Bienvenue a Lausanne

Well, here we are. Switzerland’s staring me square in the face.

It’s certainly not a bad thing to have staring at you, as you can’t help but stare back. Lausanne is a truly beautiful place, with a really pleasant fusion of the now and the yesteryear. Clean, modern buildings and sleek metro stations flank detailed old homes and churches, without either element really screaming at the other.

Lac Leman (Lake Geneva) is so peaceful, and when it’s foggy out to the degree that you don’t see the mountains on the horizon, it feels like the ocean. True story - for my entire childhood, as far back as I can remember, I’ve had a fascination with drawing bodies of water surrounded by mountains, with the branches of a tall oak tree on each upper corner of the paper. Switzerland is my childhood drawings come to life.

It’s beautiful, but it's also intimidating. Those two energies leave me desiring to remain a spectator to this place. It’s safe as a spectator, but it becomes fearsome when you start to participate.

Case in point: Dominique and I were walking through the downtown Migros (one of the major grocery chain stores), when I bumped into a man and his shopping cart. I quickly mumbled “Pardon,” but he kept saying something to us as he passed. It sounded like he was scolding me, and while I stayed fairly cool on the outside, I was flipping out inside. Dominique said something to the man, and then told me “I don’t know what he’s saying, but he’s smiling, so it can’t be that bad.” Even if that were true, I became so afraid, wondering what I would do in a similar situation if Dominique weren’t there to smooth things over. How dumb would I look? How foolish? How disrespectful? Will my blunders permit the Swiss to associate my imperfections with that of my nationality - will I be just another bumbling, insensitive American to them??

For the rest of the day, I was pretty spooked, and had no courage to approach strangers or clerks, even to ask the classic tourist question of “Parlez-vous anglais?”

Things perked up as we walked along the park in Ouchy (part of which, la Place de la Navigation, you see above), picked up some Magnum ice cream bars from Coop (the other major Swiss store), and went to the CHUV (the hospital where Dominique studies) for some internet time, as our apartment has no wifi. My heart was so warmed by the love from my friends on Facebook, and speaking to my mom over Google Voice (free international calls! WootWoot!!).

Each interaction I had online was uniquely precious to me, but one really took the cake. A friend-of-a-friend named Dominic started chatting with me on Facebook, and upon hearing his concerns about auditioning for his college’s voice program, I encouraged him that oftentimes, we are better at things than we give ourselves credit for. As soon as I typed those words to him, a French song (one of the scant few I have saved in iTunes) began to play. I was stunned. God totally just shot my advice back to me like a boomerang. I felt that he genuinely wanted to encourage me to trust in my capacity to speak French. And I have.

As I write this, I have also been flipping through my French dictionary to try and decipher the lyrics to the song that played (Amel Bent’s “Ma Philosophie,” in case anyone knows it). I could be wrong, but it actually sounds like a song about self-affirmation, and working hard to achieve your goals. Spooky, huh?

I told a friend today that the intimidation and the beauty of this place balance each other out, and that I am hoping to tip the scales towards beauty. I think the scales have already been tipped.

A demain,

Cathlene