Geneva: The Trip that Defined my Type-A Personality

So I have been a little late in blogging about my Geneva adventures! Sorry! It was a busy week with two midterms and then I had a stomach bug Thurs afternoon until yesterday so I was just sleeping alot and had to cancel a hiking trip through the northern coast of Italy :o( Hopefully I can make it there at some point. Anyways, our trip to Geneva started off eventfully. Our flight was at 8 am on Friday morning and all four of my friends decided to go out to a party the night before. Long story short was none of them woke up for our first train to the airport and I had to kick their butts into gear, pack suitcases and wake them up in order to catch our plane ride. Lets just say Geneva was almost the trip that wasn't but ended up being a really great weekend.
Our flight was literally only a half hour long and then it was only a six minute train ride from the airport into the center of Geneva. Our hostel was only a ten minute walk from where we got off. It could not have been any easier. From taking off the ground in Nice to arriving in our hostel in Geneva only an hour and a half must have passed.
Right away I loved Geneva, if even for the fact that it was FALLL there. I haven't had a real fall in several years seeing as DC just goes from being really hot and humid to very rainy and cold and Nice isn't really about having a fall either as it continues to be very warm and sunny here. Anyways Geneva is gorgeous. It is right on a giant lake and you can see mountains from all sides. It is a city but very low key. It is kind of a cross between Washington DC with all the politics and money and Burlington Vermont where the nature is infused with the city. There is a lot to do but there isn't that rush most cities have. Walking around the first day was great. We did all of the old part of the city, saw the Hotel de Ville where the Geneva convention was signed, toured the Cathedral of Saint peter where Calvin started started his Protestant ministry (we also climbed to the top of the bell twoer where you can get great views of the whole city), played on a playground :o) saw the famous Jet d'Eau in the middle of the lake, had a yummy but odd lunch (fried egg on cheese patty with lots of meat involved), stopped at a chocolate and tea place for a snack, went to a park in front of the University of Geneva, saw famous Protestant monuments and ate some yummy Asian food for dinner. we went back to the hostel by 9pm and were asleep very soon after that.
After a great ten hours sleep, we got a free breakfast from the hostel and started out for day 2 in Geneva. We took the tram (our hostel gave us free transportation passes for our visite there) to the International City, where teh UN headquarters in Europe is located as well as the International Red Cross Museum among many other international organizations and museums (all of these properties border the lake and have gorgeous grounds). We took a guided tour of the UN that included the former League of Nations building that is now used for UN purposes, as well as the main rooms that are typically used. Next we walked around and in the frist floor of the Red Cross museum, as well as visited a gorgoues ceramics museum with pieces from all through Europe and all time periods. The ceramics building was called the Ariana Museum and was housed in a gorgeous Italian mansion with beautiful grounds. We left the International City and got some lunch at a Kebab place (aka cheap but delicious) and then spent all afternoon walking around the lake and visitng the Botanical Gardens. Visited a tea house right on the lake (started by the Rolex founder) and had delicous hot chocolate. then we took a ferry ride across the lake (free!) and walked along the other side of the lake until we got back into the main part of the city. We found an authentic fondue place for dinner and all partook in eating the traditional Swiss meal. It was definitely an interesting (an expensive) endeavor but worth the experience. A beautiful fall night walk home to end the evening and another early night for us girls in Geneva.
Sunday morning was great. Me and my friend uuljan woke up for early and headed near the train station to get bikes and ride arond the lake. Bike rentals are free for the first four hours and then one dollar per hours afterwards. Incredibele huh? The best thing about Geneva that the only tihng we had to pay for was to eat (which was definitely very expensive) and all the sites were free. Uuljan and I enjoyed riding around on our bikes in the early morning fall weather all around the lake. We then stopped at a Starbucks (ok so I know that I'm in Europe and should be enjoying European culture but we were tooe xcited by our Starbucks find...coffee comes in thimbles here and no to-go cups to be found) and had a very cozy hour or so just talking. We then met up with our friends again and headed towards the train station to get our plane .
I loved visitng Geneva and could honestly see myeslf living there one day. Itw as completely unlike the cities I have visited in Europe thus far. It was not a crazy city with oodles to do but it seems like an amazing place to live. Switzerland is in the middle of Europe with easy and cheap access to everywhere you'd want to go. I think what makes this city so amazing is that the nature creeps right into the city. Even amongst tons of building you can smell and taste the fresh mountain air. Oh yeah...it is SOOO CLEAN! Spotless. The lake is visible from almost everywhere in the city. Cities like Rome and paris provide endless excitement but I felt at ease in Geneva, I actually left feeling relaxed and like I had such a peacefull weekend.

My Geneva Pictures!!!

Birthdays, some more Italy and oh yeah...classes

Weather update...still 80 degrees and gorgeous here! Cools down a bit at night but I am wondering when and if the weather will cool down for good. I've gotten mixed opinions from the locals but from what I'm understanding it doesn't get much colder than 60 degrees in the winter. But anyways some updates on what I've been up to lately...
This weekend we travelled into Italy! On Fridays there is a giant market in Ventimiglia where you can but everything from clothes to shoes to cheeses and sausages. It is only an hour and twenty minute train ride away from us (at the end of our train line) so we decided it would be a good day trip to take as everyone talks about the market. We left around 9 am and got back around 3. Not bad for travelling between countries! The market was really cool and the town is right on the Italian coast. Ventimiglia was very cute and pittoresque, not unlike the area I am in right now in France. Got some interesting items, a couple of things for Nick and a bag for me (loveee italian leather). I hope I have the chance to go back because there was so much there and some great gifts to bring home to people. Anyways once we finished up at the market we went to a yummy place for lunch, I got gnocchi and the girls got pizza and on the way back to the train we all got cannoli's. We were able to cram some of the best things about Italy into one day; leather, pizza, gnocchi's and cannoli's!
Classes have been going decently. Three hours is a long time to sit through a class, especially one entitled "Production and Operations Management", it just sounds dry doesn't it? I have Midterms over the next three weeks, two this tuesday, one next week and another the week after that. Hopefully they should all go well. I had a bad experience with my first Finance Quiz. The teacher only gave us 30 minutes to complete this very complicated quiz. All four American's in the class did not get a chance to finish, but we weren't worried because there was no way anyone in the class could have in the time restrictions. WRONG...all the European students had been given the answers by friends in a previous class (as we found out by one of them later) and had not only finished but all had 100's. Now the teacher should have been suspicous because as I referred to in my earlier post we are the ONLY ones who pay attention, he basically only teaches to us. He said we didn't do well because the other students were used to his quizzes and teaching style but in the next minute or so he was telling us how his USB drive with our Midterm exam on it had been stolen from his office (apparently it happens all the time by students looking to gain an edge on the exam) sigh. In the US there are such extreme measures to prevent against cheating that none of us can comprehend this situation but apparently it is very common. Hopefully the midterm will go better in which the students are required to show the workings for each problem. Cross your fingers for me.

My 21st birthday has come and gone here in France. My friends were very sweet and got me pastries and some flowers but it was hard thinking about the 21st birthday I would have had in the States with all of my closest friends and being able to talk to my family. I've had such a great time here but my birthday was a little lonely. Also I have a little bit of a cold which has been plaguing me for a few days so really wasn't up for any adventures. However next weekend I am going to Geneva Switzerland so that should be a great time. There are six girls going and I'm sure I'll have more stories to tell next week. Lots of trips planned, Florence, Venice, Milan, Cinqueterre, London, Paris, Avignon, Lyon and hopefully one more to be disclosed at a later date. Thats all for now...