Tues 16 April
And here's the latest installment
in the exciting story of the young girl who goes away to a far-off place to
seek what? Her fortune? Na herself? No, I think that's expecting a bit much. A
new life? Well, I think that's being a bit idealistic. At any rate, she's here
armed with paper a pen (a different one!) And the writing style tends toward
over verbose Ness which will no doubt produce another lengthy addition to the
tail. The aforementioned here is Geneva, where I arrived late last night. I
could immediately tell I was in Switzerland, asked the tranquility of the city,
despite its large size, it's completely pervading. I had to stay in the hostel
since I was not successful in getting in touch with Andrea. At breakfast this
morning I met a rather cheery English fellow living in Holland who encouraged
me to come and see him if I find myself visiting the area. Spent the day
reading my book (which I'm 550 pages into) and lounging at the park. sometime
during the day today it struck me as odd to be, in a country which is
politically neutral. I found myself wondering what the people here talk about
at the dinner table (wow! Just those two words were quite a blast from the past
since for me a dinner table hasn't existed for two months. Oh to have a
conversation at dinner with familiar faces and homemade food . . .). I guess
having been raised in a country like America, whose political stances are
definite and are a considerable factor in the world scene, it's difficult to
perceive of a place like this where the country is pretty much aloof from
what's going on in the world. I'm not sure if I like it or not! I'm sure you're
familiar with the site in and around the Vandy campus which is quite common,
that of the bleach blonde bendy undergrad clothed in her Vanderbilt sweat or t-shirt and black shorts and also fashionable running shoes, and we mustn't forget
the Walkman! --Out for her daily run/display. I saw one of the type I just
described when I was in Aix-en-Provence. down to the last detail. It was so
ridiculous so as to almost be comical, that I would travel thousands of miles
to see something I could (and do!) See at home. It really is Vandy in France! I think the program in France draws a
particular type of Vandy student, whereas the ones in less money-oriented
places draw different types. Scott Mosely, Jason Parker's friend, said it's not
like that in Germany. The ones participating in the program there are less
pretentious about their Vanderbilt-ness. I still can't get over the fact
that when I go to Germany I will probably get to meet nick, Scott's best buddy
from Vandy. I heard so much about nick when we were going out and Scott wanted
so much for me to be able to meet him, etc . . . And the thought never occurred
to me, not during the planning of my trip or the two months since I've been
here, that I could somehow coordinate my travel plans with where he is. The
world can be such a small place!
Sunday night at almost midnight I tried calling Jerry. A
woman answered the phone and said he was not there and that he wouldn't be
until an ambiguous later. She was probably wondering who this girl was calling
collect from France! So maybe he has found another woman. I'm not concerned, as
my heart wasn't into the whole relationship. But I am interested to know if
she's just living there (he was living alone in a 3 bedroom house and was
thinking about trying to find a renter) or if it's more than that.
Thursday
This is the kind of respite I've really been needing for a
while now. After I wrote my last entry I was going to go back to the hostel
when Andrea comes riding up on his bike. He saw me and smiled and said “it's
you, Is it?” and gave me the customary greeting, the kisses on the cheek. In
France, it's two times, four times for a close friend, and in Switzerland, it's
three times. Then we went out back where his friends were studying (how lucky
he is to have friends!), Introductions were made, and they began discussing
what to cook for dinner. We made pasta and there were five of us present for
dinner. I enjoyed that dinner so much! Having a table at which to eat hot food
and people with whom to have good conversation. Speaking of conversation, it
was interesting because three of the five spoke German (but two of those were
Swiss German which is a bit different than real German, it's a dialect), and
then there was myself, and a guy from Pakistan (whose brother goes to Boston
College). but the conversation was spoken in either English (for my sake) or French since they are here partly to learn French. Cai, The one guy from Germany, is a
riot. His English is quite awkward but he's the type of person who doesn't care
if he sounds silly. He tries very hard to speak English and doesn't give up.
Sometimes it's almost as if he knows he's going to sound silly but goes on
anyway, for a fact. He's from Geeson, close to Kassel (where Keith goes to
school) and he's offered to drive me up with him when he goes home next
weekend. If I do that, then I could go to Kassel before I go see Andreas, which
would be great because Keith has my backpack! And there is a dress (!) in my
backpack. I love to feel like a female again. In the meantime, Cai he's going
to Chamonix this weekend, or so he says, and he's offered to take me skiing! Chamonix
Is in the Alps; skiing in the Alps would be so great! And maybe I could take
the telepherique that goes up over Mont Blanc. We’ll see.
In the meantime I've been greatly enjoying my stay here,
making friends, and having a warm friendly place to stay. Tuesday it's been a
beautiful spring day warm and sunny period at about 9:00 o'clock Wednesday
morning I looked out the window and it was snowing quite hard and the wind was
just gusting. So I chose to spend the day inside reading a book. I went out at
about 2:00 and it was actually a really beautiful day. It was one of those
sparkling sunny, crispy cold days with a wind able to whisk away small
children. I went to the supermarket and left nearly empty-handed and
flabbergasted. Fruit and veggies are exorbitantly expensive, whereas chocolate
is so cheap. When Andreas returned he announced that I was going to cook
dinner something American. I made rice and lentils, which none of the people
eating with us had ever had together. And I made a Waldorf salad which was a
huge success. Everyone had two large servings of it, Andreas three. So of
course I had to tell them that I didn't exactly know where the recipe
originally came from but that my mother had been making it for as long as I
could remember and that she got it from her mother. So they wanted me to let
you know how good it was. The first mention of starting to cook dinner was made
at about 7:30 and we finally sat down to eat at about 9. We finished our meal
at about 10:30 and of course, had to finish off with coffee. We ended up staying
around the table talking until one o'clock. Eating is so much more of a
ceremony here than at home. I like it.
In just a few minutes I'm leaving to go to the Modern Art
Museum, after which I plan to take a tour at the UN building. And then back
here to the dorm for another evening full of food and festivities!
Saturday
picking up where I left off, I spent the afternoon at the
Petit Palais, You no doubt are familiar with by now from my postcard. I didn't
make it to the UN building because I was so enchanted with the museum that I
stayed there until well after closing. No one ever told me that the museum was
closed; they just let me leave at my own leisure. I think that's so nice! After
the museum, I rode around the vieuv ville- The old city which has cobblestone
streets and lots of bookstores, antique shops, and galleries. It also has a College
Calvin founded in the 16th century by Yep, you guessed it! Also, beautiful 18th-century patrician houses and the university, founded in the 16th century. It
was a cold day, cold enough for a hat and gloves which I didn't have, but I
didn't mind. I seemed to have gotten a little accustomed to cool weather since
I've been here. those first few weeks of writing in the cold and the rain must
have hardened me or something. I think part of it is psychological, as well.
For me, colder climates have come to represent more civilized people and so I
feel more at ease in such places.
I returned to the dorm and Andreas, Cai,
Later.
Now it's Tuesday period as I was writing that last part,
who should I walk in the door but Kai (with a K). I don't remember why he came
in but obviously, it interrupted my writing.
On Friday, Andrea and I rode up to Yvoir together. It's on
the Lac Lemon (Lake Geneva), 25 kilometers north of Geneva on the southern side
of the lake. It was such a beautiful ride as everything in Switzerland is so
unbelievably quaint! The city itself (Yvoir) it's quite touristy in the warmer
weather because it's a very old city and has been restored so as to appear
authentically medieval period and it is renowned for its flowers, which are
everywhere. So we had a picnic alongside the lake and then went to a little
Tavern for a cup of hot chocolate. That night we had dinner with Kia and his
friend Sandra, uh last didn't. We had raclette, which I had never had before.
It's kind of like fondue except you have a waffle iron-looking heating
mechanism for heating the cheese. The top part has the heat and the bottom is
divided into 6 sections. You have these triangular-shaped gadgets onto which
you place your triangular-shaped piece of cheese and you put that into one of
the sections and allow it to melt. Then you pour it over your potatoes. It was
really good.
Saturday it was rainy and cold but at one point the rain
stopped and I decided to take that opportunity to ride my bike a little around
town. I invited Thomas to go with me Thomas is a very interesting guy. He
doesn't say very much at all but when he does speak it's something worth
saying. He is extremely political-minded and he contests practically everything.
Kai Makes frequent use of his German/English dictionary and Thomas told him not
to use it; he said it's better to just try to describe what you want to say
rather than relying on a dictionary. I've come to admire Thomas a lot. So we
rode to a park where there is a famous (or so I gathered) monument to Calvin
and other important Swiss. Then we were going to go to the UN building when it
started to rain. I was already quite cold and I haven't yet ridden myself of my
illness so we decided to head back. It soon started to snow and by the time we
got back to the dorm, it was snowing quite heavily. We thought out for a while
over a cup of tea and talked about our personal philosophies of life. Then
Thomas, Kai, and I went on a grocery shopping spree in France. The food is much
cheaper there. It's so interesting; we only drove 15 minutes or so but the
difference between living in Switzerland and France is so great. Switzerland is
quite sterile and things are more spacious. The grocery store was crowded with
rude, dark-haired people and the quality of things was evidently lesser. We
spent about 500 French francs ($100). For dinner, we fixed crapes, which I still
haven't had even though I've been in France for nearly two months. For the filling, we
had a spinach cheese concoction and sauteed mushrooms. It was so good! Then
Thomas, Andrea, and Andrea's friend Francesca went to a punk concert while Kai, Sandra, and I went to a reggae party upstairs. The people there were interesting
because they were wearing authentic African clothes and the music was different
as well. I danced with a guy from Mali who didn't know English but it was fun
anyway.
Sunday Kai announced that he was taking me skiing since
it snowed the day before. So we drove to Argentiere Which is close to Chamonix but
less touristy. It was great skiing because the snow was good and there are not
a lot of people there as it's the end of the season. I was able to use Sandra's
skis so all I had to pay for was the lift ticket and boat rental. You can't
imagine how good it felt to be skiing in the Alps! I've been skiing a few
times in my life but I've never really had anyone teach me how to ski. After
we'd started, Kai told me he was surprised at how confident I was but that I
needed to change my technique. So all day I worked on skiing correctly and
improved immensely. Every time I ski I fell in love with the sport again. I
think, when I get back, I need to live in Idaho or Utah or somewhere where I
can get a job at a ski resort. Argentiere Was full of English-speaking people I
hardly overheard a conversation that wasn't in English.
Sunday night Kai and Thomas and I had dinner together and
guess what we talked about. Movies? No. Fashion trends? No. Politics? Of
course. I'm early glad I met Thomas because he brings an element of value to
every conversation. Kai is a medical student so when he's not studying I think
he wants to relax and enjoy himself. So he's rarely serious. However, I like
being with him because his English is not very good but he desperately wants to
learn it and so he always asks me how to say things and he wants me to correct
him when he's wrong. It's nice being a part of the learning process when the
person who's beginning is so eager to do so.
Yesterday (Monday) morning I awoke, knowing I'd been
skiing the day before (physically) but not really paying for it. In other
words, I was feeling a little beat up but not like I usually do after skiing.
My body is really in pretty good shape now. It should be though, after all the
miles I've put on my bike. And guess what I did after I awoke? I put on my
cycling gear, hopped on my bike, and climbed Mount Saleve! Looking out of chis room toward the South
there is a large mountain looming above. It's about 10 kilometers to the base
of the mountain, and then about 15 kilometers climb to the top. I felt so good
riding up! I hardly stopped on the way up, even though it's a really tough 1000
meter climb, and I did it very quickly. I was back at the dorm by 2:30. It was
a beautiful ride, though. There were very few cars and it afforded me a great
view of Lake Geneva on the one side and of the Alps on the other. In the
direction of the lake, I could see as far as Yvoire On the south side and as far
as Lausanne on the north, even though I couldn't really see Lausanne Itself. I
came back to the dorm and fell deeply asleep and awoke at 7:30, knowing I had
climbed a mountain that day. We had another great group effort dinner and I
went to sleep feeling really good.
Now it's Tuesday morning and I plan to go northwest of the
city and climb Mont Rond. It's even higher than Mount Saleve And it will be
really tough. But I know it will feel good!
The reason I'm staying here so long is because Kai is
driving up to Giessen Thursday night. Giesen is very close to Kassell, which is
where Keith is in school and where my backpack should be. Kai says he can drive
me to Kassell so I can pick up my things, Which will be good for two reasons. I
can send home the things I don't need (exposed film, dad peacoat, the backpack,
etc . . .) and I can reunite myself with my dress! It will be nice to be able
to look a little civil and feminine when I get to Munich. After that chi will
leave me in Basel on his way back to Geneva and from Basel I can write to
Munich. That's the plan for now.
Friday 26 April
I am now in Giessen where we arrived last night at
midnight. We were warmly welcomed by chis roommate Michael and stayed up
talking until around two.
On Tuesday I rode north on N-5 in the direction of Dijon,
past Ferney Voltaire, and climbed Mont Rond, the ascent for which began in a
little town called Gex. It was a really nice ride. A few minutes into it I
began to see snowflakes, even though it was relatively warm and sunny where I
was period from then on, that was my impetus to get up the mountain: so I could
be where it was really snowing. When I got to the top I realized how stupid it
was to do so since it was, of course, cold at the top and I had about 15
kilometers of downhill ahead of me. I was fortunate to get behind a big truck
who was kind enough to shield me from the wind. But by the time I got back to Gex
I was not only chilled through and through, but I was feeling like I was losing
control of my senses - my balance and my vision. It was scary! So I stopped at
a cafe and had a cup of chocolate. A man said something to me in French which I
of course didn't understand. We began speaking English to each other and the
woman with him told me she was very eager to learn better English as she wants
to live in America eventually. She said she wants an English-speaking
correspondent with whom to exchange letters. So I gave her my address and told
her to write to me in September.
That night Kai, Andrea and Thomas and I had dinner together
and it was very strange. I think it might be difficult to explain why but I
felt like it was because I was to leave the next day and we felt like there
were a lot of strings hanging. I really didn't get to see Andrea much during my
stay, even though without him I wouldn't have been there. He had another friend
staying there over the weekend home he was with most of the time period and
then he was studying a lot or I was with chi or Thomas and it just happened
that I didn't see him much. I had gotten the idea in Barcelona that one reason
he invited me to stay with him was because he was interested in me but while I
was there in Geneva, that possibility was never really given an opportunity to
develop. And then there was Thomas with whom I was fascinated because I was in
love with his way of thinking. We had tea together a couple of times and we
took that ride around the city together but besides that, we didn't get very
well acquainted with each other. Until my last night in Geneva, we stayed up Wednesday
until about 2:00 o'clock and had an interesting talk. I don't even remember
ceasing to talk to him since I think we both just kind of fell asleep in the
midst. So then on Thursday morning I really didn't want to leave as I felt I
would be severing a couple of budding relationships which looked like they
could be really interesting. I had to leave though, as Kai and I had planned
that I would ride to Lausanne A bike and Kyle would pick me up there on his way
to Giessen. Andrea told me that the ride from Geneva to Lausanne would not be
pleasant because there would be too many cars. I must tell him how wrong he
was! The whole way up I could see the lake and beyond that the Alps. It was a
very beautiful part of the Alps two. Are you familiar with Montreux? It's a
very expensive place to live because it's right in the Alps and it's very
beautiful. It's where the rich and famous flocked to live. I could see it right
across the lake. And then, since the property next to the lake is so expensive,
the houses are really nice lots of big chateaus and considering my interest in
houses, I really enjoyed looking at them. I discovered the town where I want to
raise my children. The person who came up with the word picturesque must have
lived in or at least passed through Rolle Which is a little over halfway
between Geneva and Lausanne. It's situated right along the water and the whole
lakeside is manicured with flowers and grass and sidewalks. Its well-known
feature is a medieval castle which is used as a school. As I arrived there the
children had just gotten out of school and were playing along the shore and
justice inland a little there was a carnival being prepared. And it was such a
beautiful day!
I reached listen at four and went to the Musee D’art Brut
Which my let's go guide says is probably the most interesting museum in Europe!
It was started about 45 years ago by an artist Dulriffet, Who was disgusted by
the avant-garde art scene at the time. Most of the artists in the gallery have
been institutionalized for either criminal or mental reasons and display
schizophrenic or manic depressive tendencies. It was as interesting to read the
artists' profiles as it was to see their art. There were some really amazing
works things which must have taken hundreds of hours to produce and took
incredible patience. Most of the works were very complex and showed that these
people really have a lot going on up there even though they may not be able to
function as you and I. Another interesting feature was that most of them were
born into poverty-stricken families, usually being raised in a rural
environment. A lot were eventually institutionalized simply for deviant
behavior and from there it was downhill.
That was all I saw of Lausanne but that was enough for me.
Definitely one of the most interesting of my experiences to date.
Must go as Kai wants to show me around Giessen now. Till
next time,
Love,
Julie
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