Random thoughts...

I really love Switzerland. I must say, before this trip I knew SO very little about the culture and history of t

his area that I hadn’t even thought about where I’d want to travel here. Now I find myself a month into my program and I haven’t yet left Switzerland I feel like I’ve been to half a dozen worlds. International Geneva, utterly unique and proud Ticino, THE Alps, quiet capitol Bern…. SUCH different mindsets, realities. (on the right is a picture of one of the murals in the Old CIty of Bern)

Me and Switzerland

1) 1. One of my biggest pet-peeves is the sound

of a ticking clock. Switzerland is the home of clocks and watches

2) 2. I love chaos, spontaneity, and the unknown. The Swiss love order, cleanliness, plans, and security

but on the other hand…

3) 3. I love the outdoors and the Swiss cherish and explore the natural beauty they have here

4) 4. I love colliding with cultures and Switzerland is full of cultural diversity – especially Geneva

(below is a picture of the famous clock tower in Bern that has been ticking for over 500 years with a little rooster dancing and squawking every hour)

Random conversation with my friend on the program here:

Me: I’m thin

king about buying myself a Swiss watch for my birthday…

Danika: Yeah? That’s certainly a SWISS souvenir.

Me: Yeah. Except… I don’t really like knowing what time it is.

Danika: Well that’s something to think about, Alice.

I had a very, very special afternoon/evening yesterday. My mom’s godmother, Alice Hauser – who I was named after, was an incredibly important part of her childhood. Alice’s son lives part time in Rolle with his two daughters, which is just ten minutes away from where I’m living right now! Yesterday we met, hung out their apartment, made dinner, and generally had a lovely time. It was quite special to meet them – thanks for connecting us, Mom!

Another pretty view from last weekend nearing the top of Schilthorn!

Tomorrow I am off to Brussels for four days and then Paris for five days! I’m so excited. I’m interested to see how various francophone cultures differ – both in the French language itself and in customs. Will update you all upon my return!

Alps, Bern, improving French, schoolwork, and more!

Hello all! It feels like ages since I last wrote though I don't think it's actually been that long...

Last Wednesday morning I left for Bern (Switzerland's capitol) with the program for a three day trip. My Aunt Mary told me this summer that Bern was one of h

er favorite Swiss spots and WOW I can see why. The old city is built on the peninsula formed by the river running through the city and ALL the buildings in the significantly larg

e old city date back hundreds of years. I climbed a huge Cathedral (Munster), ate some traditional Swiss-German food (Roschte... it's basically hash-browns with a special onion topping and amazing sausage so, AMAZING), and visited the apartment where Einstein lived while developing the Theory of Relativity (that's a picture of me at his actual desk on the right!), went to a really dorky combined Swiss and Einstein history museum with some dorky friends. Bern is infinitely more relaxed than Geneva. Swiss German really is a separate tongue from German... Germans usually can't understand Swiss Germans but Swiss Germans learn "high German" in school. I found the German part of Switzerland to be a little less pretentious than the French parts I've been to.... but of course it's easy to forget that Geneva doesn't truly belong in any category as it is just about the most international city in the world.

Here's Bern from the tower of the Cathedral!

Our speakers in Bern were the best we've had yet on the program, in my opinion. I had the opportunity to interview one of our speakers - a Major in the Swiss military - for a research paper on Swiss neutrality that I'm currently in the middle of. I was truly impressed with his eloquence and clear explanations... but I don't have enough time to really discuss neutrality just now - I want to do that right because I find it so, so fascinating. What I CAN say is that before we met he sent me...

the most official text message of my life:

Dear Alice, I just got back from a duty trip to Skopje, Macedonia and I'll be leaving on Friday for the next one to Ukarain and Belarus. Tomorrow at 14:00, I have to represent the defence ministry in a meeting at the foreign ministry. The only moment would be just after my lecture in the morning. Let's see tomorrow and good night. Major Thomas Schmidt, International Relations

WOW. That's all I can say.

LES ALPES!!!

This photo is from last Sunday (the 19th) - I'm looking at Eiger on my left and Monch on my right... Jungfrau (the tallest peak) is just out of the picture on the right. These colors are unreal! I didn't photoshop it, I swear!

After Bern I spent the weekend in Gimmelwald...which is a train, bus, and cable-car ride up the mountains from Interlaken in central Switzerland. I have never been so stunned by views in my life. I was hiking with a friend from the program who is incredibly fit (college varsity tennis player) - so we had a fantastic time! We ended up climbing to the top of Schilthorn on Saturday - a combined 4,332 foot elevation gain in a little over three hours. Schilthorn is where one of the James Bond movies takes place... and is right across the valley from Switzerland's three highest peaks: Jungfrau, Monch, and Eiger. It was increidbly foggy when we woke up so we weren't sure we were even going to see ANYTHING but decided to go for the summit anyway. (don't worry mom; the Swiss are anal about marking the trails). After about an hour in solid straight uphill GREY we started breaking through the clouds! Alps! I won't try to describe it... See the post before for a short video I took the next day when it was sunny. From the summit we had 360 degree Alp views... I'm still a little in shock at the beauty. Here's a little piece of it...

I will be back! This was too incredible. As always nature brought me unbelievable joy and peace... Switzerland has so many of these corners to explore - the biggest challenge will be deciding which spots to see.

COWS. I am into the Swiss cows. Not only are they responsible for all this chocolate and cheese but they're just beautiful.

Now I have a big paper to write... and then next Sunday our group is headed to Brussels and Paris for a week! Oh, I was going to say something about my French. It's getting noticeably better. The big news yesterday is that my host dad made a sarcastic joke at dinner and not only did I understand but I responded with a sarcastic joke of my own! Ooohhh! Translated it's not all that funny... along the lines of:

Hermann: "Oh so you visited Einstein'

s home, was he in?"

Alice: "No but his secretary assured me he'd be back next weekend"

Hermann: "Oh good, send him my regards"

Okay so it's not THE funniest thing you've ever heard but it was a thrill for me.

Love you all! Thinking of you often,

~Alice

Photos of typical Swiss things!!

Me in the town square of Gruyeres (yes, as in the cheese...and YES it's increeeedible here)

I really love cows. I'm in luck.

Me in the lower Alps!!! This is a ski resort... they are herding cows with a car. It's hard to describe how breathtakingly beautiful this scenery was.

View form the Chateau de Gruyeres... this is so typically Swiss it hurts.

Le Chateau de Gruyeres!

The SWISS-est Things

Gruyeres:

Last Thursday (September 9) was a holiday for the city of Geneva so we didn’t have school. I went with a friend from the program on a day trip to Gryeres – yes as in where the cheese comes from – in the lower Alps! Again Swiss trains amazed me… there we were basically in the middle of nowhere, close to no major city and yet it was all totally hooked up by rail. The little train was packed to the gills with middle schoolers commuting home on our way back.

This was possibly the most stereotypical SWISS day ever. Trains ABSOLUTELY on time – I took a bus, had 5 minutes to get on the train, switched trains with about a 4 minute transfer, and another similar transfer time at the next stop! The views were splendidly cow/farm/mountain/church/chateau filled, there was cheese everywhere. It was pretty hilarious.

The region surrounded Gruyeres has been under the influence of the flag of Gruyeres since 400 AD when it was first settled. Though it’s shifted hands between the Swiss cantons and French invaders, The Chateau de Gruyeres has stood in the center of the Old town since its construction in 1270. The castle has benefited from the patronage of rich art aficionados for centuries, so it has been marvelously kept up. For every century that the castle has stood, there is a room dedicated to the art of the period. Over time, new bailiffs and owners of the castle left old style intact while adding their own contemporary touch! So neat! My new friend from the program (Claire) was just as into the history and art as me so we had a lot of fun.

There are laws in Switzerland about cheese production. In order for something to be considered Gruyere cheese the producers have to follow stringent guidelines! OFFICIAL Gruyere cheese has to actually come from the area surrounding Gruyeres. I never knew there was so much to know about cheese. My host dad very, very seriously explained to me how to properly cut and eat a cheese at dinner the other night… Ask me in person sometime if you’re really curious J. I also learned that “Alpage” – cheese produced from cows that live and graze in the Alps – is considered more sophisticated than lower elevation cheese. That is because higher in the Alps there is greater variety of herbs and plants for the cows to eat, so the refined cheese-eater can identify a whole smattering of tastes. I THINK my host dad said over a hundred tastes, but that seems absurd and numbers in foreign languages are hard… I will investigate.

Becoming Legit….haha

I took a trip to the Thai permanent mission to the UN! They were closed. But, I found it, and that’s step one. I’m planning on doing some research involving the politics of aid distribution along the Thai-Burma border so I’m trying to get in touch with their embassy for interviews. I have one interview scheduled already with a professor who is well versed in modern Thai politics! Yeaaah! Just a twenty or so more to go J

Lower Alps!

Yesterday my host parents went to a Jazz concert in the lower Alps and I tagged along for the ride with a friend (the Jazz would have been nice bt, of course, expensive). We had no idea what to expect from this tiny town but my friend Emma is currently in a wheelchair due to an ankle injury and my host parents said it would be a wheelchair accessible day, so we thought we’d check it out.

WHOA. The most beautiful views I’ve ever seen! We took a little cable car from Villars (name of a big brand of Chocolate from the region) up to the base of bunch of ski lifts and just soaked up the views. WOW. We even had a glass of local wine on the terrace overlooking the Alps! Funny note – wine is one of the only things here that you can get at a reasonable price. Of course you can also get ABSURDLY expensive wine…. but you don’t have to! I’m sorry I talk about expensiveness so much, it’s a MAJOR part of living here. Sigggh.

Emma and I are hoping to make our way back to the area once she’s out of the wheelchair to do some Alpine yoga and hiking. Oh! There were loads of cows (of course) and one group of about 60 was herded not only by a couple people walking, but an SUV. That sort of broke the mood briefly, but was really hilarious.

Bongiorno cow pillow part un!

I had too much to say for one post so.... See the post below for the rest of the story! The second post is a lot more entertaining and this one has more history.

This weekend was one of my most random and fabulous travel experiences. Ever! I really don’t know where to begin – Saturday in particular was one of those days where everything came together without and stress or force. We couldn’t have planned it! Daria and Kate – I thought of you both a lot because these random coincidences would occur when I’m with you J. Essentially I stayed in a hostel that looked like an Italian villa, happened upon three separate festivals/parades, and witnessed multiple native dances/native baton twirling formations….whhhaattt? I was traveling with Kelvin Bates, a friend from Lakeside High School, and his college friend Evan who is with him on a program here in Geneva. Excellent travel companions!

We trained from Geneva to to Lugano on Friday night, got into our hostel that looked like an elegant Italian villa, and crashed. As we rode across the country crossed through French, then German, then Italian Switzerland. With each train stop the languages being spoken around me faded in and out in prevalence depending on our location. Announcements over the loudspeaker are usually made in at least three languages – the primarily language of the Canton first, then priority goes first to German and Second to French. English is typically the third language because Switzerland is so international. Ohhh we lucky native English-speaking Americans. Swiss trains never cease to amaze – unless I’m mistaken it is THE most well connected by rail place in the world. And they had to deal with the Alps…

Saturday morning we took off for some epic urban trekking through the old cobbled streets and beautiful buildings and along Lago di Lugano. Mountains rise up all around this not too cold and sparkling clean (Swiss take PRIDE in keeping their natural world clean) lake. We went into two cathedrals – so unbelievably different from Genevoise architecture! Calvin nipped extravagance in the bud so baroque/renaissance architecture is largely missing in Geneva. Geneva also obviously became mostly Protestant while Ticino has remained almost exclusively Catholic. Ticino has had healthy influences from Italy – its cathedrals are replete with marble inlay (Deepa!) and vivid paintings. After soaking up these awe-inspiring monuments to god we wandered up one of the big hills surrounding Lago di Lugano. We were trying to get inside “Castello Paradiso” (I mean, who is doesn’t want to see Paradise Castle?!?) but it was actually private property so we could only creep around the outside… Our trek did lead us to the “Parco Panoramico”. Side-note: between Kelvin, Evan and I we knew about five words of Italian, but we learned that if you say things in Spanish with great feeling you can sort of get the ball rolling. Kelvin was particularly good at deciphering Italian signs in museums. My Italian consisted of “Bongiorno Princepesa!”, “Ciao, bella!” and, “That’s Amore!” Which, Kelvin and Evan kindly informed me, was half English. Some local Swiss DID teach me how to say, “I cuddle with my cow pillow”. Stay tuned to find out just why that was truly pertinent to our conversation.

I think we need a little background on Language in Switzerland! Ticino is the largest Italian speaking Canton in Switzerland. Though not commonly used in the business/public realm, Italian is one of Switzerland’s three official languages: German – 63%, French – 21%, and Italian – 7%. The fourth “National Language” (meaning it is recognized culturally and historically, but not for public/official use) is Rumantsch. Only about half a percent of Swiss speak it as a first language – it is a very old language native to Southeastern Switzerland. Part of the reason I wanted to go to Ticino was to see how such a different culture from Geneva and from the German north, fit into the collage of Switzerland. My initial reaction was that I was in transplanted Italy… but of course it didn’t take long for life to complicate my perceptions.

Geneva is in the southwestern corner of la Suisse on the Lac Leman and Lugano is the little white dot on the southern lake in the "Swiss Italian" dark green area. Bellinzona is just north.

Next we took out a paddle boat on the lake for an hour! Loads cheaper than Geneva, WOAH. We swam, it was gorgeous and sunny, Alps in the background, valleys and mountains all around the lake, perfect water temperature…. Kelvin had a Euro suit because he lived in Spain this summer and was trying to fit in. HAHAHA Kelvin. He’ll be ever so pleased that I included that detail.

Bongiorno cow pillow part deux!

continued from the post just above....

The string of bizarre coincidences starts HERE***

We get out of the boat. We get some gelato. We wander into the city park. And of course there’s a medieval festival! People were sword fighting, fighting with long pointy sticks (technical term), reading tarot cards, aggressively trying to sell Kelvin biscotti… We talked with a sword fighting peasant for a while who was actually from across the lake which is part of Italy. I asked her about the similarities/differences between Italian-Switzerland, Italy, and Switzerland. She immediately dispelled of the notion that Ticino was more like Italy than Switzerland. To begin with the Italian in Ticino is particular to the area and there are other languages spoken as well. More surprisingly to me, she mentioned that Ticinese have a strong sense of community and civic duty while she doesn’t find that in Italy just over the border. The streets are clean, public utilities run superbly, trains/buses are highly connected, and people are involved in their communities. There are many more community events in Ticino than Italy (or at least her part), so she often crosses over to take part. I really felt like I was in Italy because it felt SO different from French Switzerland until she set me straight – now I really have to go to Italy to sort this out!

Then came the massive Renaissance parade. I’d guess about 200 people were dressed up on garb from various historic periods… it made for some ridiculous pictures. Purple and blue velvet clad ladies waltzing past Swiss banks and a MacDonalds – but then through one of the town squares that dates back hundreds of years. I just couldn’t stop smiling, the luck of it was so hilarious. And spandex-wearing flag twirlers, how could I forget! After the parade we casually decided to head to Bellinzona, a 30 minute train away, for a nice dinner and some sleep. Lonely Planet describes Bellinzona as the “sleepy, lazy, quaint ancient capitol”. Well when we got off the train that was the case…but a five minute walk down the street brought us to just about the happiest festival I’ve ever seen! This weekend happened to be the Ticino Wine Tasting festival! Literally one the two parties they throw each year. There were live bands somewhat sacrilegiously jamming on the steps of a cathedral, wandering troops of old men playing wind instruments in native garb, and wine and chocolate and cheese EVERYWHERE. After settling into our hostel (at the foot of thousand year old castle) we had to check this business out.

Now, it would have been lovely enough if we just sampled some local wine, had our amazing pizza and called it a night, but NO. Time for dancing in the Plazza! Kelvin can get down so he was getting a lot of looks. Then we started dancing some Bachata together (Yeah Dominican Republic!!!) and somehow we made friends with a couple of Swiss people who were intrigued by us. And thus began our friendship with Andrea (a guy). Andrea is very obviously gay so I had A LOT of fun dancing with him because it wasn’t creepy at all AND he was a really good lead. He was overwhelmingly excited to make friends with Americans and wanted to hear our impressions about everything, where we were from, etc. We were confused about the different venues etc. so he stopped a random group of Ticinese girls to ask if they knew what was going on… and then we had four new friends! There were three girls my age and one of their mothers. After dancing for a while longer we headed to a bar and the lady bought us all a drink while we chatted for like an hour!

Andrea and Pamela spoke pretty good English but the others not so much. There’s one huge difference from Geneva – much less multi-lingual. The Ticinese economy is the weakest in Switzerland, and because of language, the people are a little isolated from opportunities in the rest of the country. The girls told me that many Ticinese resent that they are required to learn Italian, German, French, and English in school but that other Swiss don’t bother with their language. The most offensive part is that German-Swiss in particular come into Ticino for vacations only and refuse to even say “bongiorno” but rather expect everyone to be fluent in German. It may be smaller than other areas, but Italian is THE language of Ticino, and these girls didn’t feel that it is respected as such. And yet when I asked them about their national identity they all proudly professed their love for Switzerland….and Ticino. It’s common, from what I’ve seen and heard, for Swiss people to identify strongly with their Canton.

We got to bed quite late and woke up early in the loud hostel for an all you can eat buffet! That’s REALLY an important detail in pricey, pricey Switzerland. Oh yeah, so Bellinzona has 6 thousand years of history! We took a pretty tiring hike up the hillside to the two high castles… EPIC views and history. I was so glad that Kelvin and Evan were big history nerds along with me. Ticino is at the gateway to Italy so it has seen a lot of war and occupation over the millennia…including by Caesar. Pictures speak louder than words here in particular so I’ll add some once they’re updated

That afternoon we met up with our new “friends” – two of whom were working in a stall at the festival. Watched the parade and some native dancing with them while they insisted on buying us various local delicacies. Andrea took us into the main cathedral (there were still performances happening on its steps…I definitely wouldn’t have been comfortable tromping in on my own). He had been an alter boy there for years and so had plenty to say about it. After a tour of the largest castle in town led by Andrea and Pamela, I sadly had to catch my train. But we’ve been invited back, repeatedly. I normally wouldn’t want to go to the same place twice when I have so little time here but… this was a truly special weekend. And Andrea wants to take us to his mom’s chalet at 1,800 meters for some hiking. I may just have to return.

Thanks for sticking with this blog through the end ~ it was a long one for sure!

All my best to all of you,

~Alice

In the UN library!

Bonjour tout le mond! Greetings from the United Nations library! I mostly just wanted to post something from here because I thought that would be pretty official. The hall where Iàm writing is hung with prints that depict various passages from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

I am writing on a Swiss kezboard which is different enough that I apologize in advance if I type something incoherent!

I just received my official badge for entrance into the UN complex and the library. I feel verz much like an international woman of mystery. I realize that I didnàt share anything about academics in my first post! We will be coming to the UN for research and for two, two-day long conferences/information sessions with experts throughout the semester. Each morning we have lectures from specialists on a given international relations topic. This morning, for example, Doctor Lambert spoke with us about global security.

The lecture began as a broad introduction to international relations theories but quickly became much more complicated and interesting. I, for one, enjoyed hearing the European perspective first hand. He heavily criticized US military spending (which accounts for roughly forty cents out of every tax dollar we pay) and advocated for more spending on diplomacy (which is about one percent of US spending). I think he was intentionally trying to provoke us to defend our country, and we did on many fronts. He was quite receptive to our comments - he loved having us disagree. This seems like a great tone to set for the semester. Though he did soundly criticize the US, he was quick to point out that the only reason we act unilaterally is because we are able to. He even said that tiny Switzerland would certainly do so if it had the huge population and political and military power that the US is blessed with. Of course I have long known that the US is an incredibly powerful and influential country. Somehow, still, hearing a political scientist who has published half a dozen books and numerous articles that we, as citizens of the United States, wield unbelievable power, truly hit home.

And now....what to do with our power?

A return to homestay events... My homestay paretns continue to be absurdly welcoming. My only possible complaint is that they just canàt stop talking to me. Which is really fantastic complaint in the grand scheme of things. My mom in particular talks to me for hours every night about anything and everything. She is quite a precise woman. If she says a word in French that I donàt understand she sometimes spends several minutes explaining it (all in French) even after I offer some translation. Hey, it^s a fabulous way to learn the language. Tomorrow I will go with my homestay parents to a small restaurant in the Jura mountains which are just half an hour away from my village for a welcoming dinner with half the SIT students and their families. We are having fondue!

Random thought...

I finally racked and bought my first bar of chocolate yesterday.

Okay I am off to explore before our official tour begins.

A bien tot!
Alice
@1!(€