It's been a while, hasn't it, since I last wrote. Much has happened, and yet it seems like not much has happened as well.
January 8 I left Spain: Cristian took me to the train station in Sagunto and said farewell. I rode into Valencia and took the metro to the airport. Everything went smoothly as Cristian said it would. At the airport, I checked in and then enjoyed some delicious bocadillos de tortilla de patatas (I'll show pictures). On the plane, I was unsure if seats were assigned, so I just picked one. Well, they were assigned, so I had to move :). The flight attendant on my Vueling flight was really nice though and told me I could go sit in the exit row. Man was that nice! I had more legroom than I knew what to do with (I could stretch out completely). The seat reclined a bit even (uncommon on cheap airlines) and I had no neighbors on my side of the aisle, so I had a nice open space. The landing was amazing, too. I always like to see how smoothly the pilot can land the plane, and since I've been on many many flights, I know what's good and what's not. This was a really smooth landing--I was impressed.
In Paris at the Orly airport, I checked in my luggage and waited around to see where my flight was boarding. I couldn't find it anywhere in the airport--where could it be? Thankfully I checked my ticket again and realized that I was in the wrong terminal. I took the little train to the Sur terminal and found my boarding area. I knew I was going to have to sit around for a long time because I was fairly early for my flight. Little did I know that the snow storms in Geneva and in Paris would cause major delays, keeping me in the tiny terminal for an extra three hours. I did my best to contact Scott Guthrie and let him know I would be late.
Once we finally boarded the plane and took off, things were fine. The flight was short; about 50 minutes--which made it a little more annoying since I waited over 3 hours for a 50 minute flight. After being asked if I wanted to buy overpriced snacks, we landed in Geneva. I got my luggage and found Scott and his friends Jeremy and Sarah waiting for me.
We drove through Geneva to get to Collonges--it took longer than I had expected (I thought the school was just about 10 minutes away). When we arrived, I unloaded my stuff, talked with Scott for a bit, and then went to bed.
Saturday morning we slept in till late. Then Sarah, Jeremy, Scott, and I made pancakes for brunch. They were quite good, even though I'm usually not a fan of pancakes (waffles are more to my liking). Then Scott and I went back to the room, chatted for a while, and then headed down to the kitchen again to eat fondue with all the students. It was good, although the cheese was pretty strong (I guess they use a lot of wine/alcohol when they make it.....it boils out, though). I guess I'm not a strong cheese guy--I like my provolone, mazithra, pepperjack, etc. :) haha. After eating, everyone went upstairs and we did team karaoke. Most songs were in English, others were in French....and one was in Romanian; the ever popular Numa Numa song.
Sunday morning was unlike any so far on this trip. I woke up and went to breakfast. Then I went on a big hike with Shelly, Keri, and Sonya up the saleve here! It was intense. Many students told us not to go because of the snow and how slippery it was. We went anyways; carefully, though. I'm not a mountain climber, so at first I was hesitant to continue on, thinking of excuses to turn back, but once we made it higher up, I knew I could do it. It was gorgeous, too, so that helped :). We took a medium pace and made it to the top in two hours, taking small stops along the way for breathers, water, and pictures.
We only stayed at the top for a few minutes, gazing out across Collonges and into Geneva. It was so beautiful! Snow everywhere. Our climb down was much quicker and easier. After an hour, we arrived back at the school and headed to lunch. We played an intense game of Monopoly in which our friend Brittany won. It was a big deal--Scott had never lost a game on campus before, and this was Brittany's first win. Yay for Brittany.
Today, Monday, I attended one of Scott's classes. I understood very little--mostly just the part where the professor was talking about a verse in the Bible. I looked it up in English and did my best to follow along.
Now I sit here in the dorm, listening to Celtic Woman on YouTube (anticipating their new album coming out this month!) and preparing to upload some photos.
I hope all is well with those of you reading :)
Happy Monday!
