life: in progress

I went to bed last night smelling the most delicious, sweet aroma...actually it was kind of embarrassing because I was pretty much drooling alone in my room thinking about whatever it was that Vita was baking.  When I asked her she said "des biscuits" and said "Oh oui, c'est bon"  like the majority of our interactions involving food go, but not knowing what "des biscuits" were exactly. This story has such a happy ending.  Fast forward through a full night of sleep and waking up to a rainy, gray morning, my only plans for the day being an advising session and to write a paper on women immigrants, not the most uplifting topic for a rainy day.  Then I sat down for breakfast.  Violins started playing, a chorus of hallelujahs commenced, the sun broke through the clouds, my paper wrote itself, and all the people in Switzerland applauded for the miracle that I was about to experience. I present to you....des biscuits! Then the word I was waiting for

Is that the name of a movie?  Oh no, it's just my life right now. Every time I step outside, and when I'm inside, for that matter, I just can't even believe where I am and what I'm doing right now.  I feel so incredibly privileged to be able to spend a semester abroad, let alone in Switzerland, let alone with the kindest, most welcoming, and most fun family in Europe, that I sometimes can't even believe it.  But that's how I feel about my host family. They have welcomed me in so kindly to their home and gone way beyond what I would have expected.  They are a couple with three grown sons and three little grandsons, two of whom I've met and the other I met on skype.  They are Sicilian/Italian/Swiss and married/dating Polish so when everyone is over it is a jumble of languages and noise and it always amazes me that somehow we manage to communicate.  Their sons speak English (as well as a few other languages, such is life here), but during the week I can only

Five days in and I'm beginning (barely) to feel like I have an idea of what it will be like to live here for the next three months. We spent our first three nights staying in Geneva, and here are a few things worth mentioning: -->It's true what they say.  Wine is in fact much cheaper than water in this fine city. -->The food is superb.  Fresh, local, whole.   -->Everyone (and I really do mean everyone) is multi-lingual, and being surrounded by it is the coolest thing. -->It is possible that, if you go to Mr. Pickwick pub on a Thursday night, you can witness the extraordinary.  Two grown women singing Shania Twain karaoke to an almost empty room.  But really, that don't impress me much.  -->Germans are splendid tour guides, but they don't like to wait around for taking pictures!  However, I did get the chance to capture these snapshots from the city:        Martin Luther goes green    The Reformation Wall   St. Peter's

I wouldn't be nearly as nervous about the fact that I'm spending the next 15 weeks in Geneva, Switzerland, except that I only have one pair of black tights, and they have a hole in them.  I first saw the hole in November, and love them so much that I couldn't bear to replace them.  It's been three months now and they have been holding out like champs.  So many times I turned down buying a new pair; I had so much confidence in them!  But now that I'm in the airport, suitcase already en route to Europe, I'm having my doubts.  Oh well.  I guess this is my first lesson in trust.  The truth is, some things just have to be left up to fate.   My latest adventure (read: expensive endeavor) is going to be touring the Swiss countryside, skiing the Alps, and sampling every kind of chocolate, cheese, and wine I can afford.  In the off chance that I get tired of chocolate or skiing, I also registered for 16 college credits to occupy my time, studying global health and dev