Settling In...

Finally I understand why people took so many of those pictures at the Gare in the movie Amélie. It's because you need a passport photo for absolutely everything here! The metro pass, student ID card, ESN card, your visa, your Migros card, and of course your passport. I thought that bringing one would be enough- I was wrong! I need to stop by the Lausanne-Flon Metro stop tomorrow to take more pictures! I'll be so tired of seeing my own face in little 1"x1"squares by the end of this semester!

Today was a good day. It started off the coldest morning yet; it made my ears feel like they were being sliced off by the wind. I went to la rencontre d’accueil, or the Introduction to the University for exchange students. It made everything so much clearer- I actually know what I need to do now! I got there two hours early, so along with four other girls (a German, an Austrian, a Pole and a Swiss-German), we stopped for thé and chocolat chaud, then took a walk along Lac Léman. We found the sheep and the elusive donkeys. We also saw some swans, who were as beautiful and as graceful as anything, or at least they were until one almost came on shore to attack us, which is when we ran away.



The information was helpful and I was feeling great until it came time for me to pick up my student ID card, which was nowhere to be found. I stood in line after line until I met Olivier, who upon hearing that I was a student from Cal State Long Beach he exclaimed: "You are Elizabeth! I have waited and waited for you! We were so worried that you wouldn't come!" Now, the whole "worrying" thing usually implies some sort of problem, and I definitely had a problem. Somehow, almost all of my paperwork had gotten lost in the mail, or left in an office, or something very mysterious and very not-Swiss. So, I have been temporarily put on hold until I can meet with Olivier on Monday and get my ID card and register for classes and all.

Cool thing about Swiss classes- you don't actually register for about 3 weeks into the semester. We get to attend as many classes as we want, without attendance taken, then choose which ones we liked best at the end of the three weeks.

When I got home, my two flatmates had a surprise for me: pink tulips, a Black Forest cake, and a bottle of "girly" champagne, as Gian called it. So we had a tiny little 10-minute fête. Then Gian left for work (not the sock company), and Heidi and I made spaghetti with meat sauce by slicing up one of my frozen hamburger patties. Then we brought a peace offering of Swiss chocolate to the girls that live upstairs, and had a pleasant evening with our new friends.