Freedom!

Finally, the weekend! After such a packed week, we were all pretty ready to do whatever we wanted. When we asked Earl what he recommended for our free Friday afternoon, he said we should get started on our cultural journals (homework, of course!), in which we are supposed to write five pages about a cultural observation or encounter here in Switzerland, and reflect and stuff. Needless to say none of us did that :) I went home for lunch (Renat whipped us up some fresh pesto), then went to get my permit for living in the area. The guy that helped us was actually looking for an English tutor for his son, which I said I’d be willing to do, but it still has to be worked out in terms of times and whatnot. Then I went to Nyon and tried to see what everyone was up to, but didn’t find much. A couple of people had planned to check out the International Music Festival in Geneva, so I went out there early to access some free wifi, and they grabbed some food. However I decided to go home for dinner and didn’t see the festival, since I had plans with other people to go to Lausanne for the night. That didn’t end up happening, but we slept over at Beza’s because her host family was out for the weekend in France. It was fun, mostly just girl talk and eating all her food, lol. Saturday I went home for lunch, which was breaded chicken, pasta, and vegetables. Then I headed to Geneva, hoping to get more free wifi in a park and get some reading done, but I couldn’t pick up any wireless so I found a café nearby that offered 30 minutes free for customers. Spent the afternoon reading, then wandered around and found a flea market in Plain Palais as well as the Swiss National Circus, Cirque Knie, in town. Went home for dinner, and I have a feeling I had leftovers but I can’t remember. That night I met up with some people to go out in Nyon, where we discovered a very large high-school age drinking crowd and instead went to a couple of bars to try some drinks and just chill. A few girls said they were going to sleep under the castle for the night but I opted against it considering it was rather cold out, and I had a bed waiting for me hardly 15 minutes away.

Sunday Renat was out for the day for a friend’s birthday party, and told me I could invite a friend over for lunch. There aren’t a lot of people that live farther out than me (and can therefore come here without having to buy another train ticket), so I ended up going to Beza’s and just brought the pizza. Then we went to the International Music Festival with Nadia, hoping to check out the reggae act for the day. They didn’t start until hours after we got there and had spent lots of money on food (I got a delicious crepe with some kind of apple sauce that was like apple sauce but a little thicker consistency – it was good) and walked around the little free trade-esque shops that were set up. It wasn’t really what we expected. They had a sort of battle, with people coming up and rapping in French, English (Caribbean-esque), and Spanish! I loved it, but since our lives revolves around the once-an-hour train we had to leave without finishing it (didn’t want to get home too late, either). I had pasta with tuna for dinner (which I thought was kind of odd, but it tasted good enough), then spent hours on my rather dificile French homework. Got up early this morning to do some reading, and now I have to go to class!