Monday morning left no time for any relaxation before we woke up and went to our first class which is about a 30-45 minute commute. It's called New International and European Security Challenges and takes place at the Graduate Institute. Our professor is Canadian and teaches at the graduate school. He seems a little dorky but interesting. The class is normally on Tuesdays but we rescheduled as apparently he was off to Louisiana-and it's at 9:30 which means leaving by about 8:45, we momentarily saw a bright spot in this arrangement as the bus passes a Starbucks, however, we later discovered for a grande nonfat latte (my drink of choice) is 7 chf which converts to just about $7, so we said goodbye to our caffeine-though we're still trying to persuade Barry that we DO in fact need a coffee maker for our floor. After class Melissa and I got some soup and salad and then we had an orientation of sorts to the cite (citay). Apparently we are living in the European version of a dormitory for the University of Geneva, though the people here range from all ages including some families-the only requirements being you are a student and not from Geneva-he explained the latter rule is to prevent 18-20 year olds from storming out of their homes and trying to live here because housing is so difficult to find in Geneva. 16 out of the 17 of us are on the same floor it's two hallways connected by a shared (very small) kitchen, in each hallway there are 8 singles a refrigerator and 2 showers. Our rooms have a bed, a very long desk under the window with 2 work spots (so we essentially have two desks-useful?) and a sink, plus lots of closet and shelf space, probably just barely enough to fit all my clothes I have at school and far too much for the clothes I have here.
After our orientation we all went grocery shopping, though of the three grocery chains in Geneva we later learned that we picked the most expensive and the only one that doesn't sell alcohol (for moral reasons). For dinner I had some of the fresh pasta I bought in Florence and brussels sprouts (courtesy of Melissa's fine culinary skills). Tuesday was another early morning as we had to go and apply for our residence permits which will enable us to travel outside of the Schengan States. This was a fairly quick process though we all had to submit pictures that made us look like terrorists, no smiles, hair pulled back, etc. After that the day was free so we stopped to pick up a couple other essentials (q tips, shampoo etc.) and headed back for a delightful afternoon of homework, napping and overpriced laundry.
Wednesday I started my fairly late morning with a run, I heard about a loop that was "quite nice" near the cite and decided to try it, being as I am a beginner it was a bit long for me (by about 2 km) but it added a nice walk at the end (extra exercise which was definitely needed after all the Italian pasta). Then at 2 we had our first class with Professor Kott, a professor actually from University of Geneva (WHAT?) This is our seminar and is called, "Nations and Nationalisms: Europe Between National and Transnational States (1880s-1980s). I really liked Professor Kott, but this is the first time she has ever taught in english and her accent is a cross between French and German, but her english is far better than my french so who's complaining? Most of the rest of the day was spent doing the reading for Professor Shain's class and planning the upcoming weekend trip to Germany. Though that night GSG (geneva study group) managed to set up two beer pong tables in our hallway by removing four separate doors and stacking them using a combination of chairs and stools (we don't go to Colgate for nothing). It was a good bonding experience that left most of us ready to wake up the next morning and finish Shain's readings.
Thursday the morning was spent in fact finishing the readings for Professor Shain and then packing for the weekend. Shain's class-which like Professor Kott's is actually in the Cite which means we all wear our slippers as we don't actually need to go outside. The first part of Professor Shain's 2.5 hour class (so yes over an hour) was spent discussing logistics of Geneva, shopping lists, random facts (like what he has called Migros land (migros is a grocery store) which is like Target) and our "potential" internships in May. Finally after a break our class started-however the only point of the class was to learn that everything will be both narrative and biased so all the reading was fairly pointless. But we skipped out of town right after class for our trip.
Thing I Dislike Today: Reading for homework again
Think I Like Today: Having a (semi) permanent home for the next couple weeks
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