Summer Days...

This weekend has been one of glorious summer weather, and it has been perfect. The weekend started off on Friday night in the best possible way - enjoying a picnic by the lake with some colleagues. I love how people really enjoy the good weather here - when it is a nice day, everybody goes outside! The lakeside on sunny days and warm evenings is packed with families and friends picnicking, barbecuing, children playing, people running, cycling, walking, skating or swimming in the lake! So naturally, we joined in the fun and spent a glorious few hours enjoying the gorgeous views and each others' company. We ended up playing a few rounds of charades, and then the laughter really began! Some of the favourite words from the night that needed to be acted out included Botswana, marshmellow, papaya, Rousseau, and considering we are a bunch of academics some statistical terms were thrown in the mix for good measure - item response theory and total survey error!

 Saturday was spent shopping for gifts for friends and family back home (can't believe I am going to be home so soon!)  Shopping in Lausanne is a much more pleasant experience than shopping in shopping centers - the entire old town is a shopping area and full pedestrian-only zone so it is so pleasant to wander around the streets (which on a Saturday are a complete market) and browse all the cute shops! I found some great shops that I had not discovered before and had a very successful shopping day.

Today started off with a long run by the lake, followed by church... and then I decided to enjoy some more sunshine and lake views while I had some lunch, read, and mosied around the lake - it is always bustling with activity when the weather is good! And of course, no afternoon by the lake is complete with out some ice-cream... this time round the flavours of choice were pistachio and kiwi - Yum!