On A Grand Tour

It’s hard to believe that it has been a year since Kurt found out that he was chosen for a post-doc opportunity at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland. I find myself reflecting on the past year and all that has happened and marveling at the number of life changes and challenges we have faced. After he was informed of the job opportunity, we had 48 hours to decide whether we were going to uproot every aspect of our lives to move to a new continent. While there is undoubtably a certain romanticism to the idea of living abroad, there were a million practicalities that made the decision tough. We had to consider my career path, the fact that we were moving to a country where we did not speak the language, and the difficulty of leaving our family, friends, and the life we had built and loved in San Diego behind. To sort through all of this in 48 hours was a sleepless, exhausting, emotional roller coaster to say the least. In the end, the adventurers in us (and the fact that this was an incredible opportunity for Kurt) won.

Over the course of the ensuing year, we sold, gave away, and packed up all of our possessions; got Kurt through finishing his PhD thesis and presenting his defense; obtained visas and travel routes despite travel bans during one of the high points of the pandemic; got engaged and started planning a wedding; settled into new jobs and career paths; started learning French as fast our brains would let us, passed our A1 exams, and continue to learn; navigated complex bureaucratic processes (three governments are still trying to figure out how to properly tax an American citizen who works for a British university but lives in Switzerland), often in a language we barely speak; moved not once, but twice, while accustoming ourselves to a rental process that is very complex and foreign to us; survived Kurt’s first time living in a place with a real winter (it only took a couple of months of freezing for him to learn that a sweatshirt just doesn’t cut it); became acquainted with Swiss healthcare systems after Kurt recently broke his hand and needed surgery; and did as much as we possibly could to explore our new home. All of this against the ever-present and ever-complicating backdrop of the pandemic.

It has been quite a year. No wonder it flew by. Yet, despite the inevitable moments of frustration, the feelings of being a fish out of water in every aspect of life, and the unbidden thoughts questioning why we left our beautiful and easy life in San Diego, I sit here writing this in a lush green park overlooking the impossibly clear water of Lake Geneva and the snow-laden mountains behind it and feel a sublime sense of contentment. It is a moment of feeling that I am exactly where I should be. While being in a state of existing so far out of our comfort zones is hard, it really is where the magic of life is. We have met people from all over the world with an immense diversity of life stories and backgrounds, started the process of really becoming fluent in a second language (which we have been wanting to do for forever), explored new hobbies, evaluated and reevaluated our priorities, realized how little we actually need in possessions (which is bound to happen when you arrive in a country with only two suitcases each to your name), tried new foods, sipped new wines, and lived for exploring new places. We fist-bump and do a happy dance every time we successfully complete a conversation in French, are getting better at doing the mental math required to convert every number, measurement, distance, date, and time from European to US formatting, are learning when to dash inside to avoid a drenching from the afternoon thunderstorms, and spend as little time as possible indoors. We have learned and grown so much in the past year, and as is evidenced by the fact that there are still smiles on our faces, it has been worth it.

With all that being said, I really could do with a much less eventful next year! But, judging from the fact that we have a wedding we are planning from another country, a continent that is dipping its toes into reopening, and the “start of physics” at CERN (when the accelerators turn on, which only happens every few years, making it a big deal and the beginning of months of 24-hour work shifts) rapidly approaching, I have a feeling the roller coaster hasn’t pulled to a stop yet.

We are so appreciative of all of our friends and family who have joined us for the ride. We feel all of the love and support from all of these miles away!