Salut

We had off from classes today due to Pentecost – the French love their holidays so we’ve found that any reason they have to not work they’ll take it. It surprised me though since really classes only last for about five and a half weeks that they’d be so willing to give us a day off seemed interesting. But when in France…do as the French (for the most part). So I figured I’d write up a little blog about my weekend adventures before heading out to the park with some friends to throw a Frisbee this afternoon.

Genva

Saturday we headed into Geneva, Switzerland. It was gorgeous, I seriously don’t even know where to start describing the city. There were a few of us and we kinda split up because a small group wanted to more shopping while the group I was in was more interested in sight-seeing. So we headed to a Voltaire museum that was closed but still really pretty, before grabbing a light lunch and heading to the Geneva botanical gardens. One of the guys in our group, Jon, is a natural resources major so he really wanted to see it. The gardens were spectacular – everything was so pretty. Their exposition was Edelweiss, which was awesome! I may have “accidently” picked one so I could press it.

Edelweiss and the Sound of Music? Well played Switzerland

After the gardens we headed to the museum of art and history, which was a really nice museum. We got to see another Monet, which is never a bad thing. By that time we pretty much just headed back towards the bus, we just hung out in a park for a bit. It was a really great day. One of the things that sticks out the most was when we were on the bus to the botanical gardens (which was free- free public transportation is amazing) Jon was asking a man for directions to the gardens and he asked if we were American since Jon was speaking French to him. Turns out that he had lived in Miami for a while doing work with our military. He was a really nice man who had no problem telling us how much he liked Americans. He said that while the government may not be the best all the time the people were lovely. It’s moments like that that are so reassuring. Sometimes it’s hard to judge how people will react when they find out you’re from the States but this instance was for the best, before he got off at his stop he once again told us how much he liked Americans.

Poppies in the Botanical Gardens

Sunday was just a lazy day for us, a few of us headed to a rugby tournament in the morning; it was pretty much from five year olds to more high school age. It was definitely an interesting thing to see. I really wish Rugby was a more popular sport in the States because it’s so interesting to watch. After that we headed out to the lake for a few hours. It was a great afternoon of just relaxing by the lake and mountains. I was listening to Adele for a while and the mixture of her voice, the scenery and sun was glorious.

This week will probably be a much more relaxed week for me, classes again Tuesday-Friday, and then this weekend is a trip to Paris that I opted out of going on. I’ve already been and to be honest it wasn’t my favorite city so I didn’t really feel like going. I think I’ll take the time with the other people who aren’t going to explore Chambery some more. We are touring a liquor cellar on Thursday so that should be fun. 

I hope everyone is well,
I miss you all and love you guys!