Walking toward the shopping area in Morges, my town :-) This wasn't the picture I meant to upload, but I'm having some issues so I guess it will do!There are a million things I could talk about.
I should point out that I am studying public health while I am here. So, I thought our program director's opinions about particular health matters were important to note. Apparently, running and wifi are bad for one's health and discothequing from 12-5 am and ending one's showers with glacial cold water are quite good. The Swiss are experts about such things. I have much to learn.
I have a great homestay family and they've never hosted anyone before. My room seems so big to me, almost too big considering how small the rest of their apartment is. They even put flowers and a box of chocolate in here! It seems way too much. When we entered, the first thing we did was have some champagne and homemade bread. Later, for lunch we had spaghetti followed by a fruit salad for dessert. They put a little bit of some sort of liquor made in Lucerne in each of the bowls... (as a side note, there are a million vineyards here, and you can even buy local wine at the grocery stores!) Anyway, the dad, Jean-Claude, is a cook and we had some delicious salmon for dinner.
We have already had a plethora of funny conversations. The mom, Jess, is the only one that speaks some English but she insists we speak in French. I was even slightly reprimanded at dinner for responding in English (by that point I had caved into my frustration and really just wanted to be understood.) But I'm grateful- she said having me around would certainly improve her English but she thinks it's more important that we struggle with French so that I can get better since that's partly what I'm here to do.
On the car ride here, I spoke with Jean-Claude about the country. He said, "What do you think when you think of Switzerland? Rich people? Watches? Chocolate? Cheese? That is what everyone thinks." I agreed that I thought that way, but asked, "Et vous, qu'est-ce que vous pensez quand vous pensez a l'Amerique?" (probably a funny way to say that) and he said "McDonalds, Disneyworld and big cars..." Later he was surprised (pleasantly) to find out that I actually don't eat fast food, what a shock!
I've already asked Jess an embarrassing and apparently socially inappropriate question that I won't repeat, so I think I'm off to a good start. For some reason, SIT got the impression that I am a shy person from my application (fair enough.) My family is cutting me a lot of slack, but the truth is, I would certainly be talking a lot more if I knew the language.
I also find their approach to food interesting. One of the kid's glasses had a Nutella logo on it and I said "Ooo, le nutella est populaire en Amerique!" Jess responded, "Well, I can buy that but nous n'aimons pas les produits industriels." I agreed and said the choice was meilleur pour la sante and was impressed by how they really do try to buy fresh.
Anyway, Monday is our first day of the program :-). We are going to the Red Cross Museum in the morning and having a guided tour of the old part of the city in the afternoon. Most weeks we will be having class from 9-5 with a two-hour lunch break, with Wednesday and Friday afternoons off.
More to come!
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