Friday March 13th all the Olsons, my parents, three brothers, and one sister-in-law, came to visit.  After making the the trek from the Geneva airport to our apartment, we spent some time unpacking and I opened the “presents” they brought (two suitcases full of our stuff we just couldn’t carry with us when we moved). … Continue reading Olson Visit March 13 & 14 – Lausanne & Lavaux →

Napolean said “an army marches on its stomach” and that is what the Olson family did on their recent trip through Switzerland and Paris. Our gastronomical adventures started off on a great foot with the quantity of food dispersed on the plane by Delta Airlines.  I guess giving us massive amounts of food and drink … Continue reading Olsons Eating Across Switzerland and Paris →

It’s been a whirlwind week of travel with the Olsons.  On Monday everyone, except Melissa, traveled to the town of Villars-sur-Ollons to ski in the Alps.  Melissa was a little nervous about her skill level, so decided to go to work instead.  She guessed correctly, the slopes had no skill level signs and were the steepest and … Continue reading 22 March 2015 Update →

This week we welcomed our first visitors to our new apartment!  Friday afternoon all the Olson’s, my parents, three brothers, and one sister-in-law arrived in Geneva for a week long visit. Their plane landed a little after 11AM, and they walked out of the gate just as I showed up to help guide them through … Continue reading 15 March 2015 Update →

WE FINALLY MOVED INTO OUR NEW APARTMENT THIS WEEK! Monday at 1:30PM we arrived for the walk through carrying as much of our belongs as we could.  The concierge greeted us at the door, (in the U.S. the concierge position would be called a building superintendent) and even though he didn’t speak any English we … Continue reading 8 March Update →

On Sunday March 1st, we were between apartments, living in a hotel, and bored.  To kill some time, we decided to spend four hours on a boat cruise around Lake Geneva.  At 12:30 our ship cast off from Lausanne and headed east.  We stopped at a little towns every 10 or 20 minutes all the … Continue reading Lake Geneva Cruise →

This week was our last living in the center of Lausanne.  On Friday we said goodbye to our studio and are currently in a hotel.  We’re only temporarily homeless though, on Monday we are travelling to the suburbs and our new apartment!  Packing, cleaning, and preparing for the move were the main orders of business this week. … Continue reading 1 March 2015 Update →

This week it finally feels like we’re making headway into Swiss society.  The rental contract came in the mail to Melissa’s boss; it was delivered to him instead of us because he graciously agreed to be our co-signer.  All the appropriate signatures were added, and then I dropped it off at the rental company on Tuesday.   All … Continue reading 22 February 2015 Update →

I just had an epiphany today “Everyone here speaks French!” Old people, young people, homeless people, stupid people, children, and stupid little children all know how to speak French.  I’m studying day after day, harder than anything I ever studied in college, but still I’m just not quite able to have a conversation. However, if … Continue reading Everyone Here Speaks French! →

This week we had a bit of drama with our apartment search.  Just as we were feeling confident in having a place to live and getting ready to buy furnishings, the rental company came back to us and told us we need to find a co-signer.  The reason being that we still do not have our residence permits. … Continue reading 15 February 2015 Update →