Arrivée, les trains, et l'escalade

Thankfully, all of my flights went as planned and after stopping in Frankfurt for an hour I arrived in Geneva this morning on time. Sitting by the window I was able to get a glimpse of the Jura Vaudois mountains as we approached.

After getting my bags, I met with my friend Camille for "un pause au cafe et croissants" at the airport.

Taking the train from Geneva to Lausanne, the first thing I noticed is that trains here are much faster quieter than the Metra in Chicago. Next, I noticed the dozens of vineyards that line the banks alongside the tracks and Lake Geneva.

Upon arriving in Lausanne, I took a taxi from the train station to the EPFL campus and began to get a feel for where campus is in relation to the city area. Once at EPFL, I checked into the Atrium residence where I am staying and started to unpack. Our apartment is very modern and practical and the balcony offers a nice view of part of campus. My room here is actually slightly larger than my room in the apartment in Champaign and has plenty of room to store my skis when I am not using them.

Below are some views from our building:

After unpacking and exploring campus for a little while, I rode one of the public bikes through Ecublens to faire de l'escalade (go rock climbing) at Le Cube climbing center with one of my flatmates.

We met up with some other international students from Germany and the UK while climbing and surprisingly ended up talking about both skiing in the alps and prosthetic limb control. I suppose this might be typical conversation at an engineering school in Switzerland.

1 Day Pre-Departure

One day before I leave I am finishing packing and somehow have fit my life into a ski bag, a duffle bag, and a backpack! Packing like this reminds me of my trip to Mt. Hood Oregon three years ago. My flight leaves tomorrow afternoon, and I will arrive in Geneva the next morning. Below is a map of where I will be staying in Lausanne Switzerland:

I will be studying at the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) where I will be taking bioengineering classes in english and humanities classes in french.

Getting ready to leave for Switzerland I feel a bit nervous, but more so excited for what lies ahead. I am excited to improve my french, meet people from all over the world, ski the alps, and travel throughout Europe. I hope that while spending 6 months in another country I will learn both more about myself and the world around me.