Entering the valley

Well, it's the end of day one, and what a day it has been. Will the whole trip be this jam-packed? I would say that the whole idea of going to another country became real when our plane landed, and I saw the city of Geneva nestled in the valley between the breathtaking Jura Mountains and the Alps. It felt like Europe! We left Dulles yesterday around 5:30 PM and arrived in Geneva around 1:30 AM this morning, which was really 7:30 AM in Switzerland's time zone. It has been a hard adjustment for me as I didn't sleep any on the plane, and I had to walk a lot with my bum knee from the plane, through customs (which went surprisingly fast), on a tram, to CERN. 

Once we got to CERN we dumped our bags and set out to complete the necessary paperwork to become official Summer Programme Trainees, with ID badges and everything. A few hours (any many different offices) later, we had signed enough forms and met enough people to be rewarded a lunch break. After lunch, we walked around the site some more as my advisor, Dr. Rubin, pointed out the places that we have only learned about in text books or read about on the news before coming here. The site is and isn't what I expected: there are very cool science-y things everywhere but the buildings are all very old. They were built in the 60s, when there was money for new buildings, but now I think the money just goes to conducting the experiments instead of renovations. The hostel we are staying in is very nice though, and is somewhat like a hotel room that has a dorm-like feel to it as all the summer interns will be staying here.  

After we (finally) got the chance to check into our rooms, we ran a few more errands around CERN like getting our bike rentals and meeting our project supervisors before resting up for dinner. It is tradition for Dr. Rubin to take us to Restaurant La Meyrinoise, an Italian place a few tram stops from CERN, on the first night. Their pizza is amazing and is served to each person like a medium sized pizza would be served to a group in the States. It was fun to get out into the city and see what the culture is like here and how it compares to American culture and what I am used to. I have a feeling I'll be saying that a lot this summer. 

Now, it's getting late here in Geneva but I am so mixed up as to what time I feel like it is because of the jet lag. All I know is I'm tired, and I'm looking forward to crawling into bed. Tomorrow will be my first real day of work, and I'm excited to see what CERN has in store for me!