Geneva, Take Two

I added a page count at the bottom of this page a few weeks ago and it makes me wonder who all is reading my blog!  I guess I'll find out once I get home.  And according to the little graph next to it, people enjoy it most when there's lots of drama going on.

View of Geneva from Mont Saleve (UN building in upper right)

I was sitting in my room on Sunday morning, prepared to get through a long list of things I've been meaning to do once more settled, and I randomly remembered someone mentioning an aerial tramway that gives an amazing view of Geneva and the Alps.  I looked it up online and, sure enough, November 14 was the last day it would run until January.

Two hours later, I was at the top of Mont Salève, getting a picturesque view of a city that's really been growing on me and the mountain ranges I can't get enough of.

I don't know why I place so much significance on things that happen out of chance.  I've already been disappointed by the things that haven't worked out in my favor - the macaron course being closed before I could register, the au pair job.

I <3 organs

But when I met Nemecia, the landlady who showed me a room in her apartment, I knew I had to take her up on her offer.  One of the first things she said when we met up was "is it fine if we address each other as tu?"

Back when I was still an au pair, after having yelled at Andrea, I was downstairs trying to collect myself.  The concierge, seeing me crying, asked what was wrong.  After listening to my story, she told me that I shouldn't let the kids treat me like that and that, when it came down to it, I could always leave.  Later, after thanking her for her kindness, she mentioned that I should post ads in grocery stores.

Right.  Grocery store ads.  Right before leaving for the Alps with the Ho family for the weekend, I put up ads close to where I'm now volunteering, hoping to catch people on their weekend grocery run.  Sure enough, by Sunday I was getting phone calls.  Nemecia's 23-year-old daughter, who also lives here, saw the ad and told her mom to call right away.  What sheer luck.

In a much larger sense, all of this has happened through chance.  Choosing to go to Cornell was a bit misguided as far as the program and timing went, but that's how I met the amazing friends I'm going to be visiting later in the trip and where I heard of this gap year idea in the first place.  It was at Cornell, too, that I finally took a course in sustainability, on a whim, a subject that I'm planning to explore more through my volunteering and hopefully apply in my work when I get back.

It's weird how topsy-turvy life can be, but somehow some things just fall into place.

Still alive and well

And that's not to mention the fact that, on this photographic journey around the world, I managed to pick such a photogenic city.  I originally chose Geneva because it's French-speaking, has a lot of great environmental organizations, and seemed very culturally appealing.

But, coincidentally:

1. 1. I'm spanning Fall and Winter, two gorgeous seasons over here.
2. 2. The sun never seems to be directly overhead.  I still don't understand this phenomenon - it certainly doesn't do wonders for this pale glow I've been working at - but it means that it's almost always great lighting.
3. 3. The city is nestled between the Alps, Mont Blanc, and several other mountain ranges.
4. 4. The clouds here are amazing.

And now here I am, living in Geneva, volunteering at a really cool organization, the Geneva Environment Network, and enjoying going to work everyday, even if it's unpaid.  My co-workers are great, I can pick what I want to work on (like taking pictures for events), and I can take time off as I please.

I am so happy for how things have turned out.  Being at the Ho's house has made everything since so much more enjoyable and the fall just that much more beautiful.  It's a relief to know, if nothing else, that I have learned what I'm willing to put up with and that I can get out of such a bad situation with such ease.

I could stare at the Alps for hours....