Summary of our year in Geneva

Hello!!
It's our last normal Saturday in Geneva, and I (Rachel) am taking this opportunity to wrap up and summarize our year. We are going to go to Geneve Plage (a waterpark/ beach area) in a few hours with some friends, and I am going to a party tonight, but right now everyone else is packing away, and I'm writing this blog :) It's kind of sad to see our books and toys piled in corners because people have bought our furniture. We're really leaving, and I don't want to. Last weekend, all 5 of us went to Yvoire. It was lots of fun and absolutely beautiful. I remember over lunch we talked about the highlights of our year; what made it so great. For me at least, my three favorite things are:

1) Friends- I've made lots of amazing friends here, and there are three or four of them that I never want to lose touch with. I have my yearbook filled with signatures though, and of course, facebook to keep in touch :D
2) Public transportation- When I want to go somewhere, Mom or Dad doesn't have to drive me. The buses and trams run every street, the main ones to the small country roads.
3) School- I love my school. It provides so much independence and freedom. I love high school. But high school in the states will be different in the sense of internationality. My school has over 200 nationalities. Around 90% of the school is fluent in two or more languages. I'm going to miss that so much.

Another great thing about this year was the opportunity to travel all over. My mom was saying the other day that this year has seemed like a yearlong vacation. For me, it wasn't quite a vacation, but it was as fun as one. We've gone to Greece, the Dominican Republic, Holland, Paris, London, and both hiking and skiing in the Alps. A big part of our year was getting up painfully early on Saturday mornings, packing the 5 of us into our tiny little car along with 5 pairs of skis, helmets, boots, and extra clothing, and driving usually about an hour to a ski site. At the time, I didn't like it. We woke up around 6 constantly, we were squished in the car, and the temperatures, wind, and snow were sometimes miserable. But looking back, it was actually amazing, especially our weeklong skiing trip to Champery in February, and I'd do it again willingly.

Not only have each of the three kids made great friends, but our family has made some great friends: Sally and Nina and their adorable boys Milo and Cy, Tam and Garrett and their sons Luca and Kenji, who became Noah's lego buddies, Dale Huntington and his wife Thetis, and of course our loved and amazing babysitter/ musician/ math tutor: Daniel Prozesky. It was an amazing year, and although a part of us never wants to leave, a part of us cant wait to go back to Baltimore :)