the end

Ok, so it's not actually the end, considering I am in Europe for another 2 months, but as I sit here on my porch in the sun, staring directly across Lac Leman at Mont Blanc, I can't help but be only a little bit nostalgic for my time here in Switzerland. Even amidst host family drama and, well, I'll just call them experiences, with SIT and Earl, Switzerland's left a pretty great impression. Amongst Volcanopocalyspe 2010 and realizing that I'm completely broke and just over halfway through my stay (Switzerland will do that...), I have spent the past few weeks staying here and exploring different parts of the country.

A couple weeks ago, I tried Interlaken, round 2 with a fellow Yens kid and her host family, but this time, we made the 3.5 hour trek up to Jungfrau. At over 13,000 feet, it boasts the highest train station in Europe and one of the largest alpine glaciers (and yes, I learned that glaciers aren't just in oceans...). While the view was pretty spectacular, I must say, of my Interlaken day trips, I think I much preferred Murren to Junfraujoch mainly, as per usual, because of the tourists. Jungfrau is a funny thing...it just happens to be one of the largest Japanese tourist destinations in Alpine Europe. Even so far as the third language on the train loudspeaker (German and English 1 and 2), is JAPANESE, not French...I'll reserve any further comments, but it was a very interesting experience. Which brings me to a side note about the Swiss-as much as they pride themselves on humanitarianism and neutrality, I've come across some extraordinarily racist tendencies. 30 minute rants about the Turkish populations of Germany, questions on what I felt about the visitor population of Jungfrau, comments on the thievery of x, y, and z people from France-I've certainly found myself at a loss for words more than once.

The next afternoon, as we got word of 3 people stuck in Barcelona, 2 in Rome (one of whom managed to get back by hitch hiking through Italy with a nice Bernese man named Peter), and a cancelled flight to Amsterdam for 8, Lauren from across the street's host mother, with whom I've become quite close, took us to a mountain near Montreux for a hike, and we walked around Montreux that evening, which I, being the jazz nerd that I am, found splendid.

The rest of my past couple of weeks here have been spent trying to deal with the follies of Earl, attempting to figure out his demands for a project on the "pluridisciplinary approach to viewing refugee treatment through the frame and lens of the narrative to the practitioner" (actual words from the man's mouth) and realizing that, while a potentially cool concept, it's just not possible to satisfy his requests in 3 weeks and that refugees from 3rd world countries probably don't want to tell their life stories to American college kids for the sake of a research project. Sorry, Earl.

So, to relieve my stress of "school" for a bit, I decided to channel my inner (our outer...as some would probably argue) nerd and visit CERN, the European Center for Nuclear Research and home of the new Large Hadron Particle Collider, for those of you (an amount at which I was shocked-further affirming my science loserness) who don't know what it is or simply know it from a certain Dan Brown masterpiece (FAIL.). Unfortunately, the tours are no longer permitted to go down into the 'cave' as they call it where the tunnel and collider actually are, BUT the reason for this (too much atomic radiation since the accelerator started running again in October) is so badass, I didn't really care. And we still got to see the control room full of computers and wall projections with images and numbers I could never even begin to dream of understanding. I felt like a kid in a candy store (kind of ashamed...but not really at all) and now I can say I've visited the "most powerful piece of machinery EVER created" (DIRECT QUOTE.)

Host papa Richard has really started to grow on me, of course the last few days I'm here. At first I thought he was mute or something, but I've come to realize that maybe he's just the strong silent type (which, with host mama, is a nice reprieve). Theres something wonderful about coming upstairs for breakfast and seeing him sitting there, magnifying glass in-hand hovered over the dictionary trying to finish his crossword. Not to mention, I think I totally got on his good side yesterday when I ANSWERED one of the clues IN FRENCH. ALL BY MYSELF. And when I come downstairs to my room and pass his office, a simple "salut" and nod of the head is all I need before retreating from the night. No lectures, no stories, no questions. In that house, maybe now I see why the man smokes half a pack a day...I almost feel like we've come to a mutual understanding of one another and just accept it. Needless to say, I think he's the family member I'll miss the most (besides of course, Igor, the noble beast that he is). His witty remarks (seldom as they come) and sly retorts just make my life here a little bit better.

All in all, I'm gonna miss this place.