Wine Tasting FOR FREE

Well Monday through Wednesday were spent finishing up papers at work along with a little bit of real work - a research project on the defamation of religions.  The evenings were spent doing more homework and keeping out of the way of people that also had homework.  We did eat our dinner on the roof Monday - that was really exciting.

Thursday we had a meeting with Professor Shain to wrap up the semester a little bit.

Friday I had lunch with Brenda, Melissa, Zunaira, and Grace at Les Recyclables the restaurant at Melissa and Brenda's work - we had to show Zu how great the chocolate fondant was.  After that I headed home and hung out and did a little bit of studying for my final the next day.

Saturday we had a final in the morning for 4 hours (2,000 words ~ 6 pgs) After the final it was "les caves ouverts" this meant almost all of the Genevois Wineries were open to the public for free tasting.  We got on the bus and after some slight confusion trying to figure out where and how to get there we eventually ended up at the first winery.  We got to sit at a table and request different kinds of wine and got to drink them for free.  We tried three at the first one (I bought a bottle of my favorite) and then headed to the next one where we tried a few more (I tried all the reds) and then went to one last winery, this one had a band and along with wine there was apple juice (for grown ups).  We hung out there for a while trying wine and talking etc. until a glass broke and my toe ended up with a fairly large gash, taking that as our cue to leave we headed out, barely escaping an invite to a Brazilian hosted party, but we made it out almost in one piece with all the same members we had started with!

Sunday morning Melissa and I went to a farmer's market to get vegetables for the week.  It actually ended up being cheaper than the grocery store! When we got back I made an omelette with some of the fresh goat cheese I had bought at the market.  I spent the rest of the day relaxing as the weather was bad so I couldn't do anything outside, and it was Sunday so I couldn't do anything inside, and I couldn't leave Geneva because train tickets were too expensive even to go a short distance.  So I tried to stay out of people's way as many people were still finishing homework and spent the day doing some much needed R&R though after the rate at which I've been moving for the last 5 months, I found myself getting very stir crazy very early and had bad cabin fever.

We now are beginning our last week in Geneva and of our study abroad program.  Feelings are pretty mixed, people are excited to be done writing papers, and see friends and family, but we are also sad to be leaving the place and people we've spent the last 5 months with.  It's a weird feeling to be leaving because it's truly the end to a once in a lifetime experience.  The general mood floating around the cite is sullen a lot of comments about "this is the last time we will..." But there's also strong feelings of accomplishment and pride.  Nobody really has any regrets.

Happy: to be leaving

Sad: to be leaving

Nervous about: leaving