Friday was the induction session for all exchange students!
Thankfully I'd already worked out where this meeting would be when I wandered round with my parents on Thursday, so the tram journey in and finding where I needed was relatively easy :)
There were lots of people in the meeting, from all over the world! I found the others from Cardiff, as well as some other Brits who had heard us talking and were probably quite relieved to hear a familiar language, haha.
Saying that, there were some people who had arrived in Geneva for a longer stay than mine, who did not speak French at all! I know that immersing yourself in a country completely is the best way to pick up a language but gosh! I couldn't do that at all, it'd be so frightening. It's intimidating enough coming here with YEARS of French study under my belt!
Anyway, the meeting went through everything from accommodation to support networks to social events planned for exchange students throughout the semester. There's some really great things planned, I'm excited!
After the meeting, we went over to another uni building, one of the oldest and original buildings, I think, where there was a kind of mini-freshers fair going on, with food and music and some stalls from different departments of the uni. I had something to drink and chatted with the other Cardiff students for a while - the weather was lovely! I also bought a monthly pass for the buses and trams of Geneva - at 10 francs for a day ticket on the tram, a monthly pass pays for itself very quickly!
In the evening, Jamie, the son of my host family, offered to show me some of the bars around Geneva. We met some of the people from Cardiff (plus one of the other British girls we'd met that morning) in Plainpalais, which is kind of a central area in one part of Geneva. We went to a couple of nice Irish bars, which were apparently where most of the expats would go. I was once again shocked by Geneva prices, but was happy to see that they had Magner's cider on tap - a nice little taste of home :)
We were going to go to a club called Usine with some of Jamie's friends, but by the time we left the second bar, it was around 1am and I was super tired. For some reason, just being in a foreign city is so much more tiring than a night out in Cardiff would be! There's been so many new things to take in, I suppose, and so much to be done... it's not a wonder I was so sleepy. So, home on the tram and straight to bed it was!
Saturday
Today was the day of the much-anticipated lake cruise for the exchange students!
We'd only been told the place we needed to go in Friday's meeting, though, so I didn't really know where I was going. I actually got off the tram a stop too early, whoops! Ended up asking some nice policemen where the Quai du Mont-blanc was (the response: "c'est juste là!" with a laugh) and then running so as not to miss the allotted time... smooth, self.
The cruise itself was lovely! We went right by the Jet d'Eau, Geneva's famous fountain (and got a little damp in the process.) It was a cloudy evening, but I thought the clouds offset the mountains, and made the sky look really big and open.
After the cruise, we all went together to a bar called Bar Seven, which was pretty nice if a little small for all those exchange students! The wristbands we'd been given on the boat gave us some discounts at the bar, but I still spent a lot more money than I expected I would... I think this was the moment when I thought 'Okay, yikes, Geneva's REALLY expensive. But I'm here for six months now, so I'd better get used to it. .... sigh.'
I met some new friends at the bar, too! A British girl who turned out to be in one of my classes, two Italian girls (who I haven't actually seen much of lately - I hope they come to other Erasmus nights soon!) and an Irish girl who is in one of my language support classes. I even met some Japanese girls! I told them I spoke Japanese (in Japanese) and we tried to have a conversation... however, I'd been speaking French pretty much all day, and I found it super difficult to switch from French to Japanese so quickly :( It's like my brain can't handle more than one language at once? This doesn't bode well hahaha! I think I had better find a conversation partner under the Uni's tandem scheme to practice my Japanese with - I obviously want to speak French while I'm here, but losing my skills in Japanese would be a huge shame!
Anyway, I chatted to some people, danced about with some other people.... everybody was so nice! I'm glad I made the effort to break out of my existing circles and meet new friends :)
I had to rush back in the rain to get the last tram, but overall it was a great night!
Sunday
As far as I remember, Sunday was just spent resting and preparing for the following week - more meetings, the start of classes, and more Erasmus nights out. What a weekend!
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