Day 3
Another day of bullet points. I originally thought I did this out of exhaustion, but now I realize I'm just not a very good narrative writer, and this helps keep me organized.
I should be more careful about being online at work. So as some of you may know, I found my current housing through an online expat community specifically for Switzerland, glocals.com. It's a great service, and apparently Barras has had good luck using it for furniture, housemates, etc. There are all kinds of people advertising cute things, like "let's all go bowling" or "happy hour this Thursday!" or "I have a chalet in the mountains!" There's also a chat function, which I never use because I don't know anyone on the site except Barras. But every once in a while, someone will try to chat with me, and until today, I have always ignored it because I wasn't even living in Geneva, and thought it was kind of weird. But today, for reasons I cannot explain to you or myself, I accepted a chat that someone sent me. It said,
"Hello there
American girl
how are you"
I decided to look at his profile, and this is what I found:
They make them everywhere, people. You've been warned.
So much for my ambiguity about piracy. You can't even watch legal streaming TV over here. I guess there's some kind of issue with copyright or export or something, because I can't watch hulu, nbc.com, nothing except clips from Comedy Central. I feel like such a hypocrite, always saying how happy I am that I don't have cable at my house in Iowa, and how much more I accomplish, blah blah blah, and now that I'm in a place with zero TV, I whine. Next time I extol the virtues of a home without the tube, you should remind me of this journal entry. I will probably kick you in the shins, but you will have the smug satisfaction of quoting someone's moment of weakness back at them when they're getting self-righteous (I feel like Tanner will particularly enjoy this). I should have stolen so much more from the library before I left. Thankfully, I had already downloaded the first episode of the new season of Flight of the Conchords, and my brother-in-law gave me lots of movies before I left. Thanks, Ben!
None shall be spared...the hard sell I'm putting on visiting me. I originally sent this just to Ms. Brenner in a personal email, but then I realized, I mean it for all of you. You have until March 14, kids!
"You should totally get serious about coming here. Allow me to elaborate. I live around the corner from the Palais de Nations (United Nations). Across the street from the UN High Commissioner on Refugees. 50% of the buses and trains that run through Geneva come past my block because it's the same block as the UN. You can stumble onto just about any train and end up at the center of town. Stumble onto the right ones, and you end up across the river where Old City is (I haven't explored it yet, but it's just a matter of time).
"My apartment is small, but rad. My roommate is also small, but rad. Twenty minutes away, mountains. Cross-country, downhill, snowboarding, snowshoeing, you name it. The expat community is strong, and super outgoing. The only reason I haven't spent more time with them is because I'm trying to make friends with locals, but as I noted in the blog, there aren't very many of those, especially not in my neighborhood."
Brightest spot of the day. For the first time since I arrived, the clouds outside my window at work cleared. I can see the Alps from my desk. I'm bringing a camera with me everywhere from now on, so I will be prepared for these things.
I should be more careful about being online at work. So as some of you may know, I found my current housing through an online expat community specifically for Switzerland, glocals.com. It's a great service, and apparently Barras has had good luck using it for furniture, housemates, etc. There are all kinds of people advertising cute things, like "let's all go bowling" or "happy hour this Thursday!" or "I have a chalet in the mountains!" There's also a chat function, which I never use because I don't know anyone on the site except Barras. But every once in a while, someone will try to chat with me, and until today, I have always ignored it because I wasn't even living in Geneva, and thought it was kind of weird. But today, for reasons I cannot explain to you or myself, I accepted a chat that someone sent me. It said,
"Hello there
American girl
how are you"
I decided to look at his profile, and this is what I found:
They make them everywhere, people. You've been warned.
So much for my ambiguity about piracy. You can't even watch legal streaming TV over here. I guess there's some kind of issue with copyright or export or something, because I can't watch hulu, nbc.com, nothing except clips from Comedy Central. I feel like such a hypocrite, always saying how happy I am that I don't have cable at my house in Iowa, and how much more I accomplish, blah blah blah, and now that I'm in a place with zero TV, I whine. Next time I extol the virtues of a home without the tube, you should remind me of this journal entry. I will probably kick you in the shins, but you will have the smug satisfaction of quoting someone's moment of weakness back at them when they're getting self-righteous (I feel like Tanner will particularly enjoy this). I should have stolen so much more from the library before I left. Thankfully, I had already downloaded the first episode of the new season of Flight of the Conchords, and my brother-in-law gave me lots of movies before I left. Thanks, Ben!
None shall be spared...the hard sell I'm putting on visiting me. I originally sent this just to Ms. Brenner in a personal email, but then I realized, I mean it for all of you. You have until March 14, kids!
"You should totally get serious about coming here. Allow me to elaborate. I live around the corner from the Palais de Nations (United Nations). Across the street from the UN High Commissioner on Refugees. 50% of the buses and trains that run through Geneva come past my block because it's the same block as the UN. You can stumble onto just about any train and end up at the center of town. Stumble onto the right ones, and you end up across the river where Old City is (I haven't explored it yet, but it's just a matter of time).
"My apartment is small, but rad. My roommate is also small, but rad. Twenty minutes away, mountains. Cross-country, downhill, snowboarding, snowshoeing, you name it. The expat community is strong, and super outgoing. The only reason I haven't spent more time with them is because I'm trying to make friends with locals, but as I noted in the blog, there aren't very many of those, especially not in my neighborhood."
Brightest spot of the day. For the first time since I arrived, the clouds outside my window at work cleared. I can see the Alps from my desk. I'm bringing a camera with me everywhere from now on, so I will be prepared for these things.