Friday, June 27, 2008

In Geneva...barely!

The keyboard here is different...so please forgive the typos...plus I've been traveling for the last 28 hours with only catnaps...but here's the 411.

I got here without incident. The flight from was a little bumpy...and trying to sleep in 2 feet of space...bad juju, then I waited three hours at the Paris train station. (Strangely, three different people asked me for directions on train stuff...two of them French...do I look like I'm french and know what I'm doing?) Then, I got on the train (except I got on the wrong car, but that was sorted out quickly-I had looked at the wrong ticket, and I was worried because I hadn't validated the proper ticket, and the guy behind me got a 10 euro ticket for that...but no ticket for me because my ticket was off the internet...and I had rehearsed my sob story in French in my head several times...but didn't need it!) I was kinda worried the whole time also because Dr. Koop said her bags got stolen off the train, so I had to keep a watch on them. One time I woke up and jumped up because I thought it was gone...but all was well.

So, then I got to Lyon, and rather than just waiting in the train station for an hour, I left the train station and went into this big mall that was across the street. It was crazy packed. Of course, everything's been crazy packed...the airport, train stations...so I shouldn't be surprised. So, then I took the train to Geneva, no problem. I waited in line for 20 minutes to get a bus ticket, and then I got on the wrong bus! Well...right bus line, just going the wrong direction. I figured it out and it only wasted 20 minutes...and I got a tour of the town!

My overall impression with Geneva is that it looks like a medium size French town...it's a little dirty and there's some graffiti in places. We did pass a really big park that looked cool...I'll probably go there tomorrow.

Also, French teenagers are terrible dressers. They seem to want to look like they're wearing their rattiest clothes. And the "ghetto" outfits are even funnier...lots of tight white pants! I'll try to sneak a picture or two for you later. Adult women look nice though, more dresses and skirts and jewelry, but less make-up. And there are FAT WOMEN! You know that book "French women don't get fat"? Lies! I think there are definitely more fat people here than last time I was here 5 years ago. And I saw my first fat French kid. He was eating Lays potato chips...so we know who to blame for that.

So, I'm sitting in the lobby of the dorm area, waiting for the reception to open...and please God let them have a room reserved for me...

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