Chocolate, Wine, and Family Dinner

It's been a lovely - albeit  freezing cold - weekend here in the Alps. And when it's cold, what else is there to do but eat chocolate and relax!

As I've mentioned before, there are two other girls from my program living in the same village as me. Our three host moms called each other earlier this week to coordinate a special weekend trip for us to a chocolate factory - my ideal tourist attraction naturally. Unfortunately my host mom, who is a teacher that's been home all week for February vacation, has been sick. So I went off with the two girls - Ojaswi and Adriana - and their host moms instead.

It was an hour-long drive to the chocolaterie, but so worth it. The views along the way were beautiful and Adriana's host mom, this adorable Swiss-Italian babushka wearing a headscarf, cranked One Direction music the entire way. Apparently she really loves British tween boybands!?

And Le Maison Cailler was awesome. It's the oldest chocolate producer in Switzerland and visitors can take a tour to learn about the history and production of chocolate. Plus there are tons of free samples along the way :)

In the last chocolate tasting room, there were trays upon trays of chocolate featuring every kind of candy the company makes. I kind of freaked out the other two girls by trying every single one (over 30 pieces in one sitting, I would estimate)... Oh well, you only live once.

Fists full of chocolate

After my chocolate binge, we drove out to Gruyères, home of the famous cheese. It's a quaint medieval town up in the mountains with a beautiful castle. We were still too stuffed from chocolate to take a cheese tour, but we wandered around the snowy village just to take in the view.

Le Château de Gruyères

Sunday is just a relaxing day, for catching up on homework and for family dinner. My immediate Swiss family eats dinner together almost every night, so that's all normal. But every Sunday they drive out to Nyon to eat with my host mom's father and her extended family. It must be some kind of Swiss tradition because my host brother eats with his live-in girlfriend's whole family on Sundays as well.

Anyways, these dinners are such an unexpected joy. My host grandfather is this sweet former teacher with a sizable mustache - he actually reminds me a lot of my own grandfather - and my host mom has two sisters that come with their families as well. Both sisters are grandmothers now and the two babies, Grégoire and Isaac, are adorable. It's such a godsend to have a genuine "family dinner" even when I'm so far from my own family.

And everyone has been so warm and friendly to me at these gatherings. One of my "host-uncles" owns a vineyard, so we all drink plenty of wine and chat freely. The conversation is all in French and, although it's sometimes a struggle to keep up, everyone helps me and I manage.

I'm even starting to understand all the cheesy jokes my host brother makes in French. He calls my homestate (Massachusetts) "L'état de Chaussettes" (the Sock State) because the word Massachusetts sounds a lot like the word for socks. He also calls me "Le Chat Noir" (the black cat) because he thinks Shayna sounds like "Chat Noir." As my host mother says, "il pense qu'il est très drôle, mais il est vraiment fatigant" (he thinks he's very funny, but really he's just tiring).

Well, the school week is about to start again, so I probably won't have much to report for a while. Jusqu'à la prochaine fois!

The "Study" Part of "Study Abroad"

So I've officially survived my first week of "class!"

Well, I put class in quotations because we only had two days of actual sitting-in-a-desk-in-front-of-a-teacher classes. The rest has been spent taking tours of the UN Palais des Nations, attending international conferences, and wandering through the cities along Lake Geneva (or as they call it here, Lac Léman). So basically, I'm living the dream.

Prepare yourselves for a fairly long post, because I have a lot to catch you up on, hypothetical blog reader (aka Mom).

Monday and Tuesday followed a pretty typical classroom schedule. I took the little red train from my village in the mountains, Arzier, down to the small city of Nyon at precisely 8:12am - Swiss transportation is very punctual, as you might guess.

In the morning we have a 2-3 hour lecture, and every time it's a different speaker on a different topic. On Monday our program director, Dr. Viladent, gave an introductory lecture on public health and on Tuesday a psychologist who works with refugees spoke to us about Migration and Mental Health - much more up my alley. We have readings to do before class and occasionally there will be pop quizzes, but so far not too much to report. Our main homework is an essay response we have to write each week on that week's lecture theme.

After a leisurely two hour lunch break (I love European dining culture), we report back to the classrooms in Nyon for three hours of intensive French. It's a long stretch of class, but we only have French on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays for the first 5 weeks of the program (pretty short, when you think about it). I wound up in the highest level French class after last week's placement test and it's pretty nice. Instead of drilling grammar into our skulls, we have real discussions on issues like climate change - only in French. Plus, classes are pretty small; mine has only four other girls.

Aside from those first two days of classes though, I've basically been gallivanting around the region. On Wednesday, the whole program took a train out to Lausanne, another city along Lake Geneva, to get fingerprinted by the Swiss government and wrap up the visa process. But once we'd finished with the bureaucratic stuff in the morning, we were free to wander!

We toured the beautiful Cathedral of Notre Dame in Lausanne and climbed the tiny, treacherous stairs to the top. But it was worth it for the amazing view of the city. Plus we heard the cathedral bells go off at noon - right next to us - while we were up there!

Sorry for the explosion of pictures, but it was just so pretty!

Anyways, Lausanne was an amazing city. It's where the "young people" go, as opposed to Geneva which is more for international organizations and businesses. My classmates and I found a great tapas place with fantastic sangria for lunch and then meandered down to the waterfront on Lake Geneva to eat crepes. Unfortunately Lausanne's Olympics Museum was closed for renovations, but who knew Lausanne was the headquarters for the International Olympic Committee anyways? All in all, it was a great day. 

Thursday was UN day! And I geek-ed out hardcore. We took the bus into Geneva and spent an hour going through security, getting official clearance cards, and sorting things out at the Palais des Nations. But once all that was over, the impact of really being inside the UN hit. We took a guided tour through the building and it was amazing. They had so many more art exhibits, historical displays, and other attractions than I had ever imagined. And seeing the actual Assembly Hall was incredible. 

My official access card - I get to use the UN's library all semester long!

Exterior of the UN

That ceiling is even more beautiful in person

UN Assembly Hall

Then on Friday, the last day of the "school week," we attended the Webster 18th International Humanitarian Conference on Access to Health Care in Geneva. It was interesting for a while, especially when they talked about health care for refugees at the beginning. But after 5 hours, it started to get a little dull. By the time we got to the topic of access to water, I was fading. Thank goodness for free coffee and croissants - that stuff can save lives.

At least the conference was in a cool, official looking, UN hall

Anyways, this post is already absurdly long, so I'll stop here. I'll post more about my weekend escapades later on - hint, they involve excessive amounts of chocolate. À plus tard! 

French Lesson #1

Never tell someone in French that you are "full" by saying "je suis plein."
It does not, in fact, mean that you're full. Rather, it means that you're pregnant. And I don't mean "I'm-with-child," polite kind of pregnant. It's a term usually reserved for oh... cows, pigs, and other animals.

The correct phrase in this situation would be "j'ai assez mangé," meaning "I've had enough to eat."
This mix-up caused quite a commotion at dinner today, but at least our little French lesson kept my host family entertained... :)

A Few Fun Facts

Today marks my first full week abroad! And yet somehow I'm still jet-lagged...

Anyways, I've learned quite a few strange facts about Switzerland in my time here so far. This post is dedicated to describing just a few of them:

• 40% of the people living in Geneva are foreigners - so I guess I'm not such a sore thumb after all! You hear so many different languages spoken on the street, including the four national languages: German, French, Italian and Romansh.
• Stores close by 6 or 7pm, and sometimes for long lunch breaks too.
• You are expected to greet everyone you see here. A stranger on the street, the man behind the counter at the boulangerie, it doesn't matter - you always say "Bonjour" when you arrive and "Au revoir" when you leave. Anything less is poor manners. 
• There are accordion players on every street corner here and it's awesome.

• The Swiss can never remember who their current president is because it's a rotating position that changes every year.
• The French-speaking Swiss speak much slower than the actual French, especially Parisians, and use more Swinglish (English-mixed words) - thank god!
• You have to bring your own reusable grocery bag when food shopping. I learned the hard way, juggling baguettes for my 40 minute commute home on the train.
• Women didn't get the right to vote here until 1971. Just check out the propaganda poster below - yikes.

• There are quiet laws in Switzerland forbidding "excessive noise" after 10pm or any time on Sundays. Apparently it's pretty strict - some neighbors will report you just for doing laundry because that's considered too loud!
• Switzerland has mandatory military service for all men, but you can be exempted if you pay an extra 3% income tax until age 30 (unless you're disabled). Both my host-father and host-brother chose to serve though, and my host-grandfather actually served in World War II.
• To be drafted as one of the Swiss Guard that watches over the Pope in the Vatican, you must meet a height requirement (6 ft or more). I guess it makes them more intimidating, but in those uniforms, does it really?

• Scooters (and I mean Razor scooters) are still really popular here! My nineteen-year-old host sister wanders around town with her friends and half of them are in hoodies, cruising by on one of those babies. 
• Smoking is also big here. My host sister was very surprised when I declined her offer to hang out with her friends by the village school and "fumer." 
• I've recently been instructed on how to survive if caught in one of the 4,000-10,000 avalanches that occur in Switzerland every year: if you're buried in snow, just spit! If the spit falls back down on your face, you are facing the right direction and will be able to breath. Hooray gravity.

• Social circles here are small but very tight. My host sister's best friend, Clémentine, practically lives here (she has clothing, a toothbrush, and her own spare mattress so she can sleep over any night - which she does). My host family is very close with their extended family as well - they have big family dinners with them every weekend. 
• Speaking of which, weekends are highly valued here and reserved solely for family time. It's much less of a workaholic attitude than in the US. For example, a few students in my program had to email our French academic director over the weekend because there was a homework issue. He politely answered our question, but then very clearly told us (in bold letters) that this was an exceptional situation and, save for emergencies, we should never contact him about work on a weekend again!
• The Swiss really do eat more chocolate per capita than any other country in the world - woohoo! And maybe the US should follow suit: recent studies have shown that the countries that eat the most chocolate also produce the most Nobel Laureates

Anyways, that's all I got for now. Classes have officially started, but I'll post a longer update on all that later. À tout!

Home Sweet Home!

After three days of living out of a suitcase in a hostel, I'm finally living in a real house! It's such a relief to finally unpack and get settled. But before I get too caught up in my new living arrangements, I'll briefly recap the past few days:

For our first full day in Geneva, all of us students took a tour of the Old City. Two very sweet older women, both Swiss-German, walked us through all of the beautiful medieval architecture, art museums, opera houses, churches and monuments. The modern part of Geneva is nice, but this historical section was much more up my alley. I learned a lot of the city's history, but I'll limit myself to just a few pictures here:

The birthplace of Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Cathedral St. Pierre

The Reformation Wall - dedicated to the founders of Protestantism

 Geneva Opera House

The next day, we took a train to the much smaller and more quaint city of Nyon. This is where I'll be taking most of my classes each week, and it is exactly what I pictured Switzerland to be. Geneva has all the perks of a big, international city, but Nyon is much more picturesque. I love that it is such a manageable size, and I can't wait to get to know it even better in the coming weeks! 

Le Château de Nyon

View from the Castle

Ladies by Lake Geneva

The two city tours were definitely the highlight of these first few days. Hostel life was fun because all of us students lived together (and it felt like dorm life!), but it wasn't always the greatest. Thanks to jet lag, I woke up every day at 4:45am (very unusual for anyone who knows me) and most nights were filled with screaming French high schoolers playing football - the European kind - in the hallways. 

But that's all behind me now, since I have a beautiful Swiss home and a wonderful new family! The village I live in, Arzier, is really up in the mountains and it has the most amazing views. As my host mom told me, all the girls in Arzier have smokin' hot legs (since walking up the street literally entails hiking a mountain).

Chez moi! 

(My house)

I can see Mont Blanc from my window!

I'm very proud to say that I've spoken nothing but French to my family since I've met them. My host mother and siblings know enough English that we could get by on it (although my host father knows none), but I'm determined not to resort to any of that. It's difficult though, because even though I can get the gist of most conversations, I feel like I'm always missing something because there's just too much French vocabulary I don't know. With practice though, I'm sure it'll get better.

Everyone in the family has been so welcoming to me. My host mom is very chatty, which is great for my language skills, and my host dad warmed up to me a lot more after he realized that I was really game for speaking French. My 21-year old host brother Justin, who lives downstairs with his girlfriend, and my 19-year-old host sister Margaux, are nice as well, although they tend to do their own thing. This family has had 5 American students stay here before me, so this is all old hat to them. 

Dinner was especially great though, because it brought everyone together. We had wine that my host-mom's brother-in-law makes at his own vineyard (!) and I gave my family a gift for their hospitality: Boston foods! Salt water taffy was a big hit, but they also tried some Boston Baked Beans, lobster lollipops, and maple sugar candy. And in return they fed me Swiss chocolate: a fair trade.

My accommodations, I should also note, are awesome. I have a full room to myself (see below) and a bathroom that I share with only Margaux. The house itself is beautiful - my host dad proudly told me how he designed all the woodwork and decorations. I'll try to take more pictures, but I didn't want to seem like too much of a creep on the first day.

A panoramic view of my room

And the best part of my new home? Quello! My enormous St. Bernard, new best friend and constant companion. I'm going to spend this entire trip completely covered in dog hair and drool, but I could care less. Gandalf the cat also reminds me of my cat Shadow at home, so as far as animals go, I'm in heaven.

That's about it for now. Classes start Monday though, so I guess the honeymoon phase is coming to an end. À plus tard, mes amis!

Bienvenue! Où est le Lac?

I'm finally about to sleep for the first time since Monday night! But because I love you all (especially my parents reading this), I'm posting this brief update first.

First and most importantly, I'm alive!
Thanks to Aer Lingus, I had a mostly uneventful flight. I'd never been on a plane with so many babies before though... Aer Lingus even had collapsible bassinets built in front of the seats to accommodate all the infants! But, as adorable as they were, the babies did cry quite a bit and I didn't sleep for more than an hour of my 6 hour flight from Boston to Dublin.

I landed in Dublin at 4:30am local time, only to find a horde of (probably inebriated) young men singing ditties in the middle of the terminal. They did give a pretty rousing rendition of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" though, so at least they kept me from dozing off before my next flight.

My connection to Geneva ran on time and 1.5 hours later, I had landed in Switzerland! I met up with the 22 students in my program by the Arrivals gate and introduced myself to the program director (who greeted us all with what else, but Toblerone chocolate!). Then we boarded a coach bus to our temporary hostel in Geneva. We'll be staying here the next three days for orientation, a tour of the city, and a French placement exam before we head off to our homestays.

Here's a glimpse of my hostel room (there are 6 beds crammed in there!)

And the view of (a little bit of!) Lake Geneva and the city from my window:

After learning some ground rules and meeting the other program staff, we were left to our own devices to nap off the jetlag and get some dinner. Some new friends and I wandered the city and found a really cute restaurant called "Le Petit Chalet" - it was decked out like a real Swiss mountain lodge! And to make it a real first-night-in-Geneva experience, we ordered fondue of course.

I'm about to collapse on my bunk bed, which feels like heaven right about now, but I'll update y'all again soon! It might be a while since wi-fi is spotty.

So...What Exactly Are You Doing in Switzerland?

That's an excellent question, hypothetical blog reader!
For those of you who want more information on my program, well this post is for you.

After checking out what BC had to offer, I chose to do an external program (i.e. not through Boston College) run by the School of International Training (SIT). The SIT Switzerland: Global Health and Development Policy program studies different models of public health systems in Geneva, "the world headquarters for international organizations."

The program focuses on many hot-topic health issues, including: healthcare interventions in complex emergencies, mental health, health security, access to medicines, and services for vulnerable groups such as migrants. I'll be attending lectures at the World Health Organization, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, and the International Organization of Migration, just to name a few. And of course, I'll be visiting the Palais de Nations since I have full access to the UN library throughout the semester!

The UN Palais de Nations

A few weeks into the program, students embark on a two-week trip to Rabat, Morocco. There, we'll conduct a comparative study of public health systems, all while taking in the Moroccan cuisine, architecture and Francophone culture. I'm sure a north African heatwave will be a nice change after a few weeks in Geneva...

For both our stays in Switzerland and in Morocco, students are placed in homestays. A few weeks ago, I received a lovely email from my Swiss host family. I'll be living in a village called Arzier with my host mother and father, my 21-year old host brother and his girlfriend, and my 19-year old host sister. And the best part? They have a giant St. Bernard and a cat named Gandalf!

Because I've taken French classes since high school, I'm really looking forward to the cultural immersion that comes along with a homestay. My Swiss mother tells me that her husband "speaks English like a Spanish cow" though, so it could be quite the challenge.

A glimpse of my new home, Arzier:

In the last four weeks of the program, students create their own Independent Study Projects based on original research topics they choose. We'll be expected to conduct 120 hours of field-based study and at the end, we present our finished products for a grade. It sounds pretty rigorous, but having so much free reign will be nice.

Anyways, that's all the information I have to offer for now- everything from here on out will be a surprise to us both! Until next time, mes amis. À bientôt!

Adventure is Out There!

After the world's longest winter break, I'm finally about to embark on my big study abroad adventure!

It's been a strange hiatus from school, but I've accomplished a lot in my two months at home. Just to name a few things, I:
- spent Christmas in Reno
- reunited with family friends in LA
- survived my first ever jury duty
- couch-surfed with my friends back at BC
- became a substitute teacher for Wakefield Public Schools
- took an impromptu trip to NYC (and snagged Newsies/Book of Mormon tickets!)
- saw Mumford & Sons perform in Boston
- dug my way out of a "Blizzicane"
And this is all in addition to the quality time I've had to spend with my family (and my cat) at home.

Yet somehow, amid all of these much more exciting things, I did manage to get some packing done. I've also been scrimping and saving, trying to put every penny towards this trip - literally. Last week I broke into all of the piggy banks I'd been holding onto since middle school, rolled the coins, and made an extra $70! That money could be a roundtrip flight to Rome, who knows :)

Needless to say, packing for 4 months worth of travel proved to be pretty stressful. But that's all behind me now! After a cheesy (but heartfelt) Swiss send-off from my family - check out the picture of my "farewell dinner" below - I'm more than ready to go. Allons-y! On y va!