Monday, May 26, 2014

Geneva, Switzerland

This past weekend, I flew to Geneva to visit my good friend, Olivia, and her family. (I wrote this sitting in my host family's new egg chair. I feel Danish.)
  • Friday
    • I go to the airport at 3 pm and the kiosk says I need to talk to someone at the customer service desk. "Oh no!" I think to myself. The woman tells me my flight is cancelled! My mind starts going a million miles an hour. But then she says that SAS has rebooked me on a flight that leaves 3 hours later. Thank goodness. The flight was with Swiss Airlines, which seemed to be a classy more expensive airline because there were a lot of business people and they served really yummy food. They even passed out little pieces of chocolate at the end of the flight! Yeah it was annoying to sit at the Copenhagen airport for 5 hours but it could have been a lot worse. I was happy that I was able to call and tell my mom and Olivia about the flight change. I met Olivia in Geneva and we arrived at her home around 11pm. 
  • Saturday

    • We went to Jet d'Eau (I kept calling it either "the fountain" or mispronouncing it as "Je t'adore") and it was quite amazing. It blends in with the clouds and you can get pretty close to the actual fountain. We bought (overpriced) sandwiches from a cafe Lena recommended and ate them by the water (because it cost more to stay there and eat.) We went to a really cool beach that had a playground of swings and stuff to climb on that was all made of recycled tires. We started the day with a fun game of Settlers of Catan. When we finished the game in the evening, Luke ended up winning. I tried my best, but he really knows what he is doing. Her mom made us ham and cheese omelets that were delicious. We went to the transportation place to get Olivia a yearlong bus pass and me a two day pass. Olivia got a new phone while Lena and I looked around in these shops. Just for fun, we tried on these outrageous traditional dresses. They were so hard to put on! Who knew dresses could be so complicated? 
    • We took a boat to the other side of the lake where we saw the United Nations building and a neat giant three legged chair (symbolizing vetrans who lost limbs, I think). We explored the botanical garden and smelled some beautiful roses. We ran (literally) back to the other side of the lake so we could go shopping. I bought a cute top and hair clips from H&M. 
    • We were all so tired and sunburned from a long day. Olivia's mom made a delicious dinner . Olivia and I baked chocolate chip cookies at night.
  • Sunday

    • Around lunch time, Lena, Olivia and I ate crepes at this neat cafe in Old Town Geneva. Guess how much it cost? About $10. Yikes! But it tasted really good. Olivia showed me around Old Town, taking me to the church, the canons, the park, the longest bench, etc. We went to the art history museum and both enjoyed the Monets and Renoirs. We came back and played another game of Catan (Lena won) and they taught me a game they call "Oh Hell" but I think it's also called Up and Down the River because I remember learning it before. It was really hard to say goodbye to Olivia and I was sad to leave Geneva. I am very grateful that she could show me around and that I got to stay with her family. Thank you! 
Overall, I thought Geneva was a unique blend of French, Italian and German. Yes, it was very expensive. I loved the mountains always in the background and being near the Lake. It's an exciting city that's very alive.










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