Sorry I couldn’t give everyone an update for the past couple of days. With limited internet access, I have to combine blogging days. I would have posted lots more videos in this post, but I'll have to come back and add them later because my internet time is running out! Besides the lack of free wifi, Geneva has been a fun city to visit! Monday was a free day, so I got up at 9:00am, ate breakfast (Swiss yogurt/granola thingy, fruit, applesauce, cereal, and orange juice), and then a group of us went and did the Geneva walk. We ran into the Hudson’s going into town and so we got to see the city with them. It was fun to have Dr. Hudson there as a tour guide! We found a lot of really neat stuff and I got some fun pictures from the day.
I about died when I saw this store. As an admitted shoe-aholic, this is the store of my dreams. Ever heard of the red-bottomed shoe? Well, Christian Louboutin designs them. For anywhere between 1,000 and 5,000 bucks, you can own your own fancy pair. If I had a magic genie and had three wishes, I’d definitely be asking for a pair of these (we just watched Aladdin last night, so I figured it was a good analogy).
There was a giant flower clock that’s apparently pretty famous. It changes its design with every season! There are also these pianos all over Geneva that are free to play on. I got a video of Amy and Caleb tickling the ivories to Heart and Soul.
We went into the city’s cathedral (Geneva hosts the Museum of the Reformation) and saw the chair that John Calvin preached from.
There were some cool shutters that I liked in front of a REALLY blue sky. J
And of course, there’s the jet d’eau - it’s the Eiffel tower of Geneva. It shoots water from Lake Geneva up 500 feet in the air!
Toni, Mckenna, and I on a free boat shuttle across the lake. Our hotel was awesome and provided us with free transportation all over Geneva!
Dr. Hudson’s favorite Swiss chocolatier (Rohr) is on “Rue d ’Enfer” (street of hell), formerly known as “Rue du Paradis” (street of paradise). Yeah...no clue what got lost in translation there.
After the walk, we found a really neat park and just sat and played charades. I think they’re trying to be more environmentally friendly because everything (giant flower pots included) had some sort of environment awareness phrase on it in every language.
After wandering the city, Erin, Sarah, Maddy, John, Lacey, and I ran to the lake and back from our hotel. With all of this traveling and eating, you tend to feel kinda nasty so it felt AMAZING to go for a run. Especially in Switzerland!!!!
Yesterday was our last day of class! L We had to meet the group in the lobby at 10:00am to get to the Museum of the Reformation. It was really interesting! I remembered studying the Reformation in AP Euro in high school and it was fun to apply what I’d learned in high school. We had passes to go up in the towers of the cathedral too and the view was INSANELY BEAUTIFUL!!!! We also found niches and had to pose in them. J
Beautiful Lake Geneva
Mckenna
Erin
Paul
Toni
After the museum and the cathedral, we headed to the Reformer’s wall and had a little lesson by Dr. Hudson. It was really interesting and there were a lot of other students there studying too. It was in a park with giant chess and checkers sets too, so of course we had to stop and play!
When we were walking around the other day, we saw this place in the middle of the lake with three, two, and one story platforms. It was a little bit chilly so we decided that we’d have to come back another day. And we did! It was pretty much the most incredible thing ever. I mean, how many times do you get to say that you jumped off of a three-story platform in the middle of Lake Geneva while overlooking the Alps? Probably not that many. It took some guts to jump off of the tallest level but apparently I have good form! Toni, Paul, Caleb, Amy, Lacey, Sarah, Erin, Mckenna, and I all had the most amazing day swimming in the crystal clear water.
We even played a game where we had a category (ice cream, country, etc) and two people would jump off of the one story platform and had to yell an answer before they hit the water. It was a blast!
I didn’t want to get my nice skirt and shirt dirty, so Lacey and I walked all the way through downtown Geneva in towels and our swimsuits. Let’s just say we got stared at...a lot. Oh, and apparently I walk like a duck too. Thanks for starting that one, Momma.
After our day on the lake, it was time for our last group dinner! We had raclette (cheese fondue), bread, some potatoes, and pickles/onions. It was really good but all of the bread and cheese made me SO sick!
And that brings me to today. Today was officially my LAST day in Europe! I was so sad! Mckenna’s family flew into Geneva this morning so that they could all go to Italy this afternoon and I was majorly jealous that she got to see her family. She left at 4:30pm and it was so hard to say goodbye! I’m really gonna miss everyone from the program. It’s like I have 24 new brothers and sisters! It’s been amazing!
We celebrated our last night by having a braiding party. It all started when I asked Amy to braid my hair (it’s easy to make it look cute the next day), and then Maddy wanted her to do it and eventually everyone had braided hair. Even John and Kenny got their hair braided! Great way to end the program. J
Yeah. We're hot.
I head home tomorrow morning and I have mixed feelings. I’ve had the time of my life here in France and Switzerland and I’ve made some amazing friends. At the same time, I’m SO EXCITED to see my family and share some delicious treats with them!
I’ll write about my flight home when I’m back in the U.S. of A. Until then! Au revoir! J
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