Une Nouvelle Voyage!

Written July 8th, 2010 - Noon
On Tuesday night, just after the Dutch decided that the World Cup finals were the place to be, Lizzie and I left the Atlanta airport for Europe. After nearly 10 hours, we landed in Amsterdam, amidst the celebrations of the Dutch victory the night before. We then flew on to Geneva, Switzerland, where we met me friends Mèlanie, Kelly, and Tibo at the airport. Mèlanie’s family treated us to a nice French cookout. About the time we finished eating, the Germany and Spain semifinal had begun. After watching the first half, we went into Geneva for a walk around town. During our walk, the game ended with Spain winning 1-0. Immediately, the city came to life. People began walking around the streets with flags or driving with the Spainish flag hanging from the window. Everywhere we heard, “Viva España!” It is typical after a football game ends for people to honk their horns if their team wins. It was pretty evident when the game had ended. Lizzie was immediately aware of the European’s love for football, considering we were two countries and hundreds of miles away from the victors. Today we are taking a train to Nice to visit a Graduate school on the coast. I am currently in a train heading to Lyon in my 2nd hour of 6 that will be spent on a train today.

Lizzie and I in front of the giant fountain in downtown Geneva.


-Update:
Well, it seems that all the trains to Nice are full today. How did that happen? So, we are going to St. Paul to stay a day early at the base I was at last year. I am there now and have just returned from a nice walk downtown. The bad parts are: We can’t get to see the school we wanted to look at; we lost our hostel for the night, which cost us $30 a person. O well, we will enjoy our time here and we are considering going to Paris a day early.