I am bad at blogging.

Here are some (fairly) recent adventures:

I did yet more skiing, in minus 17 degrees wind. Freakin’ cold. My hair froze. I got persuaded onto the RED runs and loved it! Even managed one run with zero falling over!

A friend had a little party in his boss’ apartment in central Geneva. We played a Swiss version of Ring of Fire and then went to the local ‘alternative’ club. Christi and I made our own 3am version of ‘My Drunk Kitchen’ (youtube this immediately if you haven’t already) making eggs and being hilarious. The next day the apartment block burnt down.

Seriously.

I then went skiing with my au pair family in their apartment in the Alps (darling). I managed several red runs and skied from the top of the resort right down to the bottom. Lucas (my 11 year old who has been skiing since he could walk) was very impressed so I was very proud. Just in case you missed it, I LOVE SKIING.

Amy and I went on a spontaneous trip to Budapest. A beautiful city, even in ice and snow.

A friend of a friend of Amy’s who lived in Budapest very kindly offered to be our tour guide. We managed to miss most of the major tourist attractions as we are terrible at decision making, getting out of bed and organisation. HOWEVER, Miklos showed us the Budapest that only real Hungarians see. We hung out in a bar full of Hungarians and drank Pálinka, a special Hungarian spirit that is very strong (and very gross). We ate genuine Hungarian food, which was hearty and delicious. But the highlight of the trip was going to a gig in a pirate themed bar (the bar was literally a pirate ship), where we were the only non-Hungarians there, to see a Hungarian-Irish-punk band. We ordered beer in perfect Hungarian and got a large group of people do-si-do-ing. It was awesome.

I indulged in a spot of science when we went on a tour of CERN, which is just outside Geneva. Very impressive, although I think quite a lot of information went over my head.

Amy and I finally got round to sampling ‘fancy Swiss dessert’. Chocolate overload.

This sophisticated event was followed by tequila (what kind of bar runs out of jager?!), shirt swapping (he definitely didn’t fit into my shirt), hat stealing (his late grandfathers’, I gave it back) and flower buying (“Buy us flowers!” “Okay.”). We are only able to be sophisticated in small doses.

One Thursday I woke up half an hour late for work, in a city 45 minutes away from work. My boss ended up having to cancel a very important meeting in order to be there for the plumber and I didn’t leave Lausanne until midday. Naughty au pair!

The sun has been shining quite delightfully the past few weeks. I have eaten a lot of strawberries. Spring is sprung. A group of us had a lovely sunny wander around Lausanne on Saturday, looking at the mountains and getting a bit nervous around the swans.

I am going home this weekend to see my madre and enjoy the sun on Brighton beach. I can’t wait for April and May, barbecues, beers in parks, sunshine on the lake, bike rides… summer time!

Well hello there.

Here, as in most of Europe, it is fucking freezing. Last week’s TOP temperature was -5 degrees. Today has been hovering around -10. Whilst it is quite invigorating to be outside in weather like this, I am getting a little bored of not being able to feel my toes/fingers/lips/eyebrows. And the dreaded Bise wind has arrived - “a cold, vigourous and persistent north-easterly windblowing from the alpine mountains.” This is what happens when the Bise visits:

Chilly…

The weather being as it was, a group of intrepid au pairs decided to shun skiing and went in search of warmth instead. We went to Lavey-Les-Bains, a thermal bath/spa/swimming pool combo. Here, the water was a delicious 32 degrees. There were saunas and Turkish Baths. The various pools and jacuzzis were outside, with a stunning mountain back-drop. All the steam coming off of the water made me feel like I was in some exciting tropical jungle river! It was steamier than the below photo, but this was as good as I could find.

All in all, it was lush.

The weekend wasn’t all lounging around in bikinis though (I wish every weekend was that). Culture was also ingested, in the form of the Collection d’Art Brut - an art gallery specializing in ‘outsider art’, or the art of the insane. A lot of the artists were in institutions and a lot of them refused to be acknowledged as artists - they claimed the spirit or god that inspired them was the true artist. There was a man who, at the age of 50, after marriage, children and several years in an office, decided to go and live in the forest in a hut. He decorated the area he lived in with lids and branches which were covered in writing. Some made comedic masks, some painted little girls with penises, some made intricate models of trains and guns out of rubbish and some drew really spooky faces. One guy, who is autistic, makes big lists - ‘inventories of the world’, which included shoes, guns, beetles, ravens, knots and bells. I liked him a lot:

Another awesome weekend.

This week I don’t want to leave the house so am going to start the terrifying task of Thinking About The Future. Ew. Then the week after is half term! Super.

A bientôt!

I have been neglecting this blog.

Here are some recent excitements:

Christmas! Gosh, that was a long time ago. It was lovely and my family are delightful and my puppy is gorgeous and my friends are amazing and Brighton is awesome. I got a fab hat.

Next!

You know how I live in Switzerland, yeah? Quickly, shout out one thing the Swiss are known for…

SKIING!!! I bet that wasn’t your first answer. Anyway, I have been learning how to do this most snowiest of sports. My first foray was in cross country skiing. Cross country skiing is, quite possibly, the worst thing ever invented. Basically, you strap on weird, small skis, then try to scramble UP hills on slippery snow. As we stepped onto the ski run and encountered the first hill, I felt dread. I ungracefully managed to get about 1 metre up the hill (mainly walking on my ankles) and then slid down and spent the next 10 minutes trying to stand up. No joke, no exaggeration, ten minutes. I was also entangled in a net fence at the time. A kind man and lady tried for some time to get me onto my feet, but to no avail. In the end I had to remove the skis and walk. Great first impression. If only someone was filming - I definitely would have made some money off ‘You’ve Been Framed’. It was the definition of ridiculous. I ended up walking for most of it… Money well spent. I did enjoy the walk though, and playing in the snow. And spying a downhill bit ahead and strapping the skis back on. This gave me hope that maybe downhill skiing would be slightly more fun. 

So, after vowing to never combine the words cross country and skiing ever again, the next weekend I travelled with Amy and her au pair family to Morzine to have a go at proper, real skiing. I loved it. Skiing is like flying, with snow. How have I only just experienced it?! My teacher kept using the word ‘perfect’ to describe me (ha), and we even played catch the snowball whilst skiing! Amazing. I was proud of myself. Going again this Sunday - I can’t wait.

In other news:

That is me being a Graduate, obviously. I am now officially a Master of International Relations, hurrah! (BOW TO ME)

Luckily I was able to get time off work and go home for the ceremony. It was an awesome day. I started by waking up at 4.30 am in order to catch the 7 am flight to Gatwick. Ouch. I remained in a sort of zombie daze until 8 am (UK time, which is one hour behind) until I saw my daddy striding towards me across the very ugly arrivals lounge in Gatwick. I got home and had the usual slobbery cuddles with my baby boy (puppy). My lovely Grandparents came down for the occasion and we ate a lot of lunch and drank a lot of champagne. The ceremony started at 2.30 and Sussex University’s Chancellor is that bloke off that tv show about the Kumars, remember? Anyway, he was amusing. Compared with my previous graduation experience (all in Welsh and boring as hell), this was a right giggle! I even managed to accidentally do an awkward dance with Sanjeev on the stage. Too much champagne at lunch?

After disrobing (very sad, the gown made me feel like Harry Potter), napping, and eating dinner I headed back into Brighton to celebrate proper. Cue a very busy Black Lion (pub) and a grimy jazz club. Tequila shots were £1.10. We danced and drank and danced. I then realised I had been awake for 24 hours and went to bed. The rest of the weekend was fab, I saw my darling Lisa and met a work colleague’s darling baby. Smashing.

Life is good.