A Giant Fork in the Lake

Where in the world would you find a giant fork in the lake? Well in Switzerland of course! The fork in the lake is part of the Aliemntarium (a food museum in Vevey), which we stumbled across yesterday during an outing to Vevey. I was with my lovely friend Hayley and we had decided to go to and see the "festival des artistes de rue de Vevey" a collection of street performances in the old city of Vevey. Vevey is about 15 minutes away from Lausanne on the train and is also on the lake. It is a great town - old and cute! Vevey is where the world headquarters of Nestle are, and Milk Chocolate was invented in Vevey in 1875. Hayley and I enjoyed a very pleasant afternoon enjoying the sunshine, street art, sangria and waffles! I have signed up for the half-marathon at the end of October and I am getting into my training routine now. Along with my early morning forest runs with some great friends, I have also been able to fit in some long runs at the lake. Not only are these runs beautiful, but they are flat! I am also two thirds of the way through a french intensive course (french every morning for 3 weeks), so my days have been full and busy!

1 Year Ago

This quote has been my e-mail signature for a long long time, but it was never more true for me than it was this weekend one year ago.

Yesterday, one year ago, I first heard about the opportunity to come to Switzerland. I remember so clearly receiving a text message from my Master's thesis supervisor saying something like, "I know this is crazy, but I just applied for you for a PhD position in Lausanne, Switzerland"... And although I had always considered doing a PhD, and although this professor had always encouraged me to consider doing one, at that time I wasn't looking for a PhD position, hadn't applied anywhere, and definitely wasn't considering moving overseas!

And so that text message began a week of exhilaration,  Skype interviews, overwhelming emotions, trying to weigh up the pro's and con's and finally deciding to accept the position and move to Switzerland. Pretty crazy. I thought I was totally nuts at the time - I knew no one in Lausanne, didn't speak the language, and wasn't even sure I wanted to do a PhD - and yet at the same time, I just knew I had  to take this opportunity. I knew I would regret it if I didn't. I knew I would always wonder "what if" if I hadn't made that decision to pack my bags and go. And so began an incredible journey.

Honestly, I am not even sure what happened between August last year and arriving in Lausanne at the end of December. All I know is that it was a frantic 4 and a bit months of working full time, trying to finish an internship, write a board exam and make sure I was fully registered in South Africa as a psychologist, sort out my life in SA, do all the admin for moving (and goodness, was there a lot of that!), sort out a visa, try and learn some French and spend as much time as possible with friends and family. It passed in a blur and stepping off the plane in Geneva was actually a relief!

And now I find myself, after almost 8 months of life in Lausanne totally content and loving every step of this journey. I love my life here - my work, my friends, the environment, the traveling, learning a new language, and all the marvelous things that come with living in a new country. I am so incredibly grateful to be here, so aware that this is such a gift.  There has never been a moment where I have regretted the decision to come. Yes I miss home, yes I miss my family, yes I think about my friends... but I am here now, and this is where I want to be.

Night and Day

Last night, a group of us took a trip to Geneva (40 minutes by train) to watch an annual and very impressive fireworks display. It marked the end of the Fête de Genève - 3 weeks of festivities and celebrations in the city. The theme was fire and water, and all the fireworks were set to music. For 55 minutes the sky was filled with vibrant colours and explosions of fire. Quite spectacular. Apparently 30 pyrotechnicians spent 7 days working on the show and on the night fireworks were set off from 30 different firing locations. Basically - I felt like such a kid!  

Today we enjoyed an idyllic day at the lake - I am definitely soaking up the warm weather and sunshine while it lasts! I had a picnic lunch with some great girls from church, followed by taking a peddle boat out onto the lake. This may be one of my favourite things to do. I love being on the lake, on the perfect blue water with the mountains in the background. But perhaps my highlight of the day was going for my first swim in a Swiss lake! While we were on the boat we jumped in the lake a few times and enjoyed the refreshing (chilly) water. Of course the afternoon was not complete until we had something yummy... which today was pancakes with nutella. At this stage, we had still not had enough sunshine, so we walked to another part of the lake, enjoyed the sun and scenery before having one more dip in the lake. Couldn't have been more wonderful :)

When in Switzerland!

Swiss National Day was celebrated on August the 1st and commemorates the founding of the Swiss Confederation in 1291. It was a gorgeous day - roasting hot with clear blue skies. I ventured down to the lake to have a barbecue with some colleagues and every piece of open grass or beach was occupied with everyone barbecuing or having a picnic. I am telling you, eating by the lake is a national past time in Switzerland! For a nation that value privacy, it seems quite odd to me that on these sorts of occasions nobody seems to mind having their personal space invaded. Anyway, two things the Swiss are good at are eating and being outside... so why not combine them :) After the barbecue I went to Lutry (a nearby town on the lake) and met a friend for a walk and some ice-cream. And for the evening activity I headed to Montreaux for dinner and to watch a really impressive fireworks display! And the evening ended with us running for the train in the pouring rain... sounds like a Swiss day to me!

One of the things I missed when I was back in SA was being outdoors and being outside so often during the day. In SA, we drive everywhere and definitely do not spend enough time outside! So I was so thrilled to have the opportunity to do some hiking and be in the mountains! We went to the region of Valais, and hiked from Vernayaz to Les Marecottes. What was meant to be a "2.5 hour easy walk" (according to the guide book) turned out to be a 4 hour "not so easy" walk up and down a gorge, but it was a fantastic hike!

A trip back home

One of the great things about the academic world is the conferences that are happening all over the world... and especially great is when one of these conferences is in your home country! At the end of the July, Cape Town hosted the International Congress of Psychology, and I was able to attend... which more importantly meant I could go home for a couple of weeks! Going back to JHB was wonderful - nothing quite like seeing friends and family again! My time was full of social events, meeting up with friends and family, shopping and eating out! I also managed to fit in some runs with my sister which was great! There will always be something great about going home... and I get to do it again in December!