Normally, I don’t plan on making two posts in two days, but, today is my birthday, so I figure I can do whatever I want. Even though 21 doesn’t have any particular significance here in Switzerland, I’m still going to play by American birthday rules.
After our first French class at the Smith Center, the whole Geneva group got together for a pizza lunch. Madame Chantre somehow knew it was my birthday (I did not tell her) and brought cakes. Coincidentally, Yifei’s birthday is on Saturday, so we got to sing for her as well. We had three cakes from a local bakery; lemon meringue, chocolate mousse, and passionfruit with pistachios.
After cake (and an interesting rendition of a half French/half English “Happy Birthday”), Madame Chantre took us on a walking tour of Geneva. She is a native New Yorker who walks very fast, but she gave us a lot of good information on where to buy stuff, where the train station is, etc. The highlight of the tour was going to Lac Leman (the giant lake in the middle of the city), where we saw a whole bunch of GIGANTIC swans and geese (about the size of a 3 year-old child). While the view of the mountains and the lake and stuff was amazing, I just could not get over the size of those birds. Are they normally that big?
Anyways, after the giant birds, we took a boat across the lake. The public transportation is fantastic here, and people can cross the lake in yellow boats just like they would use the trams or buses to traverse the city streets. From the other side of the lake, Mme. Chantre left us in the shopping district right next to the old town. Brianna and I debated for a few minutes about buying all the chocolate we saw, but ultimately decided against it. Not really knowing where we were, we walked toward the giant steeple of Le Cathedral Saint Pierre. A landmark of Geneva, Le Cathedral did not disappoint. Even though it is currently being renovated, both the inside and outside were breathtaking. After leaving the church, Brianna and I ran into another friend from the program, who invited us inside the L’Homme Saint Pierre, the other residence for the Smith program. The view from roof of L’Homme Saint Pierre reminded me of the chimney sweep scene from Mary Poppins, and I wanted to go hopping across the rooftops just like Dick van Dyke did.
To cap the day off, I Skyped with my extended family and ate some Swiss chocolate while they cut the birthday cake for me and my twin brother, James. Though he denies it, I maintain that I am now the older twin because Geneva is six hours ahead of the east coast. Victory at last!
Julia in Geneva 