I'm sitting here with "Sleepless in Seattle" in French playing in the background. It's at the part where Meg Ryan is deciding whether she should go to Seattle or not. So good, even in French!
After my first 2 days in Cheseaux, I decided to brave the trip by train to Jac's in Fribourg. For any of you who don't know, I get a little anxious when faced with anything that has to do with public transportation (ex: I got lost while taking a NJ transit train over X-mas break and ended up on the wrong line and had to retrace my steps and start over... a journey of only a couple miles took me about 4 hours :), and this trip was no different.
I got off at the wrong station in Lausanne (at Lausanne-Chaderon instead of Lausanne-Flon, what was I thinking??) and I didn't know how to get to the main station (Lausanne gare) where I was meeting my train to Fribourg. In my moment of absolute oh-my-gosh-i-don't-even-know-where-I-am panic, I asked a passerby for directions to Lausanne gare. He told me that he was on his way somewhere and was going to go right by the station, so he offered to give me a ride. He ended up dropping me off right in front, after giving me a short list of what i should do during my time in Switzerland. Thank you Cedric!!! I made my train, and got to Fribourg at around 5:30 pm.
When I arrived in Fribourg, I jumped with excitement upon seeing Crystal and Bard. We made our way out to parking lot where there were supposed to be taxis, and ended up waiting for about half an hour in the snow. We were all so excited to see one another though, that it seemed like only a couple minutes! After several failed attempts in which people jumped into our cabs before we could make it to the door on the thick ice, we finally got one nice driver who
ended up bringing us to Jac's.Upon arriving at her appartment, Jac and her boyfriend Alex took out their new Christmas present: a Wii Fit! While Alex prepared the rest of the Tapas and poured champagne, we all tried downhill skiing, slalom skiiing (how do you even spell that??) and then settled on games of tennis and bowling. As some of Alex and Jac's friends arrived, Crystal, Jeff and I felt more and more like the children in the corner of the party, so we decided to open the game up to everyone and attempt to socialize like adults.. But then we found a stack of sunglasses and settled on having a photo shoot on the couch as all of the real adults socialized...
After ringing in the new year, Crystal had a brilliant beyond brilliant idea. No really, she is an absolute genius!! (Parent Trap anyone??) We decided to bundle up and go outside to sled down Jac's hill! It was a funny sight to see, and I wish I had taken pictures, but my camera had run out of batteries. Just picture a bunch of people in New Years party clothes and hats thrown on trying to sled down a hill with the steepness that would only allow us to go around 15 feet before grinding to a stop.. So maybe it wasn't a genius idea, at least it was entertaining!
The next day we stayed at Jac's until around 4 pm, when Crysal and Bard and I went our separate ways. On the train back to Lausanne, it was early enough for me to see the countryside approaching the city, which was absolutely breathtaking. Lausanne sits on the hill right on the edge of Lac Leman (Lake Geneva). The hillsides are covered in vineyards, stretching as far as the eye can see. Soon after passing the beautiful vineyards, I arrived in the station at Lausanne and succesfully navigated my way to the metro station, where I almost lost an arm in the quickly-closing doors, but managed to get out with all of my limbs intact.
After the short trip back to Cheseaux, I walked back to my apartment feeling very accomplished! I couldn't believe that I had navigated my way to and from Fribourg, and I feel like that maiden voyage has opened the door to exploring Switzerland beyond the reaches of my little blue car!
Today we had a full practice, so I met the rest of the team as well as the head coach. The girls are all really nice, and I explained that I want them to speak french to me so that I can improve. As soon as I work up the courage to interject into a conversation at full speed, I'm sure that I will make some good friends! For the meantime, I got to talk to some of my best friends from home tonight, and I was happy to hear their words of encouragement about breaking into the social scene here!
Tomorrow we have a practice match against a team from Geneva, which should be exciting. I will be happy to get on a more regular schedule again and start playing volley for real!
Talk to you all soon, and HAPPY 2009!!
Love,
Anna
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