Switzerland/Annecy

Annecy (most picturesque city ever)

Hi guys,

I am sorry again for my lack of posting! I actually had homework this week- gasp! I know it is shocking that I take classes abroad, considering I am always on weekend getaways, but you heard it here first. I am in fact in classes and have to do work sometimes.

Anyways, I know no one came here to hear about that. Let’s talk about my trip to Geneva! It all started on a Friday morning, at about hmm yeah 3:30 am when I woke up. I had obviously gone to bed late, at like 12:30 because I was still packing and FaceTiming with Sue. So I woke up from my little nap and got ready to go on a long weekend trip with Allie and Maddie. They are both in my study abroad program, and I actually met Allie in London on our way to Edinburgh on our first flight here, because we are both from Massachusetts!

broken chair monument??

So Allie is super organized, (unlike me- shocking), and made us a whole itinerary for the weekend. We set off from our apartment around 4 am, and went to the bus station to get the bus to the airport. However, we went to the wrong bus station. Love that. So I tried to order an uber. But then he cancelled. Again, awesome. We wind up walking to yet another bus station and taking that bus to the airport. Shockingly, we made it to our flight. I was in the very back row and basically sat upright in the fetal position the whole flight, with people next to me who were crabby. Good times! 

United Nations

We get to Geneva, which is nice, and take a free train to the center of the city. We were able to check in early to our airbnb (score), and then we went to go enjoy the day. We went to a little restaurant for lunch, where we all chowed our food because we were so hungry. Then, we took pictures in front of the broken chair which is some monument in Geneva (I don’t really get it but whatever). Then we took a tour of the United Nations headquarters. It was very interesting, and Allie was all excited because she has always wanted to work there. The building was beautiful, and although a lot of the stuff went over my head, it was very cool. Definitely an experience I will never forget! By this point, all we wanted to do was get dinner and go to bed because it had been a very long day. Even though I had only gotten 3 hours of sleep, I slept the most out of all of us. Maddie had only gotten about 30 mins of sleep, so she was falling asleep at dinner. We had some bomb lava cake and then went back to our hotel to bed.

The next morning, we woke up early to take a bus to Annecy, France. However, before the bus we went to Starbucks to get some breakfast. We literally each got water, tea, and a croissant (or something of the sort), and all wound up paying 17 franks EACH, which is almost equal to $17 each. It was absurd, and it really goes to show how rich Switzerland is. We all couldn’t believe how much money we were spending. But alas- big girl’s gotta eat! 

paragliding!

So we arrive in Annecy and I had booked for myself to go paragliding off the alps. I figured I may as well, considering paragliding looks sick and what better place to do it than the alps. Allie and Maddie are both afraid of heights so they were like um absolutely NOT. But they are good friends so they came to watch me from the ground. We got to the paragliding place, where they were obviously all speaking French, and a tiny bit of English. The lady winds up telling me to wait, because there were a few more customers coming, and then we would be on our way. Finally, about 15-20 mins later, I get in a van to drive up the mountain. It was me, another woman who was driving the van, and probably 6 guys who all worked for the company and were going paragliding right then themselves. They were all chattering in French, so I was looking at my phone to distract myself because at this point I am FREAKING out. Although every time I would look at my phone, they would ask me questions (in English). My favorite was when they asked if I had ever gone paragliding before, to which I obviously said NO, and they were like oooh okay! Then in French, the guy I was going to go with, Leo, was saying to the other people, “regarde-toi! Regarde-toi! Les infants-regarde toi! Bof! Bof!” I didn’t say anything, because I wasn’t about to announce at this moment that I know some French, but basically what they were saying was “look, look, kids look! Crash!” I was like ok wow please tell me we’re not going to CRASH!! Now I was really stressing hehe. At this point, we get to the top of the mountain where there were probably 60+ other people waiting for their turn to run off the mountain and go. When I got out of the car, I looked to the ground and saw a heart shaped rock, so I felt a little bit better. Then, I walked a few more steps and saw a little girl who was literally probably 4 years old about to go. At that point I was like come on lady you are FINE. One of the men at the top of the mountain who was basically air traffic control told me that I had the “best” guy, which made me feel a little bit better too. So Leo and I wait probably another 10 (agonizing) minutes, and then he straps me in and tells me to run until my feet are no longer on the ground. Comforting. I do this, then once we were in the air I was trying to sit back into the little seat part, but I couldn’t get myself comfortable. So for probably 3/4 of the time I was half sitting half dangling in the air. However, it was definitely one of the coolest experiences I have ever had! It was over a lake that was so blue and beautiful, the sun was shining, Leo and I were chatting- it was a great time. He kept asking me if I was “dizzy” or “feeling sick”, which I didn’t (because I am a savage), so he was like dope lets do some tricks. This was insane, he basically put the breaks on and then let go, so we were like free falling and turning around and stuff which was really fun. After that we landed, which he told me I did well because it was really smooth (again- I am awesome). When all was said and done, the whole experience, from when we got there to when we left, was around an hour. Then, Allie, Maddie, and I set off on our merry way. 

paddle boating

For the rest of the day, we hung out in the town of Annecy, rather than in the outskirts of it. We all LOVED it so much. It was probably the most beautiful place that I have ever been. Everything was so picturesque, with the lake, and the alps, and the shops, etc etc. I was about to move there that day!! We ate so much awesome food (gnocchi, crepes, wine, etc), went shopping, and then went on a paddle boat around the lake (same lake I paraglided over). It was all in all just an awesome day spent with 2 great pals :) After all of our fun, we had to get back on the bus to get back to Geneva, which took an hour or so.

paddle boating

The next morning, we were going to wake up and spend our day shopping in Geneva after we got breakfast. We went to a little place and got the biggest spread of bread that I have ever seen. Then, we started to walk towards the man made geyser thing they have on Lake Geneva, and were going to stop in stores along the way. However, we very quickly remembered that Europe on Sundays is low-key the worst because almost EVERYTHING is closed. No shopping for us. It was honestly a blessing and a curse because I could have seen Maddie and I dropping a lot of money, so I guess it is okay that we wound up not being able to shop. We got to the lake though and decided that we had so much fun on the boat the day before, that we wound rent another boat for a little bit. This time, I was trying to flex how good I am at boating (obviously), so we got a motor boat. I was scooting us around the lake and it was really fun. Then we hung out by the water and saw a ton of swans. One lady was feeding them (I disapprove), and I kid you not the swan had her WHOLE HAND in its mouth trying to get the bread. At this point I had to walk away because ew. 

Lake Geneva

We wound up trying to find fondue, because when in Switzerland- am I right?? We found probably one of 5 restaurants that was open in Geneva on Sunday, and had some bomb food but spent hella money on it- because when in Switzerland. We were going to get chocolate fondue for dessert (the main point obviously), but we were like shoot our flight is kinda soon, maybe we should try to get there. Long story short, we didn’t get the chocolate fondue, and we still almost missed our flight. However, God was looking out for us, because we made our flight and still had enough time for Allie and I to get pre-flight drinks and make some new friends from North Carolina. 

Lake Geneva

I know this has been quite a long winded story- but it was quite an eventful few days! Allie and Maddie made great traveling partners and we had a grand old time together. Can’t wait for us to go away together again soon!!! xx #stayclassyscotland