Arrival, Geneva, Rain, and the EVIL Hill

So, I'm officially oozing excitement at this moment. As I look at the map to the approach time to our destination of Geneva - 28 minutes. I cannot help but to be struck anew by the wonder of this new world I am about to visit. While…it may not be historically correct to think of Europe as the 'New World' to me it is and I look forward to the exploration of it. One thing however that's a bit disconcerting. It's already 7am at my destination of Geneva while to me it's a late…or early 1am! I was somehow able to sleep on the plane, but that was only after searching for an area to do so. Prior to that event I'd had the worst time imaginable with the individual in front of me nearly instantaneously placing his seat down, my personal torment to deal with as I precariously ate, watched a movie - the one with Brandon Fraiser and Harrison Ford - and then tried to sleep. That really was not working all that well and I did give up after a time. Resigning myself initially to no sleep. However a careful exploration of the front identified 3 empty seats, right in a row, and lots of leg room. You can imagine and rightly so, that I then proceeded to those empty seats and staked my territory. I did sleep quite well, almost like a bed, aside from one of the arm rests which would not go up. But overall this was a much better alternative than before and for others around me. I was fortunate. So now as we begin to arrive I'm at least somewhat rested and perhaps adjusted to this new time. However only time will completely tell that. What I do know is, I'm excited and it's time to explore in T-22 minutes. More to come later.

It's now 11am here and I am starving. We've arrived and the room is gorgeous. I have a great roommate and I think all will be going well! Our room is so clean. It is almost like a hotel room and puts the dorms at Andrews University to shame. There's a lot of French spoken, and I'm clearly out of my league in the language. Thankfully as well a lot of them know English. I've unpacked and while wireless and internet for that matter are not currently working now, hopefully they will soon. I know I have a couple people who are or will be expecting a phone call in another 3 hours or thereabouts. We'll be exploring around Geneva later today as right now we are at Collonges a school in France which is roughly 20-30minutes from Geneva. So really not a long way at all. More to come later

The afternoon walk to Geneva was something I was definitely looking forward to. We walked down a fairly steep, long hill…I'd estimate for around 1.5-2miles. It took us around a good 45 minutes to get to the bottom, maybe longer. Either way, it was quite long. Next we rode a bus to ride a train to ride another train before we finally headed to the United Nations building. Needless to say it was a nasty rainy cold day. It was not a place you wanted to stay around and walk in, you really just wanted to get out of it. We went shopping for a very brief time and I exchanged 20 dollars for 22 dutch marks before heading back. The rain was now harder and the wind too. I was dreading what awaited. That mammoth hill. However I knew I had to get to the top before a certain time or miss dinner. We stepped off the train around 5:40pm and I sprinted, power-walked, and ran my way up to the top. Needless to say I was soaked, wheezing, and I really did want to stop along the way but I did not, finally arriving at 6pm. I'd made it to the top of the 1.5-2mile hill in 20 minutes. Anyway dinner came next followed by a nice shower and finally collapsing into my bed and forcing my eyes to stay awake until i no longer could. I fell asleep around 9pm. Thus ends my first day :)