Homesick? (posted by Pierre en Suisse)

March 22, 2013

It is unreal to me that I have been here already for eight weeks. I continuously keep track of the length of time that I’ve spent here, because whenever I meet someone, especially if they are Swiss, one of the first things they’ll ask is how long I’ve been here. With each passing week, as that number has grown larger, the question started to come up as to whether or not I was homesick at all. My answer? Nope, not really.

Switzerland certainly is a different place than the United States, in very simple ways. What I would normally use at home for a sandwich, for example, was called “sacrilege” by a Swiss friend, since the Swiss standard of bread is much higher than my own. It’s also starting to strike me just how old certain things can be here. While walking through the city, I could pass a site built in the medieval ages, any number of castles, or even a site with Ancient Roman Ruins! When I think about the fact that the first British settlers in the United States arrived in the 1600s, it is really quite impressive to think what an “old” building means to a European compared with me, as an American!

The variety of languages here never ceases to amaze me. Switzerland itself recognizes four national languages: French, German, Italian, and Romansh. But it doesn’t end there. Swiss German, I have been told, can be spoken differently depending on what region you are in, sometimes even by mountain valley. Swiss Germans write in High German, or standard German, but all speak differently. It is as if they could almost form 26 languages of their own, I have been told. But then it gets even more interesting to see the fact that in the Swiss Parliament, laws are written in French, German, and Italian. When I was doing a project for my Swiss Politics class, I had to learn about a law that was assigned to my group. I discovered that one word in the French version of the law, just in the title of it, was the subject of debate, at least among the francophone members of the Parliament. I wondered to myself if this happens in all of the languages, and if it does, just how amazing that truly is that the country can still function as smoothly as it does with all this diversity of language and thought. With diversity of language always comes diversity of culture, so it is an amazing feature of this country to notice the differences between all the different types of people that are here. I definitely came to question whether the political system in the US could handle something like two or even three national languages being used in the Congress, but given the drastically different size of the country the situation is entirely different.

Language is definitely one of the things that fascinates me the most about being here in Switzerland. I share a flat with a girl from Australia, another American, and then a girl from France and a Swiss guy too. As there are some differences between the French spoken in Switzerland and the French spoken in France, as someone learning the language I absolutely love listening to my flatmates point out their differences, just as I would when talking to someone in the states about the word “wicked” or “y’all”. One big difference in Switzerland is the way that they say numbers. The Swiss have a different way of saying 70, 80, and 90 than the French do, using a much shorter word for each. All of us exchange students really appreciate it because it can be a lot easier for us to say! But again, listening to the exchanges between some of the Swiss and the French about the nuances of their respective languages is always a great opporutunity for me to pull out my phone and continue adding to the massive list of words and phrases I have learned since I got here. If I don’t do that I usually forget, so with each day this list keeps expanding!

So going back to my question of whether or not I’ve missed home: I would have to say it’s hard to miss something that I’m so used to when I’m constantly exposed to new things, interesting people, and can practice my language skills. I’ve not been here long enough to find the mountains that lie just across the lake to be any bit normal, so whenever the sky is clear, they always remind me of how lucky I am to be in such a beautiful place, in a way that is completely different than what I have in Richmond. Am I starting to get adjusted to the life here? I don’t think it’s really possible, when each day comes with new challenges and new adventures and opportunities to learn. I think that is probably the most consistent aspect about life here. No matter what, I am always learning, and no matter what, I love every minute of it.

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Suivre: to follow (Posted by Pierre en Suisse)

March 8, 2013

As I am writing this, my third week of the semester here at the University of Lausanne is coming to a close. What this means is that the first real week of classes has just finished. At UNIL, there is a two week grace period to try out all the classes you’d like. Unlike at UR where you need to register the semester before and classes often fill up, at UNIL, you can go to any course or seminar you want for the first two weeks without signing up for it to decide if you will take it or not. It provides the opportunity for the professor to really go over what the course will be like, present the syllabus, and also present the grading method. There are several different ways that a student can be evaluated here, depending on the format of the course even. There are two different types of courses that students can take at UNIL, or at least in the faculty (school) of political science: courses, or seminars. Courses are generally lecture style with a large number of students, where the professor presents the information, people can ask questions, and there is minimal interaction in many cases. At the end of the course, students take some form of an exam. Like at Richmond, this can be a formal written exam, a written paper that is due on a certain date, or alternatively, an oral exam with the professor. Sometimes, there is no exam but students are just regularly evaluated throughout the semester. In courses, the entire final grade can be based on the exam result. This is something that is very intimidating for me, as I get nervous when a final exam at Richmond is worth thirty percent of my grade, never mind eighty percent or more! Alternatively, students can take seminar courses. Seminars are very similar to the classes at Richmond, where there’s a lot of discussion, group work, presentations, however the only difference is that there’s no final grade at the end. Students get evaluated essentially pass/fail, with an attestation if the student passes, or an “échec” if not.

Going back to the title of this blog post: suivre, meaning “to follow.” In French, one says “je vais suivre ce cours” which technically means I am going to follow this course, rather than how in English we would say “I am taking this course.” For my program, I decided to suivre (take) two courses and two seminars in the Political Science faculty, and two courses in the French as a Foreign Language faculty. Yes, this sounds like a lot since four or five courses is the normal load at Richmond, but typically students can take as many as seven courses here! My classes are all instructed in French. The only difference is that in the political science faculty, the classes are catered to native French speakers. This is definitely where I find the verb choice to be quite ironic. Rather than me saying to myself, “oh yeah I’m taking this course,” I really will start thinking, “oh I’m following this course! Wait, but am I really following what the professor is saying?” I don’t, however, regret for a second taking the courses in French. Because the French I have been learning at Richmond for the past two and a half years is very scholastic French, I can generally follow the professors quite well. They use the same very formal register of the language when instructing that my professors at Richmond use. However, they do speak a bit faster. Luckily as well, many of the terms that are used in a French sociology text for example are very similar to words in English, so I can pretty easily figure things out when doing assignments or just in general listening in class.

So what am I actually taking now that my two week trial period is done? A mix of sociology courses, one political science course, and two French as a foreign language classes. To highlight some of them, my political science class is called Swiss Politics, since I figured it would be a good idea to learn about the country I am studying in while I am here. I also am in a course called Sociology of Work, which I think is going to be absolutely fascinating to learn about all of the trends in history and what it really means to work. I am also really excited about my French Structuration and Production class, one of the French as a foreign language courses, because the professor really teaches it with the goal of helping us develop a more familiar, casual register of the language for our every day interactions. We are constantly telling stories in class of mistakes we may have made with the language in different situations, pointing out what we learned from those mistakes, listening to music in French to see just how different the casual language is compared to the scholarly French, and many other activities to develop a different level of understanding of French. I will say for sure it is going well, and it is definitely helping me to become much more comfortable in the different situations I face, which is after all the goal of the course! Well that’s all for now! As I have learned to say here, à la prochaine! (Until next time!)

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Alpsolutely Amazing! (posted by Pierre en Suisse)

March 1, 2013

Okay, so quick confession: I have been to the Alps so far about three times and I have yet to actually write about it. When I say I have been to the Alps three times, I am talking about skiing. What’s it like here in Europe? Well my title says a lot, because it is just incredible!

I had always planned on doing some skiing while in Switzerland, but I honestly had no idea what to expect, aside from huge mountains of course. I have skied my entire life but mostly on the East Coast, and have been out west before as well. As many of my friends know, I could tell you basically anything you would want to know about North American skiing, but Europe was a mystery! Someone had told me once that Europeans spend more time just relaxing while at the mountains and skiing every now and then. Someone else had also told me that in Europe you spend half the day going up the mountain and the other half actually skiing down. Both of these myths have not ended up being my actual experience. However, I can happily report that skiing here is better than I could have ever imagined! I’ll do my best to actually describe it, but I warn you it is difficult to put into words.

Because Switzerland is a country completely connected by rails, the ski day starts for us with a train ride into the mountains. The first morning I went, I was on the train at 6:30 in the morning while it was still completely dark. About an hour later, when the sun began to rise my view from the train window was just the silhouettes of the jagged summits and snow-covered peaks of the mountains. Once off the train, we always have to take a connector bus or an additional train to get to the actual mountain. I won’t lie, Swiss engineering is impressive. The first place that I went to, or “station” as it is called in French, was really far from the train and required a bus ride to get there. The roads are a continuous series of windy turns as you head up the steep sides of the mountain. In many instances, there need to be tunnels to get around. Whatever the case, I couldn’t help but wonder how people were able to live in this country before the modern technology that was put in place to simply move around. It was impressive to see what people are capable of doing! This may be worth looking into more, but hopefully it is done in the most environmentally conscious manner possible.

The actual skiing is completely different than what I am used to. As soon as you get to the top of one of these mountains, you are above tree line. That means it is completely wide open, unlike what I am used to where there are trees lining the trails. You can also be at the top just looking at glaciers all around you. These can be quite scary but at the same time amazingly impressive to just see the blue crystallized ice that has been there for such a long time! It is also deceiving for me of how high these mountains are. Because everything is in metrics here, I’ll be at the top of a mountain and everyone around me will be gawking at the fact that they are 3500 meters in the air! The first time this happened, we literally rode the highest mountain subway in the world. It was an actual train to carry skiers through a tunnel to the very top of the skiable area. When we got to the top, we had to walk up a set of stairs to get out of the “metro.” It hit me just how high we were when I got light headed and had to sit for a while to adjust to breathing the thin air. While waiting, I looked on my phone for the conversion and realized that we had started out at 5,905 feet at the base of the mountain, and by the time we were at the top, we were almost 11,500 feet high. Like I said, the elevation really hit me when we were at the top. But the views are unreal! Everything at the top is so open! From one of the places, I could see Italy at the top! At another one, I could see France (even though I can see France every day just across the lake). It is simply a magnificent scene; pictures cannot do it justice.

Alps2

Alps3

 

Alps1

Skiing adventures will keep coming, and I will say I am especially excited for next weekend, when we will have a three day trip planned by the exchange student association here in Lausanne. Because skiing is literally such a part of the culture here in Switzerland, they said it was necessary for them to host one. I’m excited! But that’s all for now! Until next time, à bien tôt!

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Bernin it up! (posted by Pierre en Suisse)

February 22, 2013

Bonjour à toutes et tous! This is to say, hello to all ! This is typically how emails that I receive from the University begin. For those of you who are not familiar with the French language, toutes and tous both mean “all,” so essentially I just said hello to all! However, in French there are also the different genders. As such, it is necessary in various circumstances to use both the masculine and feminine forms when sending mass emails or writing to many people! It doesn’t happen all the time, but it does often with official emails. Hope you enjoyed your free French lesson of the day!

What a whirlwind the past two weeks have been. To sum it up really fast before reading on, I have experienced fondue and the festival known as Carnaval. Within the course of a quick four days, I feel as if I got a lot of Swiss culture really fast, but it was all amazing! I will start with the food.

Last week, I went out to fondue with my cours de vacances class, which you may remember reading about in my last entry. Fondue is a very traditional Swiss meal. It is not the typical chocolate fondue that we like to think of using fruit, although one can find it. Rather the Swiss eat bread, a mixture of cheese, and then finish the meal off with wine or tea. The cheeses most typically used are gruyere and emmenthal, melted together in a pot. At the restaurant, we were presented with a plate of bread, and it is your job to take a piece, break it up, put it onto the “fork” and cover it in cheese.

Cheese for the fondue! Bread is dipped into this pot

Cheese for the fondue!

The utensil used was something that I’m used to roasting marshmallows on. It is also critical to make sure you don’t delicately or lightly cover it just to taste the cheese. It was completely obvious to all Swiss people around me that it was my first time eating fondue. I was instructed by a friend who comes from the German part of Switzerland to completely sink the piece of bread into the cheese, then pull it out and let the excess cheese fall off. One also must pay close attention that the bread doesn’t fall off of the “fork” because then the person who lost it needs to either sing or do some other embarrassing task that the table decides. Luckily, this didn’t happen to me. When the cheese is all gone, there is usually some burned cheese left on the bottom of the fondue bowl. According to the fondue experts, this is the best part, and cannot be left! I tried it and must say I loved it. While this entire meal is going on, you need to drink either white wine or tea with the fondue. Otherwise, your stomach is going to be left to digest a block of cheese. While it was very filling and unlike anything else I’ve ever eaten, I did absolutely love it and I am excited for the next time I’ll get to try it!

The food experience certainly doesn’t stop there. This weekend I also got to go to a Swiss festival known as Carnaval! It is very similar to the idea of Mardi Gras, though it happens throughout the country on various dates, beginning anywhere from the weekend before Ash Wednesday to the end of May in some cases. On Saturday morning, a friend and I hopped on a train and headed into Bern for Carnaval in the Swiss capitol city. After a breathtaking train ride through the mountains, we arrived in the city, without a single idea of where to go! Our friend who had planned it wasn’t able to go at the last minute, so we had to improvise in order to figure out where to go. The one thing we did know about Carnaval is that people would be dressed in very colorful costumes. Luckily, we saw some people dressed up for the party and followed them from the train station into the city, until we found where we were supposed to be. Along the way, we saw some of the famous sites such as the Swiss Parliament building, and the most elaborate clock tower I have ever seen (so far). Included in this tour was trying probably way too much food that we found at various street vendors lining the main street of the festival. We ate things such as tarte flambée, crêpes, and of course, German sausage. With our stomachs filled, we lined the street with the rest of the carnaval-goers! In Bern, it is tradition to commence carnaval celebrations with a freeing of the bear that had been captured and held in prison for its winter sleep, and so the parade begins with the bear leading the way.

The carnival parade starts when the bear comes marching through the street!

Parade starts when the bear comes marching through the street!

After the mascot passes through the street, there are marching bands dressed unlike anything you will ever see in your life, playing all kinds of music, and throwing candy to the crowds. There is also a lot of confetti throwing. If you ever go to a Carnaval in Switzerland, don’t be surprised when a kid maybe as young as six year old looks up at you, takes a handful of confetti from a bag, and throws it right up at you with a huge triumphant smile. People usually have confetti of their own to throw right back at whoever throws it at them, but my friend and I didn’t know about this before everything began, so we generally just laughed with surprise when we would get covered in all sorts of colors. I absolutely loved Bern! The city was truly quite beautiful and the festival was amazingly fun!

So many colors at the carnival parade!

So many colors!

There were many creatures like this who also joined in throwing confetti throughout the parade

There were many creatures like this who also joined in throwing confetti

Probably my favorite site at Carnaval was this lady, who was dressed like a snail and walking at the same speed as a snail (despite kids throwing confetti at her the whole time). A good idea of the carnival atmosphere

Probably my favorite site at Carnaval was this lady, who was dressed like a snail and walking at the same speed as a snail (despite kids throwing confetti at her the whole time)

This week has been the first week of classes. Stay tuned for my next post to hear about just how very different of an experience trying to get settled into classes here at a large university has been, and also to get a glimpse of some photos of the Alps, as this weekend I’m headed skiing! Thanks for reading, and à bien tôt!

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Courses, Travels, and Cheese (posted by Pierre en Suisse)

February 13, 2013

Salut! I am now entering my third week here in Switzerland, and I can comfortably say that I’m getting settled into life here. Over the past two weeks, I have been participating in the University of Lausanne’s cours de vacances (vacation course). The course is designed for people of all ages and all levels of French who wish to improve their French language skills. There are three different levels, and I am in the class which is essentially been a preparatory course for taking classes in French at a Francophone university for students whose maternal language is not French. The class has students from all over the world; I have met people from the German part of Switzerland, Russia, Australia, Mexico, and other places, of a variety of ages as well. I am on the younger end of the spectrum, as the course is open to people of all ages who wish to improve their French. With such a diversity of people, it is pretty amazing to hear all the languages that can be spoken at once. One morning in particular, I remember reading an article in English while having a conversation in French at the same time, and hearing people speaking German around me; while all this was happening, one Russian girl even began speaking to another in Russian at one point to figure out how to say something in French. Yes, it can be a tad confusing at times but overall I think it is amazing.

One day after class last week I hopped on a train to go to Geneva. The university has a program that pairs exchange students with Swiss students to introduce us to Switzerland and help us get adjusted as well. My partner lives in Geneva right now. Luckily, the Swiss rail system is incredible, and after a quick half hour train ride without a single stop from Lausanne and some really pretty views of the snow-covered Swiss countryside, I was back in Geneva! This time I got to see more than just the inside of the airport; I got almost a full tour around the city!  I learned quite a bit about the city that I didn’t realize before, such as the fact that the famous philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau was born there, and not in Paris as many people believe. I got to see his statue, and also the entire city from the top of a church roof!

Statue of Jean Jacques Rousseau in Geneva!, because this is his birthplace

Statue of Jean Jacques Rousseau in Geneva

Went to the top of this church in Geneva and got a view of the entire city! It's truly beautiful

Went to the top of this church in Geneva and got a view of the entire city

This is a rare occurrence in Switzerland at this time of year, because of how much it likes to rain and be cloudy in these parts during the winter. The city seems like quite a great place to live! There are a ton of parks, places to go swimming, and beautiful views.

View of Geneva from the top of the church! Made possible because of gorgeous weather

View of Geneva from the top of the church

The city’s public transportation network, just like that of the other places in Switzerland I have seen, was also quite interesting. There were buses and trams, which were a new site to me. I am extremely interested in urban studies, and as such it was really cool for me to see how advanced the city was in its transportation network. I’ve found that its the same in Lausanne. The metro lines are always running on time, and are so very clean and up to date. The buses even generally run on time, except for a few very rare times that they have been one or two minutes off in the morning rush to work and in my case, school. The Swiss stereotype of being on time definitely holds true!

I am also happy to report that the chocolate has been incredible, as I was expecting. I will admit I never go a single day without it. While prices of basically everything are really expensive here, the grocery stores always have bargain products which are still an incredible quality, and cost far less than the rest of the selection. I won’t lie though, going to the small patisseries and fromageries is my favorite shopping experience. My flatmate and I walked into a patisserie one morning for croissants for breakfast, and we essentially began drooling over everything we saw. The assortment of breakfast foods and breads just looked so good! The two ladies who I am assuming owned the store saw the looks on our faces and had to ask us if everything was okay, we were just so excited! We explained how we were here on exchange and this was our first time in Switzerland with a selection like what was there. We got pain au chocolate aka croissant-like bread filled with chocolate, and then a croissant au jambon which is a croissant filled with ham and cheese. Another time, I visited a small cheese shop, called a fromagerie to buy local cheese. I had asked a Swiss person for some advice on what to buy since there are just so many cheeses, and I wanted to try something really local to the area. Armed with some recommendations, I went in and was still overwhelmed, but I explained to the shop owner in French that I was American and I was here for studies and was investigating cheese. He helped me out quite a bit with the different types of cheeses and sold me two very traditional cheeses, called emmental and gruyere, just to start me off. He also explained to me that it would be a good idea to start off with lighter cheeses before moving on to the stronger stuff, so I really appreciated his advice! I made a second trip back there after I finished my first cheeses and they remembered my face and helped me buy other types after I told them what I liked! Can’t beat service like that!

Needless to say, life so far in Switzerland has been great! I am enjoying my time here immensely, and am really looking forward to next week when I will be starting real classes here at UNIL. I have some ideas of what I will take, but nothing set in stone just yet. More on that next time though!

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Culture Shocked! (posted by Pierre en suisse)

February 1, 2013

Madames et Monsieurs:

Bonjour! As I write this, my first week in Lausanne, Switzerland, is coming to a close. It has been such an incredible week; trying to collect all of my thoughts in order to write this has been such a challenge! A French word that describes what I am currently experiencing is habitué (hah-bit-chu-ay; or go on google translate to hear it said if you like) which means, not surprisingly, to accustom, to get used to, or to habituate oneself. Fortunately, I can report that this process is going quite well!

No matter how well my adaptation here has been going, there is still a huge list of things that I could never have been prepared for. As silly as this sounds, I was not really prepared to start speaking French at first! I first realized this when I stepped onto the airplane and was greeted with “bonne soir monsieur!” rather than good evening, like I would have expected. When I stepped off the plane and was in the Geneva Airport, my first step was to go through customs; when the official was asking me to step forward in French, he had to repeat himself several times before it registered with me that I had to move. If I got into anyone’s way while walking through the airport, my gut reaction was to say “oh sorry!” after this happened several times though, I remembered that I should be speaking French instead, and say pardon! If you read my first post, Last night in the US, you may recall that I was very nervous to come here, since it is my first time traveling abroad. I was really afraid that I would have trouble getting from the airport itself to Lausanne. I did make it though, finally, and it was magnificent! I took a taxi from the train station to my hotel, and successfully had my first conversation in French with the taxi driver who did not speak any English.  I was so proud afterwards! After checking in at my hotel, I quickly set out to explore the city.

Beautiful buildings here in the heart of Lausanne!

Beautiful buildings here!

Another beautiful building, with such unique architecture!

Another beautiful building!

The buildings are a very interesting mixture between medieval architecture with some very modern twists here and there. However, amidst the cobblestone streets and pastel-colored buildings, there were so many people! Lausanne is a small city with about 300,000 people living there. However, walking through the streets, even on a Saturday and Sunday as I did the next day, it felt like I was in one of the busiest parts of New York City! Unfortunately on my first day, it was cloudy and I could not see the mountains. However, I reminded myself that there would be plenty of opportunities for this.

I don't think a picture will ever fully capture how beautiful these Swiss mountains are...ill keep trying though

I don’t think a picture will ever fully capture how beautiful these mountains are…i’ll keep trying though

The next morning, when I left my hotel room to go downstairs for breakfast, I am not lying nor exaggerating when I say the smell of fresh croissants greeted me. It was too good to be true, I thought, until I headed down and saw the breakfast display. It was as if I had never seen food before; I had no idea at first what to do to put a meal together. There were familiar things like fruit, bread, coffee, and nutella, but then there were other things that I was not expecting: swiss yogurt, which I discovered to be a bit more liquidy than the greek yogurt I usually eat at D-Hall but yet still so very delicious, different types of jams that I had never seen before, and various types of cheese spreads. I had never seen cheese like this at breakfast, so it really took me by surprise. When I chose a table, I noticed there was an empty jar in the middle. I had no idea what its purpose was at first, until I saw people around me putting things like food wrappers into them. This was how to get rid of my food trash, and to leave a clean plate for the staff to take away!

The list of surprises does not stop here. In the US, I am so used to having shops and stores, especially for food, open fairly late. Here in Switzerland, it seems like almost every store is closed by 7 pm, and it seems like anywhere for food that is still open after that is too expensive. It can be very difficult to find something after a certain time, so I have learned that planning ahead is very necessary. Another of my favorite differences is the vending machines for coffee that one can find spread out around the university. Even if you don’t have a cup with you, the machine will produce a small plastic cup for you if you ask for it. The coffee that is consumed here can fit in these cups. It is much more similar to an espresso than it is a typical Starbucks coffee. This also means it is much stronger, and for a coffee addict like myself, this has been an interesting adjustment. It has also been an adjustment for me to get used to the metro system here. It is not that the system itself is confusing, but the trains and buses at first can be a source of confusion. The doors don’t typically open by themselves; you must press a button at the nearest door to open it, or else you won’t get on the train. Before I learned this, I did miss a train once. I expected the door to open, and stood there staring at it, and nothing was happening. Eventually it just left the station, with me standing there feeling embarrassed. Luckily this hasn’t happened since then because I did learn quite quickly how the system works.

A brand new concept for me: coffee vending machines, right in my university!

A brand new concept for me: coffee vending machines

It is a huge understatement to say things are different here. Overall though, it is a great difference, and I know that in the coming months that I am here I will learn so much. I already notice my French improving a little bit, but it may also be that I am gaining more confidence in speaking with others. One of the main reasons that I chose to come to Lausanne rather than a large city like Paris was because I expected in a smaller city that there would be less people who would speak to me in English. This has held true, and there have been plenty of times where I would go to look for something like a cell phone and I would have no option but to speak French to understand my options. I think that this is going to be very beneficial in the end, even though at this point it can still be a bit difficult. But in any case, there are plenty more adventures and tales to come, but in the mean time, à bientôt!

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Last night in the US! (posted by Pierre en Suisse)

January 25, 2013

Hello! Or as they will say in Switzerland, bonjour! My name is Peter CampoBasso, and I will be writing this blog over the next twelve weeks about my journeys, trials, and tribulations in Switzerland. Why so dramatic about the trials and tribulations? I have never been abroad before! This will be my first time ever leaving the safety and comfort of the United States, unless you count my family’s one trip to Niagara Falls, where we were on the Canadian side for less than twelve hours. We didn’t even need passports back then! Thus, tomorrow will mark the first time in my mind that I have ever left United States territory!

Why did I choose to study in Switzerland? I was looking for a program in Europe where I could have a truly authentic European experience, but also where I could speak French. I chose this program in Lausanne over another in Paris because this would be an exchange program, meaning I would be studying at a European university with European students, rather than an American-run program with other American students. I thought this would help me to better practice the language, which is ultimately the real reason I am studying abroad. No better way to learn French than to be in a Francophone country! I am a Leadership Studies major with a concentration in Urban Studies, and a French minor along with an Education and Society minor. The classes I had to choose from at this University that I could take in French all seemed to fit most in line with my interests. Plus, I am enrolled in a three-week long French immersion program to prepare my language skills for the university classes. This was one of the biggest draws to the University of Lausanne, because no other universities that I was looking at offered a comparable program.

If I attempted to say that I wasn’t nervous about going, I’d be lying. Yes, I am looking forward to speaking French every day to the point where my brain hurts, yes I can’t wait to have a beautiful view of both the Alps and of Lake Geneva (or Lac Leman as I understand the locals call it) every day for the next five months, and yes I can’t wait to eat absurd amounts of Swiss chocolate. And not to be stereotypical, but I am so excited to live at Euro-sophistication status while I am away. But again, this being my first time leaving the US, this is bound to be a memorable experience.

The first day that I land will be one that I will never forget. I will land in Geneva after a nonstop flight from New York City, and have to navigate the Swiss rail network on my own to get to Lausanne, which is about an hour train ride. I hope I don’t get lost! I have this recurring nightmare that I will ask someone for directions, misunderstand them, and end up on a train to the Principality of Lichtenstein or something. Assuming I get to Lausanne in one piece, I will have to find my way to my hotel where I will spend the first two nights, and spend the rest of the day trying to entertain myself. Maybe I’ll do something productive like get things I need, such as bedding? Definitely not. I’m going to explore, the second that I drop all of my bags off in my room. If there’s one thing I learned from packing tonight, it’s that suitcases can fit far more than any suitcase company wants you to know. Every single empty air space in mine is packed with something. I was pretty impressed when I finished!

My packed bags. I give the international students who can travel with less so much credit! It was so difficult to pack for the semester!

My packed bags. I give the international students who can travel with less so much credit!

My biggest fear is honestly language. I feel pretty confident with my French language skills, but what if the Swiss have an accent I cannot understand? What if I can’t find the words to express something I want to say? Will I just have to speak English? I started taking French my first year at U of R, and two and a half years later, I find myself on the eve of leaving for the real test of what I’ve learned. One of my major goals is to speak as little English as possible so that I can improve my French immensely. I am confident this will happen.

In any case, I am as ready as ever to get on that plane! After seeing the Inauguration on Monday and having a stereotypical American dinner of burgers and fries, I can safely say that the past few days have been especially America-filled.

Last "American" dinner with my family, the evening before leaving for Switzerland

Last “American” dinner with my family!

 

I’m ready for my journey. In my excitement to go abroad, I have been checking the weather in Lausanne every day for the past three months. I expect it to be around freezing with some snow on the ground. I am going armed with my new pair of boots I got in expectation of more snow than we could ever imagine in Richmond. It sure is a good thing that I grew up in New England and love winter! Be on the lookout in the next week for my post about my arrival! I will report on how well (or miserably) my first day goes, and have some pictures of the scenery! À bientôt!

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