Climb up the "Hill"

In order to combat jetlag, I arrived in Switzerland in the early morning and stayed up all day adjusting efficiently to the new time zone. Thanks to Jordan and new friend Thierry (my assigned exchange buddy from UNIL), I was occupied all day.

After Meeting Jordan at the airport, we took the train for about 25 minutes to Laussane, where I'll be studying at the University of Lausanne (UNIL). I moved my luggage into her apartment for the time being, as my residence hall's administrative building is closed on Tuesdays. There, I met Jordan's roommate, Sharon, from Belgium. Like me she prefers to speak English over French and her English accent reminds me of my friend Sylvie, who studied at Iowa State last year.

Jordan and I left Sharon, who is establishing her Master's thesis in Alzheimer's research this semester. We took the metro downtown (really up the hill), where we met Thierry who gave us a walking tour of the city. UNIL is at the base of the mountains on Lac Léman (or Lake Geneva in English) and is part of the Lausanne suburbs. The original buildings are located on cobblestone streets that dip and dive around the foothills. For Iowans, this walk was nothing but difficult. However, the views of the mountains and lake were well worth the work. The weather is beautiful too, in the mid 30s-40s, sunny, no breeze; tropical for those of us who have endured the prairie blizzards of the Great Plains. The hike, fresh air, cobblestone streets and spectacular panoramas were what I needed to emerge from the stupor of the plane. We also strolled by multiple squares with statues, a little musical clock, many closed museums (Nothing is open on Tuesday!) and a castle.

On our way down the "hill", we met up with Sharon and enjoyed hot chocolate (thick like pudding), at le barbare, a café by the cathedral that is the center of the city.

After grocery shopping and successfully installing a sim card in my cell phone, we headed back to Jordan's for dinner (brie and bread!) and lovely conversation. Finally went to bed around midnight.