Week 4: Switzerland
This week was the end of the Summer School Program. We spent our last week back at Changins University and living in our dorms in Lausanne. We spent most of the week in lectures, which was a little tiring. On Monday night we went to Evian across the lake in the afternoon because it was Bastille Day in France. We got to see the original Evian water spout that the company was started from, and we filled up our water bottles with it. It was a cute little town but everything was pretty expensive, so we spent the rest of the night back in Lausanne with a homemade meal. Having the chance to cook almost every night this week has been really nice. It makes all the difference for how I feel health wise and homesick wise.
On Tuesday through Thursday we got to use a lot of the school’s facilities. It is a small school but they have a great winery with high tech equipment and a great sensory lab for doing analysis. Using this state of the art stuff was nothing like Cal Poly and it was a real treat. On Wednesday night we went to a BBQ in Yverdon. We heard from the CFO of eBay Europa who spoke about making an international career a real possibility. It was one of the most useful speeches I’ve heard in a long time. He had very practical things to say about making the most out of international opportunities and I got very excited about working in London. I also learned that there are about a 100 other students involved in the same summer school program as me. They are going through different schools for different programs, like Computer Science and Communications, but it is all funded by the State of Vaud (the province) School Board of Switzerland. Most of the other kids were from Humbolt State, so they were a little wilder than us, but it was fun to hang out with them all and share experiences. I also ate horse for dinner. I didn’t know what it was until afterwards when someone asked why I hadn’t eaten all my Cheval. It was very grainy and tasted like an overcooked steak. At least I can say I didn’t care for it. I prefer to ride them not eat them.
On Friday we had our final exam which was a lot harder than we thought it would be. Turns out the grade didn’t matter too much, which is good considering all the miscommunication regarding the test, but they just wanted to see how much we retained from the 4 weeks. We had a great closing ceremony with lots of wine and picture taking. The professor who had led us on the program brought out his guitar and sang songs with his daughter. Then we all got up and sang a song the professor had sung for us earlier in the trip. It’s called the “Chasselas Song” and it’s a French song about how to make the wine Chasselas, which is the most widely planted varietal in Switzerland. The professor was surprised and happy that we had tried so hard to learn the French song, and it was a lot of fun trying to sing it. Afterwards we went over to one of the dorms to drink more wine. It was nice hanging out with everyone, even the people I had been getting a little tired of, because it was the last night and there were no hard feelings. We walked down to the lake for the most beautiful sunset ever and some people went swimming even though it was freezing. By the end of the night we were all starving and everything was closed so we had to go to McDonalds L I paid 11CHF (approx. $11) for a cheeseburger and fries! Crazy! And it was definitely as bad as I remember it from years ago.
This morning I woke up with a little bitty hangover which wasn’t super fun, but after rushing around to pack and get to the train station, I’m on my way to Belgium. I couldn’t get a ticket for the fast train so my 6 hour trip is now 11 hours; 2 more to go now and I’m really hungry.
All in all this last four weeks has meant a lot for me. I feel like I just completed an important phase of my school career that I have been looking forward to for some time now. I got to learn a lot about myself and what kind of person I am with group situations, not being in control of my own schedule, being forced to go with the flow, etc. I formed some great friendships with new people and made some existing friendships even stronger. My relationship with Ryan is still undecided, but I think we are learning about each other more than we ever have before. We are finding a mutual respect and understanding for one another that I think has been missing for some time. Beyond that, only time will tell.
For the next few weeks I will be traveling through Belgium, the Rhone Valley in France, the Rioja region in Spain, Italy, Germany and probably a few other stops along the way. I have one month before I head to London for work. This week should be nice because I am going to spend time with Liesbeth and her family in Belgium. For those of you who don’t know, Lies is the girl who stayed with me for a few weeks back in 2002, and who I stayed with later that year when I visited Belgium. It will be a nice time to relax and recuperate and get ready for the next phase of my trip. Don’t know how often I will be on the computer after Belgium, but I will try to get on at least once a week to give some updates.
I miss all of my family and friends very much. I think today especially with the program being over and being away from all my friends, I’m really feeling homesick. I have been avoiding that I have to say goodbye to people because I knew they would be in Switzerland, but last night was sad and this morning I didn’t even get to see anyone to really say goodbye to. Leilani and Mike are two of my good friends that will be with me in the Rhone Valley for a week, along with Ryan, so I have a little more time before I have to let go of the really close ones. At least I am going in phases and not letting go of everyone right at once. Then I think I would have been in bad shape the last few weeks. Ok that’s all for now since my computer battery is about to die. Keep writing when you can! Love you all!
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