Lazy Days and Memorable Nights in Geneva

After a Thursday filled with a field visit to the Museum of Art and History, public health, and a nice extended run by the lake and through the jardin d'eaux vives, we wound down the evening by watching No Strings Attached aka one of my current favorite movies.  We cuddled up in Lauren's bed and somehow managed to keep our eyes open until 1:30 when we the movie finally finished!  Obviously we started the movie later than planned and I definitely felt the repercussions of a late night and an early morning the next day.  We had part 2 of 3 of our field visits to the Art and History Museum.  Friday, we examined different mediums of art and are learning how to examine and describe art without simply pointing or generalizing areas of a piece of art.  This is surprisingly a lot more difficult than it sounds!   We saw some of the original frescoes from the Chapel of the Maccahbees of St. Peter's cathedral, which was pretty amazing to see!    We had yet another incredible speaker in Health from the International Health Regulation department of the WHO.  He was very engaging and had lots to share about ensuring countries comply with policies and regulations implemented by organizations like the WHO.  He is originally from Worcester, England so I talked to him briefly during our break about Dad and all the family in Wales.  Once health was over, I made myself continue my running streak and ran a new path along the lake and again through the garden.  Even though I more or less follow the same outline for my runs, I always manage to create a "new" run everytime.  There are so many twists and turns within the garden that I think it would be impossible to run the exact same route twice!  Danny and I made what has been my most immaculate dinner here since arriving in Geneva.  We collaborated and concocted and spaghetti sauce with ground beef, green peppers, tomatoes, onions, and garlic and poured it over noodles for dinner last night and lunch today!  We had a blast cooking together and it felt good to actually eat a real meal--not just Nutella on bread:)  Even though all of us were tired and planned on having a night in, somehow we all were convinced to go out with everyone to this club called Bypass.  There was free cover before 12 so we took the tram, while it was still running, and danced for a couple hours in a big group of us from the program.  Some of the girls took a cab back home but Mags, Steph, Lauren, and I did not want to spend money on a cab soooo we walked...3 miles home...barefoot.  I had worn wedges out (obviously with NO intention of walking home!) and there was no way I was going to prance about in them for an hour when I was tired and all I wanted to do was collapse in my bed.  Lets just say my heels are torn up.  Last night they looked as if someone had painted layer of tar on the soles of my feet, fabulous.  And even better that I was on my feet all of today in Neuchatel!  Probably not my smartest idea to decided to break in my new Cole Hahn boots either...oops!  Anyways, today 25 of us from the group went to Neuchatel where we were treated to a guided tour of town.  This year is the 1000th birthday of the town, something that is completely unfathomable to our enfant 250 year old nation, and needless to say they are celebrating right!  There are all these markets and festivities to celebrate this momentous anniversary/birthday!  Our tour guide, Ursula, was so sweet and showed us the city's wine caves (cellars), one of the immaculately designed original city estates, the famous castle and prison tower, and the heavenly entrance to the museum of art and history!  All of these Swiss towns are so historic, charming, and full of life I feel so lucky to have already experienced as many as I have!  And I'm not even 3 weeks into my time here yet!   We were greeted by some sporatic rainfall so we ended up spending a lot of our free time in a creperie and making a quick loop around town before heading back to the train station to head home.  Lauren bought and tasted some "raclette," a Neuchatel specialty, that essentially is a block of cheese cut in two and placed under a little flame.  The melted cheese is scraped off the top and served with potatoes, pickles, and pickled onions and it looked and smelled delicious!  Apparently we have a raclette set in the house and we are all eager to try and re-create it for ourselves!  On the train ride home nearly everyone fell asleep.  We all are planning on going to the Harvest Festival outside of Geneva tomorrow but have a lot of work and rest to get in before our 12 departure tomorrow! I can hardly believe I only have 3 weeks left until finals!!  Time flies and for some reason there is no motivation to do work on weekends here when trips to quaint, historic villages and day trips to festivals are at the tips of our fingers!  I foresee a week of late nights and buckling down ahead of us all...wish us luck!