Some wise words from the Dalai Lama, gastric secretions, and finally spring

Hi!
There is just something about this time of year that makes the weeks just fly by. There's been a lot of schoolwork lately, we're just finishing the module on digestive physiology this week, and guess what? Only 5 more weeks of class until this school year is done! Then there are the inevitable exams, but I'm hopeful that these will go much better than the ones in January. I guess I'm more prepared for the horror of Swiss examination methods ;)

So while I've been busying myself studying other people's insides (literally, we've done a lot of dissections lately), I've also been planning out my last two months in Switzerland. It looks like I now have no more free weekends until exams start! I'm really excited though, I think the month of May will be awesome! Plans are for two touristy trips to Swiss cities, one visit from my sister, one visit from my mom, some horsebackriding in the alps, and one trip home for my sister's graduation! And of course hours and hours in the library in between.

Also, I have to mention the awesome conference I went to last week when the Dalai Lama was visiting Lausanne. He came to UNIL to discuss the topic of "Living and Dying in Peace" with a group of scientists from my university, all in different fields. There was a psychologist, a doctor, a biologist, an anthropologist... and they asked questions pertaining to the subject of aging, how the elderly are valued in society, and how we should improve our "western" vision of the elderly as a "burden".
I really enjoyed his opinions and views, and found his answers to be very true. I particularly liked his openness toward other cultures and his emphasis on empirical values in ethics, rather than religious values.

When asked; "How do we approach a person suffering from dementia in a way that will value him/her and how can such a person be of use in society"; the Dalai Lama replied very simply that basic human compassion can be understood by anyone. We don't have to live the same reality to be able to show one another compassion and share in another persons' experiences. The value of the elderly person lies in his/her experience in life, in emotion, in beliefs, and in knowledge, and not necessarily in his/her "usefulness" in society.

Overall the conference was a rewarding experience, and it was fun to have seen him in person.

***

I asked in my last post whether spring was arriving any time soon, and I am happy to announce that it finally has! We've had some really nice weather lately, and last weekend I played golf for the very first time! I've also tested the local swimming pool next to campus, and been on several walks enjoying the sunshine by the lake with ice cream. Temperatures went up to about 23 degrees last week and have dropped slightly again now, but hope is we'll continue having nice weather in the upcoming weeks.
My most recent walk through the forest was much more photogenic than last time, so here are my spring photos from the Sauvabelin woods...

 

 

I'm definitely planning on some posts from the coming weekends, so stay tuned for the Swiss tourist!
xx Therese

A beautiful Saturday: Walk from Savigny via the "Tour de Gourze"

Hi everyone! :)
It's the weekend again, and I've been in Lausanne for 5 whole weeks! School work is definitely piling up on me a little, but with good afternoon sessions in the library at the hospital I'm making some progress. We have now finished our first "module", and are moving on to hematology, immunology, and some microbiology in the weeks to come-- I think it'll be really interesting!

The weather is more and more fitting the description of autumn. We're having really changing weather-- really hard rain followed by beautiful sunny days. This weekend though, is the first I've had here where temperatures stayed below 14 degrees all day, and are supposed to drop to about 7 degrees at night. Getting chillier, and my scarves are slowly making their way out of my closet (and generally onto the floor...). I've bought a new autumn/winter coat, and my boots are being allowed out of the "winter-shoe" bag. I guess I'm prepared.

All week, the forecast for today though has been reaaally sunny, and so I wanted to make the most of the upcoming beautiful autumn day. My friend and her boyfriend agreed to join in on the plans, as well as a girl from my class. After some scrutiny of the internet to find a good walk to do which was not too far from Lausanne, we found this site:
http://www.randosuisse.ch/savigny----cully.html

We took the bus at 13:40 from Sallaz in Lausanne toward Savigny. From there we followed a series of small country-side roads leading toward the hill where the Tour de Gourze (the goal of our excursion) is located. We passed farms and large fields, passed through little forested areas, counted at least 5 different species of COWS, saw goats, birds, sheep- you name it. The weather was spectacular, and all the way we had great views of the mountains beyond the lake , especially in toward Montreux and Valais. We turned off the paved roads about a kilometer from the Tour, and a steep forest path led us to the top. It was good we all had good hiking boots on as it was quite slippery with all the fallen leaves! The forest was so beautiful in its newly adopted fall colors, and enormous amounts of mushrooms scattered across the forest floor. I got some great nature shots of the sun shining down between the trees. The Tour de Gourze itself did not look too impressive when we finally found it; it was very... well.. square. But, the view from the top was breathtaking, as is the view from just about anywhere in this country, and we stayed there taking a large amount of pictures and just sighing at the wonderfulness of it all :)

Walking down from the hill toward the lake were more amazing views, and the afternoon sun made sure it didn't get too cold. We met several other hikers along the way, and a moment where I missed my dad a lot when we met 5 men with model airplanes, flying them out across the fields sloping down from the Tour. We went all the way down to a little town called "Grandvaux", where we found the train-tracks of the RER (local area trains), along which was a "tourisme pedestre" path (marked paths all over showing pedestrians where it's nice to walk), next to the tracks. We followed this in the direction of Lausanne, with the intention of going to the bus-station in Lutry, but ending up following further due to the beautiful scenery and wine-ranks we were walking through. We ended up at the Goussiers station, where we exhausted got on a train with two stops back to the main station in Lausanne. As always I think pictures give a better idea than my writing of how my day has been, so here is a selection :)

 

The Tour de Gourze from the backside of the hill

Bye-bye birdies :) off to Italy for the winter...

Hope everyone will have a great weekend! Here it's all books and studying tomorrow, but with this day behind me I don't think it will be too hard to sit inside.
Bisous de la Suisse xx

Almost-fall: Early October in the Sauvabelin Woods…

Isn’t it a shame to be sitting inside studying all afternoon when the weather outside is just pleading for you to come out? Today is one of those days—the beautiful clear skies and 17 degrees have been nagging me ever since I got home from classes at lunchtime, and sat down to study my endocrinology. After a good two hours of good-girl-you’re-getting-something-done-work, my head was officially saturated with information and I decided that since I made the choice not to go to the gym tonight, I deserved at least to move around a little, and so it was within my rights to go for a walk in the Sauvabelin woods/park for a little while. It’s really just across the street from my apartment, and I felt it would do the weather justice if I went outside in it for just  a little while.
I’m officially an autumn person. I love the feeling of going out in the morning and the air has this crispiness to it that you don’t get in the summer. Even though temperatures are barely dropping below 9 degrees here yet, I can still feel it creeping on a little more every day. It’s that type of weather where you never know what to put on in the morning- because the morning is cold, but in the afternoon when classes are done you end up carrying around all the coats and scarves and sweaters you were wearing in the morning because it is bloody boiling in the sun. This was definitely the case today. People say fall is rainy and windy and just generally crappy—but I don’t mind the rainy days (as long as they’re not occupying ALL the days), it’s such a nice feeling going inside into the warmth and drying off, having some hot chocolate at night and listening to the wind whip rain across my window—no I definitely don’t mind so much. Today though, is everything but rainy, and I’ve noticed the past few days how autumn is slowly announcing itself through little hints here and there… the little brown leaf on the footpath, the yellowing patch of leaves forming in some of the trees, some bushes flaring up in reds and dark purple, and that little gust of wind telling you it’s no longer the hot summer afternoons of July and August. October has arrived in Lausanne, and since I was feeling creative I decided to try my luck at taking some “almost-fall” pictures with my little Nikon, in the hopes that my walk in the woods would give me some shots that might illustrate what I’ve just described. Here they are—me trying to capture that summer is holding on with all it’s might, but inevitably winter will once again win this fight, no matter how many beautiful colours will be displayed during this natural tug-of-war…

I think my personal favourite is the second-to-last, the chestnuts on the forest floor, just in a streak of sunlight—but I think you get the idea . I’ve officially recharged my studying-batteries after this, so I think I’ll go do some more doctor-things! I’m planning on doing another autumn-themed post in about three weeks, as then I think the colours will be spectacular! Have a good week everyone!