I am writing to you today from the unbelievably small town of Borex, Switzerland, in the canton of Vaud, the site of my homestay for the next 3 months. The total population of Borex is roughly 800 souls, about the same size as such Arkansas gems as Cow Lake, Oil Trough, Cotton Plant, and Romance. The bus to Nyon (where we catch the train to Genève) comes just once an hour, though that is only on weekdays. Today, Sunday, it runs about once every 3 hours. With such an excellent location, one might think that my life is miserably boring. However, one would be very wrong...
My house sits at the foot of the Jura mountains, and from the porch of our house, I can look across Lake Geneva and see Mont Blanc. My host parents are Italian, thus I have become "Andrea" for them (yes, it is a male name). Their nationality has several benefits for me. First, when I don't understand something, they can say it in Italian and sometimes I know the word from Spanish. Second, I get delicious fresh cannoli. My host mom is just an amazing cook in general. She is obsessed with making her own food from scratch, so this morning, my breakfast consisted of freshly baked croissants and petit pain with homemade jams and jellies. Also, my host aunt lives upstairs and hosts another student from my program. On Sundays, all of the family gathers together for lunch, and several of the children (all of whom are grown now) speak English, so it is nice to have a break and translation help while still being immersed in Swiss (slash Italian) culture.
As for getting here, my flight was remarkably uneventful. The plane from Chicago to Frankfurt was less than half full, meaning that I was able to stretch out across the 3 empty seats next to me. Unfortunately, my comfort did not translate into any sleep, so jet lag hit me rather hard the following day. The Frankfurt airport was quite an experience at 5:30 in the morning. Apparently the Germans like to make their terminals into endless hallways with gates only on one side, with miles of space between each one. I arrived at the end of said hallway, on the second floor. The flight to Geneva departed from the end of the hallway, but downstairs. Thank you Germans for making it difficult. Much to my chagrin, I had to walk to the end of the upstairs hallway, go downstairs, go through security, then walk down the 3,000 miles again to my gate. All the while, I was chuckling to myself at the ridiculousness of the German language. Do the monitors that display flight info really need to be one word? (Fluginformationsmonitoren, for those of you wondering. Though I did appreciate some words that were just right to the point. Life vest is much more appropriate as Schwimmweste.) The last leg went by quickly, but was memorable. There was just so much to like and dislike about flying in as the sun rose over the Alps and the flight attendants were serving us "breakfast sandwiches" that consisted of a piece of bland cheese between two half-pieces of bread smeared with a mixture of butter, dill, and chopped up onions.
Thursday and Friday consisted of the typical orientation drudgery, but I got to know the other students in the program, who seem like a very fun group with a wide variety of fascinating backgrounds. I think the IR seminar will be very beneficial. We get UN library passes this week, and we'll be going to numerous major international organizations like the Red Cross, UNHCHR, UNESCO, ILO, WTO, etc.
My house sits at the foot of the Jura mountains, and from the porch of our house, I can look across Lake Geneva and see Mont Blanc. My host parents are Italian, thus I have become "Andrea" for them (yes, it is a male name). Their nationality has several benefits for me. First, when I don't understand something, they can say it in Italian and sometimes I know the word from Spanish. Second, I get delicious fresh cannoli. My host mom is just an amazing cook in general. She is obsessed with making her own food from scratch, so this morning, my breakfast consisted of freshly baked croissants and petit pain with homemade jams and jellies. Also, my host aunt lives upstairs and hosts another student from my program. On Sundays, all of the family gathers together for lunch, and several of the children (all of whom are grown now) speak English, so it is nice to have a break and translation help while still being immersed in Swiss (slash Italian) culture.
As for getting here, my flight was remarkably uneventful. The plane from Chicago to Frankfurt was less than half full, meaning that I was able to stretch out across the 3 empty seats next to me. Unfortunately, my comfort did not translate into any sleep, so jet lag hit me rather hard the following day. The Frankfurt airport was quite an experience at 5:30 in the morning. Apparently the Germans like to make their terminals into endless hallways with gates only on one side, with miles of space between each one. I arrived at the end of said hallway, on the second floor. The flight to Geneva departed from the end of the hallway, but downstairs. Thank you Germans for making it difficult. Much to my chagrin, I had to walk to the end of the upstairs hallway, go downstairs, go through security, then walk down the 3,000 miles again to my gate. All the while, I was chuckling to myself at the ridiculousness of the German language. Do the monitors that display flight info really need to be one word? (Fluginformationsmonitoren, for those of you wondering. Though I did appreciate some words that were just right to the point. Life vest is much more appropriate as Schwimmweste.) The last leg went by quickly, but was memorable. There was just so much to like and dislike about flying in as the sun rose over the Alps and the flight attendants were serving us "breakfast sandwiches" that consisted of a piece of bland cheese between two half-pieces of bread smeared with a mixture of butter, dill, and chopped up onions.
Thursday and Friday consisted of the typical orientation drudgery, but I got to know the other students in the program, who seem like a very fun group with a wide variety of fascinating backgrounds. I think the IR seminar will be very beneficial. We get UN library passes this week, and we'll be going to numerous major international organizations like the Red Cross, UNHCHR, UNESCO, ILO, WTO, etc.
Now some photos of Genève and my stroll to France, which is just 15 minutes away on foot
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| Geneva from the SIT office |
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| Lakefront, where the Rhone runs into Lake Geneva |
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| In my village, Borex, at the foot of the Jura Mountains |
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| La France |
