viva Switzerland, baby!

So, I apologize for not updating this recently. My computer no longer recognizes the AC power adapter at my house, so I am left to charge and use my computer at school. Does this aggravate me? Heck yes, but I’m learning to deal with it. Europeans are not as technologically advanced as the world may think… haha. Okay, so here’s the recap from the last two weeks, including Switzerland and the CIDE trip to the French Basque country.

BEAR and WIG GO to GENEVA, SWITZERLAND…
My friend Amanda and I went to Geneva, Switzerland, for the weekend.
WHY GENEVA?
I found crazy cheap airline tickets from Madrid, and neither of us had ever been. So we were headed to the city of world peace without any expectations, knowledge of the city or the customs, or a place to stay (nosotros somos muy inteligentes! ha).
BILBAO to MADRID- the first leg of our trip
Our adventure started out on Thursday night- we had to catch the 1:30am bus from Bilbao to Madrid and the metro stops running at 11pm Sun- Thurs. We’re college students living in Europe, and thus, entirely too cheap to pay for a cab. Amanda lives up the hill from the dorm so I met her at the Sarriko metro stop at 9:50 (I completely overestimated my commute time) and we headed to San Mames- home of the Bilbao bus station. We arrived with 3.5 hours of excess time, so we walked around for about half an hour in the dark and encountered some of Bilbao’s finest citizens. At midnight, we joined the line to purchase our tickets (correct- we did not purchase our bus tickets before hand), and at approximately 1am, we boarded the bus. We got on first because Amanda gets car sick and prefers to sit at the front. Well, little did we know, but each seat is assigned. We ended up sitting in a woman’s seat, and apparently, we looked like morons because she kept repeating ocho, ocho, and then eight, eight. I responded with yo entiendo (I understand), but she kept on saying it. Anyway, the bus was freezing so we didn’t sleep much. We arrived in Madrid at 6:15am and began the second leg of our trip- getting from the bus station to the airport. Lucky for me, Amanda is an excellent map reader and we successfully navigated the metro to the airport for only 2 euros- go us! We chilled in the airport for 6 hours- we downed two cups of café con leche (one of the most incredible drinks the Spanish make- half super strong coffee with milk and sugar), watched a couple make out intensely for about thirty minutes, ate some postre, and walked into every duty free shop in the entire airport (or so it seemed). Finally, we boarded the plane to land of peace.
STEP 1- FIGURE OUT HOW to GET OUT of the AIRPORT…
Fortunately, we both slept on the plane, but the flight was short (less than 2 hours). We landed and quickly learned that Geneva is a francophone city and French is the official language. Unlike in Spain, the public transportation maps are written without keys, in gibberish, and are overall, completely useless. We spent a solid hour trying to figure out how to work the Swiss train system. We finally guesstimated enough to figure it out, and after a bocadillo (that my host mom packed us), we headed into town with one objective- find a place to sleep for the night. Geneva is a small city, so we left the train station and began wandering. As luck would have it, we found the tourism office (after we were sidetracked by the world’s second largest fountain! and a clock…) and they gave us a map and a list of hotels and one hostel. I found a Geneva at Hand book, which proved to be an essential for our trip. After examining several hotels (read- checking prices), we headed to the hostel and it was full. We kept walking down the street and came across another hostel- an International Youth Hostel. They had space! For about 20 euros, we got a bed, a locker, bedding, access to the bathrooms, and BREAKFAST! Talk about a score! We put our backpacks in our lockers and went out to explore the city! We saw a lot of stuff, but really, we saved our true exploration for day 2. We ate fondue- cheese and champagne with fresh French bread. It was incredibly rich- we didn’t even come close to finishing the pots, definitely a good choice for the first night. After dinner, we hit up a convenience store for some chocolate and began the walk back to the hostel. On our way back, we met some two dudes in town for some convention at the United Nations. They took our picture by the Mont Blanc Bridge and entertained us for a few minutes. We made it back to the hostel by 11pm, and slept soundly until our French roomies barged in and decided to bang around the room for a while.
DAY 2- HOW to SEE ALL of GENEVA in ONE DAY…
We woke up at 8am, got ready, and headed downstairs to a breakfast of OJ, coffee (con leche!), Swiss hot chocolate (so, so good!), yogurt, cereal, and fresh bread with jam (I’m still craving this stuff). We decided that the two things that both of us really wanted to see were the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum, the Flower Clock, and the United Nations. The day was beautiful, so we took pictures by Lake Geneva and meandered our way across the river. We found the Mont Blanc park and Flower Clock (made of 6500 flowers!). We visited Old Town. We saw St. Pierre’s Cathedral. We met a gypsy woman, and for the only time during our trip, had the opportunity to speak Spanish with her. We found two open air markets and ate our way through both of them- fresh organic cheese, meats, and cake. We saw the Grand Theatre Opera House, the National Monument, the University of Geneva, La Poya (a statue), the Jardin Anglais (where I got to walk barefooted on the beach!), the Palais Wilson (for President Wilson- 14 points- the pathway to the UN), the Palais de Nations, and the world’s second largest fountain- up close. We bought Swiss army knives, ate croissants con jamón for lunch, walked around the commercial district (where I talked to a woman in French), and then headed over to the UN and Red Cross Museum. On our way to the UN, we saw the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. We toured the Red Cross Museum for less than $5 and it was worth it- we learned a lot. I’ll have to write more later about what I learned. It was definitely cool. The UN is right across the street, so we headed there and saw the broken chair. The broken chair is the international symbol for mutilated victims (primarily of mines), and the mere sight of it is powerful. Someone placed a child’s chair next to the actual chair to show the size difference, and for real, wow! So, so cool! We ventured over to the Palace of Nations- where the UN meets to discuss things (but I’m not really sure what exactly). After a day of walking all across the city, we went to a pizzeria for dinner and it was incredible. We sat for over three hours, resting our legs, feasting on a huge calzone and wonderful dessert of hielado y chocolate, and just enjoying each other’s company. Amanda’s a wonderful person to travel with and I’m excited about our future excursions. We finally left the place, and headed to the Mont Blanc bridge where we sat and talked some more. Rain came so we headed back to the hostel and sat in the lobby for another hour.
HEADING BACK to the LAND of the VIEJO…
We made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare, and both got stopped at security for our knives (which we were told that we could carry on) only to learn that we’d gone to the wrong gate and had to go through security again (where we got stopped again). We bought our last bit of Swiss chocolate and boarded our flight to Madrid. We arrived in Madrid with enough time to make the 3pm bus back to Bilbao- or so we thought. We waited in the Passport Control line for over an hour. We made it back to the bus station and waited in line for an eternity. We got our assignment- the 4:30pm bus. We grabbed a bocadillo and a Kaz (yum, yum, yummy orange soda) and found our terminal. We got a two story bus and had the front window seat- as in, we sat above the driver and it was incredible. We made it back to Bilbao before the metro closed, and I arrived home at about 10:30pm- after spending over 12 hours on public transportation. It was an incredible trip, and I’m glad I had the opportunity to see the city that has been the leader in world peace. I would recommend Geneva to anyone… it’s gorgeous, the people are wonderful, and the food is incredible.