I have a confession: I never loved Disney World. I visited a couple times when I was younger and I really enjoyed it, but I didn't fall in love with it in the way that every little girl falls in love with the Magic Kingdom. I never wanted to be a princess and I wasn't a big fan of Disney movies, especially those that lacked talking animals. I always assumed that my apathy towards Disney World was just a side-effect of my cynical, sarcastic attitude towards most things in life.

However, this weekend proved me wrong. After 20 years I finally realized that the happiest place on Earth is definitely not Disney World, because that title is reserved for Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany.

This weekend shattered every expectation I set. I initially pictured a bunch of people drinking in a field, but boy was that an understatement. Oktoberfest is basically a much more fun version of the Montgomery County fair, minus the demolition derby and plus A LOT of beer. People from all over the world dress themselves in lederhosen and dirndls and flock to Munich for this three week long celebration.

I like any place that welcomes me with a sign.

I'm going to skip talking in-depth about the beer because I think it goes without saying that that was a big highlight of the weekend. I mean, that's basically the whole reason for the festival so you know it must be good. What you do need to know is that there were both beer gardens and beer tents (one of each for every brewery represented at the festival), and I had a glorious time in both of those settings.

two is better than one.

Another big highlight of the weekend was obviously the FOOD. Things I ate include but are not limited to....
-a pretzel bigger than my head
-schnitzel
-some large piece of bread with cheese and bacon on top
-Germany's version of mac and cheese, called spaetzle
-CHICKEN. SO MUCH CHICKEN.

I love you, bacon cheesy bread thing.

I also love you, schnitzel.

I also love YOU, German mac and cheese dish.

All in all it was an extremely successful weekend. I dressed up, met people from all over the world, ate and drank delicious things, and made it back to Geneva in one piece. If you ever find yourself in Europe around this time of year and you miss out on the opportunity to visit Oktoberfest consider us no longer friends.

Until next time, Munich. Auf wiedersehen.

If you are my friend / family and you are reading this post please find a seat and brace yourself. I have some huge news to report that may just rock your world. Only continue reading past this point once you are sitting down and have taken three deep breaths....

I am converting. Being here has really opened my eyes to everything I've been missing in this world and I just can't go on living the sheltered life that I've been living. From this point forward I will no longer be part of the church of grape jelly, and instead am starting my conversion process into the life of a blueberry jelly lover.

Sorry for the scare, mom. If you've known me for a while you probably know that I love peanut butter and jelly sandwiches more than most things in life. I ate a pb&j for lunch everyday from my first day of kindergarten until my last day of high school, and now that I'm off a meal plan and forced to pack a lunch I've reverted back to my old ways...with one BIG exception. It is virtually impossible to find grape jelly in this part of the world (or at least at the 2 grocery stores I've checked) and so I've had to resort to blueberry jelly as a substitute. I hate to say it, but I think I was deprived during the roughly 12 years of my life that I swore by grape. So long live blueberry! And if you can find it in the US please tell me where so I can pick some up as soon as I get home.

In other news, I had a very fun weekend in Lugano, Switzerland, mostly because I ate super yummy Italian food. Lugano is in the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland and it basically felt like we were in a different country. On Saturday we even stumbled upon an international food and art festival (Bruce, you would have LOVED this) that only happens once a year. What luck! I probably won't make it to Italy during my time here due to the fact that I've already been all over that country (thanks grandma and grandpa!) so a weekend in Lugano was a nice compromise.

I ate mushroom gnocchi and life was good.

This calzone was filled with tomato, mozzarella, mushroom, artichoke, and prosciutto. I left my heart (and my stomach) in Lugano.

One more fun thing to report: today my French class took place at a chocolate factory. We got to see how chocolate is made and ate an obscene amount of samples. The presentation was done entirely in French so I can't really tell you anything I learned, but what I do know is that there is no chocolate factory in the world that resembles Willy Wonka's factory and also chocolate is delicious and I will never stop loving it.

Ready for surgery....and chocolate tasting.

As promised, here's my canyoning video. Blogspot wouldn't let me upload it so I had to post it on youtube (embarrassing) but hopefully it works!

Insert laughter here.

This upcoming weekend I will be in Munich for Oktoberfest, so if you don't hear from me by Monday morning at the latest it's because I either loved it so much I decided to stay or I drank my weight in beer and popped from liquid overload.

Get ready ladies and gents because I have some BIG updates for you!

Since so many of my friends back home have been asking about the food here, it's important for all of you to know that on Thursday night a group of us got crepes at this cute little restaurant across the lake and boy were they good. Mine consisted of "seasonal fruit" (aka bananas and kiwi) and A LOT of chocolate. Washed that bad boy down with some cider and called it a successful night.

I love you, crepe.

On Friday we got out of class at noon instead of the usual 5pm, which meant we had so much time for activities. First order of business: macarons. Ladurée is some French dessert chain down the street from our building that sells delicious macarons. If you are ever in this part of the world (or NYC, apparently) I highly recommend the strawberry marshmallow, salted caramel, and chocolate flavors.

The swans were fighting for my macarons and I had to fend them off

Friday was the first warm and sunny afternoon all week and you better believe we took full advantage of that. Geneva has this awesome (FREE) bike rental service here, where you can borrow a bike for up to 4 hours! All you need is a 20 franc security deposit, a passport, and a good attitude. You might also need a helmet, considering the fact that those are not free to rent. We rode bikes for a bit during the afternoon and eventually stumbled upon a zoo. Naturally I freaked out and loved every second of it, and even though I have only spent 2 Fridays here this one was definitely the best so far.

I'm still sore.

If there's one thing everyone knows about me it's that I absolutely love cheese. It is my favorite food of all time and if it was sanitary to bathe in it I would do it in a heartbeat. BU paid for a group excursion to Gruyères (aka the birthplace of gruyere aka one of my favorite types of cheese) on Saturday. We visited a cheese "museum" and some fancy castle, but the real point of this post is to tell you about the fondue that I consumed. Things you need to know: it was delicious and I almost cried when it ended.

This is my fondue eating face.

When I told people I was spending fall semester in Switzerland I heard time and time again that I just HAD to visit Interlaken, and boy were they right! For those of you unfamiliar, Interlaken is basically the hub of extreme sports in Europe and it's also currently the top contender for the most beautiful place I've ever been. While I didn't skydive or bungee jump or anything wild like that, I did go canyoning. Here's a video of random people canyoning so you can kind of understand what that entails....

Basically, I rappelled off rocks, slid down water "slides", jumped off cliffs, and peed my pants (not necessarily in that order). It was a very terrifying and thrilling experience. Eventually I'll have a video of myself partaking in these activities and I'll post it here so all 5 of you reading this blog can see.

After canyoning a group of us did a small hike and walked around the lake area for a few hours. Then we boarded the train, took our shoes off, and napped until we arrived back in Geneva.

Feeling a little narcissistic but it's my blog and I'll post my face if I want to.

Basically I love it here and I'm never coming home.


.....just kidding mom see you in December!

I think this is the point in the program where I don't really have a whole lot to blog about because I'm fairly adjusted to Geneva but haven't actually done anything or gone anywhere yet. Things that have happened since my last update include....

Finding a service for Rosh Hashana! A small group of us went to a Chabad Geneva service. We got in, flipped through the prayer book ferociously trying to figure out what was going on, got our prayer on with a bunch of women in the back of the room, and left. It was a very short and sweet service and I'm glad that I was able to see a little bit of the Jewish community around here.

Starting classes! During the first half of the program I am taking French 1 and Principles of International Health. Let it be known that although my last name is technically French, I have not and (probably) will not ever speak that language fluently for reasons being that there are 16 different ways to pronounce every letter and I get confused very easily. I suppose this is the part where you picture me sitting through a French class and laugh hysterically over the blank expression on my face. Nothing big to report about the health class yet but stay tuned.

Experiencing Geneva's nightlife! Trying to keep my blog G-rated so ask me about this if you are curious.

Eating dinner on top of Mount Salève in France! On Saturday night we finally had our official "welcome dinner" which seems silly because we arrived five whole days before that. But it actually ended up working out well because having a big formal dinner the first or second night here would have been awkward due to the fact that none of us were friends. We took a (scary) cable car ride up to the top of the mountain and dined in this fancy schmancy restaurant. Dinner was BANGIN and included salad, chicken and veggies covered in sauce (and if you know me you know I love a good sauce), chocolate cake, and lots and lots of wine.

This is the mountain

This is salad

This is chicken and sauce

This is cake

Here's a quick list of things I will probably be blogging about in the upcoming weeks...
-cheese factory visit in Gruyere (NOM)
-hiking and canyoning in Interlaken
-eating a lot of yummy Italian food in Lugano
-OKTOBERFEST in Munich

Miss ya Murica!

All Settled In!

Bonjour readers!

WOW what a long couple of days it has been. Here's an update on how things are going, in the form of a list because that helps me organize my thoughts and also I'm lazy and exhausted.

1. I spent a lovely morning in the Newark airport with Ellen and Bruce. Then met the group at the gate about an hour before our flight. Things were obviously awkward because hi have you met me? I don't exactly thrive in social situations. But everyone was super excited and just as uncomfortable as me so things definitely could have been worse.

2. The flight happened and all I can say about that is if you are ever assigned to sit in the middle seat of the middle section you should ask to change seats because that really sucks. Also, if you ever fly United and they offer you "BBQ chicken" ask for the vegetarian meal instead. Also also, see the movies The Kings of Summer and The Descendants as soon as possible.

3. Geneva is absolutely BEAUTIFUL. Every time I step outside I feel like I'm stepping straight into a postcard. Don't believe me? Look at this picture:

(This image brought to you by google image search. You may be surprised to find out that that's not me in the picture, nor is it anyone I know.)

SEE WHAT I MEAN!??! The BU dorm is a minute walk from Lake Geneva (or Lac Léman for all you French speakers out there) and that big fountain, The Jet d'Eau, lights up in funky colors at night.

4. Orientation has spanned the past three days. Here's a sublist for you:

• Day 1: we arrived to the dorm around 10am and immediately dove into breakfast (I ate bread and lox in case you were curious....Nikki this is the part where I give you a shout out because I know you'd rather keep up with my meals than my adventures), registration, and tours of the building and the neighborhood. Naps were taken around 4pm and then a group of us went out by the lake for a bit at night.
• Day 2: woke up madddddd early and headed over to the University of Geneva for an orientation session that's not worth telling you about. Then we had a scavenger hunt all over the city. My feet hurt and my floor came in second. The winning team received a GIANT Toblerone bar and my team got nothing, so next time someone tells you that everyone is a winner don't you dare believe them.
• Day 3: More orientation blah blah blah you don't care about this boring stuff

5. This afternoon my friends and I are heading on over to France for a quick grocery shopping trip. Yes you read that correctly. We are grocery shopping in France. Grocery shopping. In France. NEAT!

6. I like it here.

7. I've been taking some photos and whatnot and as soon as I have enough to start an album at some point I'll post the good ones up on here. Also check my Facebook for pictures that I don't feel comfortable showing my grandparents (sorry Selma and Joe)

8. Rosh Hashanah starts tonight and I don't have concrete plans / I'm sad about it. There are a few other members of the tribe on this trip and we're all trying to find a service to go to but we've only been here for like a minute and still don't know anything about Jewish life in this area. I'll keep you posted mom.