Greetings from Geneva!

After a red-eye across the Atlantic and a scenic flight from London to Switzerland, I arrived safely in Geneva on Saturday afternoon. Checking in for my first flight, I had been spontaneously upgraded to "World Traveller Plus," which granted me a seat near the nose-cone of the plane. Better yet, it also granted me an extra 1.5 inches of leg room. This unexpected additional space came as quite a relief, not so much for my legs but for my enormous backpack, which had been stuffed so large as to double as a second tray table (side note: my backpack, along with two other suitcases, miraculously contained all my stuff for the next ten weeks). For those wondering, I did indeed enjoy a bottle of complementary red wine on my trans-Atlantic flight! I also had a spectacular aerial view of snow-covered mountains during my descent into Geneva. Though my biological clock was lost somewhere between the Appalachians and the Alps, all my bags arrived safely, and I'm grateful for all your prayers for safe and easy travel!

View from the plane: Those aren't just clouds on the horizon.

Lake Geneva and the Jet d'Eau.

I cannot begin this journal of my adventures in Geneva without first mentioning a little background. As of a month ago, I had no place to live in Geneva. The least expensive options were local hostels and apartments, and even these were costly when you consider the exchange rate (side note: here's how you convert U.S. prices to equivalent Swiss prices. First, take an item's price in American dollars. Multiply by .92, which is roughly the exchange rate. Then pick some random large number, maybe 15 Francs, maybe 30, maybe 100, add that to it, and there you go. Works every time.) Effectively homeless, I decided to go out on a limb and contact Campus Crusade for Christ Switzerland, figuring perhaps there were families involved in local ministries or churches that were willing to host an American student like myself. Indeed, through a series of forwarded emails and divine intervention, I received an email a week later from an American couple--Dave and Sue Imbrock--living in Geneva, offering me their guest room for the summer. And it is in the comfort of this guest room that I now type.


Dave and Sue kindly picked me up at the airport on Saturday, treated me to a Starbucks frappaccino, and gave me a tour of downtown Geneva. The city is absolutely beautiful! The distinct architecture, the rolling foothills and snow-covered Alps on the horizon, and the gorgeous lake decorated with boat masts and a huge fountain make this place like no other I have seen. As we drove through downtown, I had a chance to hear from Dave and Sue a little of the history of the area, which provided some context for many of the buildings and monuments that I observed. Much of the downtown, and especially the University of Geneva, was very lively. Some students were in the plaza area playing the medieval equivalent of paintball (e.g. put on some chainmail and replace the guns with spears). All the activity was due to the fact that not only is this summer the University of Geneva's 450th anniversary (makes Harvard look young), but it also marks the 500th anniversary of the birth of John Calvin, whose presence and ministry here helped transform Geneva into the place that it is today.

To conclude my first day in Geneva, the Imbrocks treated me to a fancy French dinner at a restaurant near the France/Switzerland border overlooking the countryside (side note: Geneva is surrounded almost entirely by France). Interpreting the menu and ordering food was an exciting way to test out my French, which came out as an awkward combination of Frenglish and Spanish. Yes, Spanish. In fact, I'm pretty sure I said "Si" to the waitress at one point when trying to say "Yes," but I think it sounded enough like "Merci" that she thought I was thanking her. I also had to decide whether the men's restroom was the one with the sign "Hommes" or "Femmes." For those who are wondering, I chose correctly. Besides the comical language barrier, dinner was great for just chatting with Dave and Sue, learning about them, their family, and their ministries here, and getting a feel for how things operate here in Geneva. And most memorable of all was the breathtaking view from the restaurant patio, which allowed us to watch the sun set over the French countryside and the distant Alps and illuminate in pink the snow-covered slopes of Mont Blanc.

Myself with Dave and Sue Imbrock.

Mont Blanc at sunset.