The Politics of Skiing

B-E-A-UTIFUL

I don't know who invented skiing. I'm sure they were barking mad though. Who else would think to strap two thin, wooden planks to your feet and head down a mountain? Regardless, I'm very glad that they were willing to undertake such a bizarre process so that I could follow in their tracks (ba dum tisss).

Nine other students and myself went skiing this past weekend at a local mountain. It was fantastic. Not only was it wonderfully affordable (65F for train ride, bus ride, ski lifts, AND equipment. Booya) it was easy to get to with plenty of trails. By the end of the day I had done all the routes that I could with my current skill set, so it was a perfect one day trip. I also realized that black diamonds were pretty much just anything that wasn't specifically a trail on the map. Not sure I'm ready for that.

While I was very sore, I'm proud of how well I did! It's been a year and a half (I think) since I've skied. I was able to go to the top of the mountain (the highest point in the Jura Mountain Range, for you trivia people) and make it down with no problems. Plus, I only fell twice. Once while trying to go off a little jump, because I'm silly and stupid. The other time was just very typical for me. It was nearing the end of the day and I was too tired/lazy to pick up my ski enough and it got caught on some powder. I proceeded to do a bastardized version of one of those impressive gymnastic flips. And of COURSE this happened right under the chair lift, so when I landed (none too gracefully) I heard someone above me go, "Ooooh. Ouch."

Peanut gallery comments are not appreciated.

But hey, if the worst thing I hurt was my pride, I'd say the day was a success. I also got a chance to practice my French and listen to the people next to me on the ski lift. I didn't learn anything of importance, only that Jean is having a 50th birthday party soon. Congrats Jean.

The really interesting part happened that night. For dinner, Mme had some friends over and I had one of the most intense introductions to Swiss "down time" than I could have ever imagined. Dinner was lovely and full of wonderful pleasantries that they teach you in beginning French classes. Perfect. Then, the plates are cleared away (I'm assuming for their own safety) and the coffee and ammo is brought out.

We discussed Swiss politics, French politics, American politics, Algerian politics, the Euro crisis, immigration, Le Pen, Sarkozy, secularization of the state, and I heard some of their personal accounts of WWII. They were debating and explaining and challenging each other about the minute details of these subjects. One of the women sitting next to me kindly explained things for me in simpler terms when I got the deer in the head lights look. Which was often. I heard more interesting ideas and opinions in that one hour than I have from any official political debate. And at 9:00 they all said, "Oh! Look at the hour!" got up, gave out hugs and bises all around, and promised to do this again soon. These people had been blatantly calling each other out on differing policies not 5 minutes earlier and now they were laughing and smiling with not a care about the differences. No big deal. (But really, shouldn't it be that easy?)

Now, I may have a bit of a bias, but I like how politics is seen as less of a taboo subject and more of a necessary, everyday aspect of life here in Switzerland. It's definitely taken me off guard and I'm still not quite used to it. I cannot tell you the number of times (Ok fine, it's around 5 times) I have been asked by complete strangers upon discovering that I'm American, "Do you like Bush? What do you think of his doctrine?" I fear Sarah Palin wouldn't last very long here.

Title: Official UN Library Card Holder. Of course that's a proper title. I have the lanyard to prove it.

Today was our first official day that required dressing business casual. From here on out, it will be required to dress nicely for at least 3 days out of the week for our guest speakers. And I looked sharp today, if I do say so myself. Dark purple shirt tucked into a black pencil skirt finished with my favorite black heels. They're so classic and elegant and can be worn with anything. That's why I brought them.

"Perfect!" I thought. "I can wear them as nice shoes AND wear them when we go out. I'm such a smart packer."

WRONG. Yes, you can wear them as nice shoes but not when you're walking all over Geneva and potentially Mordor. Thank God I brought my toms along just in case. I had to wait until the end of the day to take them off though, because we got a tour of the UN Library and our very own library cards that provide access to the entire thing. Let me tell you, it was worth all of the pain. That place in incredible! There are over a million books (not including the archives) with essentially 20 stories worth of stacks and the best part is they're all on various subjects regarding international relations. Swoon. I've never felt more like Princess Bell in my entire life.

Psh, guuurl please. I'll be they're not even alphabetized correctly.

Also, this weekend a group of us are planning on going skiing. :) What fun! The mountain is a smaller one in the area, so that makes it cheaper. Which is good because everything here is really expensive. It's also on the French/Swiss border so while you're skiing you never really know if you're in Switzerland or France. I'm hoping to show off my awesome skills and that they'll make up for my lack of appropriate skiing gear. I have no snow pants, so long underwear and jeans it is. Plus, the only coat I brought is a wool pea coat. So that could be a little restricting. Then again I could just open it and let it fly behind me as a whoosh down the hill yelling, "I AM THE BATMAN!" Yeah. That sounds reasonable.

Or I could ask one of the families if they have a proper coat for me to borrow. Look at the problem solving skills I'm learning!

Soooooo remember how I said, "Yeah, French totally gets easier as the days go on ohmygosh really though it's fine and I'm great and yaaaay!"

I jinxed myself. Superbly.

This blog is also an excuse to show off how internet savvy I am.

 

 Either my French teacher here is trying to give us a mental whiplash by talking way faster than necessary or I just haven't been around Pooja and DJ enough recently. 

The first day of class was good. Though it is a very different schedule and it's going to take some adjusting. It's a 3 hour lecture and a 3 hour French class. And we take the high speed commuter train at 9 and 5. We're almost like real people.

Regardless, I was exhausted when I got home. I fell asleep at my desk after dinner and poor Mme thought I had locked myself in my room because I was homesick. She's a sweetie. 

Ok, time for bed.

Home Sweet Home

You guys. I love Nyon. I just do. And my home stay family. It's great. Seriously.

(I'm sorry, I love this gif. I lulz every time. I can't help it.)

But really, I have a fantastic set up here. And to think, I was worried it was going to be awful. I am living with a woman we'll call Madame to keep things simple (Mme for short). Or we could just call her Sarah because there's a very good chance I'll end up something like her. And I think I would be ok with that.

She is a grandmother who clearly prefers the company of animals to people. She's very proper and a bit gruff when first encountered, but is quite a softie and wonderful person. She lives in this adorable house with a huge yard. She's had it forever and doesn't want to move because the yard is perfect for her 5 rescue dogs. And 2 rescue cats. And 5 birds. And the multiple students she hosts throughout the year. She has the biggest heart; all of her animals have this tragic story about either abuse or neglect and now they live with Mme who will cook them a mixture of rice and meat and veggies for meals because she doesn't think that the dry food is nutritious enough. Needless to say, they worship her.

Her dogs are great. They're super friendly and already like me. Although Mme was explaining that since they're from all over they understand commands in a multitude of language. One of her dogs could understand German, French, English, and Spanish commands. Great. Even the dogs speak more languages than I do.

Vanille really likes to sleep like this. Don't ask me why.

Mme is Scottish by birth, so she speaks English (thank God) and absolutely flawless French. As in, the home stay coordinator didn't even know it wasn't her first language because she has no accent. Plus she used to be a school teacher. So, not only is she patient with my mediocre French, she often says complicated things in French and then repeats them in English. It's great.

Mme took me on a walking tour of Nyon today. It was rather hilly and she was powering right through as I was gasping along behind her taking pictures as an excuse to stop. Sheesh. But it was beautiful out today and I fell in love with Nyon. It's right on the lake and you can walk to just about anywhere. You can see the famous Geneva fountain from the shoreline, and on clear days Mont Blanc. The downtown is quaint with the old, European apartments smushed together on tiny winding roads. The shops are small and specialized, a bit expensive but that's to be expected. (Here's to the Swiss franc declining!) She took me to this petit tea room where we had un café, un eclair, et une baguette (Très français! Which, incidentally, is on the other side of the Lake).

I'm finding that speaking is easier the second day. Some things are becoming more natural, which is nice. As with most new experiences, there's a learning curve. Hopefully this means I'll basically be fluent by the time May rolls around. (Psh, yeah. Sure.) The nine hours of French class every week will probably help as well. When I return I'll probably speak English with a French accent and mix up idioms because I'll be so good. Yeah, that sounds reasonable.

Anywho, I'm having a lot of fun so far. While I'm sure there will be culture shock at some point, so far so good. We have our first day of classes tomorrow, which means our first commute to Geneva all by ourselves! You will find this requires me to be out of the house by 8:30 for the commute. Hmmm. Not my usual schedule. Can't complain though, we're doing some very interesting things here. Ok, time to do my reading. I am here for studying after all.

Genève (if you're local)

Hooray for Switzerland! We spent the first few days in Geneva and it was wonderful. Rainy, but wonderful. We staying in a hostel, which was actually pretty nice. It was like being in Lee all over again. Ah freshman dorms.

The first day was a bit of a blur thanks to jet lag. We had orientation in the mornings, tours and exploring in the afternoon, and then passing out at 9 PM and waking up at 3 AM. Still, it was very fun. Although when I took the oral portion of the French placement exam I couldn't remember how to conjugate verbs in the past tense (even though I review verb tenses earlier)... awkward. So I just tried to use sentences that only used imparfait. Wooooow. SOMEONE'S a little rusty.

We went out for our last night in Geneva because we were relatively well adjusted to the time difference at that point and, well, it was our last night in Geneva. All 28 of us crammed ourselves into a very crowded and very entertaining bar. I would love to say we were super suave and blended right into the scene, but that would a downright and really terrible lie. We stuck out like American students who were studying abroad. Whether it was due to local's low expectations, people being super friendly, or my general inexperience with bars the other people were happy to talk to us and answer our questions about Switzerland. And they put up with my butchered French, which was very nice of them.

Well, this has been a rather dry and rambling post. My excuse is I'm tired. We moved in with our home stay families today (more on that later) and the traveling as well as the new setting has all been very exciting. Do you realize how much concentration is required to have the simplest conversations?  Very little. You don't even think about it. Do you realize how much concentration is required to have the simplest conversation in French with people who are fluent (and speak very quickly, I might add)? Because I had no idea. Good grief, every little thing has to be painstakingly processed in order to understand. Gives me a good idea of how well I know certain aspects of French, which is not very well. It's exhausting. Mentally. Makes my brain hurt.

Better Late Than Never

Let’s hope that my trip here is not indicative of the rest of my experience.

I’m surprised that I wasn’t taken out by security based on the number of times I went careening through different airports looking like there was a lion after me. I run like a mad woman through DFW to figure out my terminal (because guess who forgot to check!). We’re delayed for 5 hours in Houston because the plane was leaking fuel. (Whew, I was afraid it was going to be something dangerous…) So we all get sent out on a different flight and later connecting flights. I have to gather my bag at London and recheck it so it follows me to Geneva and make it back through security in 40 minutes. Thanks to the saint of an attendant who got me to the front of the customs line and my bag coming out first on the carousel I was able to run up to the gate right as they announced “Flight to Geneva now boarding all passengers.” Once in Geneva, it was already dark and getting to the hostel required me to take a train and a bus, neither of which I was able to find without asking someone. (Fun fact: Swiss French has a bit of a German accent to it, I think, that is very difficult to understand.) Then, I tried to enter an apartment complex on the same street as the hostel and spent 15 minutes arguing with the admin on the intercom in French.

“Are you sure there is no SIT program here?”

“What is the family name?”

“No, SIT, students, studying abroad, are they here?”

“Family name please!”

“GAHHHHH!!!”

Then I realize it’s down the street about 50 feet.

I hope you find this amusing (I know you do, I see that smile) because I wanted to punch someone and then fall on the ground and sob.

But I’m fine now, thanks for asking, and can fully appreciate the ridiculous nature of each situation. Also, flying in over the Alps as the sun was setting was pretty awesome too.

The picture doesn't even do it justice.

I was snapping picture left and right. I could feel my neighbor, a stiff middle aged Englishman, judge me with every click. But I could see right through his apathetic façade; he was just as impressed at how wonderful it looked. He kept sneaking glances and would look away quickly if I saw him as if to say, “Ho hum. Seen it before.” I was tempted to just plant my face in front of the window as punishment for his judgmental nature, but my benevolent nature stopped me (it’s a blessing and a curse). Also, it was just so beautiful and breathtaking. Made all the crap before worth it.

Honestly, I’m just glad that I made it here. The other girls in my hostel room are really nice and I didn’t seem to miss much. As sit here in my bunk and munch on the banana nut muffin I pilfered from an extra breakfast box on the plane, I realize things could have been a lot worse. 

Also, this took me forever because this website is now in German. So... that's cool. Because I can't even being to guess what Jetzt speichern or einstellungen mean. 

Bandwagon Narcissim and Insomnia

Well, well, well. It's 1 A.M. here in Texas and I just can't sleep. Because

I'M GOING TO SWITZERLAND.

Which explains why you're reading this. Because otherwise, I'm sure you don't care about my sleep schedule. (Unless you're my mother. Hi Mom!) But I can't sleep. And it would seem that traveling abroad warrants enough socially acceptable narcissism to start a blog. Plus, you all read about my otherwise boring days which are made suddenly glamorous and oh so exotic and comment about how jealous you are. I like the sound of it so far.

But actually, I just want to have a place to write down exciting things that happen and keep people updated so I don't come back and you all go, "I'm sorry, who are you again?"

That could be terribly awkward.

So, bookmark it if you wish, I'll try to update at least once a week and include only the interesting parts. Hopefully this blog suffers a better fate than the stacks of cute journals and diaries from earlier years. The first pages were laden with all the detail and passion a ten year old could muster, only to be forgotten and left to gather dust because there were ponies to ride, forts to build, and games of tag to play. Let's hope I've matured and I'm not distracted from writing due to those activities still. (It's still a bit of a challenge, though.)

Well, I'm receiving some texts suggesting (as only fathers can) that I go to bed. Probably a good idea. So, I guess I'll leave you with this fun little quote from one of my favorite Swiss people to get myself in the mood for adventure and new ideas. The next time I update I'll be in Switzerland. :) Au revoir!

“Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.” - Albert Einstein