I'm finally here! Friday morning I got up and took the train all day to Geneva, and just in time too, they started construction on the building that is attached to mine last week, pretty much gutting the thing, and by Friday morning the scaffolding had reached my window...and they start work at 6am every day...
The train winding through western Austria
A few storms once we hit Switzerland, still gorgeous though. Actually, on my train from Zurich to Geneva which winds around the lake most of the way, there was a rainbow directly in the middle of the lake...made the rain completely worth it.
I'm renting a room for the summer in a flat with 2 other people...and this is the view off my balcony in my room...pretty much what sold me on this place.
The view Saturday morning once the sun had come up, a bit hard to see...but that's Mont Blanc off to the right...the snow cover and clouds tend to blend in pictures.
The flat is in Thonex, which is almost to the French border east of Geneva, although still in Switzerland, but the next tram stop past mine is the border. Thonex is mostly residential, although there is a nice shopping center just outside my apartment complex, complete with a large grocery store which is very convenient. I'm really excited to have a large kitchen to cook in this summer.
Saturday my flatmates and I took off around the city a bit, they made sure I can find the office for my internship come Monday, and helped me get my monthly transit pass (which is a hard plastic card with a photo...so it's a bit more involved than just my paper ones in Vienna...much faster with a native French speaker to do the talking)
Beautiful buildings all around
and the Lake. Oh gosh. I cannot even fathom how many pictures I will take of this thing this summer. I've been here less than 48 hours and I've taken an embarrassing amount already.
We did get away from the lake a bit to wander down the main shopping street and into Parc des Bastions
The lake at sunset...which is really late here, this picture was taken about 9:45 last night, and it was still fairly light out.
One of the windsurfing schools held a summer evening outdoor party last night, so my flatmates and I and several of their friends went, it was a gorgeous night to be out, and a perfect end to my first day in Geneva!
Today I didn't have much to do and the weather is sunny and warm, so I figured it was a nice day to go wander a bit by myself and see if I can find my way around town.
Looking back at the old part of town from the opposite side of the lake I live on...perhaps a bit hard to explain with words, but Lake Geneva is crescent shaped, and the city of Geneva lies at the bottom point, so the city runs up both sides.
The water in the lake is extremely clear, and this beautiful turquoise color
Also...these boats, as well as a few smaller ones, are all part of the public transit system here, so I took a couple back and forth to various points just to be out on the water.
And that's about it for now. So far so good...still trying to switch my brain over into at least French pleasantries when interacting with other people...Bonjour! Merci!...all that...have said a few things in German to people...but hopefully I'll quit doing that soon. My internship starts tomorrow, and I'm excited to get in there and find out exactly what I'll be doing for the next 2 months!
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