Getting to Geneva from Heathrow was pretty easy, except Rachel and I were mixed up about where we were supposed to sit on the plane. It also took us a while to figure out where the bus from the airport leaves, but it was easy to get off at the right stop because all the stops are announced beforehand. We headed to the Smith Center, and our directors greeted us there with bread and chocolate and fruit and cheese. Because we were the last two students to arrive (we got to the Smith Center at about 6 pm) the two directors actually escorted us to our dorms, which are about a 20 minute bus ride apart or probably 10 minutes by taxi. I was very surprised when we arrived to already hear so much French, since I expected to hear so many languages in this international city. The lady at the desk of the dorm (a thirteen floor building, very unlike Tyler House!) spoke quickly to me in French, and I was glad that I could understand most of what she said, but had to ask Jonathan about some words on the forms. Jonathan Gosnell helped me carry all my stuff upstairs which was so nice! My room is nice, it has lots of shelving (and so many books at home that would have loved to have come and live in them, but couldn't make the trip!) and when it isn't foggy I can see mountains outside my window, as well as people playing tennis in the gymnasium below my window. I also have a sink and medicine cabinet in my room.
Since I've moved into this dorm, I haven't really interacted with anyone in my hall except for a couple "saluts" and "bonjours" which were pleasant. There are two small closet sized rooms with showers, and one room with a toilet, and a kitchen for the about 15 people on my floor to share which is really difficult for me to accept, since I'm used to living with only girls, having my food served to me every meal, and knowing all the people I live with and share common spaces with. I think after some time more students will be back because some of them are away now, but it's very difficult to not live in a suite situation like a lot of the other students on the Smith program and meet people that way.
I have however spent some time with Rachel's roommates the past few days. Rachel has a wonderful roommate who studies at the Grad Institute that is from Normandy. She is so sweet, and speaks English fluently. She showed us the outdoor market, and invited us over for dinner last night with other students from the grad institute, who want to practice there French since the Grad institute is a bilingual school. It was good to practice speaking in French, even with Rachel and a few other girls I've met in the program. I felt like I could get across what I wanted to say a lot more than I thought I was capable of. At night I went to bed with French in my head.
We had a history class yesterday afternoon for orientation with Professor Zumkeller, and I was very happy to understand pretty much everything he said, and also happy to be learning about Swiss history! I really miss taking history classes, I used to enjoy them as much as my English classes but chose English because of my love for writing. It was however, interesting to hear about the unique equilibrium that Zumkeller explained kept Switzerland together as a diverse nation, since it consisted of both Protestant and Catholic communities, and the tradition of acceptance that allows 45% of Geneva's population to be foreign! This sounds very romantic, but in fact it can't be that easy. I'm sure racism exists here just as in America, and problems must of existed between Protestant and Catholic communities. Also, all of Geneva's citizens must vote for EVERYTHING, because they have more of a direct democracy government, not a representative government. This makes it hard for the citizens to really understand and agree about all the logistics of things, so in fact, is it really an effective democracy? Twenty page bills aren't really approachable for the common citizen, and while Geneva may be able to come to consensus on whether or not foreigners who commit crimes in Geneva should be sent back to their own countries or punished here may sound easy to decide, in fact it is much more complicated; children of foreign couples living in Geneva are not automatically citizens like in America and many other countries. Therefore, you could be born here but still be sent back to your own country for punishment if you commit a crime. All things to think about...
My literature class (on Rousseau, a guy I'm not that fond of in the first place) was a lot harder to understand. I'm not sure if it was because the teacher's voice was harder to understand, the material was harder to follow, or if she was speaking too fast. Hopefully in time it will get better.
I'm exhausted and there's too much to explain going on in my head right now, but I really must wait for more than a week before I can really give myself a chance to adjust completely to this new place. Here are some more pictures:
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