I have titled this post 'Life Experience' as this week has been full of just that. Monday presented a series of challenges to begin with. I won't go into any extreme details - as I would surely bore you, but it went somewhere along the lines of:
MONDAY
7.30 - Leave house for train station
8.30 - Should be getting on train to go to Geneva to go to youth conference with church
9.30 - Still waiting for train
11.30 - Arrival in Geneva, have subsequently missed bus
11.48 - Frantic, expensive phone calls
12. 30 - Awaiting responses from people at youth conference
This is me
13. 30 - Apparently I have to go to church in Geneva
13.33 - Try to buy tram ticket but realise I must pay in Swiss francs... I have no Swiss francs....
13.44 - Buy ticket with Swiss francs
14.25 - Arrive at chapel
Wait....wait......wait......wait.....wait.....
16.00 (ish) - Two people show up at church. They're taking me to conference! YAY..... but we still need to wait for another 8 people....
16.30 - They arrive and I try to make friendly conversation with the three girls sitting in the back seat of the car I'm travelling in. They aren't interested in friendly conversation.
17.30 - Arrive at conference.................Finally. And you know, the thing is - conference was only an hour and a half DRIVE away from my house. Monday was an experience. I learnt patience that day, and when I arrived at conference and explained to some people that I was Australian, I got 'Oh! You're the Australian girl who was lost and who missed her train!!!!' I did NOT, NOT, NOT miss my train! I left home an hour before its due departure time EVEN THOUGH I live 10 minutes away from the station because I am a nervous traveller (yes, I get that from my mother and I half believe it to be a positive thing).
Conference itself was ok. I was forced to talk to a lot of people and get out of my comfort zone a little, which was good. It was great, in fact because I met so many different people and had some interesting conversations too. I was lucky to have a fantastic room mate and to meet some really lovely people from church in Lyon too.
Today it rained. It rained a lot. I nipped over to Vieux Lyon (I think I'm in love with this neighbourhood) and then over to the central part of town, then to the mall...then to the station to print some photos (that's where you go, there's a machine) and home again. I was so frustrated by the rain and the storms and having been out for so long and being hungry that arrival home was a relief. Until I got to my bedroom. Being the genius that I am, I hadn't closed the window properly - so you can probably guess the rest. Everything was sopping wet. As I am truly blessed to have a super lovely house mate, Caro helped me mop everything up. So! I went on, preparing everything. I did a lot of washing today (before it rained) and hadn't yet hung it out, so I went to hang it out....and guess what? Again, being insanely intelligent, I had decided to wash my brand new navy blue trousers with all of the white clothing that I own. Result - BLUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. All of my beautiful white shirts are BLUE and my super expensive, super lovely Peter Alexander PJs are ruined. Fantastic. So now, I am literally and emotionally a little blue (but it's all life experience, right?)
I'm excited about finally going home tomorrow. Home in this hemisphere is in Denmark - and it has been far too long since I've been back.
lots of soggy, blue love,
Alice
MONDAY
7.30 - Leave house for train station
8.30 - Should be getting on train to go to Geneva to go to youth conference with church
9.30 - Still waiting for train
11.30 - Arrival in Geneva, have subsequently missed bus
11.48 - Frantic, expensive phone calls
12. 30 - Awaiting responses from people at youth conference
This is me
13. 30 - Apparently I have to go to church in Geneva
13.33 - Try to buy tram ticket but realise I must pay in Swiss francs... I have no Swiss francs....
13.44 - Buy ticket with Swiss francs
14.25 - Arrive at chapel
Wait....wait......wait......wait.....wait.....
 |
| Even wearing Swiss colours brought no good luck |
16.00 (ish) - Two people show up at church. They're taking me to conference! YAY..... but we still need to wait for another 8 people....
16.30 - They arrive and I try to make friendly conversation with the three girls sitting in the back seat of the car I'm travelling in. They aren't interested in friendly conversation.
17.30 - Arrive at conference.................Finally. And you know, the thing is - conference was only an hour and a half DRIVE away from my house. Monday was an experience. I learnt patience that day, and when I arrived at conference and explained to some people that I was Australian, I got 'Oh! You're the Australian girl who was lost and who missed her train!!!!' I did NOT, NOT, NOT miss my train! I left home an hour before its due departure time EVEN THOUGH I live 10 minutes away from the station because I am a nervous traveller (yes, I get that from my mother and I half believe it to be a positive thing).
Conference itself was ok. I was forced to talk to a lot of people and get out of my comfort zone a little, which was good. It was great, in fact because I met so many different people and had some interesting conversations too. I was lucky to have a fantastic room mate and to meet some really lovely people from church in Lyon too.
Today it rained. It rained a lot. I nipped over to Vieux Lyon (I think I'm in love with this neighbourhood) and then over to the central part of town, then to the mall...then to the station to print some photos (that's where you go, there's a machine) and home again. I was so frustrated by the rain and the storms and having been out for so long and being hungry that arrival home was a relief. Until I got to my bedroom. Being the genius that I am, I hadn't closed the window properly - so you can probably guess the rest. Everything was sopping wet. As I am truly blessed to have a super lovely house mate, Caro helped me mop everything up. So! I went on, preparing everything. I did a lot of washing today (before it rained) and hadn't yet hung it out, so I went to hang it out....and guess what? Again, being insanely intelligent, I had decided to wash my brand new navy blue trousers with all of the white clothing that I own. Result - BLUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. All of my beautiful white shirts are BLUE and my super expensive, super lovely Peter Alexander PJs are ruined. Fantastic. So now, I am literally and emotionally a little blue (but it's all life experience, right?)
I'm excited about finally going home tomorrow. Home in this hemisphere is in Denmark - and it has been far too long since I've been back.
lots of soggy, blue love,
Alice
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