Blogs from Geneva, South-West, Switzerland, Europe - page 21

Okay, so we didn't ski the Swiss Alps, we were on the French side right by the border of Italy and France in Chamonix... but we DID drive an hour through Switzerland in order to get there, and so therefore I'm going to pretend we were there the whole time. I DID buy some Swiss chocolate! MMMM! And I used the Swiss rest stop restroom... which I think helps to qualify me as a Swiss tourist. Oh and in the bathroom, the water was so freezing that you could barely stand to wash your hands; and the hand dryer was so hot that you had to wave your hands in and out of the lava temperature air to avoid serious burnage. Land of "neutrality"? I think not. We had to be on the bus by 6am, ... read more

23-11-07 After much farting around (my flight left Heathrow at 11am, I woke up with a hangover at my mates Ben's house in Brighton) I did finally make it to Heathrow and got on my flight. I landed at Geneva at about 8pm and met my mate Lee in the airport where we waited for one of Lee's other mates to arrive, during the mean time we drank lots of miniatures, When he arrived, we jumped onto the train into central Geneva. We put our bags into the lockers at the train station and then the drinking commenced The first bar was called Pickwick, an Irish bar that had live blues music playing but before we got there we got some food - a faflel in pitta from a kebab shop along the way; I wasn’t ... read more

So I'm not in Geneva right now but I think it appropriate to address this entry from there since it is the subject of the photos and stories. On Saturday morning, I woke up really early: 6h30 (but, of course, this was 30 minutes latter than planned). I was a bit late for my rendez vous with my friends at the train station (at 7h), but still in plenty of time for our scheduled departure at 7h39. Unfortunately, our train never showed up on the big schedule board in the station. We were quite confused but as we listened and watched, we realized that many trains were either late or canceled. This was on account of the ongoing "greve" (strike) by the transit unions in France. I guess that now that I have seen both a ... read more

With the exception of our little excursion to Les Diableret, we have stuck close to home in the past month. It has been busy getting ready for "real life". Abigail began public school....in FRENCH on August 27. The first day of kindergarten is stressful enough, but add in orientation in a language we didn't really understand and it was really overwhelming. Nate and I were definitely more traumatized than Abigail, and the first day was long with worry. Abigail has been a real trooper, and she really likes her school, has made several friends and is doing just great! She sees a tutor everyday for 2 hours to learn intensive French, but she has integrated into the classroom very nicely, and seems to understand what is going on. It is definitely a very different system. She ... read more

After several vaccinations and doctor visits, the purchase of millions of guidebooks, many hours of studying my Vietnamese phrasebook (which means I can now almost say 'hello' and 'thank you' in what I believe to be a Vietnamese accent), countless attempts by my mother to motivate me, and horrible goodbyes with my best friends I am, of course, ready to go ....or am I? The truth is: I have never been so freaked out in my entire life! Feel free to encourage me :... read more