Beautiful weekend in Geneva. I’m writing this really late, but I can remember most of what happened.
Honestly, Geneva was a lot like Zurich in that it had a very high quality of life, and it was very clean. It was also like Zurich in that it was expensive, and a little boring. However, my adventure getting down there was anything but boring.
I decided to take BlaBlaCar down to Geneva, and CouchSurf for a place to stay. My BlaBlaCar driver was a lot of fun, as well as my fellow riders. The driver was from the French-speaking part of Switzerland, one of the riders was from Spain, and another was from Germany. And here I am, from the United States. It was really fun to talk and joke around with them. Really fun, until we were rear-ended by the car behind us when we had to stop quickly. It really didn’t feel like too big of a blow, so I wasn’t too worried, but our driver was a little bent out of shape because apparently it was her boyfriend’s car. The guy that hit us didn’t pull over, and instead the car in front of us stopped to make sure everything was okay. None of us could even see a scratch, so that was good.
The funny thing was, that in the car I knew that my CouchSurfing host lived in Geneva near the train station, but I didn’t know her exact street address, or if she would still be awake when I arrived in town (it was already midnight by the time I got to Lausanne, the train stop where my driver dropped me off). I was really flattered that my BlaBlaCar driver gave me her phone number in case my CouchSurfing host fell through, then I could stay at her place. Very kind! Turned out that my host sent me her address while I was on the train to Geneva. I ended up arriving at 1:30, which was much later than the 11:00 that I had initially planned for.
My host was very kind, but she lived in an apartment above a kabab shop, on the fifth floor, and gosh her apartment was small. I can only imagine what she’s paying in rent. Anyway, she was fun to talk to, and very young at heart.
The visit to CERN was a ton of fun. I got to see a lot of cool stuff, but I swear half the time I didn’t know what I was looking at. Our tour guides were really helpful though, and the tour itself was free! It’s hard to be dissatisfied for that price. We then split off for the rest of the day, and I pretended to be a tour guide (I had bought an audioguide and explored a little before CERN), so it was fun to again spend time exploring with some fellow Americans. There was a fair going on near Lake Geneva, so we spent some time down there. It was a great time.
It was at this moment that I realized that none of my BlaBlaCar contacts worked out to get me home to Darmstadt. This meant that I needed to bite the bullet and take the train from Geneva to Darmstadt. The good news was that it was only 5 hours or so long. The bad news was that it set me back 149€, and when I’m already running low on money, this was a lot. But it was secure, and I was guaranteed to have a ride home.
The following morning we took a walk at the newer parts of Geneva, and we were able to visit the United Nations, the Red Cross Museum, and the World Trade Organization. Really cool places to be, and I highly recommend seeing them when in Geneva. I wish I could have stayed longer. When trying to find my way home, I had to ask a tourist assistant for directions, and I was surprised to learn that she was Canadian, studying in Geneva. She said that it was far cheaper to pay for plane tickets and study in Europe than paying tuition in Canada. If this was true, I’m sure it’s even more cost-effective when compared to the U.S. What a thought! I could get my master’s degree in Germany!
The train ride was pretty uneventful, but overall, a weekend well worth it. Seeing CERN and going down into the tunnels where they keep the particle accelerator tubes was breathtaking and I’m glad I was able to be there.
Au revoir!
Tom Ziebro