After a surprisingly easy journey I arrived in the Geneva airport at around 11:00 Swiss time which is about 5:00 in the morning back in Virginia. After struggling for a good ten minutes I finally figured out how to get a luggage cart from the machine, and I was on my way. I was immediately greeted by Christian Viladent, the program's academic director, who showed me the way to the students who had already arrived. After two hours of delirious small talk we finally got on the bus and made our way to the hostel where we spent the next three nights. Over the next three days, in standard "orientation" fashion, we discussed the schedule, rules, and the semester in general in excruciating detail (e.g. It took us two hours to go over the schedule even though we had a document that basically said everything already). Despite the extended discussions concerning the logistics of the program, the first few days of my time in Switzerland have been incredible. From the Old City of Geneva (La Vieille-Ville) to my first run around Lake Geneva (Le Lac Léman) I can already tell that I am going to love living here for the semester.
We spent the three-day orientation living in a youth hostel, six to a room, so that was definitely good for super fast bonding within the group, and yesterday we moved into our individual homestays. I live in a small town called Sus-Chatel Genolier, and it is about as picturesque as you can get. I look out onto the Alps, and even though it's been foggy the past few days, I can tell that on a clear day the view will be incredible! So far, I feel like I have the perfect situation in my host family. They have been nothing but welcoming, but have also been great about giving me my space to adjust to living in Switzerland. The mom (Caroline) speaks a little bit of english, and she has been extremely helpful at making sure that her husband (Olivier) and her kids (14 year old Loris and 16 Naomi) understand what I'm trying to say and vice versa. They have hosted numerous kids in the past, so they seem to have a pretty good balance between being involved in my life here and also letting me do my own thing. Yesterday I hung around the house, got everything unpacked, and went for a run to explore more of Genolier. I found out that there really isn't much to explore, but I did see some amazing views of the mountains. Today I met up with a friend in Nyon (The town where I will be taking classes which is a 12 minute train ride from where I'm living), and we explored a massive flea market that took over the path that runs along Lake Geneva. It was basically like a huge garage sale, but with antiques that you could never hope to find at a similar type of sale in America. There were also food vendors along the way, so we got a cup of "Vin Chaud" (Hot wine), which suprisingly had a similiar taste to apple cider, but with a distinctly grape-flavored kick (go figure....). Also, the meals have been amazing so far, and normally last more than an hour. I love how everyone in the family takes their time eating, and no one seems to rush through the meal. Last night we had a traditional swiss meal called Raclette which is basically melted cheese over potatoes, a proscuitto like meat, and a variety of veggies....you can't really mess that up. Tonight we kept it simple with homemade margherita pizza (amaaazing homemade crust). So basically I'm loving life in La Suisse and I can't wait to really start everything up tomorrow with the first day of classes. Hopefully in a few weeks the smiling and nodding will have decreased, and I won't have to make my host mom translate every other thing I attempt to say in French.....À Bientôt!
