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highlyeccentricHello hello it's time for another round-up post! Not sure that anyone reads them, but I having started I shall continue. As with previous such posts social media has probably given you some idea already...
What have I done in May and June? Uh. Spent a remarkable amount of time wrangling swiss health care services, actually. I'm no longer eligible for international student coverage, so had to take out regular health insurance (which covers... most of the things Medicare does in Australia, but for considerably more money. Ugh). I signed up for a scheme where you get a discount if you get everything authorised by a doctor, so had to go and set up initial consultation with said doctor. This resulted in blood tests (and fainting) and vaccinations and a weird supplement regime for Vitamin B12. Also, everything costs daft amounts of money.
Marking! I did a lot of marking. My assigned and predictable share of the marking for the medieval courses at UniGe, but also three classes worth of end-of-high-school english exams. The schooling system here is weirdly decentralised, with each class reading different texts and being examined by their own teacher plus, at the very end of the year, a second marker. No state-wide centralised exams here! I found that quite odd, and the standards inconsistent between schools. And I had to read 16 short modern novels, because I'd only met two of the set texts before. So... the process was interesting, it makes our first-year program make a lot more sense, and I'm looking forward to a lump sum payout for the work. I'm not sure *how much*, though, because the pay scheme is by units that are not one unit per student or one unit per estimated hour. We'll see.
In the matter of social life, I've been doing rather well: Jon was over here in early June; I joined some colleagues on a working weekend up in the Alps shortly after that; there have been many opportunities to play board games with people; and last week in the UK I managed to meetmonksandbones for the first time in our six-year acqaintance, *and* catch up with my supervisors from Sydney *and* see Jon *and* have brunch with a friend from Sydney undergrad days.
I've been to places that aren't Geneva or Birmingham: Jon and I went on a steam train expedition up into the hills behind Vevey and Montreux; there was the weekend in the Valais; we had a work function in Yvoire, on the french side of the lake; and then I spent two whole days in London. London still infuriates me, from the transport and navigation point of view, but it was very nice to be in a place big enough to have an alternative scene, and eating in Chinatown is sort of like coming home (do all Chinatowns look the same, or is it just that Sydney's Chinatown looks like London's?).
Here, have some photos:
The Viaduc de la Baye de Clarens, a somewhat precarious bridge on the Blonay-Chamby heritage steam line.
Steam trains need TLC.
Oh, y'know, just the regular 14th c streetfronts in Yvoire.
Here's a thunderstorm desending on the lake from the Jura in the late afternoon.
This cluster of hotels and chalets is the town of Zinal, right up in the Alps in the Valais. Accessible by road, or by a series of highly efficient and co-ordinated PostBuses from the main rail line.
That is a glacier. I did not go near it but I observed that it exists.
Proof I did go to London.
I resisted the urge to ACTUALLY pat this 13th c lion carving in the V&A. But it's such a cute lion!
What have I done in May and June? Uh. Spent a remarkable amount of time wrangling swiss health care services, actually. I'm no longer eligible for international student coverage, so had to take out regular health insurance (which covers... most of the things Medicare does in Australia, but for considerably more money. Ugh). I signed up for a scheme where you get a discount if you get everything authorised by a doctor, so had to go and set up initial consultation with said doctor. This resulted in blood tests (and fainting) and vaccinations and a weird supplement regime for Vitamin B12. Also, everything costs daft amounts of money.
Marking! I did a lot of marking. My assigned and predictable share of the marking for the medieval courses at UniGe, but also three classes worth of end-of-high-school english exams. The schooling system here is weirdly decentralised, with each class reading different texts and being examined by their own teacher plus, at the very end of the year, a second marker. No state-wide centralised exams here! I found that quite odd, and the standards inconsistent between schools. And I had to read 16 short modern novels, because I'd only met two of the set texts before. So... the process was interesting, it makes our first-year program make a lot more sense, and I'm looking forward to a lump sum payout for the work. I'm not sure *how much*, though, because the pay scheme is by units that are not one unit per student or one unit per estimated hour. We'll see.
In the matter of social life, I've been doing rather well: Jon was over here in early June; I joined some colleagues on a working weekend up in the Alps shortly after that; there have been many opportunities to play board games with people; and last week in the UK I managed to meet
monksandbones for the first time in our six-year acqaintance, *and* catch up with my supervisors from Sydney *and* see Jon *and* have brunch with a friend from Sydney undergrad days.I've been to places that aren't Geneva or Birmingham: Jon and I went on a steam train expedition up into the hills behind Vevey and Montreux; there was the weekend in the Valais; we had a work function in Yvoire, on the french side of the lake; and then I spent two whole days in London. London still infuriates me, from the transport and navigation point of view, but it was very nice to be in a place big enough to have an alternative scene, and eating in Chinatown is sort of like coming home (do all Chinatowns look the same, or is it just that Sydney's Chinatown looks like London's?).
Here, have some photos:
The Viaduc de la Baye de Clarens, a somewhat precarious bridge on the Blonay-Chamby heritage steam line.
Steam trains need TLC.
Oh, y'know, just the regular 14th c streetfronts in Yvoire.
Here's a thunderstorm desending on the lake from the Jura in the late afternoon.
This cluster of hotels and chalets is the town of Zinal, right up in the Alps in the Valais. Accessible by road, or by a series of highly efficient and co-ordinated PostBuses from the main rail line.
That is a glacier. I did not go near it but I observed that it exists.
Proof I did go to London.
I resisted the urge to ACTUALLY pat this 13th c lion carving in the V&A. But it's such a cute lion!
no subject
Date: 2014-07-05 02:38 pm (UTC)(Will you be in the UK in August? For I am. Will be. I'm science-fictioning, however rather than historianing. I'll also be in Cambridge, York, Croatia and Finland. And one day in Vienna. Any chance of us meeting up? I am suspecting not, but would really love to see you.)
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Date: 2014-07-05 02:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-07-05 02:53 pm (UTC)It might be best if you hang onto the Travelling Oyster Card, though, since you're in Europe now and will have regular need for it. I'll get another one at Heathrow.
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Date: 2014-07-05 03:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-07-05 04:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-07-05 04:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-07-05 11:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-07-06 03:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-07-10 12:48 pm (UTC)