It’s finals week here at Franklin, and obviously, I should be buried under books all week studying. But, I am a typical college student and am living in denial, so this weekend, my best friend Diego and I decided to escape to Geneva and runaway from our problems. Last year, we started a Christmas trip tradition by traveling to Engelberg, and we decided to celebrate this year in another Swiss city. After our last classes of the semester were complete on Friday afternoon, we cabbed to the small Lugano airport and flew fifty-minutes to Geneva. Even though Swiss people travel by train, flying was actually much cheaper and way more efficient.
We arrived in Geneva around 20:00 and headed straight to the hotel, but even just by transferring in the main train station, we could tell Geneva is a much bigger metropolis than Lugano. We were so excited for sightseeing and awoke on Saturday ready to take in the city. The motto of our trip was “let’s just wing it,” and we rode into the center with no real idea of where we were headed, but ended up having the best time experiencing Geneva. First, we stumbled upon a quaint Christmas market outside the shopping district enjoyed some “vin chaud” (hot wine) in the chilly weather. Fortunately, the center of Geneva is very walkable, and just by taking a few turns, we ended up past the department stores and in a square beneath the old cathedral. In the midst of our exploring, we encountered a huge marathon and had to take a few detours, but it was such a pleasant change to travel at a slow pace (disclaimer: having cell service in Switzerland helps a lot with navigating).
The rest of our Saturday consisted of wandering around and tram-hopping, eating sushi and crepes and finding our way to the Palace of Nations.
St. Pierre’s Cathedral
Sightseeing by the lake
The United Nations
Diego’s friend from Mexico happened to also be in Geneva this weekend for a Ted Talk, and the three of us had fun catching up and dining on traditional Swiss fondue (my first fondue since moving here!). We also took touristy photos with the Geneva Christmas tree, and I might be biased, but I think Lugano’s is much prettier.
The problem with traveling in Switzerland is that on Sundays, everything is closed. Coming from Lugano, we are used to this old-fashioned inconvenience, but we felt a little trapped in Geneva. Luckily, Starbucks rescued us at lunchtime and we were also able to stop by an art museum in the afternoon. The rest of our day was spent taking photos in the beautiful weather and walking along the lake. Not a bad way to spend our last Sunday in Switzerland!
This was my first trip to French-speaking Switzerland, and for some reason I still cannot wrap my head around a country having four official languages. Throughout the weekend, we kept having to remind ourselves that we hadn’t actually left Switzerland, even though there is virtually no comparison between “Suisse” and “Svizzera” (Italian and French Switzerland). Geneva is also significantly more diverse than Lugano, with people of many ethnicities and races. We heard English on practically every corner, but that might be a result of Geneva’s international importance, with several organizations headquartered in the city. Regardless, it was refreshing to see a new, urban side of Switzerland.
Denial can’t last forever, and I am now back on campus studying for exams. Only five days till I’m back in Virginia for Christmas! I’ll be back to blogging again in 2016…
Carpe Vitam 