“Oh, it’s only about a 12 minute drive.” It was my first ever trip to France. And to think, I had only been in Switzerland for four days! I woke up later than I had planned so I had to skip the shower (oops). Oh well, I thought, Europeans shower less anyway, right? Okay maybe that part was wrong but either way, after I jumped out of bed I staggered downstairs, still half asleep. Finding my host mom and her partner, Noel, chatting on the balcony overlooking Commugny, Switzerland, I was greeted and shown breakfast. Now, in Switzerland, unlike America and unfortunate for me, there is no big, greasy, multi-plate breakfast that overflows with carbs and protein. Instead, what I have been eating the past few days has been an assortment of yogurt, oatmeal, bread (lots and lots of delicious, crusty, white bread), cheese, and deli meats. And of course jam and butter. The next thing I knew I was sitting in the backseat of my host mom’s red sports car and we were on our way!
When we arrived, the first thing I noticed was how people in France parked; they didn’t just parallel park on the side of the road. They parked their cars halfway up the curb onto the sidewalk because hey, there’s room there, right? We entered the market and Noel acted as my personal tour guide and showed me the many fruits, vegetables, and spices, and meats from around the world. Walking through the market was wonderful. I felt like I was a trader on the Silk Road, looking for the spices of life that would sell big back home. I saw buckets of vinegary smelling olives, stacks of sweaty socks smelling sausages, and blocks and wheels of cheesy cheese!
My favorite booth was the spice booth. It had all sorts of spices from all over the world and it looked and smelled like foreign and exotic lands. Surprisingly there were also many booths dedicated to bras, underwear, clothes, and purses! But like any farmers market, those weren’t too popular. The most popular stands gave samples, and boy did I take advantage of that! I tasted olives (bleh), ginger (very strong), almonds (meh), hazelnuts (not very strong), sweet brioche bread (mmm), sheep cheese (soft), and nougat (kind of like light fudge)!
By the end of the three hour trip I had seen dead chickens with their heads still attached, dead and skinned rabbits, a man playing accordion (a typically French thing to do), and the oldest running hydro-electric plant in France. We returned back to the apartment where I sat on the balcony and gave some quality “TLC” to Ronja, my host mom’s black forest cat. Her balcony overlooks several other apartments, villas, a school, and the town hall. In the not-so-far distance you can even see Lac Léman! For reference, and to not sound like a tourist, Lac Léman is the actual name of the lake that is shared between France and Switzerland, not Lake Geneva. School officially starts tomorrow and I better go see if I have any readings to do. But I also may take a stroll around town… good thing class isn’t until 11:15am!