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.
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