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.