bit more. In the afternoon we headed to the train station and I saw Sakshi off. I went back to the hostel to put my belongings in the dorm, get my sheets and towel from the reception desk, and make my bed. After this I was quite tired from walking (and also I hadn't slept very well the previous night) so I read a book and listened to my iPod. At dinnertime I went out to find something to eat.. at first I went to the Migros to buy a sandwich but it was very picked-over so I ended up buying a kebab from a little place next door. That evening I went to bed around nine because I was so tired and had a big day the next day. I was in a three person female dorm but the other two beds stayed empty the first night so I had the room to myself, which was kind of nice (usually you have to pay extra to not have roommates!) [For day one, refer to pictures 1 through 8 in the slideshow]
On Wednesday I woke up a bit before eight after sleeping very peacefully. The communal bathrooms were busy but not so much that I had to wait for a shower stall. After getting ready and locking up my things in the locker in my room I went to the cafe next to the hostel for breakfast (coffee and un pain au chocolat.) I was a bit ahead of schedule (the UN, where I was headed next, didn't have tours until ten) so I sat at the cafe and read the journal. Then I took the tram over to the UN and walked for about ten minutes to the visitor's entrance. It was 09h40 so I sat around and waited until I could go in. After going through security I went to the visitor's desk and signed up for the 10h30 English tour.. they checked my passport, took a picture with their webcam, asked for ten francs, then gave me a printed out ID badge I had to wear around (hey, a free souvenir!) The tour [pictures 9 through 19, 32, and 33], which lasted about an hour, was really cool and informative. I remember going into the UN in New York, at least in the lobby and bookstore, without taking a tour (do they even have them?) but at the Palais de Nations you can't enter the grounds without tour authorization and an ID badge unless you work at the UN or are there for some other business.
After the tour I headed over to the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum which was right across the road. It was just a bit before noon so I ate lunch at the museum restaurant before actually seeing the exhibits (fish, rice, cooked carrots, cucumber salad, pellegrino.. my lunch I mean, not the exhibits.) The museum was okay, and parts of it very interesting.. I guess it was worth going to see but I'm glad I went to the UN at the same time instead of making a special trip over there. I found the part about what the Red Cross does now, for disaster relief, landmine victims, prisoners, etc. the most interesting part. At the end there was a temporary exhibit of photography that I liked a lot, it was called Stigmates and it featured six different photographers from around the world [pictures 20 to 31 are of the museum]
After the Red Cross Museum I went to a clothes store and bought some much-needed lighter clothes since it's been really warm lately. Then I went back to the hostel where I met the girls who would be my roommates that night.. two university students from Hong Kong who are studying business for four months in Glasgow and who were traveling on their break. Their names were Rainy and Grace but I don't know if Rainy is written like that at all (but it's how it sounded.) They were really nice so we spent some time talking. Then I went over to a Japanese grocery store right next to the hostel after that and bought my dinner (sushi- the first in months, it was amazing!, bottled green tea, assorted rice crackers with tiny whole dried fish mixed in, and some chocolate dessert.) At eight I went to the train station to meet up with my friend Colleen (an American AFS student living in Geneva) who had sent me an SMS that morning asking if I wanted to go out. I was surprised to meet not only her, but Fernando, Amanda (another American in Geneva), and her host sister. Fernando was going over to France the next day and spending the night at Amanda's. We went to this cute little cafe where I ordered a beer for the first time (I've had it before, just never bought it myself).. they don't even ID here. Then we just hung out there.. eventually three other friends of Colleen and her host sister met up with us too (with the Swiss there we spoke more French than English.) Around 23h15 we left.. yes, it was pretty late, but Colleen, her host sister, Amanda, and Fernando walked with me through the perilous Genevan Ghetto to the hostel so that was fine.
This morning I woke up at seven for no real reason but after that I couldn't sleep. I got up and took a shower (this time no one in the bathrooms), rousing my roommates a bit in the process (I was really quiet, too..) When I got back they were more or less awake. I packed up my bags, gathered my used sheets and towels, said farewell to my roommates, and headed out. I checked out at the desk but kept the padlock for a while longer, locking my duffel in the day locker again, then went to eat breakfast.. I walked in the direction of the conservatory and botanical gardens (determined to get all the way there this time- turns out Sakshi and I had given up about 9/10 of the way) and found a cafe to eat. It was drizzly but I had a raincoat, fast driying capris, and sandals on. At the conservatory I walked around a bit, but it didn't actually open until 09h30 (I noticed that in tiny letters on the door of the third greenhouse after already walking through the other two.. oops) so I didn't stay long. [Pictures 34 through 37]
At this point it was getting pretty cold so I caught the bus and just took it to the other side of the city and ended up in this cute residential neighborhood where there was a little farmer's market on the street. After walking a bit I took another bus back to the shopping district, at which point it started downpouring.. great. I bought a few Geneva postcards and went to the overpriced (even more so than in the US) Starbucks to fill them out. Then, after warming up, I decided to brave the rain by walking around some more (for whatever reason I just didn't really want to go to a museum.) It was cold and very very wet. Eventually (taking a bus and two trams) I made my way back to the hostel to pick up my duffel bag and get my ten francs back for the padlock. Then, because I realized I might not eat it again until August, I went back to the Japanese grocery and got some more cheap (by Swiss standards), delicious sushi. At 14h10 I had my train (there were later ones too, but I was longing for the comfort of my host home and itching to start writing my blog post) so after eating I headed over to the train station. I bought some stamps using exact change from this yellow postal machine- I swear it took twenty minutes to figure it out- and mailed my postcards. I bought my train ticket. I paid two francs to use the "clean, safe bathroom" (and that is not translated, it was written in English.. go figure, only anglophones are afraid of squat toilets.) And then I took the train, and then the bus, to come back home. I just got done eating dinner, and it was good. It's fun eating in restaurants but it's nice sitting around the host family table and eating a meal too.
GENEVA PICTURES (Go HERE for bigger and better versions)
Tomorrow, Nicolas, Andréanne, and I are going to Germany to go to Europa-Park (it's cool I'll be able to say I've been in Germany but actually it won't really count much, culture-wise. But technically I'll have been there.) We are taking a tour bus that drops you off there (much like I did for the Christmas market in Bâle, except it's farther.) We'll have to leave the house at four thirty in the morning, eeek.. But of course the idea is to sleep in the bus.
But I'll let you know about that once it's happened.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Pâques, etc.
Hello everyone, and happy Easter (pretty sure everyone who reads this celebrates it, if not I hope you're taking advantage of it by enjoying some peeps and rabbit-shaped chocolate anyway.) I am writing on time this week.. I'll try to at least write a little "I'll write more later" post from now on if I'm going to be late with my entries.
So, things I haven't written about yet...
Wednesday in the afternoon, Andréanne, Béatrice, and I went to Fribourg. Béatrice went to go visit her parents in the nursing home, Andréanne met up with a friend and went to get her ear pierced, and I met up with Sakshi. We walked around and I bought some things I needed, and then we went to get coffee and we talked for a really long time. Afterward I met up with Andréanne and we walked together towards the old part of the city where Béatrice came to pick us up. When we got home there was a ridiculous amount of eggs on the table, I think Bernard had stopped at a local farm and bought three dozen (many for easter eggs) and so for dinner I made omelettes. I don't remember if I have written this before but since maybe January all of the kids have to make dinner once a week, and my day is Wednesday.
On Thursday it was really nice out so I went for a bike ride. Other than that I did some homework and that's pretty much all. Oh yeah, it was also my host dad's birthday so I bought him some chocolates.. predictable but that's okay.
Friday (as well as Monday- tomorrow) is a bank holiday here so both of my host parents had the day off. Most people are Catholic here so they don't eat meat on Good Friday, but in my village they take it one step further. At the village restaurant, in the bingo hall part of it (the regular Sunday bingo is extremely popular here, in fact a while ago my host aunt won a WHOLE wheel of raclette cheese) they had a village soup lunch. We went together at noon and were served some awesome vegetable soup, bread, and apples by volunteers. The whole thing was free but there were donation boxes out... In the afternoon I went with my host parents to Vaud (the canton south of Fribourg, where most of the Swiss part of Lac Léman is.) Though it's only about 25 km away it feels very different being there.. the weather is balmier, the flowers are all already blooming, the grass is greener, and there are even palms. We parked the car and walked around this town that was way up on the hill that slopes down to the lake. After walking around there are bit we drove down to Vevey which is a large town right on the side of the lake. Actually we drove past the Nestlé headquarters which are located there. We parked and walked along the lake-front.. it was sunny and really warm and there were tons of people all over since they all had the day off. It felt like May or June does in Minnesota. We walked on a bridge over this river which was running into the lake, and it was really full of water since all the snow up in the mountains is melting. Then we went to get a coffee (a rivella for me) where we bumped into some random people my host parents know from our village. Around five we headed home.
Yesterday my host parents again wanted to go walking in the afternoon (they really like taking advantage of their weekends and nice weather) so they suggested that they drop my host sister and I off at the Château de Chillon which was on the way. We drove basically to where we had been the day before but passed Vevey and went farther eastward on the lake to a place called Montreux. They dropped us at the castle where there were a lot of tourists, but that was okay, because it was worth it. We walked around and looked at the crypt, the prison (apparently Lord Byron wrote a poem about a prisoner that was held there, fittingly called "The Prisoner of Chillon", but I'd never heard of it), the cellars, the ramparts, the chambers, the great hall, and all the rest of the castle too. It was built on this island separated by just a few feet from the land, for defensive purposes. First the Savoy family controlled the fortress, then in the 1500s the Bernese (Swiss) took it over, and then when the area became part of Switzerland it was controlled by the canton of Vaud. In one of the large rooms there was this weird exhibit that was the personal bear collection of one of the Swiss Federal Counsel members (there are seven of them who make up the executive power.. sort of like having seven presidents, each with one-seventh of the power.) It was like teddy bears, wooden bears, porcelain bears.. I wish our politicians were that cool. After we finished up at the castle and were waiting for Bernard and Béatrice to come pick us up we got ice cream from the little ice cream stand outside the castle and ate it by the lake. We drove home, and then before supper my host mom dyed some Easter eggs with natural dyes but we didn't actually do any decorating. Then after we ate they all went to the Easter mass at church and I stayed home and worked on my homework.
Oh yeah, here are a few pictures I took at the château. Go here for larger versions.
Also since I feel like showing you all a map of the Southwestern bit of the country, here you can see the lake and where I went on Friday and Saturday:
Today was (is) Easter, obviously. I had a nice day though it certainly was less of a big deal than it is at home.. Each of us kids got a nice chocolate bunny from my host parents. For lunch we went to eat at this restaurant that is owned by the father of one of the boys in my class at school (who is also a friend of Bernard's.) For a while I thought we were actually going to their house because one time they said we were going "chez lui" for Easter, which can mean "his restaurant" or "his house" depending on what you mean to say (actually "chez" can mean a lot of things.. for instance when the cat comes and curls up in my lap he's coming "chez moi", when something my host mom needs is in my host sister's room it's "chez elle".. and so you see how I was confused. But I figured it out after a bit.) We met up with Tata and José, and Béatrice's sister came along too. For the meal we had a first course of asparagus (best hollandaise sauce ever!), a second course choice of lamb or beef (I took the beef) with pepper sauce and a few potatoes, and ice cream with fresh strawberries and whipped cream for dessert. Around two we went home, and that was the end of the Easter festivities.
So far I have been having a lovely break.. I feel so fortunate that I've had the time to both relax and discover Switzerland a bit more. I am really excited for Geneva too (I go on Tuesday.) I'll write all about that next time...
Happy Easter again!
So, things I haven't written about yet...
Wednesday in the afternoon, Andréanne, Béatrice, and I went to Fribourg. Béatrice went to go visit her parents in the nursing home, Andréanne met up with a friend and went to get her ear pierced, and I met up with Sakshi. We walked around and I bought some things I needed, and then we went to get coffee and we talked for a really long time. Afterward I met up with Andréanne and we walked together towards the old part of the city where Béatrice came to pick us up. When we got home there was a ridiculous amount of eggs on the table, I think Bernard had stopped at a local farm and bought three dozen (many for easter eggs) and so for dinner I made omelettes. I don't remember if I have written this before but since maybe January all of the kids have to make dinner once a week, and my day is Wednesday.
On Thursday it was really nice out so I went for a bike ride. Other than that I did some homework and that's pretty much all. Oh yeah, it was also my host dad's birthday so I bought him some chocolates.. predictable but that's okay.
Friday (as well as Monday- tomorrow) is a bank holiday here so both of my host parents had the day off. Most people are Catholic here so they don't eat meat on Good Friday, but in my village they take it one step further. At the village restaurant, in the bingo hall part of it (the regular Sunday bingo is extremely popular here, in fact a while ago my host aunt won a WHOLE wheel of raclette cheese) they had a village soup lunch. We went together at noon and were served some awesome vegetable soup, bread, and apples by volunteers. The whole thing was free but there were donation boxes out... In the afternoon I went with my host parents to Vaud (the canton south of Fribourg, where most of the Swiss part of Lac Léman is.) Though it's only about 25 km away it feels very different being there.. the weather is balmier, the flowers are all already blooming, the grass is greener, and there are even palms. We parked the car and walked around this town that was way up on the hill that slopes down to the lake. After walking around there are bit we drove down to Vevey which is a large town right on the side of the lake. Actually we drove past the Nestlé headquarters which are located there. We parked and walked along the lake-front.. it was sunny and really warm and there were tons of people all over since they all had the day off. It felt like May or June does in Minnesota. We walked on a bridge over this river which was running into the lake, and it was really full of water since all the snow up in the mountains is melting. Then we went to get a coffee (a rivella for me) where we bumped into some random people my host parents know from our village. Around five we headed home.
Yesterday my host parents again wanted to go walking in the afternoon (they really like taking advantage of their weekends and nice weather) so they suggested that they drop my host sister and I off at the Château de Chillon which was on the way. We drove basically to where we had been the day before but passed Vevey and went farther eastward on the lake to a place called Montreux. They dropped us at the castle where there were a lot of tourists, but that was okay, because it was worth it. We walked around and looked at the crypt, the prison (apparently Lord Byron wrote a poem about a prisoner that was held there, fittingly called "The Prisoner of Chillon", but I'd never heard of it), the cellars, the ramparts, the chambers, the great hall, and all the rest of the castle too. It was built on this island separated by just a few feet from the land, for defensive purposes. First the Savoy family controlled the fortress, then in the 1500s the Bernese (Swiss) took it over, and then when the area became part of Switzerland it was controlled by the canton of Vaud. In one of the large rooms there was this weird exhibit that was the personal bear collection of one of the Swiss Federal Counsel members (there are seven of them who make up the executive power.. sort of like having seven presidents, each with one-seventh of the power.) It was like teddy bears, wooden bears, porcelain bears.. I wish our politicians were that cool. After we finished up at the castle and were waiting for Bernard and Béatrice to come pick us up we got ice cream from the little ice cream stand outside the castle and ate it by the lake. We drove home, and then before supper my host mom dyed some Easter eggs with natural dyes but we didn't actually do any decorating. Then after we ate they all went to the Easter mass at church and I stayed home and worked on my homework.
Oh yeah, here are a few pictures I took at the château. Go here for larger versions.
Also since I feel like showing you all a map of the Southwestern bit of the country, here you can see the lake and where I went on Friday and Saturday:
Today was (is) Easter, obviously. I had a nice day though it certainly was less of a big deal than it is at home.. Each of us kids got a nice chocolate bunny from my host parents. For lunch we went to eat at this restaurant that is owned by the father of one of the boys in my class at school (who is also a friend of Bernard's.) For a while I thought we were actually going to their house because one time they said we were going "chez lui" for Easter, which can mean "his restaurant" or "his house" depending on what you mean to say (actually "chez" can mean a lot of things.. for instance when the cat comes and curls up in my lap he's coming "chez moi", when something my host mom needs is in my host sister's room it's "chez elle".. and so you see how I was confused. But I figured it out after a bit.) We met up with Tata and José, and Béatrice's sister came along too. For the meal we had a first course of asparagus (best hollandaise sauce ever!), a second course choice of lamb or beef (I took the beef) with pepper sauce and a few potatoes, and ice cream with fresh strawberries and whipped cream for dessert. Around two we went home, and that was the end of the Easter festivities.
So far I have been having a lovely break.. I feel so fortunate that I've had the time to both relax and discover Switzerland a bit more. I am really excited for Geneva too (I go on Tuesday.) I'll write all about that next time...
Happy Easter again!
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Oops
Hello everyone! Sorry, I don't know how many of you anxiously await my blog posts on Sundays (if any!) but I completely forgot this week. I didn't even really realize it was Sunday, because there was no school the next day to remind me. So, a tad late, my blog post.
Last Tuesday was absolutely great. We went on a school ski trip to Valais. I thought it was going to be a long and difficult day and that I would make a fool of myself on skis in front of everyone, but it was amazing instead! In the morning we had to take all of our gear on the bus (that part wasn't fun.) When we got to school there was a tour bus waiting for us so we (like forty-five students I think) loaded our skis and what have you into it. It took maybe an hour and a half or two hours to get to the ski station up in the mountains. We split up into groups of at least three, for safety.. ours was five. The conditions were really great in the morning, with the runs freshly groomed and almost no one around. I thought the runs were really long but when I told that to people in my class they thought it was funny because for them they were super short. Apparently I am not Swiss yet. The steepness was pretty okay, though it got a little uncomfortable once I got really tired near the end. We skiied from ten to noon and then stopped to eat our picnic lunches at a little chalet cabin thing. After eating we skiied again from twelve-thirty until two. The runs had gotten pretty difficult since the snow was getting slushy in the sun, so I fell a couple times. At two I was really exhausted so I went to take a break (and take my ski boots off, which were, I guess, not a perfect fit since they were starting to hurt a lot) and the others continued to ski for the last half hour. Afterward we went back down to where the bus was (me in the télécabine, them on the slushy runs), loaded everything in, and took the trip home. We got home around five thirty, and then that night I went to bed around eight.
Here are some pictures of the ski trip (credit goes to one of the girls in my group.) I'm the one with the red/grey coat and silver/black striped helmet, in case you can't tell (but I think you can.) Go here for bigger versions.
On Wednesday it was April Fool's day so there were some very mild pranks. As in, a few unlucky kids in our class got paper fish stuck on their backs and there was an unsuccessful attempt to disrupt the math professor by having everyone yell at the same time (only one boy yelled while everyone else was silent, which was a failure but funny nonetheless.) Then I had an AFS stamm in Fribourg. There was a girl from Boston who had done an exchange last year in Paraguay and was here visiting another girl from AFS that she had met there (who is twenty but did an exchange to Paraguay a couple years ago and was back there last year.) We had Finland and Bolivia presented to us, and other than that just sat around, ate a bit, and talked. Afterward I walked to the train station with the girl from Boston and the Swiss girl and they took the same train as me to go home, they were really cool and nice.
Let's see... On Friday I would normally have had study hall the last two hours of the day, and the other half of the class would have had a science lab. However the science teacher had to take a sudden flight back to Belgium (where she's from) because her mom was having grave health problems. So our class went to the play that was going on in the theatre, which was normally just for the grade under us but there was a bit of extra space. It was called "Mange ta soupe" ("Eat Your Soup") and it only had four actors who also wrote the piece. I think they were from Switzerland. It was pretty weird, contemporary, and artsy, but entertaining. The loose theme was food, though they took that pretty liberally.
The weekend I didn't do a lot. Saturday afternoon I went with Andréanne, Béatrice, and Bernard to Le Lac de la Gruyère (Lake of Gruyère) where there is this island with an old ruined castle and church on it, which you can walk to at this time of year because the water is low and there is a strip of land between the two. So, we took a little walk. If you'd like to see some pictures of the little island, I forgot to take my camera but you can look here (none of them show it with the walkway, but you get the idea.)
On Monday in the afternoon I went to a shopping center where I met Sakshi and we browsed around and got coffee afterward. I actually was uncomfortably hot walking around outside in more than a t-shirt.. I guess it's not about to snow anytime soon.
For today, Andréanne and I had gotten public transport day passes for the day for 30CHF from the commune. We woke up early and took the train for two hours to Lucerne, arriving there at ten. It was absolutely beautiful out and Lucerne is lovely (there are a billion tourists there.) I took some photos which describe better than me. We visited this awesome lion carving, went to Starbucks (that was surreal and confusing- it really made no sense that I was in a Starbucks yet Lucerne was out the window.) We walked on the famous bridge. After eating lunch there we took a train around one to Interlaken. Man, that was a long, uncomfortably warm train ride. Lucerne and Interlaken aren't really far apart but we had to go up and down mountains, scale the sides of lakes, and stop at every single miserable alpine village for five minutes. However, the views were well worth it.. I think it would be hard to find a more lovely two hour train ride, especially when the weather was as nice as it was today. At Interlaken we stopped for just one hour.. we could have done two but Andréanne and I were both exhausted. The one-hour impression that I got from the town was that it is beautifully situated and that's about all you can say for it.. it is really touristy and doesn't feel very authentically Swiss. However I was only there an hour so I don't really know. After visiting we took the train to Berne, then switched and took the train to Romont, where Béatrice came to get us at the station.
Here's some pictures from today.. This is what everyone thinks of when they think of Switzerland, isn't it? There's more to the country than this though it's a lovely start.. Go here for bigger versions.
Last Tuesday was absolutely great. We went on a school ski trip to Valais. I thought it was going to be a long and difficult day and that I would make a fool of myself on skis in front of everyone, but it was amazing instead! In the morning we had to take all of our gear on the bus (that part wasn't fun.) When we got to school there was a tour bus waiting for us so we (like forty-five students I think) loaded our skis and what have you into it. It took maybe an hour and a half or two hours to get to the ski station up in the mountains. We split up into groups of at least three, for safety.. ours was five. The conditions were really great in the morning, with the runs freshly groomed and almost no one around. I thought the runs were really long but when I told that to people in my class they thought it was funny because for them they were super short. Apparently I am not Swiss yet. The steepness was pretty okay, though it got a little uncomfortable once I got really tired near the end. We skiied from ten to noon and then stopped to eat our picnic lunches at a little chalet cabin thing. After eating we skiied again from twelve-thirty until two. The runs had gotten pretty difficult since the snow was getting slushy in the sun, so I fell a couple times. At two I was really exhausted so I went to take a break (and take my ski boots off, which were, I guess, not a perfect fit since they were starting to hurt a lot) and the others continued to ski for the last half hour. Afterward we went back down to where the bus was (me in the télécabine, them on the slushy runs), loaded everything in, and took the trip home. We got home around five thirty, and then that night I went to bed around eight.
Here are some pictures of the ski trip (credit goes to one of the girls in my group.) I'm the one with the red/grey coat and silver/black striped helmet, in case you can't tell (but I think you can.) Go here for bigger versions.
On Wednesday it was April Fool's day so there were some very mild pranks. As in, a few unlucky kids in our class got paper fish stuck on their backs and there was an unsuccessful attempt to disrupt the math professor by having everyone yell at the same time (only one boy yelled while everyone else was silent, which was a failure but funny nonetheless.) Then I had an AFS stamm in Fribourg. There was a girl from Boston who had done an exchange last year in Paraguay and was here visiting another girl from AFS that she had met there (who is twenty but did an exchange to Paraguay a couple years ago and was back there last year.) We had Finland and Bolivia presented to us, and other than that just sat around, ate a bit, and talked. Afterward I walked to the train station with the girl from Boston and the Swiss girl and they took the same train as me to go home, they were really cool and nice.
Let's see... On Friday I would normally have had study hall the last two hours of the day, and the other half of the class would have had a science lab. However the science teacher had to take a sudden flight back to Belgium (where she's from) because her mom was having grave health problems. So our class went to the play that was going on in the theatre, which was normally just for the grade under us but there was a bit of extra space. It was called "Mange ta soupe" ("Eat Your Soup") and it only had four actors who also wrote the piece. I think they were from Switzerland. It was pretty weird, contemporary, and artsy, but entertaining. The loose theme was food, though they took that pretty liberally.
The weekend I didn't do a lot. Saturday afternoon I went with Andréanne, Béatrice, and Bernard to Le Lac de la Gruyère (Lake of Gruyère) where there is this island with an old ruined castle and church on it, which you can walk to at this time of year because the water is low and there is a strip of land between the two. So, we took a little walk. If you'd like to see some pictures of the little island, I forgot to take my camera but you can look here (none of them show it with the walkway, but you get the idea.)
On Monday in the afternoon I went to a shopping center where I met Sakshi and we browsed around and got coffee afterward. I actually was uncomfortably hot walking around outside in more than a t-shirt.. I guess it's not about to snow anytime soon.
For today, Andréanne and I had gotten public transport day passes for the day for 30CHF from the commune. We woke up early and took the train for two hours to Lucerne, arriving there at ten. It was absolutely beautiful out and Lucerne is lovely (there are a billion tourists there.) I took some photos which describe better than me. We visited this awesome lion carving, went to Starbucks (that was surreal and confusing- it really made no sense that I was in a Starbucks yet Lucerne was out the window.) We walked on the famous bridge. After eating lunch there we took a train around one to Interlaken. Man, that was a long, uncomfortably warm train ride. Lucerne and Interlaken aren't really far apart but we had to go up and down mountains, scale the sides of lakes, and stop at every single miserable alpine village for five minutes. However, the views were well worth it.. I think it would be hard to find a more lovely two hour train ride, especially when the weather was as nice as it was today. At Interlaken we stopped for just one hour.. we could have done two but Andréanne and I were both exhausted. The one-hour impression that I got from the town was that it is beautifully situated and that's about all you can say for it.. it is really touristy and doesn't feel very authentically Swiss. However I was only there an hour so I don't really know. After visiting we took the train to Berne, then switched and took the train to Romont, where Béatrice came to get us at the station.
Here's some pictures from today.. This is what everyone thinks of when they think of Switzerland, isn't it? There's more to the country than this though it's a lovely start.. Go here for bigger versions.
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