Adventures en Suisse

I have realized a few things about my current situation:

This is truly an international experience. The students at the University Preparatory Courses are from all over the world. It's fascinating in some ways, frustrating in others: there can be miscommunications. At breakfast the other day I was reprimanded (maybe that is too harsh a word) by my friend from Tajikistan for mentioning a dream that I had the night before. "You don't want to tell your dreams, this is messing with fortune," she said. I understand that in a certain sense: dreams are quite personal, but I'm in the habit of discussing them with my friends back at home. She proceeded to tell me a story about one of her employers in Tajikistan, a scientist, who dreamed of going to the United States, kept it to himself, and then after some time the dream came true.

Another question was posed to me: "I heard that Americans don't eat real food anymore. This is why they are fat. But you're not fat, why?"

That was difficult to explain--I tried to explain how food is mainly produced in the U.S., on an industrial scale, and the ramifications. When you try to explain it, it just sounds crazy how we get our food, and what we eat. (by we, I mean the majority of Americans, not necessarily me).

There are a more students here who speak native Russian than who speak native English (there are 2 of us from the states, and I think that's about it).

Maybe I will also soak up a bit of Russian while I am here.

So we are all learning either French or German, and I suppose after a certain point I will be able to talk to everyone at some level (although, right now, it is near impossible for me to form sentences in German--French is dominating).