Blogs from Geneva, South-West, Switzerland, Europe - page 12

Hello Family and Friends, As you know I am leaving on a world trip for six months through Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, hopefully Tibet, China and finally USA. Well this is only the plan but hopefully it will all work out. I will attempt to regularly update pictures and stories of my trip on this blog to keep you all informed and up to speed. I am now in my final 48hours before departure and quite sincerely it has been a marathon to get all the visas in time. I only yesterday got my last visa and should hopefully now have a trouble free trip. Hope you are all well and I will do my best to keep in touch... Lots of greetings and hugs to all of you.... read more

turns out I did not manage to recover completely in Annecy. Taking a longer brake in Geneva, mainly on the campground. And as my friend said, you can hear everything here (birds, dogs, frogs and people occasionally). I eat, drink and I live well. The froggies disturb silence in the night so I have to drink for a good night sleeping cheers or cheerios one might say. Daccor c'est fini pour moi pour cette moment. tbc ;) ... read more

We had a relatively lazy day today... advising on our project this morning and French placement in the afternoon (I wonder what level I will be -HA!). Since that took place in Nyon, we walked around town for a bit as a group, before separating to return to our respective homes. This morning, I had breakfast with just my host mom, who is the only one who does not speak English. I actually found it to be very fun having to communicate through only gestures and bits of phrases. Today for dinner, we had marinated fennel bulbs, a millet casserole that was to die for, and a selection of miniature desserts which the entire family shared, each member taking just a bite or two from each one and commenting on its quality, laughably - they were ... read more

This morning we had breakfast at the hostel with young people from all over the world who were also staying there. We were served yogurt and muesli (which is not the same as the common muesli cereal in the U.S.- it is entirely raw oats, barley, etc. - nothing processed) and bread and jam. It was easy to distinguish the Europeans from the Americans at breakfast based on the number of slices of bread one took… Europeans typically left with a stack! We then visited the SIT building for the first time and were given a short briefing of the program. Afterward, we had lunch and then embarked on a tour of Old Town. I was already fascinated by this city, but across the lake, where Old Town is located, I was dazzled! There was a ... read more

It’s 9:30am in Geneva, and I just arrived about a half an hour ago in the airport. I roamed around for awhile--like a foreigner--looking for breakfast despite it not truly feeling like morning because of the time difference but starving nevertheless. After scoping out a convenience-type store, I realized that everything was labeled in French and I had not yet exchanged my money. Unsure about the process and a little overwhelmed, it dawned on me that I had granola bars stashed away in my suitcase, which will tide me over until the directors meet us at noon. My flight-trip was not bad overall. Flying out of Columbus was a breeze minus forgetting the international phone... but better problems on that end than this one! Nervousness did not really set in until I was in Detroit and ... read more

We arrived at the youth hostel this afternoon, where they turned us loose in Geneva until 2:30pm. Having no knowledge of the city and no map, we ventured out and had lunch at a small café bakery about a block away. My sandwich was very simple in filling, but the exquisite bread and authentic cheese led me to appreciate its minimalism! We were accompanied by a little sparrow that flew right onto our table and pecked for crumbs without any hesitation. Interestingly, though the owners did not speak English, the music playing there and seemingly everywhere else we visited later, was American. Afterward, we stopped for gelato before strolling along the perimeter of the lake surrounded by beautiful flower beds, and featuring a fountain out in the water so tall--reaching 140m in height--that it more closely ... read more

Well Richard and i left cool Adelaide bound for Melbourne. Only a short stop over before we took off again for Abu Dhabi. The flight was jam packed and poor Richard was stuck in a seat with his knees around his ears, behind a little man who insisted on reclining his seat and shoving his armrest into Richards already tortured knees. There were no spare seats to move too. Isnt it amazing on a plane full of poeple from all around the world and when there is an alert for swine flu someone then everyone start to sneeze & cough i would keep my hand over my mouth for minutes at a time,,,,,, :-) 14 hours later and a little grumpy we landed at Abu Dhabi for a few hours respite. Back on the plane for ... read more

He voilou, 3 french guys au depart de grandes aventures en Australie, ca promet... Prochaine escale PARIS !!! Alons chercher la quatrieme roue du carosse et cassos !!... read more