Blogs from Switzerland, Europe - page 2
Frosty!
Well, we had a great weekend, but a busy one. Friday, I was able to go out with my colleague's for a cheese fondue at Bains des Pâquis - just on the opposite side of the Jet d'Eau on Lac Léman. It was a neat place. You place your order for the fondue and then the waiters walk down the restaurant shouting your name until they find the person that the fondue belongs to. Also, to help with digestion, while eating a cheese fondue, you shouldn't drink water. Supposedly it doesn't sit well with the warm cheese. Instead, you are encouraged to drink wine. Maybe, that's just another excuse to drink wine ;) Naturally, in true Swiss fashion, supper lasted 2 and a half hours and then my colleagues wanted to go out for after supper ... read more
Namaste und Sawadi-kap meine Lieben! Nun bin ich also wieder da. Es folgt der letzte Blog. Während 2 1/2 Monaten avancierten Shorts und Flip-Flops zur Standardgarderobe, wie seltsam beengend sich nun lange Hosen und geschlossene Schuhe anfühlen. Und etwas zu kalt ist es mir hier auch, läppische 30 Grad um genau zu sein. Ich will aber beim besten Willen nicht jammern. Ich habe mich schliesslich auf die Heimkehr gefreut; auf Familie und Freunde, auf unsere vier Katzen, auf eine richtige warme Dusche. Und ganz ehrlich, nach drei Monaten ist es auch mal gut mit backpacking. Das Leben aus dem Rucksack wird irgendwann einmal unheimlich ermüdend. Ich habe die letzten drei Monate in vollsten Zügen genossen. Es war die absolut richtige Entscheidung, diese Reise zu unternehmen und ich würde sie sofort wieder machen. Was habe ich nicht ... read more
Today officially concludes my first week of classes and interning. Currently I am enrolled in Human Rights, European Politics, and Problems in International Organizations. The classes are small and discussion based which I love. One of my professors set up my internship and is from Germany and the other is a practicing human rights lawyer! I also started my internship with the ICMHD on Wednesday. The ICMHD is the International Center for Migration and Health Development and works very closely with the WHO. It is so exciting to be working for a world organization that does so much! I have met 4 of my co-workers. One is from Cairo, another from Nigeria, another from Canada, and a physician from Barcelona. They are all older and have so much experience to share! I am currently working on ... read more
Photo 9
(3rdJanuary 2012) (current server won't let me upload photos - will do so in Paris if poss) So here I am, sitting on a vehicular ferry, waiting to cross from the White Cliffs of Dover to Calais.........to quote the captain of the ship “it’s a fowl day outside”, and it’s pretty amazing that we’re even considering leaving the port. The winds were predicted to be around 80kmh and at the moment, the rain is going sideways.....when we entered the port, the weather was rated at “level 11” which is one point off having to close the port due to dangerous weather conditions..... Nice, eh? When we were sitting on solid land, our bus was swaying from side to side – it felt like we were on a suspension bridge with the usual practical joker swinging it ... read more
Photo 2
I figure I should update you all on how my travels to Switzerland went. It was, for the most part, pretty boring. The flight from SeaTac to Frankfurt was very long, but I survived. The airport in Frankfurt is very Large, and there were so many people everywhere. It smelled like hotdogs, but good hotdogs. There were little stands all over the place that sold soft pretzels, coffees, and some sort of sausages(the source of the smell). Expensive, name-brand stores lined the terminal walkways in addition to these stands. There were SO many sandwiches! All the little cafes had lots of types of fresh sandwiches stacked up high behind a plastic divider. Fresh fruit was also a popular item at these cafes. On the search for my next gate, I found a US penny heads up ... read more
Avery in Basel.
Well, the honeymoon is over. It is back to real life after a two week holiday. It was nice spending Christmas in a different country. The second week of the holidays we did a lot of travelling. I mean a lot! We were almost living in our vehicles. It all started Friday, December 30th when we drove to Basel. This was almost a 300 km journey from south to north. Thank goodness that mom and dad have a GPS. We almost never got lost, besides human error on the way back from Liechtenstein. Anyways, in Basel we walked around the old town after arriving Friday afternoon. Then on Saturday, before heading to the Lucern area, we went to a toy museum in Basel. The general consensus on Basel was that it was a neat city. It ... read more
Tomorrow officially ends orientation week, and classes begin :/ So far this week I have completely moved into my room, celebrated a few birthdays, and getting to know everyone. I cooked dinner all by myself... SHOCK and I didn't mess it up... Bigger shock! Everything here is in French, so much for my 7 years of German haha. It is absolutely beautiful here, I have already taken a million pictures. Me and my roommates attempted to figure out the bus system this week so hopefully we'll get the hang of it eventually. Today we went to a chocolate factory, a small town outside of Geneva and a few castles. Tomorrow starts classes, and I will begin my internship with the ICMH on Wednesday!!! :) Within the next few days I am hoping to purchase my Eurorail ... read more
Hey guys made it here safely! Lots of jet lag but working on getting used to the time difference! Hope you all are doing well :)... read more
P1030536
Xmas EVE! Once again a bright and early start Geneva bound from Stanstead at 6.05am! Had slight drama but nothing too major. I originally hadn’t booked checked in luggage (no idea how i thought I was gonna fit everything AT ALL) but then decided a week before after already booking my bus to the airport, that I was gonna pay for checked in luggage! Great idea but usually you can just hop on ay bus but cos it was xmas eve all the buses were full and they told me I had to wait until the one i booked came – which wouldn’t have given me enough time to check my bag in. So was having a slight stress as I did NOT wanna be stuck in London for xmas! But a nice driver next let ... read more
