How do you measure a year?

In the musical Rent (which, for the record, I have never seen) they have this famously obnoxious song Seasons of Love where they remind you how many minutes are in a year (525,600, in case you're curious) and ask the question: how do you measure a year in the life? Apart from minutes they propose several solutions, you could measure a year in daylights, in sunsets, in midnights, in cups of coffee, in inches, in miles (well, I guess not in Switzerland!), in laughter, in strife. The one solution they come to is how about love? Specifically, and hence the song title, seasons of love. Despite the fact that the number of minutes is technically incorrect (according to Google anyway), I think the question is actually more valid than the proposed response. How DO you measure a year in the life?

A year ago today I arrived in Switzerland. So I'm commemorating this momentous occasion by writing a blog post. In college in one of my creative writing classes we read an excerpt of a book called The Things They Carried by Time O'Brien. This collection of short stories tells you about a group of American soldiers in Vietnam by describing what they carried with them. It allowed the readers to really get an idea for what these men valued, how they spent their time and what they needed to survive. In a similar vein, I'm going to tell you about about the things I'm carrying these days.

In my purse one thing you would currently find is a copy of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in French. Language is definitely an area in which I've grown and improved in over this past year. I decided to read Harry Potter because then I wouldn't get bogged down in comprehension since I already know the story, but instead I would be able to learn new vocabulary in context. For example, today while reading Harry Potter (it's the same name in French just with slightly different pronunciation) I learned that "avoir une peur bleue," which literally translates "to have a blue fear," means "to be scared to death." The greatest thing about learning this little phrase was that no one told me what it meant, I didn't have to look it up, I could totally figure it out from the context. What a huge encouragement!

In my purse you would also find my planner. It's full of reminders of meetings with people, meetings for planning, and academic calendar dates. My planner last year also was full of homework assignments for my classes. I took courses in literature, culture, language, and more. The classes definitely helped improve my French but were also a great place to meet international students from all over the world. The planner helps me stay organized and to make the most of my time.

In my purse you would find the most important book of all which is, of course, my Bible. More than a book, what is says is what everything I do here kind of revolves around. "Go and make disciples of all nations." It is also a great guide, comfort, and mirror-check.

In my purse you would find my wallet which is filled with Monopoly-like money known as Swiss francs (CHF). In the US every bill is green and the same size with a different guy's face on it and we have one, two, five, ten, twenty, fifty, and one hundred bills. In Switzerland, the franc bills vary in color and they only have bills starting at tens, so the other denominations are coins. The ten is orange, the twenty is red, the fifty is green, the one hundred is blue. When we go to an ATM in the US even if we take out $100 we would probably still get it in twenties. Here 100 bills are pretty much normal and they never seem to really go very far. I often feel quite poor in Switzerland! Also, the smallest coin is 5 centimes and it is the only coin that is gold in color instead of silver. There are no pennies! Anyways, all this on currency to say that I've gradually adjusted to what the money looks like and kind of gotten used to the fact that I have four currencies in my apartment (dollars, pounds, euros and francs). Also, how rich do I sound if I say I have a Swiss bank account?!?!

In my purse you would find some other junk like American chapstick, American chewing gum, American sunglasses, but my iPhone with a British flag cover. Along with the Swiss driver's license in my wallet, I guess you could conclude that I am just a little bit cross-culturally confused.

In my purse I did not find all of the words to really sum up and measure this year in Lausanne. It's been an incredible adventure and I'm glad it's not over yet! Thank you to all of you who made it possible!