It has been such a rainy and dreary weekend, that I have turned every light in my room on in hopes of creating sunlight and cheerfulness in a palette of slate grey. Once again the weekend has passed by far to quickly. I really wonder why time seems to like to cheat me out of my weekends, the dirty bastard.

The week was a good one though, even if it started out rather slowly. It was one of the interns’ last week, so we had a huge going away meal on Thursday. It ended up being an enormous affair that kept most of us from doing any actual real work. It was fun though. I made coxinhas from scratch, and there were Cuban rice and beans, a Chilean salad, Swiss chicken, baguettes and brie, and like 50 desserts. I’m sort of surprised I was not rolled home. It was the only meal I ate all day, and it was so worth it.

I think I went home after, sort of fell sideways into bed, and passed out for the night, despite having high aspirations of actually accomplishing work. Sigh…Oh and I almost got to go to the Hague for a meeting. Then it was rescheduled. It was sad.

Friday work passed in a blur. I think running in the mornings (when I can force myself out of my deliciously warm covers) is really the best method of fighting my ADHD. I felt fabulous all day, and got loads done. After work I said my goodbyes to Adrienne (the intern leaving), I met up with Josh for a meal at Chez Moi Cuisine, which is this restaurant in old town that he loves. I had myself a delicious salad, and we headed into the night in search of a good bar. I convince Josh that we must really expand our horizons and go somewhere that was not the Brasilian bar, so he took me to this gay bar near Manor. I’m so glad we went! It was a packed, loud, friendly place full of Swiss and foreigners alike, and we spent most of our time chatting and people watching. We talked about heading out, but just before we did, a couple of guys came over and made friends. They’d been staring in our direction for the last hour and a half and finally made their move. It only seemed fitting that they happened to both be Brazilian. This of course ruled out going home as an option. Josh and myself ended up dancing and chatting with them in various drinking/dancing establishments until the wee hours of the morning. I better be seeing them again soon!

Due to the rockstardom which took place on friday night, Saturday didn’t exactly get off to a rough start, but it was definitely a slow one. Eventually though, things started to move at a more normal speed. Me and Josh went to the flea market at Plainpalais so he could get a scarf and I could get a good cappuccino (they put chocolate in the middle of the milk in the shape of a heart. It’s totally amazing and delicious). Afterwards I spent more money than I would like to relate at both an English and a Portuguese bookshop. I am not allowed to enter such an establishment again until I have received vast sums of monetary units. Sigh.

The day wasn’t over though. For some reason we decided to go to France. Yes, we went to the swiss-french border on a geneva city bus. Once there we merely walked across and into the gleaming beauty of Annemasse, locally known as the home to a whole load of frontaliers and the ugliest town in france. I totally loved it. In fact, I’m fairly sure that were I ever to get a permanent job in this city, I would probably live in Annemasse. Those of you that have been there might be thinking I’m joking. I’m so not. Okay, so directly at the border, things might be a little rough looking. I mean, not rough looking, in the dangerous dark and gritty kind of way, but more in the working class, older, and a teensy bit seedy kind of way. And that is probably only because I’d just come out of the gleaming, show-offy, over the top majesty of Geneva. I mean don’t get me wrong, Geneva IS a gorgeous city, and it has it’s place in the scheme of things, but maybe I just don’t feel like I fit into them. I LIKE gritty. I LIKE seedy. And I’m much more comfortable in a place that appears working class.

Yeah, totally loved Annemasse. And really, once you get past the actual border and into the town, it’s really not bad looking. There’s just not as many frills as a tourist might expect in what television tells them a charming small town in france should look like. But yes, we walked around, got a coffee and supper. It was a relief not to feel like I needed to put on a fashion show just to leave my house. Here’s a couple of my photos from the experience. Nothing turned out though due to the fact that it was night once I took out my camera and it was foggy. After returning to the lights of the big(ger) city, me and Josh headed to the cinema to watch a mexican film called Sin Nombre. I know it came out awhile ago, but if you’ve not seen it, it was absolutely worth the exorbitant price of 16 francs I paid for the pleasure of seeing it! I mean really, it needs to be watched! More info found here:

Sunday was nice too. I hung out with Josh again. We had planned on an adventure into Lutry, which is this tiny village next to Lausanne, but it was raining and mostly disgusting out, so we went anyway. It only takes like an hour by train to get to Lausanne, so we hopped on one last minute, and arrived blinking into the soggy afternoon light of Lausanne. We wandered a bit trying to stumble our way to Lutry, finally giving up in lieu of utilising the dry warm delights of Lausanne’s public transport system (we got to ride in the wagon attached to the regular bus. Mostly amazing!). We found Lutry just as waterlogged as Lausanne, but we braved the inclimate weather to tromp through some vineyards (likely on private property), and then to stroll the waterfront. I think a lazy and sunny afternoon in Lutry would be a perfectly lovely way to pass a Sunday. Even rainy, it held it’s charms, but I got over them quicker. We made a stop for a coffee in a cute little Italian pastry place, and received free artisan-like biscuits for our trouble. Yum!

Yup, I think those were the highlights of my weekend, except from the time spent enjoying my new books. Good weekend really.

PS- I tried to insert photos in their proper spot in my narrative, but apparently they all wanted to go in one place. Sorry.