Easter

I had a fairly quiet Easter this year, which I think I needed. Easter Friday and Monday are also holidays here, but I made the decision to work on both days and the Saturday morning. The office was quiet and I managed to get a lot done. Easter Sunday was a special day and I was so glad to be celebrating with my church family. As the coordinator of the Event's team at Church, I had organised a small apéro (drinks and snacks) after the service, plus Easter Eggs for everyone. It was really fun to be involved and I had a great team of people helping me - there is no way I could do these things by myself.

During the afternoon my friend Astra and I went to the nearby lakeside village of Morges to visit the tulip festival - an annual spring-time event with 120 000 tulips of 300 different varieties. It is always gorgeous and is such a lovely way to spend a sunny afternoon. We enjoyed some ice-cream and lots of happy chatter before heading home. And to complete my Easter weekend, there was of course a chocolate bunny or two, and some hot cross buns that I bought in England the weekend before :)

Girl's weekend

One of the best things to have come out of my time in Switzerland thus far is a dear friend Hayley. She moved back to the UK a few months ago to start a new job and to get married, so a few weeks ago some of us met up in Bath for her Hen-Do (bachelorette) weekend. Hayley has some wonderful friends and it was great to spend a weekend with such a fantastic bunch of ladies!

On the Friday night we stayed in at the house that had been rented for the weekend and played some games. On Saturday morning we took a trip to the Baths in Bath (so relaxing) before getting crafty for the afternoon whilst making garters! We then had some time off before getting all dressed up for the evening out! We started off with drinks and games at the house, before heading into town to have the most amazing Greek good for dinner - wow! Then it was off for some cocktails and dancing.

My friend Raluca and I were only flying back on Sunday night, so we spent a lazy Sunday exploring Bath - it is such a lovely place. We moseyed around the shops, and stopped to listen to various groups of live musicians before heading back to Lausanne. It was a tasteful, fun, and classy weekend celebrating love, friendship and our dear friend Hayley! I can't wait for the wedding!

Is this for real?

Every once in a while I have these surreal moments where my life in Switzerland doesn't feel real - it is as if everything is happening to someone else and I am just a bystander. Sometimes it all feels too good to be true, and have moments of being astonished again by just how much has happened in these 2years and 4 months that I have lived here. This last week was full of a few of these moments.

From Wednesday night until Friday night I was away for work with a group of PhD students from our institute for a workshop. We went to a hotel and conference centre in the village of Jongny (about 40minutes away from Lausanne) where we spent two days working together in a beautiful setting. I couldn't believe that there I was, thriving on intellectual discussion and debate, whilst enjoying good food and wine and much laughter with colleagues who are friends. Just how exactly did I end up here? And the really crazy part was that all of this was in French - all the presentations, all the discussions, all the exercises and all the social discussions. I still made some contributions in English, but the fact that I understood everything and felt like a contributing member of the group amazed me. When did that happen? During these two days, I also had a meeting with my thesis director, and there we were discussing an article I recently wrote, also in French. Again, another strange, "wait, is this really happening?" moment...

And the moments continued into the weekend - on Friday night some of us from the workshop decided to go out to celebrate a colleague's birthday and we were joined by some others, and again, it was more laughter and chatter in French. And Saturday night was the same - another social night, all in French. All of these experiences made me so grateful again - grateful for this incredible experience, for work I love, for amazing colleagues who are friends, for new experiences and for lessons learnt. It also made me think back on my language learning journey - from not knowing a single word, to being able to manage predictable and rehearsed conversations with one person, to having simple but spontaneous conversations in limited contexts, to following a conversation amongst a group, to work meetings in French, to being able to understand and make jokes in French, to being a contributing member to fast flowing social conversations in noisy places, to 2 day workshops in French, to being able to arrive in new situations, with people I don't know, and spend the whole evening feeling comfortable and integrated - hard work and perseverance do really make a difference as do very patient friends, colleagues and teachers who have supported me along the way. I am excited for the next, "wait is this real?" moments!

3rd time!

This weekend was the Lausanne 20km, an annual running event with 2km, 4km, 10km and 20km races. For the third time (unbelievable how the time has passed) I ran the 10km with a lovely friend, Hilde, from church. It is always a great event - well organized, a nice route and an energetic atmosphere. With close on 20 000 runners (across all the events), and many many supporters along the way, I had the impression that this is indeed a loved and well supported event for the city.

Hilde and I had a strong run - we were well matched for pace and finished just below the 55minute mark, which were both really happy with. There are few things that match the runner's high and feeling of accomplishment that comes with crossing the finish line!

It's been a while...

I last wrote a blog entry a couple of weeks ago, so I thought it was time for a bit of an update! So in no particular order, here is a little bit of insight into the last weeks:

• I had two visitors from South Africa, and although both trips were short, these were special times! I love showing people my home here and it always makes me realize once again just how much I enjoy living here and how much this is home
• My good friend Hayley stayed with me for her last week in Switzerland - I am so grateful that we got to spend this extra time together. 
• Another good friend, Tiina came back for a visit and it was so lovely to have her!  
• The Cully Jazz Festival - Cully is a small lakeside town nearby that I love, and once a year they host a Jazz Festival which is a lot of fun. On the Saturday night a bunch of us went to enjoy the free concerts, and good food (pad-thai) and on Sunday myself and two friends from church went to listen to a piano concert. We had a lovely afternoon together and finished it off with more good food - this time waffles :) 
• The warmer weather and sunshine has helped me feel motivated to get back to more regular sport, so bootcamp, running and swimming are all becoming part of my routine again
• Preparations for the conference I am helping to organise are adding up - but we are getting through it all and I am learning a lot
• I am busy with another article that needs to be done ASAP so I am concentrating on that
• We have our Easter Sunday service next weekend too, and I am responsible for organizing some things for that too (Full time PhD, part time event's coordinator :)!)
  
  

  

  The view from Cully

  

  A favourite Sunday lunch - salad, fresh bread, cheese and cold meats paired with great wine and good company!