Cousin Bonding like Never Before :)

Last weekend (I know a little late, I'm sorry!) my cousin Kate from Wales came to visit for the weekend! I honestly couldn't stop telling her, "I feel SO spoiled I have gotten to see you 2 times in 3 months!!"  I hadn't seen Kate in 5 years until August of this summer at her sister's wedding so I loved getting a full 48 hours just us two...definitely some major cousin bonding :)  Friday afternoon I got to leave work early to go meet Kate at the airport.  There is nothing better than picking someone else up at the airport, which is something I haven't gotten to do for SUCH a long time!  I brought her back to Rue Muzy to get settled before we, along with Mags and Lauren, had dinner at Chez ma Cuisine.  We feasted on chicken, salad, pommes de terre, and wine before making our way to the "outside bar" for drink before making our way home.  The next day I showed Kate around Geneva in a typical visitor's fashion.  We hit all the major spots, took tons of pictures, and even stopped in this cute cafe for some of the most delicious hot chocolate I think I have ever had!  We lazed about for a while before meeting up with Mags and Lauren and taking the boat over to the other side of the lake.  We had decided to pay a visit to Les Bains des Paquis after a co-worker had highly recommended them.  Little did we know what we had gotten ourselves into...lets just say we all took our friendship/cousin relationship to the next level.  There was a sauna, a hammam, a turkish bath, and a bitterly cold Lake Geneva involved.  I will let you fill in the rest. All in all, a memorable night to say the least--but SO much fun!  We came home, concocted a feast of food and while our intention was to go out dancing, we ended up all cuddling up and watching The Dark Knight!  The next morning we woke up, made the Fair Scones Mom had brought with her and enjoyed a completely lazy morning.  I took Kate to Parc de Bastions, where the outdoor ice rink was just set up!, and some other final "must sees" in Geneva before having an early dinner at Chez Marino.  We chowed down on spaghetti and pizza and reminisced about our perfect, cousin's weekend.  I am very much looking forward to my weekend in Wales (it's next weekend, I cannot believe how quickly time is flying!!) and loved seeing Kate and getting to catch up and spend more time than usual with her!  Definitely a memorable weekend, filled with lots of laughs, delicious food, and cousin bonding.

Chocolat Chaud de Aure

Cousin bonding at its finest

Aventures en France

I can now officially say I have attended a professional hockey match.  Last Friday, a big group of us from the program received tickets from the program to Geneva’s pro-hockey team’s match against the Lakers—ironic huh?  I went out with a group of girls I haven’t previously gone out with before and had an absolute blast!  Even though we were in Switz, I considered us to be “all-American” fans.  We sipped beer, munched on snacks, and obnoxiously cheered on our home team, who came out victorious with a score of 2-1, from the official fan zone!  Now that I consider myself to be an incredible hockey fan, I am planning on dragging everyone at school to a Sharks game.  I feel like that is just something we have to do and check off our Santa Clara bucket list sooner rather than later!  The next night, the girls and I went out for drinks with some of the physicists and engineers they had met at the CERN Halloween party the week before.  We ordered what are called “Beer Towers,” which are 5 litres a tower and are essentially a self serving tap.  They were a really cool concept and a fun way to have drinks and share conversation with some very intelligent and interesting people.  There were a couple of Americans, an Italian, a couple Austrians, and a Spaniard.  Definitely an interesting night to say the least.  I called it an early night seeing as I had an early morning football match the next day!  I played in my first game with the club from Antilly (I think I finally figured out the name of the town and club!) and while we unfortunately lost, I had a blast playing defense the entire second half!  I definitely felt rusty but it was such an incredible feeling being back on the pitch in a competitive game.  I found myself having constant flashbacks to my high school seasons and how I never thought I would play competitively again. Funny how life can surprise you like that :)

After the match--uniform colors look a little familiar... :)

Geneva's biggest hockey fans! 

This past week has flown by and I feel like there’s no slowing down.  With 4 weeks left to go there is SO much to be done and crammed in, but in a way that I can still enjoy.  This weekend, we took a spontaneous day trip to Annecy, France.  It was just our luck that there was a “Festival de Caillon—un jour de couchons” also known as a pig festival!  We ate our way through Annecy:  from fresh out of the oven baguettes, to freshly pressed apple cider, to raspberry jam filled pastries, to some delicious soup with bacon, to lemon and sugar crepes accompanied by dark hot chocolate—I was in food paradise!  We wandered around by the gorgeous lake shore and popped in and out of cute little shops.  Yet another perfect “fall escape”—sunny day, gorgeous scenery, and delicious food…away from Rue Muzy!!  

Fresh, early morning baguette!

Les Couchons!

Flowers in Annecy

Lac d'Annecy

Today, we had another early morning and quickly found ourselves on a bus heading back towards the border.  We crossed into France and caught the first “téléferique” up Mont Salève.  Danny, Mags, Steph, Lauren, and I were skeptical as we ascended into the wall of fog.  Much to our pleasant surprise, the sun was shining full force as we got off the gondola.  With views of Mont Blanc and the surrounding Alps, we couldn’t have been happier.  We even sat in on a Tibetan monk meditating in the monastery that sits on top of the mountain!! What a rejuvenating way to start the week. 

View from the top

Reminded me of Andrew and the science museum in Boston!

Tibetan Monk Meditating 

Everyone keeps avoiding saying the dreaded phrase “we have 4 weeks left,” but this is definitely something we all must confront in the very near future.  All my remaining weekends are planned out and time seems to passing more quickly than ever before.  More so than ever, I am trying to absorb every experience like a sponge.  It is hard to believe that the time has come when saying goodbye to friends and my home for the past 4 months will be here before I know it.  For now, enjoying the simple things and day-to-day routines is more vital than ever.  I am genuinely able to say I am looking forward to the holiday season at home and what I know will be an epic return to the Clara.  But for now, cheers to the last 4 weeks of what has been a life changing and monumental experience in my 20 years of youthful living!

Weekend Bliss Take 2

This is long overdue, I know, but my weeks have been consumed with late nights at work and what seems like continuous exhaustion.  I spend way too many hours a day at my internship looking at a computer screen editing documents, sending emails, and researching documents online.  None of these are completely valid excuses but nonetheless I have had an overdose of screen time these past 3 weeks.

Last weekend was definitely one of my "highlight" weekends from abroad (as was the one before that!).  Friday afternoon, Mom and Paula (one of her best friends and colleagues form work) arrived in Geneva for a long weekend of Swiss adventures.  They had been in Norway for the week meeting with a university and thought since they were on the same continent, they had to come visit...no complaints on my end!!  Friday night after meeting up with them in their hotel, which was conveniently a 3 minute walk away, we caught a train to Nyon where we met up with my Uncle Michael's childhood best friend, Tony, who has been working in Geneva for some time.  Tony took the 3 of us out to his country club for what turned out to be a lovely and relaxing evening.  We feasted on soup and salad, risotto, venison, lamb, and lake fish along with a bottle of smooth, red wine.  Our conversation was very engaging and we ended up finding out Tony had closely worked with the father of a guy I went to school with for years!  The world only continues to get smaller and smaller...overall, a nice relaxing night and we were all so happy we finally got to meet one of Uncle Michael's closest friends.  I hope to see him again and meet his wife before leaving Switzerland.

Swiss Wine Tasting..."It's 5 o'clock somewhere"

That night, I cuddled up with Mom and Paula and we all quickly drifted off after our pleasant evening and delicious meals.  The next morning, we went to my favorite cafe called Celine et Sebastien.  Seeing Mom and Paula try and navigate the French language was quite humorous to say the least.  I ordered them their coffees and sandwiches before running back to change for the day.  The 3 of us explored the Saturday Farmer's market, tasted wine before noon, and munched on freshly cut meats before heading to the train station.  We arrived at the train station and ran into Danny, who was planning on coming on our day trip!  I hadn't seen him at home so wasn't quite sure how we were going to meet up but, as we were buying tickets there he was buying his as well!  He debriefed us on what seemed like a wild night at the CERN Halloween party as we waited for our train.  We all caught up on our 2 hour adventure to Broc-Fabrique, our first stop on what turned out to be an epic day of food consumption and other memories.  We arrived in Broc and quickly found ourselves in front of the Cailler (Nestle) chocolate factory.  We signed up for our tour and had about 20 minutes to wander the shop and movie theater.  We decided to watch whatever these "movies" were and I could hardly contain myself from laughing hysterically.  There were all these commercials, often with sexual undertones, that were made in such an old school style.  You couldn't help but laugh.  Before long, our "Sublim" tour was boarding and we were first in line!  This tour was also slightly laughable, but in the best way possible.  I felt like I was in the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland as we were ushered through various rooms that a) smelled of chocolate b) had animated figurines and c) somehow managed to educate everyone on the history of Cailler and chocolate in general.  The best part by far was the tasting room at the end of the tour.  Danny and I were determined to try every sample and while I'm pretty sure he succeeded, I was too full to make the final tastings.  Instead, we managed to smuggle out several pieces to eat later on in the day.  When we finally had a bag to put the chocolate in, my hands were smeared with melted chocolate.  Of course, instead of wiping them with a napkin or washing them in the bathroom, I licked them clean :)

Train to Gruyeres

SO. Much. Chocolate.

From the chocolate factory, we took our little alpine train back to Gruyeres itself.  We arrived just in time for sunset and it couldn't have been a more spectacular view.  This was a prime example of what many artists evoked in their Swiss landscape paintings--the sublime.  Everything was beyond picturesque and looked like a backdrop had been placed in front of us.  However, everything was totally and 100% real.  Switzerland never ceases to amaze me.  We watched as the sun dropped from one of the castle ruins just at the top of the hill where Gruyeres lies.  From there, we quickly found dinner!  How me managed to eat what we did after the chocolate factory amazes me.  Mom and Paula shared a pot of fondue, Danny ordered a Gruyeres risotto, and I had Raclette!  There was nothing that we ordered that was not delicious.  We couldn't stop commenting on how incredible everything tasted and what a perfect day we had just experienced.  We were all sleepy on the train ride home but were kept entertained by Angry Birds on Paula's phone.  I stayed with Mom and Paula again so we could be up and ready to go for a day of exploring Geneva.

View from Broc, heading to Gruyeres

We grabbed coffee at another cafe because a lot of stores, restaurants, etc. are closed here on Sundays.  Mom and Paula stopped by Rue Muzy and finally were able to meet the girls, who were doing the day trip we had done yesterday, today.  Next, we headed up to Old Town where I gave Mom and Paula my Art History schpiel and showed them the Cathedral, the granary, la maison Tavel, and many of the other sites we visited during my Art History course.  Mom and Paula played on the children's toys in the square where the longest bench in the world sits.  It was absolutely hysterical watching 2 grown women enjoy themselves SO much on 3 various playground toys.  We couldn't stop laughing and don't worry, videos were taken!  After that we visited the Reformation Wall in the Parc de Bastions and made a coffee pitstop at the cafe in the park.  We had such good, open conversation and it felt so natural having them here in Geneva with me.  Next, we made our way to the Botanical gardens, which were just as beautiful as last weekend.  By this time, it was getting late and we made our way back to Eaux-Vives.  Paula left Mom and me to unload all my goodies (Mom really spoiled me with all the treats and clothes she brought over with her!) and have some mother-daughter time.  We then had the most fabulous meal at the Italian restaurant around the corner from my residence.  I had been dying to try their food since we got here and finally, 9 weeks later I did!  It was well worth the wait.  We gorged ourselves on Caprese salad, green salad, and a 4 cheese pizza with parma ham on top!  Then, because of the delicious dessert we saw the man eating next to us, we ordered strawberry sorbet which paired nicely with the warm sables the man who sat next to us offered us.  We had engaged in conversation with him throughout our dining experience and we quickly found out he was the owner of the building I'm living in!  He was so sweet and when we went to pay our bill, he had taken care of it for us!  We couldn't thank him enough and he offered me such kind words from a "father's perspective" and wished me a wonderful rest of my time here in Geneva.  We seriously couldn't have had  a more perfect weekend and I definitely feel recharged after seeing family.  While it was incredibly hard to say goodbye, Mom and Paula coming was just the boost I needed to get me to the end!  While I have never been homesick while I have been here, I definitely was getting to a point where I was starting to truly miss people from home.  I cannot wait to see them both in December, and I know the time from now until then is absolutely going to fly by.

Getting to show people who are such a big part of your life a place where you now call home is such an amazing experience.  This is some place neither of them have been and it was truly an incredible experience letting them into something that I have taken on without any connections to home.  While I often feel like I do not know Geneva that well, it is times like these that I realize I know enough...for now.  I am able to comfortably navigate what 3 months ago was a completely foreign place to me.  And now, I can offer an insider's insight to some of the most spectacular areas of a place I will always be able to call "home."