l’arrivée — pt. 1

things i learned today (or was it yesterday???) at the airport/in the air

• chef rick bayless is everywhere (@frontera thank you for continuing to satisfy my torta and guacamole cravings both on and off penn’s campus)
• delays are delays are delays
• if the man next to you refuses to put his tray table up for landing and there is a full glass of water and coffee on it, don’t panic. you may only get nominally wet.
• the area of chile is “slightly smaller than twice the size of montana” #whoknew (if you want to know more about relevant facts regarding latin america’s toothpaste market, just let me know)
• dulles actually sucks. fly out of jfk next time, if at all possible.
• if you cry while watching in-flight entertainment (20th century women was brilliant, what can I say), flight attendants will offer you wine for “therapy”to cure your emotional instability… next time try to remember that you are eligible to drink because europe does things right.
• the alps are the most beautiful mountain range in the world to fly over.
• when you befriend someone on an international flight, say goodbye before you leave the customs line. inevitably, you will lose them the second you step up to present your passport.

hello! so switzerland is amazingly beautiful — the sky is everywhere and blue as can be (shoutout to the weather for not raining like it has been here all week) and of course the food is wondrous. i’m super lucky that my friend, alex kuo-jones, from cornell engineering camp lives here and that her family was so graciously willing to take me in for a night before i move into the cité dorm tomorrow. she took me around all day today, and i really got to experience geneva like a local. just like when i visited abby breitfeld at princeton and when madeline blake came to visit me this past year, sandy’s bad girls are reunited for one night more — just goes to show that even though you may go your separate ways, we never really lose the people who are supposed to be in our lives.

i want to say more words (and god knows i could…), but i’m jetlagged so so so bad and need to wake up early tomorrow to get to the uni so here’s a little photo journal from today:

alex swooped in the doors at the baggage claim clearly marked NE PAS ENTRER to rescue me from my past 15 hours of airport hell at 7:50 am. then we went on bus (free tickets for everyone from airport like what.) to her apartment, where she made me swiss coffee and an omelet and fed me the best dark chocolate i’ve ever had ever.

after we tried and failed to adjust the seat height of her friend’s bike with tweezers and various wrenches, we took the dissenting bike up an escalator, awkwardly wheeled it through the produce section of the supermarket, and found a guy who could fix it to my small, small frame. afterwards, we reversed course and set off on a 7 km bike ride on the highway/through downtown geneva and across the border to france because geneva is just that international. this is me prioritizing safety beyond third by wearing a helmet for what my mom would have considered to be a treacherous trek weaving through traffic, but really just made me feel more alive with each roundabout and horn blare.

the reason for our impromptu trip to france! Le Mont Salève. had to take the cable car to see the view of geneva from the top (and to hike a bit around to see some cool meadows).

nothing says BIENVENUE À GENÈVE like this.

on the way down, we took a brief detour to alex’s high school, which she just graduated last week (wohoo!). so here’s the thing like this place is mad old. we’re talking 550+ years since johannes calvin actually founded it himself. the man, the myth, the owl??? apparently… i’ve been wanting to see what her high school was like since she told me about it at cornell like 2 years ago (so can i get a pluto update :3) so honestly coming here was super super cool for me. [side note: alex gave me some of her school gear — which I am currently wearing — so yes, i guess you could say, this has been a real obsession of mine]

afterwards, we met up with her boyfriend, sam, and went to go get lunch and chill more around downtown geneva. he taught me things about swiss politics and bought us all lovely craft beer, so i approve of him. also of his legitimate $4000 watch because watches are a huge deal here (we have rolex, philippe patek, some ones whose names i can’t pronounce, and swatch).

one more view. was a little disappointed the jet d’eau was turned off due to wind concerns but still wow… i mean look at that sky.