All Things Swiss

I’m back in Granada after a weekend trip to the land of army knives, chocolate, skiing and neutrality (sorry to steal your line, Dad!). Switzerland definitely lived up to its reputation! The chocolate was to die for, so naturally I bought about 4 bars and ate them all before I even got back to Spain. Switzerland wasn’t one of the top countries on my list of places to go while abroad, but it just so happened that when Paige and I were looking on Skyscanner to find somewhere to go for the weekend, Switzerland was the cheapest flight! So we went with it, and ended up spending 3 days in Geneva with some friends from our program.

Instead of giving you a play-by-play of our activities for the weekend, I decided to give you some helpful information about traveling to Geneva, just in case you ever decide to go.

1. Everything there is EXPENSIVE. I mean a McDonald’s hamburger will cost you easily $10. I have no clue how the flight there was so cheap, but we paid dearly once we arrived. Nevertheless, it was totally worth it. We found ways to work around the price and luckily for us, our hostel had a full kitchen that we were able to cook in. We made quite a few trips to the grocery store and found it much cheaper to buy food to cook ourselves.

2. The chocolate (and fondue!) is to die for. Even the cheap Swiss Airlines chocolate they gave us on the flight was amazing! I bought a few bars for myself, including one with little “coffee crispies” in it. Yum. The other thing we splurged a bit on was one big lunch out on our last day of the trip, where we got gruyere cheese fondue and some pizzas for the group including one with smoked salmon, onions, and capers that was delicious!

3. The Alps take your breath away. Or perhaps it was the cold, but either way I found myself getting goosebumps when I stared at them. There is just something about snow-capped mountains peaking through clouds that seem so magical. The other thing we all noticed about Geneva was how clean it was; after a 13-day garbage strike here in Granada, it was nice to see constantly clean sidewalks and absolutely clear water in the lake. The air just felt so refreshing.

4. I need to learn French. Next on my to-do list upon returning to the US. So many people here in Europe speak 3, 4 even 5 languages and I’m still struggling to be proficient in my second language! French is beautiful (and spoken in Geneva AND Morocco, by the way) and I think it would be really helpful to know. We had several somewhat embarrassing moments when someone would speak to us in French and we instinctively responded in Spanish. Woops.

5. Just walk around. The best parts of our trip happened when we were just wandering or trying to get from one place to another and happened to find cool things to see on the way. Our whole trip was unplanned for the most part, so it was neat to just experience things as they came along. A few moments to remember: the first afternoon we just sat by Lake Geneva and the amazing fountain for awhile and looked out at the water and rode the free boats back and forth across the lake just because. We spend almost a whole day traveling to the other side of the lake to see the Chateau Chillon in Montreaux and ended up walking for about 45 minutes from the train to the castle. It was probably my favorite memory from the trip. On our way to the Old Town we happened upon a playground made of old tires and had to channel our inner child and swing for a bit. We visited St. Pierre’s cathedral and happened to catch the beginning of a free organ concert! We also saw the United Nations building and ended our trip with a couple delicious bottles of wine in a pub...but only after accidentally walking into an all-male bar. Hey, it was an adventure. 

At United Nations

Drew, Megan, Me and Paige at a pub