Genève + some thoughts

Bonjour tout le monde! After endless unpacking and settling, I now have a Swiss cellphone, a completely organized bedroom, with three closets full of warm, thick clothes that will get me through upcoming winter, a kitchen fully equipped with food, an ID card & a new email address at work, a desk at the office, and last but not the least, a demi-tarif carte for trains in Switzerland for weekend trips! I feel one hundred percent settled now :)  :) :)

Oh and I now have a suitemate! I already forgot her name (I'm so bad with names) but she told me she's from a region near Italian border. She seemed glad I speak English because she needs to practice it. I should talk to her in French too because I really want to pick it up again. My French, unsurprisingly, got horrible since it's already been more than three years I stopped studying it. It's sooo bad that I can't even dare to tell people I had passed Delf B1 few years ago. Frankly, when I read it isn't that bad, but speaking/listening are just.. irredeemable. Sighs.

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Anyways, one thing I think is surprising is I don't feel as out-of-place as I had expected to be. Honestly I thought there would be more... hardships/struggles getting all the way here. You know, like feeling alienated/lonely, or having frequent mental collapses, culture shocks, and so on. But things naturally worked out themselves and nothing bad really got in the way. 

Today after work, as I was walking back from Coop with groceries in hands, a question came up on my mind: "am I unconsciously equating here with the States? If not, how is it possible that I feel this comfortable only after four days I got here?" I can't deny that my time in the States is really helping me through this. I remember when I've first been to Switzerland in summer 2010 when I had not entered college yet. If me at that time had come here to live alone for three months, it definitely would have been much more difficult. No, I wouldn't have even tried to do it.

I always knew that college years have made me grow, but only knew it in a superficial sense. When people told me I should cherish my youth and my time in college, I was just like yeah, but they don't know how much I'm struggling. But now I think I genuinely understand, to some extent, why people say college is one of the most important times in your life. In college, every year, every quarter, and every moment really redefines who you are. It is only after a good amount of time you realize that you have been transformed and that the times which only seemed tiring/endless back then have actually been the most precious moments you wouldn't replace with anything else in the world. No matter what you do and what you don't do, what decisions you make and don't make, whatever bliss or agony you go through, this very moment is special as it is because it never comes back again and is continuously changing you into a more mature (and hopefully better) identity. 

In freshman year I, too, was devoured by constant anxiety: Is this the right way? Am I making right decisions? What if they are wrong? What if I make major mistakes that are impossible to restore? Is it okay if I am this uncertain about my future? What things should I do to secure it?  But at one point, I realized that whatever I do, it can never completely get rid of my fear of uncertainty. And my years of uncertainty are precious because they are... uncertain. Because they are full of possibilities. Because they are insecure and can flow to anywhere in any kind of form. Even now, who had known I would come to Lausanne? Had I known I will come here again when I first visited Switzerland two years ago? Not at all.

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So this post is getting way longer than I had thought. Let's switch the gear and get back into the main topic - Genève! On Monday I went to Genève; the main purpose was to get the phone done and do grocery shopping, but I also did some tour myself around Pont du Mont Blanc and Vieille ville. Okay photo time! Because pictures are worth thousand words.

Train station!

Jet d'Eau, Pont du Mont Blanc.

Jardin Anglais.

Chocolate mousse cake from Martel Chocolaterie.  This was my friend SY's recommendation, and oh my goodness I LOVE. Rich mousse + crunchy layer beneath + hazelnuts + a hint of raspberry = pure perfection.

And some pics from Vieille ville!
The weather was really sunny and warm ;)

Why are swans so huge? Never knew... xD

My room at sunset.
I love this time of the day when I come back from work, the room is literally filled with orange sunshine...

Lac du Léman, seen from my room. The sky was so clear after the rain in the morning that I could observe the villages across the lake. Gosh, how can I describe this view in words? My plan: taking a picture from my window everyday and creating another photo collection, as I did earlier this year with Hoover Tower. The Lac du Léman Project begins... now!