Thursday, July 31, 2008
favorite religion
This weekend I had the privilege of being the first Jew a girl has ever met in her entire life. Veronika is Austrian, and she almost died when she found out that I'm Jewish. Reaction: "YOU'RE JEWISH? But you're so lucky! That's so great! Judaism is my very favorite religion! You're the first Jewish person I've ever met before! I want to live in Israel!" She went on to say that she had always wanted to meet one, but never had the chance, in Austria. What a riot.
Lyon
Here, amongst all of these Europeans who have a language other than English as their mother tongue, who speak in lovely accents and sometimes fumble their cute Europeanized English words, I feel like an idiot speaking clean American English. I think I sound dumb! Yet I'm the one who speaks it fluently! Everyone sounds more worldly when they speak with an accent. Maybe I should pretend to have one. Unfortunately, the only one I can mimic almost perfectly is Russian - any attempts I make at other accents just sound...Russian.
Two weekends ago I went to Lyon, France with my flatmate, Nora, and her friend from work, Alberto, from Spain. It was only about 2 hours from Geneva! I loved Lyon. I fell in love with it immediately and couldn't stop talking about how much I liked it. I kept oohing and ahhing. What a perfect city! It has everything that's good about Paris without the big city craziness. I decided that it's like Paris in that it has great public transportation, is very youthful because it has a good university, and felt like it had a lot of potential in terms of museums, theaters, art, etc - lots of things to do. On the other hand, it has so much of what Paris doesn't - a more comfortable, walkable city center with warm, open people, a great old part of town, and overall, real character. I loved Paris but I always felt like wherever I took the subway in Paris, I would come out and the neighborhood would look almost the same. I love being able to find cute neighborhoods, hidden cafes, hole-in-the-wall shops, etc., and Paris just felt so uniform to me. But in Lyon, the city has so many contrasts. The new town had a giant ferris wheel and a large shopping center, giant fountains and theaters. On the other hand, the old town seemed almost like Italy, with its winding little ruelles (small roads) sprinkled with busy cafes and small shops. Also, Lyon is supposed to be the gastronomic capital of France. Mmm. Overall, I'm a big fan.
pretty buildings
cute street in the old town - beef street
And the cathedral - oh, the cathedral. From the outside it looks pretty boring, actually. It was built not long after Sacre Coeur, so it's pretty modern (mid to second half of the 19th century, I think). When I came in, though, I was taken aback. The inside of the cathedral is completely gilded and covered and gold-tinged mosaics. LOOK:
Lyon, what a charming place.
Two weekends ago I went to Lyon, France with my flatmate, Nora, and her friend from work, Alberto, from Spain. It was only about 2 hours from Geneva! I loved Lyon. I fell in love with it immediately and couldn't stop talking about how much I liked it. I kept oohing and ahhing. What a perfect city! It has everything that's good about Paris without the big city craziness. I decided that it's like Paris in that it has great public transportation, is very youthful because it has a good university, and felt like it had a lot of potential in terms of museums, theaters, art, etc - lots of things to do. On the other hand, it has so much of what Paris doesn't - a more comfortable, walkable city center with warm, open people, a great old part of town, and overall, real character. I loved Paris but I always felt like wherever I took the subway in Paris, I would come out and the neighborhood would look almost the same. I love being able to find cute neighborhoods, hidden cafes, hole-in-the-wall shops, etc., and Paris just felt so uniform to me. But in Lyon, the city has so many contrasts. The new town had a giant ferris wheel and a large shopping center, giant fountains and theaters. On the other hand, the old town seemed almost like Italy, with its winding little ruelles (small roads) sprinkled with busy cafes and small shops. Also, Lyon is supposed to be the gastronomic capital of France. Mmm. Overall, I'm a big fan.
pretty buildings
cute street in the old town - beef street
And the cathedral - oh, the cathedral. From the outside it looks pretty boring, actually. It was built not long after Sacre Coeur, so it's pretty modern (mid to second half of the 19th century, I think). When I came in, though, I was taken aback. The inside of the cathedral is completely gilded and covered and gold-tinged mosaics. LOOK:
Lyon, what a charming place.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
european accent
Tomorrow night I'm going to a night of Paleo, a week-long music festival in Nyon, Switzerland. It's only 20 minutes away, and I get to see Mika, Justice, Caribou, and I'm from Barcelona, among others. A friend of mine here is working there all week and he has a bunch of free tickets, and he offered me one! I was planning on doling out the one-day entry fee for the festival, but this is so much better.
The other night, chicken breasts were on sale at the grocery store. THIS NEVER HAPPENS. Meat is extremely expensive here. I didn't realize I had bought 4 chicken breasts, and so when I got home and saw that the expiration date was within the week I decided to just cook them all at once. I made two meals - chicken coconut curry (with rice) and marinated chicken with peanut satay chili sauce (with rice). Now I have enough food for an army aka my lunch and dinner for the whole week.
I've been having many conversations lately about what I want to do with myself after I graduate. The funny thing is, I'm having these conversations with people 5-10 years older than me, most of whom don't know, themselves, what their plans are. Everyone kind of just takes things as they come - a cool job here, an internship there, a 1-year Masters program, a year at the German mission, maybe law school, etc. These people are just as confused as I am. Their age makes no difference.
I think in blogging abroad, it's difficult to strike a balance between describing your cool travels/neat things you've done and writing about the mundane details of everyday working life in a foreign country. I'll do my best. This one's mundane.
In other news, someone told me that I don't have a Minnesotan accent, that I don't even have an American accent. They told me I have a "European accent" in my English - this, coming from an American. I was horrified. What does that even mean????
The other night, chicken breasts were on sale at the grocery store. THIS NEVER HAPPENS. Meat is extremely expensive here. I didn't realize I had bought 4 chicken breasts, and so when I got home and saw that the expiration date was within the week I decided to just cook them all at once. I made two meals - chicken coconut curry (with rice) and marinated chicken with peanut satay chili sauce (with rice). Now I have enough food for an army aka my lunch and dinner for the whole week.
I've been having many conversations lately about what I want to do with myself after I graduate. The funny thing is, I'm having these conversations with people 5-10 years older than me, most of whom don't know, themselves, what their plans are. Everyone kind of just takes things as they come - a cool job here, an internship there, a 1-year Masters program, a year at the German mission, maybe law school, etc. These people are just as confused as I am. Their age makes no difference.
I think in blogging abroad, it's difficult to strike a balance between describing your cool travels/neat things you've done and writing about the mundane details of everyday working life in a foreign country. I'll do my best. This one's mundane.
In other news, someone told me that I don't have a Minnesotan accent, that I don't even have an American accent. They told me I have a "European accent" in my English - this, coming from an American. I was horrified. What does that even mean????
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Swiss adventures
I HAVE TO RETURN TO THIS BLOG.
Geneva's a great place. It's ranked 3rd for best quality of life in the world - Switzerland, unsurprisingly, has 3 cities in the top ten! There are fountains on every streetcorner with, I swear, pristine Evian water flowing out. It's a nice, clean proper, quiet place. They say the summer here is a bit more lively, and it has been. So far, the European Cup in June definitely kept the city going. Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, and of course Switzerland had massive contingents here, and the Portugese and Spanish fans in particular would honk their car horns and scream and holler until 2am when their team won. Thanks to the games there was always something to do, and having the screening center 3 blocks from my apartement was VERY convenient.
The Fete de la Musique was great too! I don't think I will ever again see that many people in Geneva in one place. There was great music - everything from blues to aretha to jefferson airplane to screamo - and delicious food.
I've gone on several Swiss day trips. First, Montreux.
I went to Montreux the first weekend I was in Geneva, with an intern from work and a friend of his. Montreux is also on Lake Geneva and the view of the mountains is INCREDIBLE. Look!
Actually, I may have taken this picture in Vevey, but that's only 20 minutes away from Montreux. Same diff.
We went to Chateau de Chillon, a beautiful castle right on the lake which was once the home of the Counts of Savoy. It had a neat moat, some funny medieval toiles (just holes in a bench above the water), and a dark dungeon, where a monk, François de Bonivard, was kept, and about whom Lord Byron wrote a poem - The Prisoner of Chillon.
Me and Daniel, an intern from my NGO who left 2 weeks after I arrived.
Montreux has a very famous jazz festival every mid-July, and so when my mom was in town, we took the train to see what it was all about. The free jazz was ok - I'm sure Quincy Jones' 75th Birthday Celebration would have been far more impressive but we were not willing to dole out the 250 francs per person required to get in. Also, it was raining, and the whole shore of Lake Geneva was covered in a sort of fair, or market, with lots of delicious food and cool trinkets but way too many people. So unfortunately, I didn't get the best impression of beautiful Montreux the second time around.
Other things in Montreux - a statue of Freddie Mercury (Queen owned a house here and they recorded a lot of their music there), and gorgeous shutters and house facades. Like this.
My mom and I also went to Neuchatel, though on a Sunday when, as everywhere else in Switzerland, everything is DEAD. CLOSED. SHUT DOWN. I think people just resign themselves to laundry and reading on Sundays. However, even despite the yucky weather (it rained all weekend) the town was extremely cute, with lots of cobblestone streets, bizarre colorful fountains, red rooftops and one really neat flat painted street. Here are some pictures:
that weird flat street
At the chateau up at the top of the hill, overlooking the city.
Mom, in the old town.
I'll be blogging more! I have pictures to post and everything! Now that my parents have visited, I will have lots to write about. I've been so bad at this blog, tsk tsk.
Geneva's a great place. It's ranked 3rd for best quality of life in the world - Switzerland, unsurprisingly, has 3 cities in the top ten! There are fountains on every streetcorner with, I swear, pristine Evian water flowing out. It's a nice, clean proper, quiet place. They say the summer here is a bit more lively, and it has been. So far, the European Cup in June definitely kept the city going. Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, and of course Switzerland had massive contingents here, and the Portugese and Spanish fans in particular would honk their car horns and scream and holler until 2am when their team won. Thanks to the games there was always something to do, and having the screening center 3 blocks from my apartement was VERY convenient.
The Fete de la Musique was great too! I don't think I will ever again see that many people in Geneva in one place. There was great music - everything from blues to aretha to jefferson airplane to screamo - and delicious food.
I've gone on several Swiss day trips. First, Montreux.
I went to Montreux the first weekend I was in Geneva, with an intern from work and a friend of his. Montreux is also on Lake Geneva and the view of the mountains is INCREDIBLE. Look!
Actually, I may have taken this picture in Vevey, but that's only 20 minutes away from Montreux. Same diff.
We went to Chateau de Chillon, a beautiful castle right on the lake which was once the home of the Counts of Savoy. It had a neat moat, some funny medieval toiles (just holes in a bench above the water), and a dark dungeon, where a monk, François de Bonivard, was kept, and about whom Lord Byron wrote a poem - The Prisoner of Chillon.
Me and Daniel, an intern from my NGO who left 2 weeks after I arrived.
Montreux has a very famous jazz festival every mid-July, and so when my mom was in town, we took the train to see what it was all about. The free jazz was ok - I'm sure Quincy Jones' 75th Birthday Celebration would have been far more impressive but we were not willing to dole out the 250 francs per person required to get in. Also, it was raining, and the whole shore of Lake Geneva was covered in a sort of fair, or market, with lots of delicious food and cool trinkets but way too many people. So unfortunately, I didn't get the best impression of beautiful Montreux the second time around.
Other things in Montreux - a statue of Freddie Mercury (Queen owned a house here and they recorded a lot of their music there), and gorgeous shutters and house facades. Like this.
My mom and I also went to Neuchatel, though on a Sunday when, as everywhere else in Switzerland, everything is DEAD. CLOSED. SHUT DOWN. I think people just resign themselves to laundry and reading on Sundays. However, even despite the yucky weather (it rained all weekend) the town was extremely cute, with lots of cobblestone streets, bizarre colorful fountains, red rooftops and one really neat flat painted street. Here are some pictures:
that weird flat street
At the chateau up at the top of the hill, overlooking the city.
Mom, in the old town.
I'll be blogging more! I have pictures to post and everything! Now that my parents have visited, I will have lots to write about. I've been so bad at this blog, tsk tsk.
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