It's snowing today! Well, it snowed a bit yesterday as well, but today it's really snowing.

We started orientation yesterday, and our professors were going to split up the girls who tested high into intermediate or advanced by giving us all oral exams, mostly just talking about yourself and answering questions. I was asked to go to the Smith Center at 10 am for just that purpose, yet after sitting there for 45 minutes with the other girls, they announced that four of us had been put in advanced and the rest were in intermediate. The four of us in advanced were never given oral exams, they just went off of our written language tests. So.... why tell us we had to be tested? Maybe so many girls begged to be in intermediate that they wanted to keep things fairly balanced.

Then Geneviève, the Assistant Director of the Smith Center and our grammar teacher, came in to give us information about our class. We meet three times a week for an hour and a half or just an hour, and we'll have homework for each class. Additionally, we have a map and some readings that correspond to specific parts of the map and we must select one each week to go visit and do the reading related to it, then write something about it.

Afterwards I came back here for lunch only to head back to the Smith Center (from now on abbreviated SC) for a practical tour of Geneva. We saw the supermarkets and post office (both of which aren't very useful now since we've all been to the supermarket at least once and walked by a dozen post offices), the train station, the île Rousseau on the river, and some department stores. Anna Botta, our director, led us and pointed out a lot of stuff. Unfortunately she speaks very softly so we couldn't always hear her well.

The tour ended at the post office so about 10 of us went in to open bank accounts (yes, you can open a bank account at the post office, and access your money from any post office in Switzerland). The poor lady at the desk was very flustered when she saw all of us and she got a few of the tellers to help her. Those who were left with her needed her to speak English, which she did, but occasionally she didn't know a word so I had to do a bit of translating and explaining in French for her. When she finally got to me at the end she asked if I preferred English as well and I told her, in French, that French would also be ok, I understand both. I apologized to her for the group stressing her out so much.

After depositing my eight hundred francs (!!!) I looked up at the clock and realized it was four pm.... which is when my class at the SC started. So I ran down the street to the SC and got in at 4:03 or so only to find the professor and one other girl. Two of my classmates were still missing! Another arrived shortly after me, and so we were waiting for just one. 4:10 comes around and she is still not there. The professor starts asking us about our French levels and says that I speak very good French. 4:15... he asks about what we study and why were are in Geneva. 4:20... she still isn't there. I'm considering going into the Assistant Director's office and asking her to call the missing girl. We all only recently got our phones so we haven't exchanged numbers yet. Shortly before 4:30 we hear her come in. She had forgotten about the class and only realized at 4:10 so she ran all the way to the SC from our residence.

Then we had class for the next hour and 15 minutes which focused on the history of Geneva. The professor is this really cute old man but his voice puts me to sleep because its so deep and sing-song-y (like all the Genevois) and it was so close to dinner time, I was starving. When he finally let us go I came back to the residence all ready to scarf down some food only to realize that the other three girls on my floor also had the same idea, and because they hadn't had class until 6 they got there first. Drat my luck! That's something I will need to figure out for the future.

Today I have grammar class and then we are going to the Red Cross, and after a little free time we then have a presentation about living in Geneva. More later!

This post will be devoted exclusively to speaking French. Since arriving in Geneva, I've been very impressed with my ability to transition to French without really thinking about it. I can always make myself understood, even if I have to resort to sign language for vocabulary I don't know, and I'm able to carry on conversations for extended periods of time without losing steam. I also understand about 90% of French that is spoken to me or around me. I haven't struggled very much with the language and it makes me very confident in my ability to get around the city.

I also feel protective of the girls who don't know French very well and I try to help them a lot. There was a guy trying to hit on my roommate and I last night at an Irish pub and because I spoke French I was the one carrying on the conversation with him and telling him that no, we don't go there often and no, he can't have my number. Throughout the whole conversation I never once had to stop and think "Now what does that word mean again?" or "How do I do that grammar structure?" It all just came out on its own and I understood everything perfectly. The guy left us alone after I rejected him and we got home just fine :-).

It's the best feeling knowing that no matter the situation I can make myself understood without a problem. Now if only I could speak German so I could read all those food labels....

Geneva has been nothing but gray for the day and a half I've been here yet its still gorgeous! The buildings are beautiful and there are statues everywhere. I love hearing everyone speak French and knowing that I can converse with them while still getting my point across clearly.

So far I've been to the Smith Center twice for instructions and orientation information, and yesterday I settled into my room with Galya, my room mate. We have our own bathroom and a slanted ceiling, and our beds are both beneath skylights. We each have a small closet and some shelves as well. For some reason they only gave us one desk, so we need to ask for another.

Today we all went out to lunch with our Director and Assistant Director, and of course I had to be difficult because of my lactose-intolerant stomach and ask for a different dish. They were giving everyone the same thing, fish in some cream sauce, which I clearly can't have. They gave me the same thing as the vegetarians, but swapped out one of the things on the plate that must have had dairy in it. There was rice in some sauce that was soooo good and I want to find out what it was and learn how to make it!

I've been food shopping twice and it's not bad, the prices are ridiculous for some things though. Also, a lot of the labels are in German which is very difficult for those of us who don't speak it. Manor is a giant department store not even a block away and it has a super market on the first floor. It's not very cheap (probably in the mid price range) but its just so convenient. Also, on the fourth floor is electronics (and a restaurant!) so I had to go there twice today to get a converter. The one I brought can only handle up to 50 watts and my computer needs 90, so I went to look for a different converter and couldn't find one. I had to ask a sales clerk and explain my problem in French, then try and describe how many prongs my computer cord has (of course I don't know how to say prongs, so I was using sign language) and I finally got a cord to change out the part of my AC adapter that connects to the wall so it would have the Swiss outlet. I got back to my room only to realize my AC adapter only has 2 holes, not 3 like the cord that was sold to me. Back to the store to talk to a different man and explain my original problem and then my new one, so I could get the right cord, which I finally bought.

My suitcases are unpacked but my room is nowhere near organized yet which is quite frustrating for me, so I'm going to work on that tonight and tomorrow. Off I go!

As I write this I’m sitting in Dublin International Airport, and its 5:35 am local time (12:35 EST). I’m resisting the urge to go into the bookstore I’m sitting right near, so I figured I’d whip out my computer and write this blog post because I’ve been remiss lately.

So packing was a nightmare which ended with both my parents having to help me so we could get out of the house on time. My checked bag (only 1!) weighed 66 pounds (30 kilos), and since the limit was 50 I had to pay $60 in fees. Sigh.

My family waited with me in the airport for a while and then I said goodbye and finally went through security and got on the plane. The ride wasn’t bad, but I had a little trouble understanding my seatmate for a while because of his accent. He is originally Italian but now lives here in Ireland, so try and imagine a combo accent of Italian and Irish with the Irish slightly winning. See my problem? He was very nice though and we had a fun conversation about how he used to work at CERN and lived in Geneva for 5 years.

I tried to sleep but succeeded only in small increments, so I’m quite tired right now. After disembarking the plane, I had to go through security again apparently just in case I managed to acquire explosives or sharp objects on the plane? After finally escaping I realized my plane for Geneva does not yet have a gate number, so here I wait.

I have yet to find coffee because it seems the Irish are very enthusiastic about cute boutiques but not food, though there is a champagne and wine bar ahead of me. Not quite what I want, but I’m getting closer.

Dublin International Airport also seems to be lacking WiFi unless I want to pay for it, so I’m writing this post in Microsoft Word and I will post it later today, maybe along with another blog post about arriving in Geneva. Hopefully that post will include me getting more sleep!

Bonjour à tous! (Hi everybody!)

I  leave for Geneva in exactly two weeks. It's completely mind-blowing, and I'm having trouble getting everything done. It became even more real for me as I helped my best friend pack over Skype yesterday and texted her while she was at the airport, departing for her own study abroad experience in England.

I'm using this blog both as a journal for myself and to keep my friends and family updated while I'm in Europe. As much as I'd love to talk to all of you daily, it simply isn't possible, (especially with the time difference) so you can keep yourselves updated on ma vie genevoise (my Genevan life) here!

As I write this I'm getting prepped for Geneva, doing all the little things so I won't be worrying about them at the last minute. Creating this blog is one of the things I wanted to do, so I'm finally starting!

One of those oh-so-fun tasks I'm working on today is dealing with my insurance company regarding my prescriptions and taking them abroad with me. I want to take 6 months worth of one of my prescriptions to Geneva with me in my suitcase so I don't have to worry about mail-order or finding the right equivalent in Europe. Sounds simple, no?

WRONG.

1. Call insurance in early January. Speak to very nice woman who tells me I need to call my doctor's office 2 weeks before I leave (today) and ask them to put in a script to the pharmacy stating I get 6 months at once. Then I will need to call back the insurance company and remind them to approve it. Ok, sounds simple.

2. Call doctor's office today. Speak to another very nice woman who is a little confused about what I need but we ultimately get the script submitted to the pharmacy.

3. Call the insurance company to remind them. Speak to a man in Phoenix with a funny accent. He tells me oh no, we'll fill it for you at our retail pharmacy and mail it all to you and yes, it will get there before you leave for Geneva. But first my doctor has to call in the prescription at this number.

4. Call back my doctor's office, and of course I don't get to speak to the same woman as before. Now I have to explain this epically long story to her and explain that she needs to call this number to put in the prescription. Ok, she says, but I might not be able to because I might not have all the information about you that I need. 

5. Receive a call from my pharmacy, asking what's going on. They say that they received the script from my doctor, then they called my insurance agency about it and were told that I need to call a number to get permission for the script. I tell them no, we're not doing that anymore, just forget about it.

6. Still haven't heard from my doctor's office about whether they were able to put in the script. 

WHY IS THIS ALL SO DIFFICULT?! Simple problem, super complicated answer. Meh.

So I'm going to go continue with my super long list of things to get done, now that I've fought with my phone for over an hour and can check "start blog" off my list.