So the last three Sunday mornings I have participated in group running sessions held in a different part of Geneva each Sunday. It is a good way to see parts of Geneva that I would never see otherwise; the trainings tend to be in the outskirts of town. It is all in preparation for the Escalade, which is a city-wide 8k held in early December. It celebrates the city's national day of independence, a day in the 1800s when they warded off French invaders attempting to conquer the city and make it a part of France. Here is me running the first weekend.

As a large group, we always begin the training sessions with a 20-minute stretching and warm-up. A male personal trainer who is quite feminine leads us in everything from the step-touch (a very emasculating movement bouncing from side-to-side) to squats and running as hard as we can in one place. I think I would be just fine to stretch and warm-up on my own, but as I have been told, this is why I am running in a group--to enjoy the "group" dynamic. The first week I was a little competitive, getting annoyed when the run was moderated by 50-year-old men leading the group who will not allow anyone to pass. Again, part of the social group running I suppose. Last week I decided just to run at a reasonable pace and not worry about beating the soccer moms and 12-year-old girls. I enjoyed the scenery instead.

Classes are going well so far. I am reading a LOT and currently setting a personal best in class attendance. I have only missed 30 minutes of class so far. Big star for me. Speaking of stars, I have also devised a personal motivation plan for waking up in the morning. I am someone who has always struggled with mornings. Waking up is typically the hardest part of my day. So, to motivate myself to get up at a reasonable hour, I have awarded myself a Star each morning I am up before 9:30. However, I can lose a Star if I rise after 10. The time in between is the neutral zone. Currently, I am the proud owner of 6 Stars; once I get 15, I am going to reward myself with something (I have not yet decided what it will be).

I have started to talk a little bit with some of my French-speaking classmates. It is easy to talk to the English speakers, but the Frenchies are a little bit more intimidating. A big problem for me has been remembering people's names upon meeting them. This is because names are different here. Instead of John, it is Jean-Jacques. Instead of Paul, it is Pierre-Alexandre. Instead of Matt, there are names like Florentin, Florian, Pascal, etc. I am not saying these names are not nice; they are just a bit harder for me to remember than stereotypical American names. On the other hand, they struggle with my name, too. Chase is quite unique here.

Daylight Savings Time takes place in Europe one week prior to the changing of the clocks in America. Just like in America, everybody here complains about how dark it is at 5:30 and how depressing that can be in the Winter. Well, I am off to watch the Canes play Georgia Tech on my terrible internet connection. I see about 5 seconds of the game, it freezes for 10 seconds, then I see 2 more seconds, it freezes again, and you get the idea. If only I had an American cable package...

A Swiss Halloween

Saturday night I went out with a group of friends for Halloween. I had been told from the beginning that Halloween is only in the past five years or so starting to catch on a little bit in Geneva. I think the only people who have really started to follow the American tradition are the ones looking for an excuse to have a party.

The night started off at a little bar. I decided to quasi-dress up, and I wore a nice shirt and tie, black dress pants and dress shoes. I said I was employed and had a lot of money. However, nobody really got the joke; the Swiss did not seem to understand that costumes can be a joke instead of being something scary or typically Halloween.

I did not see many people wearing costumes, but the costumes that I did see were witches, devils and black cats. While there is nothing wrong with these costumes, I guess the idea of costume originality has not really caught on yet here. I mean honestly, how original is it to dress up as a witch for Halloween?

I was reminded of the movie Mean Girls. Ya, I said it, I have seen Mean Girls. And it was surprisingly funny. The part wear Lindsey Lohan's character, a teenage girl from South Africa who recently moved to America, goes to the high school Halloween party. Instead of dressing up like a prostitute as most teenage girls do these days, she dressed up like the Bride of Frankenstein. I guess it is a purely American tradition for girls to dress up as street walkers for Halloween. Still, maybe the holiday would catch on a little bit more over here if European girls did decide to conform to the American trend.

We ended up going to a pretty alternative club later that night. By alternative, I mean people dress pretty grungy, the building is old and run down, the walls are covered with graffiti, and the music is of the house-techno genre. I can handle the techno music every now and again if I am out at a club. Needless to say, I really did not fit in with my costume. If I go to this club again, I will pass on the GQ look and stick to dirty old converses and jeans with holes in them.

I saw a few people who I could have sworn were dressed up for Halloween at first glance. After studying the situation a little more closely, I realized that they were just your garden-type gothic youths. All black clothes, big black boots, chains on their clothes, spiked hair, pale skin, dark make-up around their eyes, you get the point. I wondered why I was shocked, and then I remembered that I have lived in Miami and sunny southern Spain the last four years. In these places, there are not a lot of gothic people. They prefer to avoid the sunniest places on the planet and stick to cold, darker areas where they will not die of heatstroke when wearing their big black boots and trench coats.