First impressions (October 24, 2005)

Disconnection. When I arrived here I had zero keys in my pocket. No house, no car, no office. I arrived on a Sunday, with the university closed, so I couldn't just drop into the lab and get my local contacts to help out. It's a really strange feeling being in a foreign place, not belonging anywhere, not yet knowing how to do any of the basic day to day things, bootstrapping from nothing but some suitcases, a passport, and a pocket full of plastic.

For future reference, I highly recommend trying to have a local acquaintance greet you when you arrive in town. Then you have someone to lean on for all of the little things in life (where to eat, where is good to stay, what services and bureaucracies you should concentrate on first, where can you get Internet access, how do people get around town, and on and on). Olin picked me up when I visited Denmark in the past, and it was a tremendous help.

Here are some first impressions:

• The area is gorgeous. The countryside is semi-rural hills rolling in every direction. The city is more of a village with old architecture and pleasant windy roads everywhere. And in many places you can look out at the Alps rising over Lake Geneva. It's a mild fall, and the trees are turning colors, so it feels nice just walking around. Fay would call it football weather, but there's no football here!
• The above notwithstanding, it's still a modern city. It's surreal to see a sunset over the mountains, a magical scene straight out of a fantasy drawing, and yet also see cars rushing by with impatient people ignoring all that beauty.
• Watch out for busses! Many are driven by madmen.
• Smoking is common.
• English is uncommon but does exist.
• Graffiti is abundant.
• Hip hop is in and lags the States. Eminimem, for example, gets a lot of air time.
• The major train announces things in 4 languages, just like Michael told me. French, German, Italian, English. It takes forever to say, "next Stop, Geneva".
• Maybe it's my imagination, but it seems like people I see in public are careful about their clothes, that they try harder to be exciting and stylish. Or, maybe it's just that there are more people casually wandering about in this town instead of rushing to do business. I don't know--it's just an impression, so it doesn't have to actually be correct, right?

Lex Spoon