super-fun weekend!

So after a long week at home every night being sick, we finally went out Friday night to Lutry and then up to the Fête de la Cité in the Old Town part of Lausanne. Lutry was fun as usual while I listened to 'the council' debate current events in both world and local EPFL politics.... of course this is only tolerable after we've opened the 2nd bottle of wine. Usually we take a bottle to go and sit out by the lake to watch the sun set, but we forgot disposable cups and so we just bought ice cream instead. Then we went up to Old Town and got to check out Sai's new apartment. As you can see, the view from his old apartment and the new apartment aren't quite equal, but the new place, while a glorified dorm room, is in a great part of town and doesn't have a bad view either.

-the council

-ice cream by the lake

-Sai's old apartment view

-Sai's new apartment view with the festival in full swing...he also has a view of the mountains off to the left

On Sunday, Joe and I headed out to Parc Aventure and had a lot of fun on the ropes course there. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, check it out here. Watch out for the 'Presentation' page... it has a commercial (of course in french) that you can't turn off. We did 3 courses (green, red & blue) and I jumped off a rope swing, did zip lines, and a bunch of other crazy challenging stuff. I totally got rope burned and bruised up, but it was well worth it... next time i'll be wearing long sleeves. I got a couple of pictures, but by then end when we did the cool stuff, I was too tired to deal with not dropping the camera off the platforms.

-me on the tight rope

-Joe in the wooden tubes to start the red course

-Joe the monkey

Being sick sucks....

Joe & I are both sick...boo hoo. We were supposed to go hiking on Sunday, something that I would have given me a nice story to post about, but when we woke up on Sunday, Joe was severely ill and I was just starting to have some tightness in my chest. Luckily he got sick first this time, sparing me from hearing how I got him sick, thank goodness for that. Instead, he's about 1-2 days ahead of me in the illness so now I know what to expect. I've been sick plenty of times in this country, so we have a nice stock of Dayquil and Nyquil. It's so strange because there are so many drug companies here, but they do not sell equivalent cocktail cold medications in Switzerland. People here either just ride it out or they take lots of herbal remedies. I am definitely a poster child for how Americans like to take pills to treat everything!

Jacqui & Dan are engaged!

Congratulations you guys! Dan proposed via Mac (the monstrous german shepard) on Monday... how cute!

In other news, I've been adding more pictures to my flickr site, finally. Here's a guest pass to Joe's Bday pics, and I think that you can click on 'Sets' near the top of the page to look at my other sets of pictures... if not, let me know and I'll add more links.....

Jay's going away weekend!

So Jay is moving on to bigger and better things, namely the next 8 years to do his MD-PhD in Seattle. But before he left this morning, we had fun at the caveau in Lutry on Friday and grilling by the lake on Sunday.

-folks at the caveau

-tasting the special chinese wine that Lirong bought for him.... so nasty!
-hanging out by the lake....
-Sai, like usual, passes out after eating....

Stoli had puppies!

Allison's golden retriever, Stoli, had puppies over the weekend! She had 4 girls and a boy....aren't they cute!

busy busy week!

What a crazy week! Monday-Wednesday I was in an all-day class.... quite intense, but really interesting. The professor is from Harvard and was an excellent teacher, well worth giving up 3 days of sitting at my computer...... Tuesday night was Adrian's birthday celebration dinner at a tapas restaurantin town, his real birthday was the same day as Mark's defense last week so we had to delay things for a bit. The food was good, but for some reason, the waiter decided that he'd only speak to Joe's summer student in broken/bad spanish instead of speaking french with one of the many fluent frenchies at the table.... very bizarre. Last night Joe made mini-burgers for me and 'the boys.' They were mini because I came home with the wrong sized buns.... they were out of the normal sized ones by the time I got to the store!! But they turned out great and we got to hear all about Stephan's trip to Texas/Mexico. Of course, here are some pics from this past week....

-Full bellies at the tapas place....Sai what are you doing?

-A rainbow over Lausanne from our kitchen balcony on Monday night....

Dr. Mark's thesis defense

Yesterday was Mark's Thesis defense. He is officially a doctor, how exciting! Joe, Mark and Sai all moved over here together from Northwestern in January 2004 and Mark's the first of Melody's students to graduate from EPFL. Of course the lab couldn't let Mark defend his thesis without a little fanfare, so they all dressed up in labcoats and presented a 'mortar board' to him and put together a hysterical slideshow of pictures from the past 3 years. Our camera is in it's death throws, so only a couple pictures came out from last night....
-The first time the entire Swartz lab has ever worn labcoats....
-Melody introducing Mark to the audience, as well as some little known facts about Kansas...

Jason & Jen's visit!

they came, they went and they left a wake of disaster in their path....just kidding. We had a great time hanging out with Jason and Jen. It's the first time that the 4 of us have really gotten a chance to hang out and get to know each other more than just a couple hours at family events and it was great! Saturday we introduced them to the caveau in Lutry, of course. Pascal gave us a wonderful selection of red wines to taste and add to our list of wines tasted there. Then we took a bottle out to the lake to enjoy the sunset.

Sunday we went up to Interlaken, the Schilthorn, and Bern.
-on one of the 4 cable cars to get to the top of the Schilthorn.

-On top of the Schilthorn with the Jungfraujoch behind us.
-Relaxing on the train on the way home.

Monday Jason and Jen walked around the city in the morning while Joe and I were at work. I met them for lunch and then the 4 of us took a boat trip down the the Chateau de Chillon in Montreaux. It was such a beautiful day to be out on the water.
And then Joe introduced them to Satellite before we went home and I made fondue for dinner. Then they were off to Italy to continue their 2 week European excursions. Hopefully I'll find time to post pictures from the past 2 months soon....

I'm so sick of the microscope!

So this morning I spent 2 1/2 hours on the microscope taking pictures, which doesn't seem too long until you realize that you back is all scrunched funny from it and you've taken 208 pictures. So, in an effort to procrastinate assembling my 208 images, I thought I would update here and let everyone know that I feel like a hunchback.

This weekend was Stéphanie's birthday barbeque by the lake and we had wonderfully warm weather... the best in the 3 years that I've been going to her Bday barbeque. Joe joined me after a while, he had another Bday party to attend, so I was forced to speak french until he arrived. That's not entirely true, but I did speak quite a bit of french with some dude named Pierre who loved the States but refused to speak English- go figure. Sunday I had a nice and relaxing day doing laundry and vacuuming, like usual. And after dinner, Joe and I went on an exploratory walk in a neighborhood near ours and I found an Italian ice cream shop attached to a pizza parlor. I was so excited! I even got a waffle cone! It wasn't freshly made, but considering I found ice cream that wasn't Movenpick and actually tasted like ice cream, I was ecstatic! So, soon, when the weather is not threatening a downpour, as it has for the past 2 weeks straight, we'll head over there with the gang, and get some pizza and ice cream on the terrace.

This weekend, Joe's cousin, Jason, and his wife, Jen, are coming to visit! We have no idea what we're going to do while they're here, but I'm sure we'll figure something out once they arrive Saturday afternoon. I'll let you know how it goes!

French class is over!

So yesterday was my last day of french class for the year, which ended with an exam. I didn't study for the exam this time, so we'll see how well I could conjugate the subjunctive verbs when I pick up my test next week. In other news, this week was quite busy with work stuff. I finally met with my advisor after not seeing her for a couple of weeks. And now, of course I have lots of things to accomplish by the end of the month. Hopefully I can get it all done!

In regards to fun things we did this past week....The Beer festival was a lot of fun this past weekend. Thankfully the weather cooperated better than last year and we had a great time down by the lake. Monday night we finally watched the Robin Williams stand-up DVD that Stephan was always talking about... it was very, very funny and not for the easily offended. My sides hurt from laughing so much. Dance class was fun this week, but I found out that there are no organized classes in July and August! And I was just getting all limber again.... well, I guess I will have to drag Joe out to go hiking more this summer so that I can stay in shape until classes start again in September. And last night we had a little girl's night at the caveau in Lutry. We were quite boring last night since we all went home after the caveau closed, but we're looking forward to Stéphanie's birthday party this Saturday night by the lake. It's always a good time with the Swiss girls... and boys, too. Not much planned for next week, but Joe's cousin, Jason, and his wife, Jen, come on Saturday to stay with us for a couple of days before they go to Italy. It'll be great fun having them around!

Jess and Tom visit!

Jess and Tom have come and gone. I can't believe that they're already back in the states since we've been planning their visit for months now. Anyway, we had a good time despite the fact that Jess got a cold and conjunctivitis (aka pink eye). Friday we went up to the Schilthorn, one of the biggest mountains in Switzerland and had dinner in Bern. Saturday we went up to Zurich for an afternoon of designer shopping, well just browsing... I touched a 1500 franc purse at Chanel! That's more than my rent for a month! It was fun to finally walk into all the über expensive stores, but a bit depressing since I couldn't afford anything. But I'm saving up for my graduation item, which I haven't chosen yet, but I should have a nice pot by this time next year to choose a reasonable purse at this crazily expensive stores. Sunday we went and saw Pirates III and had dinner at our favorite restaurant/bar, of course, the Great Escape. I'll post pictures once I get them off of Joe's computer. Our camera is in it's death throws and so I need to get the pictures from Jess and Tom's camera, which are on Joe's computer.

Jess and I at Schilthorn.

Jess and Tom at Schilthorn.

Anyway, tonight is the long awaited Lausanne beer festival! We've been 'saving up' all week to go out tonight on the opening night. We've behaved, drinking wise, all week so tonight we can drink at the British tent like real Brits.... that would be lots of beer in a little amount of time. Alrighty, off to do some work before leaving for the festival!

pizza pizza!

Yes, it's a picture of a pizza. My parents and I ordered pizza one night while I was in the states and this is what we got when we order a half-bacon, half-pepperoni pizza. So if you look closely, you can see that the pepperoni and bacon are ON THE SAME SIDE! Just thought I'd share :)

Stuff....

Hello everybody! Yes, I know it's been nearly 2 weeks since I last updated, and those 2 weeks have gone by very fast. It took a few days to get acclimated to working again and then I started taking ballet class one night a week and hanging out with the boys almost every other night of the week. It's really fun to be dancing again, even though my legs are in shock from not doing ballet for 14 years! But, it's coming back faster than I expected, and that's good news! The allergies are also a little better, now that a lot of the trees have bloomed.... not so much pollen in the air now, plus it's been raining off and on for the past two weeks. We had an awesome thunderstorm last night while the boys were over for a barbecue dinner at our place. Of course, Joe insisted that the storm was going to 'just miss us,' but instead it started raining and he got soaking wet while trying to salvage the meat and veggies. And thanks to the violent winds, all of the soot from the grill blew into the kitchen and turned my newly-Cinderella-style-cleaned kitchen floor into a mud pit. So Joe cleaned it up with the boys while enjoying a few beers while I was in the living room preparing my slides for the Progress Report I gave to the department this morning. It went well, other than two of the professors (of course the microbiologists!) interrupted me and asked me to explain some MRI data of my advisor's that I inserted. It was supposed to to help explain why I'm doing my project and not turn into a focal point, but at least I now know that I have to work on explaining it better.
So now, I'm taking my time in the lab and can't wait for Jess and Tom's arrival on Thursday. It'll be so fun to have them around all weekend!

Trip home: Part 5, Jess, Tom & Ethan

The morning after the wedding, Joe & I met Jess, Tom and Ethan at Perkin's for some brunch. Ethan is so cute! Check out these pics:

Trip home: Part 4, wedding day!

On Saturday, Jenny, Jillian and I woke up early to be at the hair salon at 8am so that we had time for all 7 girls to get their hair done. Then we headed to the church around lunch time, ate lunch and got ready for pictures. Everything happened so fast, and the next thing we knew, we were in the limo bus on our way for more pictures and then to the reception. It was a really fun day and I'll post all of the good pictures on flickr when I have time. But for now, here are some of the fun ones from the wedding:
-Me and Joe
-Rick & Jenny in the limo bus

-Goofy girls pic with Rick
-Joe & Jenny dancing with crazy Uncle Ed

Trip home: Part 3, rehearsal!

Thursday and Friday, Joe and I drove around looking for churches and places to get our photos taken. We think we've found one, but we'll let you know when it's all official. Friday night we had the wedding rehearsal at the church and then drove to Rick's aunt Jayne's house for the luau rehearsal dinner. The food was good and then we drove home to find that poor Jimmy had diarrhea all over Mrs. R's beige living room carpet... I took a pictures, but I'll spare all of you from the horrible sight... luckily you didn't get to smell it.

-Most of the girls at the church
Andy (Rick's brother), Rick & Joe at the church

Jenny & Rick's cake
-Jenny & Rick handing out presents

Trip home: Part 2, pre-wedding fun

After Pittsburgh, I met up with Joe at his sister Jenny's house before we drove up to Milton for her wedding. We all tried on our wedding outfits at the bridal shop... here are some lovely photos of us goofing off!
-Joe's dad

Joe wishing he could wear a hat in the wedding and doing a jig
-Jenny's wedding outfit ;)
Then, Thursday night, Joe, Jenny, Mrs. R and I went to the new mexican restuarant in town and they had a live Mariachi band playing. Mrs. R said that Jenny was getting married on Saturday and so the guys came over, discussed what they were going to play for a few seconds, and broke out in 'Happy Birthday' Mariachi style... I took a video, which is hysterical, but you'll have to enjoy the photo until you visit us (or Mrs. R) to watch the video!

Trip home: Part 1 of many

Pittsburgh was a lot of fun. I got to see lots of people and I even found my wedding dress... now I just have to order it. I definitely bought way too many clothes and shoes while I was home, but I never buy anything here (they don't carry my shoes size here!), so I guess it's not that bad ;) and now some pictures:
-Me, Andy, Rachel & Linda out for a drink
-David, Madeline, & Eva
-My big and hairy brother

Allergies suck....

The past two springs in Lausanne brought typical mild allergy discomfort, but this spring is horrible. Apparently, the Hornbeam tree is causing problems for a lot of people in the Lake Geneva region, including me. It also hasn't rained recently, which keeps the pollen floating around. Even though the weather's been beautiful the past week I'm really praying for some allergy relief soon because the zyrtec can only help so much.

In other news, Joe and I had a boring week and weekend after his insane birthday. Saturday included shopping at the market and then Adrian invited us over for chinese that he cooked himself! It was delicious. Sunday Joe and I walked from EPFL to our apartment. It took a solid hour and I got quite a workout... we'll have to do this on a regular basis so I can get into shape faster :) Then we christened our grill with the thick cut pork chops we got at the market. It's so much better than the POS we had the past two year. And last night, Adrian and Stephan came over and we cooked out again. I love having summer weather so that we can grill! Next time... smores! All the while, there's a horrific winter storm on the east coast of the states...hopefully the spring weather will come for Jenny's wedding in a few weeks!

Happy Birthday Joe!

Holy crap! about sums up Joe's birthday extravaganza. The mini-burgers were a hit! I negotiated with Alex and George, the Great Escape owners, for mini-burgers, but the bakery made the buns super small so we ended up with lots of micro-mini burgers... how cute!
Joe drank lots of Guinness and people bought him a lot of shots... including the infamous blow-job shot that Jacqui and I were also required to do on our birthdays. Alex and the bar staff also gave Joe a great big mixed drink with lots of straws to share... but why use straws when you can just pick up the massive cup and drink right out of it. I made brownies again, swirl brownies this time, for everyone at the party to enjoy. I also offered them to Alex, George and the rest of the bar staff. A few minutes later Alex came up to the table with 2 more blow-job shots in exchange for 2 more brownies.... so Kristen and I enjoyed those!
As usual, by the end of the night there were only a few of us left standing and Joe managed to even take a picture of us at his level of intoxication. After we left the bar, Joe and Dan decided to jump into the fountain at Riponne and then some random girls joined them! Dan and Mac then walked Joe and I home... it was nice to have a massive german shepherd escort back to Malley, and Dan, too :)
Thank you all for a great party!

Happy Easter!

Hello everybody! I hope everyone had a great Easter weekend. Here in Switzerland it's a nice long 4-day weekend, which was much needed after all the traveling Joe and I have done over the past 6 weeks. Saturday night we went down to Lutry and drank a bottle of wine by Lake Geneva with Adrian and then we went to the caveau for some more of my favorite wine. We are going to be such wine snobs when we move home! For easter, Joe made an excellent ham in the crockpot... delicious! While it was cooking, we finally put together our new grill! Last night, we headed over to Mark's (one of Joe's colleagues) for a wine and cheese party. Before we went over to Mark's, we finally watched 'Nothing but Trouble,' a movie Joe's mom had bought for us a while back that Joe was hesitant to watch again. Let me just say that it ranks in the top 2 worst movies I've ever seen and I don't think that I can look at Dan Aykroyd the same way ever again... don't ever watch this movie!

In other news, I was accepted to go to a conference in July in Maine about GABA, which is the major part of my thesis project. I just only hope that this conference is as good as the auditory conference I went to last fall where I learned so much. I also hope that I'll be able to network and maybe find myself some job opportunities for when Joe and I finish our PhDs next spring. I'm going to go enjoy the beautiful spring weather that we're currently having... have a great week!

Cully Jazz festival

Saturday night we went down to the Cully Jazz Festival for the 3rd year in a row. This year, we ate again by the lake and then picked a venue. We decided to go to the 'Hundred Blue Bottle Cafe' and watch Carte Blanche à Master Margherita. They were.....different. Lots of percussion and rhythm with a bass guitar and a bag of musical toys including cow bell! I've got a fever, and the only perscription is more cow bell.... and I digress.... anyway, here we are sitting on the stairs to nowhere in the little caveau.