I'm HERE!

The Journey....

On Monday evening, I said goodbye to America and the familiar. I was feeling a little blue, so I watched Monsters University on the plane to cheer me up. I had a whole row of three seats to myself and was able to lie out and sleep. Once I arrived in London I had a wait until my flight to Geneva. I made myself at home with some Cadbury's chocolate and Starbucks coffee. While waiting for the departures board to announce my gate I started talking to the woman next to me who was British but had funnily enough lived in Lausanne of all places! My flight to Geneva was delayed but I again had an empty seat next to me and plenty of space. Once I arrived in Geneva, I had to wait for awhile to get through passport control before getting my bags. Unfortunately, in order to get a cart to put the suitcases on I needed either a 2 Swiss franc coin or a 2 Euro coin, neither of which I had! I ended up having to buy something at an airport shop in Euros (which I fortunately had, thanks mom!) and get Euro coins in change. (I did all this in a mixture of French/English which was funny later but not at the time...) I was finally able to get my cart, load up my suitcases and walk out to meet up with Andrew and Claire Livingstone. With their help, we got on the train (the station is right there in the airport-very convenient) to Lausanne and to the Livingstones apartment where I'll be staying for the next night or two while I settle in and get orientated a bit.

First Impressions...

Lausanne is gorgeous! Even with it spitting rain and gray skies overhead, there is no denying the majesty of the mountains and the charm of the historic buildings and narrow streets. The Livingstones took me for afternoon tea in the old town part of Lausanne. (We walked and metro-ed, not far at all.) Then we came back via the university metro stops so kind of got glimpses of the university. 

Switzerland makes me feel poor! Everything here is priced SO much higher than at home. 

I love technology. My phone was able to receive and send calls to the US, clear as a bell (although I may pay for that later) and I got to Skype my mom briefly.

That's all for now, I will put in a few photos I took on my phone but I'm hoping for a prettier day to get some really fabulous photos of the lake and mountains. 

in the heart of Lausanne

From the train to Lausanne from Geneva

There's the lake, which we call Lake Geneva and they call Lac Léman