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!