Bonjour!

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Ok, so maybe that's the only French word I know. However, I am officially in Geneva! The only packing casualty was some spilled laundry detergent on a couple of my running shorts. At least I spilled a very washable liquid.
My plane from Newark sat on the runway for about an hour before we flew to Switzerland, but after that it was smooth travels. Continental has a pretty cool in-flight entertainment system, with seven or so entertainment channels and some simple video games, like solitare, that you can play. It kept me entertained for about a half-hour, before I decided to call it quits and go to sleep. Our flight arrived at about 8:30 a.m. Geneva time.
When we arrived, three University of Michigan professors were there to greet us. Once at CERN, which is the lab I'll be working at, we met the head of the UMich physics department. They took us on a tour of the cafeteria (with some weird options... I hear they sometimes make horse as a meat). Then, we went to a public museum-y type thing about CERN. We also checked into our hostels, which are on CERN property. They all small and dorm room sized. Pros: Private bathroom, no roommate, wireless internet access, cool weather, no mosquitos. Cons: Small closet, little storage space. Just plain weird: Switzerland law requires everyone have a fallout shelter, so there is a fallout in the basement of our hostel. Also, the windows don't have screens, but everyone assures me I won't have to worry about pigeons, etc. flying into my windows. I'm still worried.

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Comments

[mom]

Oh Meghan. That made me LOL. Only YOU would worry about pigeons! All I thought of were bugs!!! My the Swiss birds bless you and keep you safe :)!!

[Caitlin Shanks]

pigeons
Hmm...so the pigeon problems even follow you to switzerland I see. How are the other students? I hope they're not to physics-geeky.

[Kristin]

You realize that while it might freak Ernie out a little, Bert would LOVE to have pigeons in his room! I bet he's so jealous...

[Diane]

Hey Meghan! Wow, we´re really far from eachother right now! I´m not even done with school yet, sad. But I will be in a week or so! Anyways, sounds awesome! And if the world ends, at least you survive! Is it also the law to carry around a swiss army knife? I have one down here and its come in handy quite a bit. Love ya!

[Julie]

I will agree with you pigeon's are kinda scary, they arn't afraid of humans and they just keep flying, they won't try to avoid you! And they are dirty :) HAHA