A New Chapter.

Well hello there! I feel like we have met long, long ago, no?

It's a shame that I let this blog fall to the wayside the way so many others have gone before this. However, in my own defense, May was, for any of you that had the pleasure(?) to talk to me during that month, a very hectic time.
At that time, specifically around the time of the 7th, when the post previous to this was written, I was on the cusp of my final exams at Franklin College, while simultaneously balancing my mom coming out to visit and pack me up, and ultimately the Great Move back to the United States. I capitalize "Great Move" because, believe me, if you have ever carted nearly 200lbs of stuff, which had seemingly been your entire life for the past 8 months across a European country.... you would probably capitalize the experience too!

But I'm back. After a good 8 months of time back in the country, I've finally settled in to my new home, and have started a brand new chapter in my life. Just a heads up, I cover a lot in this post, and it's much, much longer than it should be / will be in the future, so bear with me!
Crash course of the past 8+ months to follow!

Roanoke College.
Creative Writing (with an impending) Double Major, Literary Studies. Concentration in Psychology? Maybe. The future is nothing but a blur at this point!

Heritage Walk, Roanoke College, Salem Virginia

I'm very pleased to finally find time to sit down and work on this blog again. True, it will have a different feel. I will not be hopping across mainland Europe every six months or so, but I'm still moving about the East Coast, and even branching out to the West on occasion! Traveling is still something that I value above many things, so you can expect that to continue, just on a much more local scale! Living in the South is a truly unique experience to that of the fast-paced New England lifestyle I'm so accustomed to, and even more different from that of the leisurely lifestyle that so many Swiss/Europeans value so much.
Interestingly enough, there are many similar aspects from the two, while adding its own flair to my everyday life. I hope that I can share some of that new culture, as subtle as it may seem, with you all over the next few years.

Roanoke was voted on the the 18th most beautiful campuses!

Being January (albeit the end of the month) I decided it was a great opportunity for a new beginning. I know people are all on their New Year's Resolution kicks... (or has everybody given up on theirs already?) so I figured rather than a resolution of sort, though I suppose it could be considered one if you wanted, I would start updating a blog to keep in touch with those that I don't get to see on a (semi-?)regular basis.
The conversation came up with my mom over some break in my first semester, and I sort of dismissed the idea, giving the excuse that "But that blog was for my traveling! I'm in Virginia now, nothing exciting happens there! Y'know what? Some pretty interesting things happen. And even if it didn't, when you go from having the entirety of Europe at your fingertips to the South-Central Virginia, you make some interesting things happen if you can't find any.

So here we are at last, again.

A quick summary of the things that have happened in the past eight-or-so months since my last post (even though I was updating about March) I'll give you a brief photo log accompanied with snapshot summaries of what's happened since then, using my Instagram as a guide!

(this is going to be longer than expected... I apparently did a lot more than I thought.... Who would've thought.)

 March 2012: Went Italy, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, and Greece over the course of two weeks.

Our hostel, Studios Arabas, Thessaloniki, Greece

May 2012: My cousin Zach and Mom visited me in Lugano, and I moved back to the United States.

Mom and I on Lake Lugano

June 2012: I got my MINI Cooper!!!

Still need to decide on a name for her!

Summer 2012: Went to Cape Cod more times than humanly possible.  

Woman on the beach, Provincetown, Cape Cod

August 2012: Got a new puppy, Leyla!

She's gotten much larger since then1

 August 2012: Moved down to Salem, Virginia to start my first semester at Roanoke College!

My half of my double! (I've since moved to a single!)

October 2012: Visited Trevor at Wagner College on Staten Island, NY

Brooklyn Bridge, New York, New York

 Every day of my life 2012: Consumed far too much caffeine for a normal human being.

Mill Mountain is the love-child between God and Starbucks.
Yeah. I went there.

Every day of my life 2012: Ate waaaay too much sushi, and apparently instragrammed all of it!

Sushi from Charlotte, North Carolina

 October 2012: Made some great memories, and spent time with family on Fall Break

Grandma and Joey on his bike!

 November 2012: VOTED FOR THE FIRST TIME

So proud to have the right to vote!

 November 2012: Had Thanksgiving at my house for the first time in 5 years!

Delicious Thanksgiving meal! (I made the pumpkin soup!)

 Fall Semester 2012: Found a new mentor and inspiration.

Hong Konged, written by my Creative Writing professor, Paul Hanstedt

 December 2012: Christmas!

Decorated the tree!

 December 2012: Made it out to Arizona for the first time in about 6 years!

National Cemetery, Phoenix, Arizona

 January 2013: TURNED TWENTY and made coconut curry to celebrate!

Curry for my 20th Birthday Dinner, made by yours truly!

Well then! Now it's January 2013, and here I am, back in Lucas Hall (world language department) typing away on my Macbook instead of writing my American Lit homework on journal writing.

It's a bit ironic that I'm updating my blog instead of reading on how to write a journal. This is sort of the same thing, isn't it? I hope I'm doing alright for y'all!

Real Fact: The South has converted me!!! I am guilty of slipping "Y'ALL" into every day conversation now! I've resisted for so long, but it's just so soothing and make me feel at-home! 

Anyway, what really inspired me to update this blog was because I have new courses that I'm very excited about this semester!

For those of you who hadn't heard, last semester I took 4 courses and made Dean's List with a 3.675 GPA.

I felt very honored and proud of myself for meeting this achievement, and am determined to improve over the course of my time here at Roanoke. I've already stacked the odds against myself, because unlike last semester, when I had only 4 courses, this spring I have a total of six! Funnily enough, I just added a course this afternoon when I ran into my old French professor, but I'll get to that shortly!

This semester, I start off finishing my math requirement for my core, by taking Mobile Apps. I had expected it to be yet another math course like statistics, but it's more of a computer science course, and we actually follow tutorials building actual apps that work on real Android phones! It's pretty neat! In my first few classes, we've created an app that's a picture of a cat that meows and purrs when you "pet" or tap/shake the phone! Pretty cool for an intro class, if you ask me (haha!)

Next if my Composition: Theory and Practice course, which I'll probably refer to as Comp Theory more often than it's full title. This course is very dense, so far, but it's incredibly interesting! We're learning how to teach writing to other people, and the various theories and practices behind different methods. It feels like a weird blend of a creative writing / education course, and I'm really excited to see how it unfolds!

These above classes meet Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for 1 hour long each. 

After that is my Character at Crossroads course, which has a focus on Morality and Ethical Literature. So far I'm not incredibly impressed with the course, though I am desperately trying to. It's one of those intro core classes that I need to take, so I'm with a bunch of freshmen who don't seem very thrilled about literature, or ethics for that matter... The subject we're covering seems very interesting, but the group discussion is lacking right now. Hopefully as the semester picks up, the group will come together nicely. At this point, I feel uncomfortable sharing my opinions on literature, as ethics can be a rather touchy subject, and I don't really feel like I can relate to this people, which makes the class awkward and tense at times. Like I said, hopefully it'll improve as time goes on! This course meets on Monday and Wednesday from 4:00-5:30. It makes for a long day, but it's nice because on Fridays, I finish at noon, just like last semester, which is great for the weekend!

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I have two classes as well, these meet for 90 minutes long each, and I luckily have them one right after the other.

First is another core requirement, but this one is a Psychology course, and it focuses on the difference between Love, Lust, Limerance, and other forms of the word(s). It seems incredibly interesting after the first two classes, and I think it's one of those courses that will really shape the way I'm going to look at the world. In addition to looking at just the basic definitions of "What is Love" versus "What is Lust," we look at how they are implemented across different cultures, so it has a really diverse feeling to it. The professor is named Dino and he looks like that crazy old grandpa everyone has or knows of, who is just a bit too eccentric and starts talking about sex to anyone that'll listen. It's the perfect combination of awkward, hilarity, and informative.

(If that wasn't the most bizarre summary of a college course you've ever heard, I don't want to know where you go/went to college....)

Immediately following that course is my American Lit class. I can't really say too much about it, since we've only met once so far. Our second class was cancelled because a snow storm rolled through and cancelled classes last Thursday afternoon and delayed the college on Friday. To be short, it reminded me how much I dislike "old" American Literature when we had to read Anne Bradstreet and Edward Taylor. However, the syllabus and textbook suggests we'll be reading some Edgar Allan Poe, Sylvia Plath, Kate Chopin, e.e. cummings, and some other good stuff, so I have hope! We apparently just do a few weeks of background 16th-18th Century lit, and the majority of the course is on 19th and 20th Century, which is very, very different, and much more tolerable! The professor seems very different from any I've had thus far, and I'm curious to see how the semester unfold with him. I've heard nothing but good things from him, so I'm very optimistic!

Finally, is my French Paleography course. This little blurb is especially for mme, because I was about to send her an e-mail about this course when I decided I would update my blog and share with everyone else, as well! 

Last semester I took what I had thought would be my final French course in college. Roanoke requires up through the 201 level in a foreign language, and I placed into their FREN-201 course. My professor urged me to take 202, and pursue it, but I had other obligations to fulfill for my major and core that I couldn't fit it into my schedule (it was the same time as my Mobile Apps course.)

However, today I was sitting in Lucas (where I am right now...) and by, as fate would have it, my old French Professor walked by the room I was in and stuck his head in to say hello! We talked very briefly, and as he walked away I added "Sorry I couldn't take 202! I just couldn't fit it into my schedule!!" He comes back and starts talking about it, and mentions his Paleography course. I had been under the impression that you had to take his FREN-202 class to take it, but he said I was more than welcome to take it, and that their first meeting was tonight!

French Paleography is an independent study course that meets one night a week for about two hours, so for us we meet Mondays from 7:30-9:30 at Mill Mountain, my beloved coffee shop right down the street!

We study old manuscripts of French from the 800's - 1450's AD. This first class was incredible, and totally surpassed my expectations. Not being confident with my knowledge of French, I was able to pick pieces out that looked familiar, and didn't even feel like I was at a disadvantage. What we are doing is essentially deciphering old script from hundreds of years ago, and trying to put it into a modern context.

For example, this is one of the pieces that we looked at today: 

Click here for a larger version, if needed: (click)

Here, the French is very difficult to understand in both appearance, and the writing itself. But we started with words that we recognized, and worked through it line by line, not constrained to in a start-to-finish order. It was very interesting for me, and I think the benefits are three-fold.

First, I'm learning about 'old' French manuscripts. We're deciphering texts that you wouldn't ordinarily see in a classroom, and it is a great cultural study.

Secondly, much of the actual discussion switches back and forth between English and French, which gives me a much more solid understanding than if we were translating old french to modern french. It puts things into a better context for me, as the deciphering is less of a "french" study for me, as a general construction of language/breaking down of a code. I am even learning new grammatical practices that are applicable to the English language.

Finally, discussing the construction of this old language, and how it has adapted from the text to modern French, is a great way to stay in touch with the language, and even clarifies to an extent. As glad as I was to finish my language requirement, I was afraid that I would lose the (minute) French that I did have. I firmly believe in people knowing at least one other language in addition to their native tongue, and would have felt disappointed if I lost French.

Since the class meets once a week, and I don't have classes until 1:10 the day after, I don't mind that the class meets from 7:30-9:30pm. It seems interesting enough to keep me going to class, plus it's a small group, there's only five of us, so I think that enhances the learning as well. 

That's another thing! My class sizes are SO GREAT this semester. Comp Theory has 8 people, American Lit has 7, Paleo has 5. My Psych/Mobile App/Lit courses have between 15-20 students, but those are courses for the core requirement that everyone needs to take to graduate, so it's expected that they'd be larger class sizes.

All-in-all, I love this new chapter of my life. I have had a number of people tell me that I seem happier at Roanoke than I did at Franklin, and I'm able to look back and reflect on that and agree. Roanoke is everything that I expected a college to be, and more. I've established some great relationships here with both faculty and student alike, and I feel like the program and school itself is capable of getting me where I want to go (even though I have no idea where that is right now.) That's not to say I regret Franklin or my year in Switzerland at all. I had a fantastic year and met some incredible people there, but the school was just not able to provide what I needed, and I had to make a decision. I have memories that truly will last a lifetime, and it fueled my fire to get out and see the world. I have some great expectations for my future, but right now my year in Lugano has satisfied that hunger for now. Now it's time to get serious and focus on my degree, and then see where that takes me, whether it be graduate school or straight into the work force. I'm leaving the book wide open, ready for whatever life has to throw at me. Do you think I can throw any more clichés into this before this ends?

No? Well, the clock says it's now 12:15, and I should really get to work on my AmLit reading.... so I guess you were saved by the bell.

(Come on guys, I'm funny.)

the snow!

This winter has been relatively disappointing, I must say.

When my first semester ended 17 December, it had not snowed in Lugano at all. 

When I tell people that I go to college in Switzerland, one of the first questions I get asked (along with "do you ski?") is "Oh, it must be cold there / does it snow a lot?"

I was so disappointed to not have any snow on the ground before I left...

HOWEVER! 

There was a scare the weekend I was supposed to head home.

My friend had a flight from Zurich on a Friday and was cancelled until Sunday because of inclement weather. Luckily for me, my flight on Saturday went through smoothly and it was just a rainy, dreary day :p

When I was back in the States, there was no snow in Connecticut either!

Two days before I left, there was a crazy snow storm that gave us about 4 inches of snow, but it had melted the next day. I was starting to get upset that I wasn't going to see any snow this winter! Being from Connecticut, I'm used to it!

However, that changed on 26 January (Happy Birthday, Erik?)

I looked out my window and saw this:

It was about 1am and I got a facebook message from my friend Medina. She asked if I wanted to go downtown and take pictures in the snow. I was a bit hesitant at first, because it was 1am and still snowing.. and being right on the lake, it was a heavy, wet snow mixed with some sleet/rain. 

Still, Kaitlin and I agreed, and we all got out coats, gloves, hats, and scarves on and grabbed out cameras!

The following pictures are from that journey! I'm so glad we went, because we all slept so late the next day that it wasn't pretty anymore (the snow was turning brown from cars!) and had stopped snowing.

(Snow on palm trees - so weird!)

(I made mini snowmen and left them all around Lugano!!)

(A snow-covered road - the plows weren't out yet!)

(The scary looking Oz-trees by the lake)

(The lido on the lake)

(A snowy bench)

I am most definitely an explorer of the universe. 

(Snow covered boats!)

(I left this snowman on the wall right next to the lake.)

My friends and I went to BurgerKing the next night, and sadly, he was gone :c

The snow is still here and it's been incredibly cold ever since. 

You may have heard of the deep freeze that set over Europe, bringing snow as far south as Rome. 

Many people were dying, particularly homeless people in countries such as Poland and the Ukraine.

(However, that was not a problem in Switzerland, Lugano specifically, because it is illegal to be homeless here)

Temperatures were consistently between -10°C and -2°C which works out to be about 14-28°F

Recently, things have been warming up (hopefully for good!) Today it was +6°C (43°F) when I came back down the hill after dinner around 8pm!  It hasn't been that warm since the first week I've been back!

I'll be updating later this week with some big news.

Hope all is well with everyone.

-N

the tour, the science, the WHO? the end of travel

buongiorno! (good morning!)

back as promised to try and catch up on this update!

since my post last night about Coppet and the Kenchan Lama was very opinionated and heavy I think I'll try to focus on pictures this update, since I have a lot of Geneva and the like!

Shall we?

EDIT: I actually wrote this post the day after the previous post, it's been sitting in my drafts folder for over a month...

Our first full day in Geneva consisted of a tour of the city. The city itself is very interesting and has a lot of history in it, such as the United Nations, the World Health Organization, the Red Cross museum, etc.

Funny thing about tour guides is you never really know what you're getting yourself into until they start the tour.

This woman was incredibly well-informed of Geneva; I mean, she knew the city inside and out, don't get me wrong, but some of the information she was sharing with us was rather pointless.. as you'll see through some of these pictures!

Our first stop was this monument just outside a large park

This monument, the Reformation Wall, is technically located on the grounds of the University of Geneva, which was founded by John Calvin.

Geneva was a large center of Calvinism in Europe, which developed a history of Protestantism. Due to this large religious sector, as well as the University which was founded by Calvin himself, the memorial monument was created to celebrate Calvin's 400th birthday, and the 350th anniversary of the university. 

The four prominent figures depicted in the wall (pictured above) are, from left, William Farel, John Calvin, Theodore Beza, and John Knox, all of which were important figures in Calvinism. 

We then toured through a park, learning more about Geneva's history during the 17th century --> the present. Here are some photos from the park and surrounding area we toured!

FACT (from our tour guide): The bench that starts in the lower left and runs upward diagonally is one of the longest benches of Switzerland (or Europe?) 

Pierre on a toy horse in the playground.

A sign which, and I could be wrong, indicates no traffic except bicycles.

A mural that is part of a 3-part series.

I took this one because it depicts Le Moyen Age and I thought of mme!

We then visited a cathedral, which was very cool both inside and out.

The pipe organ of the cathedral, which was manufactured in Germany.

Beautiful stain glass is pretty much standard for many of the churches, 

both Roman Catholic and Protestant.

The ceiling of a smaller chapel off of the main church.

The exterior of the entire cathedral.

This is one of my favorite photos I've taken on travel, 

namely because of the editing with saturation and shadows.

It looks like a model, rather than the real thing, no?

After the tour, we had free time to see the city. We were required to go see one important or interesting landmark while we were in Geneva, so Kaitlin and I took this time to go and see the art museum across the street from where our tour ended. We lucked out because the museum was free that day! 

The museum we went to.

We headed down to the exhibits on ancient Greek, Roman, and Egyptian artifacts because I've always loved Egyptian history, and Kaitlin wanted to see the Greek and Roman stuff because she was learning about it in her art history class. It really worked out well for both of us because it became a personal interest, rather than a requirement of "go see something and write about it in your journal." 

After the exhibit we made our way to a history of music exhibit which was really a room smaller than my dorm at college, and had a few old guitars and pianos. Interesting none the less, but it wasn't what I was expecting. We skipped the gallery of portraits because we had seen enough of those on our tours throughout travel thus far.

After we finished with the museum, we started to make our way back to the hotel, on our own this time, and had fun exploring the old city of Geneva.

One interesting fact that our tour guide DID mention on our tour was the high population of Geneva. I had already known that Geneva would be a highly populated city, as it is one of the few major cities I heard of before coming to Switzerland, as well as all of the headquarters and important organizations located here... but I never imagined it was full to capacity! 

Full it is, indeed. The city has so many residents that it is nearly impossible to find housing (and if you do, it isn't going to be cheap!) Besides having so many people wanting to live there, there is virtually no space to build. In order to compensate for the lack of space, the city is building on top of buildings to have more space. You can see in the photo above where the original buildings originally ended, but have since been added on to.

Well, that was pretty much it for Geneva! I bought a peacoat which, if you've seen me since I've been home, you've probably seen because I'm pretty sure I've work it every day..

---

 After Geneva, we made our way towards Neuchâtel. Our first stop, was CERN! 

If you've seen the movie Angels and Demons with Tom Hanks, the opening scene where the Antimatter is created takes place at CERN. I was really excited to go because of this.... but let me tell you.... CERN was not the place to be unless you were a sciencey person...

After CERN we travled to the World Health Organization to meet with Nahn Tran, a former student of SSB's from Pacific University in Oregon, who now worked at the WHO.
He talked a lot about his track record through college, and an interesting point he made was that he graduated with a major in French. It just goes to show that your intended, and eventually your declared major, does not destine you to any specific lifestyle. (Just to knock all those "You're a creative writing major? What do you plan on doing with your life?" comments :b)

Since my group from the scavenger hunt won in Lausanne, we got the opportunity to have dinner with Sara and Nhan, which made the entire experience so much more personal. I had this Vienna sausage with potato gratin and a baked apple that was to die for. (It was so good that I remember my meal from the middle of October now: on 16 February!!)


The last few days of our trip were in Neuchâtel. It was a great area, though much more laid back from Lausanne and Geneva. We stopped in La chaux-de-Fonds, which has an interesting history. The city itself functions in a socialist manner. It has a long history of watch-making due to lack of decent land for agriculture. Because of this life-style, the people are very communal, hence the socialistic/marxist tendencies.

One interesting aspect of La Chaux-de-Fonds is that it is the only city in Switzerland set up on a grid-like pattern. All of the other cities are these sprawling mass of roads that turn this way and that and are built up into mountains which make it difficult to organize. However, the city burned down long ago, and when it was rebuilt, they chose to do so in such a fashion. It is, as was noted on our travel, the city in Switzerland that is the closest in resemblance to New York.
(I thought that was amusing, because it looks nothing like New York
minus the fact that there are straight roads!)

Our final day was spent in the hotel (which was a ski lodge) reflecting on our travels and finalizing our journals. We had a salon, much in the style of one that Madame de Stäel would have held back at Coppet. Here we read excerpts from our journal and made selections for our travel blog that my friend Kaitlin and I put together. A link to the journal can be found here: (click here) . It's interactive, so you click on the polaroid pictures to go from entry to entry. The writing styles differ and it's a nice way to see what different people took from different aspects of our trip. All of the photos were taken by Kaitlin and me throughout the trip, so that was a fun part of the blog as well.

The above image is a view from our hotel for the final days of travel, a few kilometers out of the city Neuchâtel, but still in the canton of the same name.
Our last day was bittersweet. We started in St-Luc, a mountain town well out of the city lights. We were surrounded by mountains and cloaked beneath the stars. It was so peaceful, and to end ten days later in Neuchâtel in the same setting, surrounded by the Jura Mountains and the Swiss Alps was simply breath-taking. Our last day looked like we were in paradise.

This has been my own little travel journal, both fro my two week Academic Travel, as well as my continual blog for what I'm doing around Franklin. 

I'm sure it's going to get very interesting in March, as I have a lot of interesting trips planned! But you'll hear all about those in two entries!

I'm going to be editing my final travel journal for this trip, and if any of you would like a copy of it, just let me know and I've be more than happy to send you one!

Until next time!

-N

the salons, the Buddhist Lama, the excessive tour guides...or not?

well, it's 3:11 in the morning, and I am in my final days of my winter break. it seems like it was only yesterday that my plane was landing in New York and now, before I can even blink, I'm going to be boarding that 6pm flight from New York to Lugano, with a connection in Zurich.

it's truly been a great month, and while there have been ups and downs (like all things in life) i can say that this month really put everything into perspective of what i have here, and how much family really means to me. these people mean so much to me, and the fact that they support me in what I've chosen to do with my life means the world to me.

I know I've said that multiple times, and I'm sure I'll say it another couple hundred times over the course of this journey, but don't for a second contemplate the idea that it means any less or becomes any less genuine over time.

I would not be able to do what I am, both literally and mentally, without the love and support of my family (both immediate and extended!) So again, thank you to everyone that has chosen to support me in my endeavors to set up what I hope will be an incredibly bright and prosperous future!

Now... back to Academic travel... in the middle of October...

---

I believe I left off with the scavenger hunt and the great experiences I had in Lausanne at the Château de Chillon and all of that. (for a refresher, click here!) 

After Lausanne, our next major city would be Geneva, but before we headed to this French-speaking city, we stopped at the Coppet Castle, which has an incredible history.

Coppet Castle is the former home of Madame de Staël. This woman lived in the late 18th - early 19th century (1766-1817) and was incredibly controversial for the time! 

Originally from Paris, de Staël was born to Jacques Necker, who (for all of you history buffs!) was the financial minister under the ruling of King Louis XVI! This little tidbit of information was really exciting for me because it reminded me of my Western Civilization course from Junior year of high school, where we studied the French Revolution rather extensively and I remembered learning about Necker. 

To learn more about this family, and that he (Jacques) was not the sole member of the family to make the history books was very exciting for me!

*

This famous portrait (oil on canvas) of King Louis XVI was actually in Coppet, done by Fançois Callet**

Madame de Staël was revolutionary for her time because she was incredibly educated for a woman in the times in which she lived. She hosted salons, which were a type of gathering in which the educated scholars of the time would meet and discuss whether was relevant at the time. 

Now, being from France at the turn of the century and after the French Revolution, de Staël was not looked at very favorably. After Napoleon came into power following the Revolution in 1789, he viewed de Staël to be a threat. Being an educated woman, many people looked to her for her opinion on the issues of the day, and Napoleon did not want any opposition to his rule over France. Because of this conflict, de Staël was exiled from Paris. This led to her journey to Switzerland, and the beginning of her history at Coppet.

Due to her prominent status in the aristocratic circle, scholar were willing to travel to attend her salons, which has since become world-renowned. These salons, as I briefly noted before, consisted of literary and political scholars, as well as those that appreciated the arts. We had the opportunity to see de Staël's library, which was not very large (maybe the size of a small art gallery in today's standards?) but was able to fit approximately 300 guests in addition to a stage for performances (in which de Staël would often partake).

The history that fills the walls of the Coppet Castle are truly fascinating, and this is by no mistake. In fact, one reason that the castle has so much history preserved is the fact that it is not a museum, but rather a private home that is opened to the public. The castle still belongs to a member that can be traced back to the Necker/de Staël family (I want to say it is an 8th generation, but I could be wrong.)The current Count is a direct descendant of Madame de Staël, and resides on the premise for much of the year.

Unfortunately, since it is still his home, we were not allowed to take photographs inside the castle, as it is his home. 

If you've managed to stick around after that history lesson (I promise, there are no quizzes at the end!!) I'm going to try to shorten things up a bit (now that it is 3:45am)...

After leaving Coppet, which happens to be a very quaint and cute little town that seems to consist of a single road that has everything you would ever need, we made our way to Geneva. 

We arrived around 13.00 and had free time until our next event at 16.00.

I chose to go with SSB, my travel leader, and some friends to help set up for the event, which I was very excited for.

We met back up with Anne Deriaz, the writer that gave us a workshop in addition to telling us about her experiences with Ella Maillart, the travel writer who we studied before leaving for this trip, had organized an event in which the Kenchan Lama, one of the highest ranked Buddhist Lamas in Europe, and the highest in Switzerland, was speaking at. Both Anne and SSB were on the board of this committee, so we were invited to see him speak as well.

I had been looking forward to this experience since I first saw it on our syllabus, as Buddhism has always been interesting to me; namely because I know nothing about it!

I was hoping to learn all of these new things that would help expand my knowledge of religion.

It seems that a lot of conflict in the world today is centered around religion, and the ignorance we as a people have towards one another's religion. It was my hopes that attending this would add insight, while still contributing to my ambition of becoming a citizen of the world and gaining and understanding of a variety of cultures.

However, my expectations were not met as the Lama spoke very quiet, broken English that was barely picked up by the microphone. Dani, my friend and RA, was able to understand due to the fact that it was translated and spoken more clearly in French.

After the main event, where he explained the 35 main points of Buddhism, we were allowed to leave during the break for tea. I stayed with Dani and Kaitlin, and we served tea to the other guests that were attending. 

After, there was a brief Q&A in which people asked questions regarding Buddhism. It was interesting because Anne specified, both in English and French, that the questions were only to focus on the ideologies of Buddhism, and not the Tibetan conflict that had been growing at the time.

Again, hearing was very difficult, and I did not take much from the message in which he spoke, but his presence was definitely felt in the room (which was, ironically, a Protestant-Lutheran church). 

I had Dani give me a very brief summary of what he had said, and she said that the basic principles in which he spoke of were to treat one another the way you want to be treated, to respect and love one another, and to promote peace throughout the world.

It is hard to convey the feeling that I experienced after learning this, and has further fueled the fire within me to learn more about Buddhism (and religion in general.) I find it incredibly difficult to comprehend how so many people can be conflicted and jaded towards one another strictly based on the principles of religion when they all preach the same thing.

Maybe it's because of my Lutheran upbringing matched with having Catholicism burned into my brain for the past four years, on top of the overly secular view I've begun to develop over those four years... but I don't understand why religion is such a big deal.

Why should I tell you that your God or gods is/are wrong, or have one group of peopel threaten to wage war against another "in the name of God/Allah/__(insertgodhere)__" when, at the end of the day, that being, whoever he/she/it may be to you, is telling you to preach the same word and live your life the same way as the next?

Religion is complicated, and I do not claim to have all the answers or even understand all of the questions. But I know that the more that I find out, and the more I'm exposed to it, the more conflicted my mind becomes. While it may not be agreeable to all, I respect the opinions of my peers and those around me in hopes that they would respect mine; especially when I find myself in a stage of not know who or what I believe in. I believe that the best way to truly find an understanding or something is to experience it, and having another's view shoved down their throat, for lack of a more educated term, does nothing but hurts that intended discovery. 

Am I running a blog or writing a dissertation here?

Sorry for the interjections of persona beliefs and deviations from travel.

I blame lack of sleep/caffeine and a lack of writing over the past weeks. It just hits hits me whenever I start and I don't want to stop! I think this is a good place to stop, though, as I've thrown way too much at you all for this hour. I'll update with my tour of Geneva soon, and hopefully catch up with the rest of travel and the Christmas market / exams before I head back on Thursday.

Hope all is well and that I didn't offend anyone with that random rant on religion.

I'm going to even make the mistake of not proofing this before I post it, so you can have a first-hand view of my unfiltered thought process... oh boy.

Best,

Nick.

*image of King Louis taken from a Google image search

** information on the painter from this source: (here)