I have arrived.

Well I have arrived safely in Geneva and may I start out summarizing my experience by saying that I happened to unknowingly stumble across the Palace of Nations during my daily travels (will detail later).

(apparently I was so taken aback I couldn't take a straight picture...sorry about that)


It's been amazing. Geneva is an absolutely beautiful, vibrant city and I still cannot believe I am here. My plane ride was not too bad as the flight was about 20% full and I had two seats to myself. My apartment -->

is situated in Les Acacias which is about 10 minutes walking distance from the center of Geneva and about two tram stops from Uni Mail which is the main University of Geneva building. Geneva is pretty small and I find that I have been walking everywhere and will most likely not be taking the tram to my classes and research.





Especially since this is the bridge I have to cross to get there;

I have my own room which is quite large, a kitchen, 2 bathrooms, 3 roommates and an unnecessarily long and large hallway. I live with a boy from Luxembourg and a boy from Tunisia and will be getting a girl roommate in about a week which I am pretty excited for. They both speak English (thankfully!) but mainly speak French. Which leads me to how horrible my French is. I will be taking two French classes next week and cannot wait. While most people speak some English, everyone speaks French and it is usually the preferred language. I studied French in high school and took one class my first semester but since then have not spoken a word and consequently forgot A LOT. Along those lines let me say that I have never felt more American in my life. In order to illustrate this I have decided to start a running list of my American moments and revelations in my new Switzerland home:

1. Going out to an Italian restaurant, ordering pizza and receiving an uncut pie and a knife and fork. Am I supposed to eat with my utensils or hands? Naturally, I cut two diagonal lines from the center of the pizza to make a perfect slice. As I pick up the triangle with my hands I notice that most people are eating their pie in small bites, cutting much like one would do with a pancake. Apparently I have horrible utensil skills.
2. Finding out Claire’s, UGG boots, and “NYC” related merchandise are not only available and appealing to people in America. Globalization is alive and thriving.
3. Milk and eggs do not have to be refrigerated before purchasing.
4. Aisles in the local grocery stores dedicated to purely chocolate is a real thing. Will post a picture of this marvel soon.
5. Smiling to the other person on the sidewalk as you pass them is not a common occurrence.
6. Bureaucracy in Geneva seems to be a way of life. They take it to a whole new level.

While a bit unnerving, arriving early seems to have served me well. I’ve been able to get a feel for the city and the tram, bus and train network. I mostly wandered around by myself for the first three days but people here are pretty friendly and I found some good conversation (although in broken French and English). I rode one tram line to both its ends and discovered the Palace of Nations along with other NGO and IGO buildings. It was a bit of a shock to experience this by myself, and even though I might have been talking to myself at points, me, myself and I really enjoyed ourselves.

While Cat and company were having a fun time, they realized one of the main reasons they came to Geneva so early was to visit the lovely Joanna.

In all seriousness, my roommate at Clark and amazing friend is currently in London studying through the London Internship Program. The trip there was a bit much as it consisted of taking a tram, a train, a shuttle, a plane, a shuttle, a train, the tube and then walking. Needless to say I listened to the Clash the entire trip and pretended I was in a British film. Totally necessary, not ashamed. Although we didn’t spend a lot of time there, her apartment was amazing and conveniently located in central London. She has five roommates, four of them from Clark and one from Stonehill College. It was nice being around people that spoke fluent English as well as seeing some familiar faces! Among the many things we packed into my four day vacation was a day trip to Oxford. We climbed Carfax Tower which overlooked the whole University of Oxford, went to Christ Church’s Cathedral which was gorgeous and pretended that we were in Harry Potter the whole time. In London we hit up pretty much all the stereotypical London attractions

;Buckingham Palace, Tower Bridge, Westminster Abbey and of course Platform 9 ¾ =). It was amazing. She’s been there for a little over a month so we also got to go to some local places which made me feel cool and less touristy...well I like to think so.

Sadly, my time there was limited as I had to return to Geneva. Once back I applied for my resident permit and met the other student from the EuroScholars program. He is doing research on cognitive and affective neuroscience which will look at the mechanisms behind recognizing faces and emotions. We are the only two students from EuroScholars so it was nice to finally meet someone who has been going through the same steps that I have.

I haven’t started classes yet so am still in a bit of a daze. Much like summer vacation the days have been meshing together and I often get confused as to what day of the week it is. This will soon end as I have a meeting with my research professor tomorrow and a French Class Enrollment session Thursday.

As there is no meal plan here I am slowly adjusting to feeding myself. As of now my diet has consisted of mainly pasta, nutella and whichever Swiss chocolate bar suits my fancy that day

(this has truly been the mvp of swiss chocolate as of late)

Clearly the staples. While my favorite foods since I arrived here, they are rapidly becoming…not my favorite (except the chocolate…and maybe the nutella. OK so just the pasta). This past week I have been exploring the city with the other EuroScholar’s student. We visited the beautiful St. Pierre’s Cathedral (also called Calvin’s church after John Calvin, the Protestant Reformer), went to Tavel House- the oldest house in Geneva, walked to Lake Geneva where we were sprayed by the iconic Jet d’eau- the 459 foot water fountain and of course found the essential IKEA. We’ve come to realize how walkable Geneva is and have since been literally walking all over the city despite the cold weather. There is so much history in this city and I am looking forward to continue exploring!

And seeing more swans. They're all over the lake. One can't go wrong in taking a picture when you have the Alps in the background, the clear lake and city in the middle ground and SWANS in the forground.

So now it’s time to put down my spoon and jar of nutella and try practicing my French. I can hear my two roommate’s startlingly deep voices conversing in French and think I should probably engage in some conversation. Or figure out how to do my laundry with a french washing machine and german laundry detergent. Think I'll go with the former.

Au revoir!