Geneva, Switzerland

Remy picked me up from the train station and drove me to his little apartment in a high rise just over the border in St. Genis-Pouilly, France. I dropped off my bags and then we headed to CERN a he had to get back to work and I wanted to use the internet. He went to get some water and two French firefighters came into the office, said something in French to me to which I could only nod, opened the window (mind there was a storm raging outside), looked around, closed the window, and left. It was weird. A few hours later we left the office with some of his coworkers for the CERN cafeteria where we had a couple beers, met more people, and then went to a pizza place for dinner. I had pasta with tomato sauce of course. I tried ordering pizza with no cheese in Croatia and that didn't work so I'm not risking it again. After dinner we headed home.

In Allston, Remy had a single bed. This is part of the reason we spent most nights together at my apartment (and Taylor pig RIP). In France, he has a single bed that is actually somehow smaller than his American single bed. It's freaking ridiculous trying to sleep on that thing with a 6 foot 6 inch tall man. Not comfortable.

He had to work during the week so the day after I arrived I spent alone in his apartment doing my laundry and reading The Secret History (recommended by former roommate Brian). At night I watched the Daily Show and Colbert Report projected onto the living room wall with Remy and his roommate. It was raining in Geneva when I arrived and stayed that way until Friday when I decided to head into the city and check it out. I saw the giant water thing which sprays water 400 feet into the air and walked towards it. I then found the botanical gardens and spent about 4 hours reading the Secret History laying in the sun. After traveling constantly it was great to just lay in the sun and not feel like I was wasting time not touring.

During the weekend it rained all day to Remy and I stayed inside hanging out and making runs to the grocery store and bakery for croissants and pasta. I helped him and his roommate find a bar for the empty end of their living room in this giant thrift store like warehouse called the farm. I found The Autobiography of Alice B Toklas by Gertrude Stein and Harold and Maude (the book) for about 2 bucks total there as well. Saturday night we went into Geneva with some of his friends to meet up with some UN interns and get some drinks. The first bar we went to was an "Irish" pub where everyone was American, Canadian, Australian, or British. We didn't stay there long. Next was a more chill bar with cheap drinks where Remy and I both would have liked to stay longer but the UN girls wanted to meet up with some of the male coworkers at this squatter bar area so we left after a drink. The girls informed me that Geneva used to have a lot more squatter bars but the city had been cracking down on them so there were only a few left. They were in a little strip of land where the abandoned buildings were covered in graffiti (Remy said it was the only place in Geneva where he had seen graffiti) and there were little make shift stands selling some kind of street food that I can now not remember (it wasn't vegan though!). We went to a bar right by the entrance called "Shark". When we got there the DJ was playing some good 80's stuff but by the time I emerged from the gross bathroom he had moved on to shitty techno. Remy and I drank some really cheap beer that tasted like piss (worst beer ever according to Remy) and watched the euro peens dance like spastic seniors. I had had about 8 beers and this point and pretty much passed out in the car on the way back. Sunday we were going to head into the city but decided to chill and watch the latest James Bond on the projector before his friends came over to watch NFL football on the projector. I did more laundry and got ready to leave for Italy the next morning.