Accio Mobilis!

It is day 3 in Lausanne and I have to share my latest accomplishments:

1. This IKEA piece of furniture that I built myself *proud* (becoming very pro at using the hammer and screwdriver and terrified this morning that my neighbors would come knocking because I was making too much noise):

2. I went to the Migros across the street and did my first proper grocery shopping, of course doing about 50 rounds around the store to find everything I needed. I'm quite proud of the healthiness of everything I bought- let's hope I can keep this up! I also bought new coat-hangers for my wardrobe (it only contained about 5.. who only uses 5 coat-hangers???), as well as a "plug-converter" so I can now charge my laptop. The plugs here are different than in Belgium- they're "oval hexagonal" and so my perfectly round "pig-nose" ones did not fit. Problem solved though so all is well.

3. I took the bus into town today for my first venture into the Centre-ville. However, the ticket-machines in this country clearly do not love me very much as they only take coins. I don't have any of those yet thanks to the 200 notes I am carrying round (very scary amounts of money to have in my bag...). Grudgingly accepting that I couldn't use the machine at the bus-stop, I decided I would by my ticket on board. But hey-- no such luck! I get onboard and the lady looks at me questioningly when I asked her for a ticket to the Centre. Nope, you have to buy a ticket at the stop. I pleadingly explained the situation to her, and thankfully a very nice lady sitting at the front of the bus heard our conversation and said she could change my 20CHF bill (I got that this morning after my grocery shopping). The chauffeur then happily let me get off at the next stop to hassle the ticket machine there, and it finally spewed out a valid ticket for me to get to town.

The reason for my visit to central Lausanne today was in fact to aquire a "Mobilis" card- which is the only way to travel here without having to fight with ticket machines every day. I thankfully found the "point de vente" that I had located on my map before leaving, and after about 15 minutes in line I was helped by a very nice man speaking in his Swiss french accent so I understood nothing. The French here is really funny, they do a sort of "sing-song" voice and pronounce things weirdly. I did, however manage to get my year pass for the transport in Lausanne, and gave my address here for the first time when he registered me in the system (I had to think for a moment not to give the address I've had for the past 10 years).

4. I visited my campus! I decided to be adventurous and take the metro the 3 stops up from the city centre to the university hospital where I will be attending classes starting next tuesday (!!). It's called CHUV (pronounced "SHOOV") by the monotonous announcer-voice on the metro, and stands for Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Vaud. Very fancy. It's a really nice area and it's got a great view of the lake as it's quite far up. I wandered around aimlessly for a bit to get a feel of the place, and then found the way to the auditoriums where I am expected to meet up for orientation on Wednesday. The metro here is also a fun experience. It's got fancy doors on the platform that open only when the train arrives, and the announcements of the stations along the way are preceded by a different shall-we-say "Swiss Noise" every time. There was cows mooing before they said CHUV. All the Swiss people round me seemed completely unaffected by this but I almost burst out laughing! :D

So here are my conclusions of the day:
-The Swiss people have a reputation of being closed and unfriendly toward outsiders (according to my Erasmus information booklet). This is completely wrong.
- I now have both milk AND a valid "titre de transport", so I am increasingly ready to live in this city for an extended period of time!