almost Spring Break!
Bonsoir, tout le monde. Again, it's been two weeks since I've updated. Sorry for the lull, but things have finally begun settling into place. I'll try to catch everyone up on my exciting life! ;)
The second week of classes went well. It is incredibly nice to have my Russian class as a kind of base. It really helped with starting the new semester. At least there were some people that I knew and a routine that I had. The classes that I am taking for sure this semester are: Russian, Translation (French-English), Institutions Europeennes et Integration Europeenne (bascially, the best class ever), and The International Political Economy of World Cities (which is really fascinating) at HEI. That Wednesday, I had a Russian exam and my Europe class and then went to the movies with my Spanish flatmate, Angela. We went to a Swiss-German film called "Les Mamies ne font pas dans la dentelle" or "Die Herbstzeitlosen". The closest translations I can think of are "Grandmas don't work with lace" and "Those who don't age." Essentially the story of these four older women in a very conservative Swiss-German town, called Trub (what a wonderfully Swiss name for a town) in Emmental canton, who decide to open a lingerie shop and the craziness/backlash that ensues. But it was really sweet and INCREDIBLY Swiss and amusing. Then Angela and I went and had coffee. We were hanging out because she was leaving the week after (she was only here for a semester). I was sad because we really got along well, as she's the flatmate closest to my age. That week we also found out that the Ecuadorian flatmate, Ximena, would be moving to London the next week to learn English. So now it's just Pauline and myself. Pauline has moved into Ximena's bigger room and we now share the bigger bathroom which has a tub with basically makes it the best thing ever. :)
Anyway, back to that Wednesday. I was also really sad because the men's short program of the Figure Skating World Championships in Tokyo were that night and Stephane had fallen and had done pretty badly, ending the night in 6th place. I was really sad and he was too. :( The next day the covers of the free daily newspapers were covered with pictures of him just sitting on the ice right after he'd fallen. That's NOT what I call national support, but whatever. The Swiss have silly ways of expressing themselves. Anyway, that night I went over to Katie's apartment, because they have a TV and get EuroSport and watched the long programs and I was so happy! He didn't win again, but he did come in 3rd and skate beautifully. He was happy and proud of himself. He's not a sore loser like some male figure skaters I know. Though Brian Joubert, the Frenchie, is good looking and skated beautifully, he lacks Stephane's obvious passion and grace. To quote Liise "No rink will be able to fit his ego now." And I was really sad that Jeffrey Buttle did so badly, even though it did clear the way for Stephane. But enough of figure skating talk...;)
I had FINALLY gotten a call the previous Monday from the man with whom I applied for a internship--the ILO photographer. After jumping through many bureaucratic hoops he had finally managed to get my cleared to come into work. We arranged for me to come in that Friday. I was slightly nervous, but he seemed really nice. I went into the ILO (30 minute bus ride--ugh...okay, London people can start laughing...now) and met with him. He is very nice, as is his office. The ILO is a pretty laid back place. I'm excited to be able to start there. Unfortunately, he is currently is off in Brazil and then goes on vacation, only to come back while I'm on. I think I'll finally be able to start for good the day after I return! Finally!
That afternoon I headed down to the Smith Center for a tea that we were having with a Smith alumna who is currently doing research in Brussels at the European Commission, but who did JYA in Geneva in 62/63! I thought it would be really interesting because of her research, but I found her pretty annoying. She was very pretentious and didn't every stop talking. Then Hilary and I had a hanging out night. First she took a picture of me with an add that Stephane was doing for "Les Paysans" which I believe is either a political group or a farming organization that has something to do with the food in the grocery store. Either way, it was a pretty ad--even though Swiss people were looking at us funny when we took the picture. A girl can't take a picture with a pretty figure skater's picture on the sidewalk? What's the world coming to...Then we headed back to my place for dinner and watched "The Princess Bride" which I hadn't watched in far too long. What a wonderful, wonderful movie.
The next morning I headed up to Neuchatel (a small town about an hour and fifteen minutes north-east of Geneva) with Angela and Katie. It is located on the Lac de Neuchatel and you can see the Jura just across the lake. It was a really beautiful town and, like any good Swiss town, was located on a series of hills--making navigation on foot quite the party. It had been so nice the first week of classes, but during the second week there were freak snowstorms every day! There was still snow on the ground when we got to Neuchatel and it was a bit nippy, but still a really pleasant day. The town's not very big, so we took our time walking around the old town and stopping in for a nice lunch at a creperie. We headed up to the castle (only open from April 1-October 1, unfortunately for us) and it's adjoining Chapel, which was really beautiful. Then we stopped in the Museum of Art and History, which has a really eclectic collection. On the train home Angela was telling us all about her feelings (as a Spainard) on ETA and the Basque movement generally. It was really fascinating because she was telling us about how she's known people who family members have been threatened by the government, etc. It was just such a different idea of Spain than I'd had in my head before. The next day, Sunday, was pretty slow. That evening I had my ballet rehearsal again and I went with Laura again.
Monday was our first translation course and it was very fun! Normally translators translate into their native language, but Mdme Piron wants us to work both ways because it's good for our brains! The first translation she gave us (English into French) was slightly ridiculous and hard for a first translation, including such wonderful lines as "Three a.m. is not the most propitious (!!) time for meditation" and "What a pointless existence it is -- drifting about in the hope that something may happen to relieve the monotony. Something has got to be done to get me out of this rut." I have to say, though, that doing translations in Russian class (between two languages that are not my own) have made things much easier! That night we had a farewell dinner in my flat for the two girls who were leaving. It was pretty bittersweet. :(
That Wednesday my friend Pamela, from home!, arrived and I went to pick her up at the train station. It was really nice to hang out with her. I had seen her in February when I went to visit her at Cambridge. That Thursday she went into the University with me and sat around while I had Russian. While I was in my World Cities class up by the UN, she walked around and went through the Red Cross Museum. That evening we went with Hilary to a concert by the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande (a world-famous orchestra) at Victoria Hall (which is a really gorgeous concert venue here in Geneve). They played a piece called "Short Ride in a Fast Machine" by John Adams, Mendelssohn violin concerto and Dvorak's 9th Symphony "Le Nouveau Monde" (!!) which is basically the reason we bought the tickets. There are so many amazing concerts here in Geneva, and I definitely am trying to take advantage of them! That night Pamela and I watched "October Sky" OUR movie. We hadn't watched in in a shameful amount of time and it was great to remember just how amazing it is! And Jakey looked like such a baby!
The next day, Friday, we went to brunch at Le Pain Quotidien and then we headed to the train station to pick people up. Pamela has a friend from her program that needed to spend the night here before they headed out the next day and I went to pick up Katie, from Wellesley, from the airport. She almost wasn't able to come (which would have been really, really sad) because she had a chest infection, but luckily she was still able to visit! After we were all, finally, reunited we headed back to my place. We were initially going to head out to dinner at "Restaurant les Armures", my usual visitor dinner place, but then another freak snow/rain/hail storm began and it got really cold, so we decided against that. Instead we *gasp* ordered Dominoes online and watched a movie. I repeat, we ordered Dominoes online...in Switzerland! The internet and globalization will never cease to amaze me!
Saturday morning, Pamela and her friend left and Katie and I headed up to the UN and the Red Cross museum. I got to see the new special exhibit there that opened in March, and it was really interesting. We walked around the Botanical Gardens and then around Rive and downtown areas. The general touristy things! That evening we had a dinner party with visiting Katie, Geneva Katie, Hilary and my German friend, Laura. I made my celebrated stuffed peppers, and it was very fun. We spoke English and Laura's English is really amazingly perfect! She was telling us how she had spent a month in Austrailia during high school.
The next day, Katie and I met up with other Katie to go to Le Pain Quotidien, where we had a most excellent breakfast. Katie left that evening, which was very sad. We had our first rehearsal in the cafe/bar where the ballet performance will actually take place. It is a very strange space and we are indeed dancing on a platform that goes all the way around the room and it's really hard to jump on a platform that is only 60 centimeters wide. It was slightly scary at times.
So this week has been very normal, nothing special! Except that today we got out last Russian exam back and I only had one mistake, which made me really happy!!! Yay Russian...it's awesome. I am leaving on Friday to head to Aix-en-Provence to hang out with my host family and some Wellesley people and then from there I'm heading to Amsterdam and Brussels with Mabel. I'll update after I return! Happy Easter and other holidays everyone!
Bisous.
The second week of classes went well. It is incredibly nice to have my Russian class as a kind of base. It really helped with starting the new semester. At least there were some people that I knew and a routine that I had. The classes that I am taking for sure this semester are: Russian, Translation (French-English), Institutions Europeennes et Integration Europeenne (bascially, the best class ever), and The International Political Economy of World Cities (which is really fascinating) at HEI. That Wednesday, I had a Russian exam and my Europe class and then went to the movies with my Spanish flatmate, Angela. We went to a Swiss-German film called "Les Mamies ne font pas dans la dentelle" or "Die Herbstzeitlosen". The closest translations I can think of are "Grandmas don't work with lace" and "Those who don't age." Essentially the story of these four older women in a very conservative Swiss-German town, called Trub (what a wonderfully Swiss name for a town) in Emmental canton, who decide to open a lingerie shop and the craziness/backlash that ensues. But it was really sweet and INCREDIBLY Swiss and amusing. Then Angela and I went and had coffee. We were hanging out because she was leaving the week after (she was only here for a semester). I was sad because we really got along well, as she's the flatmate closest to my age. That week we also found out that the Ecuadorian flatmate, Ximena, would be moving to London the next week to learn English. So now it's just Pauline and myself. Pauline has moved into Ximena's bigger room and we now share the bigger bathroom which has a tub with basically makes it the best thing ever. :)
Anyway, back to that Wednesday. I was also really sad because the men's short program of the Figure Skating World Championships in Tokyo were that night and Stephane had fallen and had done pretty badly, ending the night in 6th place. I was really sad and he was too. :( The next day the covers of the free daily newspapers were covered with pictures of him just sitting on the ice right after he'd fallen. That's NOT what I call national support, but whatever. The Swiss have silly ways of expressing themselves. Anyway, that night I went over to Katie's apartment, because they have a TV and get EuroSport and watched the long programs and I was so happy! He didn't win again, but he did come in 3rd and skate beautifully. He was happy and proud of himself. He's not a sore loser like some male figure skaters I know. Though Brian Joubert, the Frenchie, is good looking and skated beautifully, he lacks Stephane's obvious passion and grace. To quote Liise "No rink will be able to fit his ego now." And I was really sad that Jeffrey Buttle did so badly, even though it did clear the way for Stephane. But enough of figure skating talk...;)
I had FINALLY gotten a call the previous Monday from the man with whom I applied for a internship--the ILO photographer. After jumping through many bureaucratic hoops he had finally managed to get my cleared to come into work. We arranged for me to come in that Friday. I was slightly nervous, but he seemed really nice. I went into the ILO (30 minute bus ride--ugh...okay, London people can start laughing...now) and met with him. He is very nice, as is his office. The ILO is a pretty laid back place. I'm excited to be able to start there. Unfortunately, he is currently is off in Brazil and then goes on vacation, only to come back while I'm on. I think I'll finally be able to start for good the day after I return! Finally!
That afternoon I headed down to the Smith Center for a tea that we were having with a Smith alumna who is currently doing research in Brussels at the European Commission, but who did JYA in Geneva in 62/63! I thought it would be really interesting because of her research, but I found her pretty annoying. She was very pretentious and didn't every stop talking. Then Hilary and I had a hanging out night. First she took a picture of me with an add that Stephane was doing for "Les Paysans" which I believe is either a political group or a farming organization that has something to do with the food in the grocery store. Either way, it was a pretty ad--even though Swiss people were looking at us funny when we took the picture. A girl can't take a picture with a pretty figure skater's picture on the sidewalk? What's the world coming to...Then we headed back to my place for dinner and watched "The Princess Bride" which I hadn't watched in far too long. What a wonderful, wonderful movie.
The next morning I headed up to Neuchatel (a small town about an hour and fifteen minutes north-east of Geneva) with Angela and Katie. It is located on the Lac de Neuchatel and you can see the Jura just across the lake. It was a really beautiful town and, like any good Swiss town, was located on a series of hills--making navigation on foot quite the party. It had been so nice the first week of classes, but during the second week there were freak snowstorms every day! There was still snow on the ground when we got to Neuchatel and it was a bit nippy, but still a really pleasant day. The town's not very big, so we took our time walking around the old town and stopping in for a nice lunch at a creperie. We headed up to the castle (only open from April 1-October 1, unfortunately for us) and it's adjoining Chapel, which was really beautiful. Then we stopped in the Museum of Art and History, which has a really eclectic collection. On the train home Angela was telling us all about her feelings (as a Spainard) on ETA and the Basque movement generally. It was really fascinating because she was telling us about how she's known people who family members have been threatened by the government, etc. It was just such a different idea of Spain than I'd had in my head before. The next day, Sunday, was pretty slow. That evening I had my ballet rehearsal again and I went with Laura again.
Monday was our first translation course and it was very fun! Normally translators translate into their native language, but Mdme Piron wants us to work both ways because it's good for our brains! The first translation she gave us (English into French) was slightly ridiculous and hard for a first translation, including such wonderful lines as "Three a.m. is not the most propitious (!!) time for meditation" and "What a pointless existence it is -- drifting about in the hope that something may happen to relieve the monotony. Something has got to be done to get me out of this rut." I have to say, though, that doing translations in Russian class (between two languages that are not my own) have made things much easier! That night we had a farewell dinner in my flat for the two girls who were leaving. It was pretty bittersweet. :(
That Wednesday my friend Pamela, from home!, arrived and I went to pick her up at the train station. It was really nice to hang out with her. I had seen her in February when I went to visit her at Cambridge. That Thursday she went into the University with me and sat around while I had Russian. While I was in my World Cities class up by the UN, she walked around and went through the Red Cross Museum. That evening we went with Hilary to a concert by the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande (a world-famous orchestra) at Victoria Hall (which is a really gorgeous concert venue here in Geneve). They played a piece called "Short Ride in a Fast Machine" by John Adams, Mendelssohn violin concerto and Dvorak's 9th Symphony "Le Nouveau Monde" (!!) which is basically the reason we bought the tickets. There are so many amazing concerts here in Geneva, and I definitely am trying to take advantage of them! That night Pamela and I watched "October Sky" OUR movie. We hadn't watched in in a shameful amount of time and it was great to remember just how amazing it is! And Jakey looked like such a baby!
The next day, Friday, we went to brunch at Le Pain Quotidien and then we headed to the train station to pick people up. Pamela has a friend from her program that needed to spend the night here before they headed out the next day and I went to pick up Katie, from Wellesley, from the airport. She almost wasn't able to come (which would have been really, really sad) because she had a chest infection, but luckily she was still able to visit! After we were all, finally, reunited we headed back to my place. We were initially going to head out to dinner at "Restaurant les Armures", my usual visitor dinner place, but then another freak snow/rain/hail storm began and it got really cold, so we decided against that. Instead we *gasp* ordered Dominoes online and watched a movie. I repeat, we ordered Dominoes online...in Switzerland! The internet and globalization will never cease to amaze me!
Saturday morning, Pamela and her friend left and Katie and I headed up to the UN and the Red Cross museum. I got to see the new special exhibit there that opened in March, and it was really interesting. We walked around the Botanical Gardens and then around Rive and downtown areas. The general touristy things! That evening we had a dinner party with visiting Katie, Geneva Katie, Hilary and my German friend, Laura. I made my celebrated stuffed peppers, and it was very fun. We spoke English and Laura's English is really amazingly perfect! She was telling us how she had spent a month in Austrailia during high school.
The next day, Katie and I met up with other Katie to go to Le Pain Quotidien, where we had a most excellent breakfast. Katie left that evening, which was very sad. We had our first rehearsal in the cafe/bar where the ballet performance will actually take place. It is a very strange space and we are indeed dancing on a platform that goes all the way around the room and it's really hard to jump on a platform that is only 60 centimeters wide. It was slightly scary at times.
So this week has been very normal, nothing special! Except that today we got out last Russian exam back and I only had one mistake, which made me really happy!!! Yay Russian...it's awesome. I am leaving on Friday to head to Aix-en-Provence to hang out with my host family and some Wellesley people and then from there I'm heading to Amsterdam and Brussels with Mabel. I'll update after I return! Happy Easter and other holidays everyone!
Bisous.