As I'm writing this, I'm still sitting in Chris's room at Le Cenacle in Geneva, Switzerland.. but my bags are all packed, he isn't here and I don't think I could be any sadder at the thought of leaving.. I've loved Switzerland, it's an absolutely gorgeous country with a backdrop of none other than the Swiss Alps and beautiful cobblestone walkways and fountains and fine dining and AH.. so much. But, I'd be just as sad leaving that infamous apartment in Columbus, Ohio as I am to leave Geneva.. and not to put down Ohio, but the only thing that Columbus, Ohio from a few months ago and present-day Geneva have in common is one thing - my boyfriend.
I've been here since last Thursday evening. On the train voyage here, during which I may have overreacted a bit (sorry!), I got lost and flustered being that French makes about as much sense to me as ancient hieroglyphics, and much to my surprise, I bumped into another American girl my age, who was looking for the same train, had just gotten in as part of her fall break from London and was meeting up with friends in Geneva as well. Sometimes, you just have to love globalization. Studying abroad makes you suddenly sympathize with any foreigner whom every American at some point or another was guilty of bashing for "not learning the language." Regardless, I eventually found my way to the main train station, and without a functioning phone, it felt so good to see him standing there. I wanted to throw my luggage aside and leap to hug him, but remembering that my new friend had more or less saved me from curling up into a ball and crying in the middle of the airport, I elected to put that on hold.
Anyway, the night was so much fun - even taking the tram and getting my first glimpse of the city and Jet D'Eau (which I've decided is so far one of my favorite sights that I've seen thus far in Europe) was so much fun. And I can't lie, even though Chris likes to relapse into Engrench on occasion, it was impressive to see him speak French to some of the passersby :) The rest of the night was awesome, except if I remember correctly, we went out to party and have a good time at Spring Brothers bar with a bunch of his friends, and within ten minutes I had horrible stomach pains to the point where Chris and I barely finished a beer before we headed back to Le Cenacle. Gotta hate that sometimes, but seeing as I had an exhausting day and barely slept the night before, it was probably best that we head back early. If I had to walk the mile and a half back (in heels, nonetheless) I don't know how I ever would have made it..
That Friday, I sat in on Chris's Swiss Life & Cultures class - which was absolutely comical. I realize my British Life & Cultures class is sort of a joke because we're barely actually ever IN a classroom, and my professor makes me giggle like an idiot because he reminds me of one of the main characters from Big Bang Theory on CBS, only he's ten times funnier solely because he has an insanely thick British accent. But regardless, their "professor"(??) more or less stood there for three hours and completely made up stuff about the Genevois as if she had done years of research... it was pretty hilarious, and what was even more hysterical was how EVERYONE was on their computers talking to each other. I suppose that means I should give prop to my BLC professor, because he at least disguises himself for being knowledgeable enough that less than half the class is on facebook when he talks. That's pretty impressive for an abroad class, I'd have to guess...
That night we went out to a classier bar (or two?) which was awesome because I'm not sure the two of us ever went alone to a bar before? (Being that I'm still only 20, that would be a legitimate reason why)... it was so much fun, and afterwards, we met up with the crew at Spring Brothers - and being a little ridiculous was just as fun as well. Not to mention it felt good to be in a sports bar, despite being 3,000 miles away from Yankee Stadium for the WS... but that's besides the point, I guess. Ugh :)
We DID take the walk all the way back at the point - which I should have been discomforted by, but I wasn't in the slightest. In fact, as Chris predicted, the walk more or less flew by haha.
On Saturday we hopped on a bus (without my having money, so of course, I was in fear of getting caughted and being fined $80 for the entire trip) to the Swiss/French border... halfway through the voyage, we realized we were supposed to have our passports. After realizing that passport authority was actually checking people for their credentials, we took a lesson learned from the US/Mexico border and put it to good use - we found a hole in the border fence, hopped it "discretely" and ran like hell.
HILARIOUS. I realize in our minds we probably exaggerated the severity of the situation - in fact, dare I say, we may have been able to walk past the passport authority without them even caring to ask what we were up to - but regardless, it was so hilarious (and SO badass, right?)
So we got kind of lost in a beautiful, more or less deserted French town, before finding our way over to the lifts to climb Mt. Saleve. It was sad that there was a layer of thick, low-lying clouds once we reached a certain altitude (despite it being beautiful, warm and absolutely sunny for our whole voyage to France), but the trip was still so incredible.. and despite what Chris may claim, the photographs are still impressive.
We hiked up the top of Mt. Saleve, plopped ourselves down in a grassy field by a herd of sheep, ate delicious sandwiches and Swiss chocolate and just lied there gazing at the Alps. Incredible... Never undestimate the potentials for study abroad experiences.
We came back to Le Cenacle exhausted, but ready to go out and have a good time. I think that was the night we ended up bar-hopping more or less? We were in search of a jazz club that we failed to find, but stumbled on another cute, overpriced bar, where we ordered pints of 1664 solely because it was the cheapest thing on the menu.. we left there and went to what was more or less an outdoor bar, where we had pints of the same drink for half the price, and somehow, eventually wobbled over to Spring Brothers where we met up with some of the gang again.
I had SUCH an incredibly fun time, even if there were no live bands or dancing or three levels of cheap drink service (I'm obviously describing O'Neills in London's Leicester Square)... it was SUCH a good feeling to not be the sketchball third-wheel at a dance club this time, because this time, I HAD my boyfriend with me. That made it a thousand times better than the best bar I've been to in London thus far.
And, the night ended with us begging a Dutch girl about our age for 40 cents because, as per usual, I was just short of getting bus passage. I've been here 8 days now and have yet to be checked on the public transporation system, but I KNOW that I have such bad luck with t hose things... I couldn't help but notice I'm about 60 cents short for the train from the main station to the airport, and that terrifies me because I KNOW I'd be THAT person who gets caught on my very last public transportation voyage before getting back to London. UGGH.
Anyway, Sunday we laid low despite the fact that we had wanted to visit another town or city in Switzerland.. For photos' sake, I wish we had been able to go somewhere outside of Geneva... but as I'm writing this now, I'm pretty sure I have a fever and my eyes feel like they want to close, despite the fact I slept plenty last night. But, I felt so lousy that I didn't even catch all of Game 2 of the WS last night... so you KNOW I must be under the weather...
Anywho, the rest of the week was fabulous, despite the fact that Chris interns during the week... if I had been more energetic, I'd have gotten my lazy rear-end out of bed when Chris left for work and would have voyaged through Geneva...part of me wishes I had done that more, but most of me realizes that I a.) would've gotten lost and b.) would've spent the whole time pretending I knew what I was doing, without every actually stumbling on anything picture-worthy or notorious. Hahaa. But, I enjoyed sharing all of the lunch breaks with Chris this past week.. and we made sure to try to get out to dinner a couple times at night... although cooking dinners were strangely enjoyable, and staying in with the one you love can never be underestimated.
On Wednesday, Chris came down with something so he ended up staying in from work.. which, although I felt bad, and although it meant we really couldn't go out, I was glad that he was "stuck" with me all day, and the same was true for Thursday.
It seems like I've been here for such a long time because I absolutely love all of his friends here, and I've gotten really good at finding my way through Geneva on my own with very little knowledge of French... but gosh, time always goes by so fast when we visit each other. Oktoberfest in Germany together was hilarious, but I enjoyed the week together in Switzerland so much more, just because it felt like "old" times but in a new, exciting city in Europe. My plane leaves in less than eight hours, which means I'll be at the airport in about 5 and a half.. and Chris won't get out of the GREs until about another five hours... it's always so hard to leave, regardless of "where" it is I'm leaving... so I'm sure I'll sob like I usually do and then, as soon as I get to my flat in London, I'll probably put on sweatpants, climb into bed and watch childrens' Halloween movies all night.. but gosh, this week was worth it so, so much...
P.S. -- I just wanted to point out that the U2 lyrics as a title are to celebrate the fact that summer 2010 tickets go on sale SO SOON!!! AHHHH!!! :)
P.P.S. -- I guess now would be the point to brag that the Yanks tied up the WS and it's still anybody's game now (and by anybody's, I mean anybody's on the Yankees... GO NEW YORK!)
Okay, that's all for now. hahaa
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