Je t'aime Geneva...

I arrived in geneva yesterday, apprehensive and scared about the stay that was going to be one of the firsts in my life... Alone, all by myself. I had decided to take everything one step at a time when i boarded the flight 12 hours ago. Getting to dubai was step one, and then, was getting to geneva. Now, i had to take trains in a city i was never before, to get to a place i had never been to. Thousands of people do it, there are women travelling across the globe everyday... I told myself. Yet, there was this nagging fear that i couldn't let go of. 

I got out of the airport and decided to get hold of a map, something my father had taught me- you can't get lost with a map. I decided not to trust my gps enabled gadgets and go for the traditional map  instead. But before i could find one, i saw a few automatic ticket counters. Why not check them out, i thought, because as my travel loving father and all the years of visiting places in the country and abroad had taught me, it never hurts to ask someone. I asked a couple how i could get a ticket, and the first surprise in geneva awaited me. 

They were so nice! They described to me how to get there, which train i was supposed to take and even in their broken english, offered to pay for my ticket! I was dumbfounded! After my not so pleasant experience with people in Seoul, i was cautious about people outside my country, and specially, where any language other than english was spoken. But these two immediately made me feel welcome, and, well, for the want of a better word - un-alone.

I took the ticket, and walked towards a train standing on a platform. I aksed a uniformed guy if this train went to geneva central and he replied with a smile in his eyes, 'well i should hope so, otherwise i would be driving the wrong train!' Another human being, sigh! I was happy... I boarded the train and sat down with a nice looking lady. I had only one stop to go, and thinking that train culture here would be the same as the one in metros in delhi, where people don't talk to each other, i decided to look outside of the window, when this nice lady looked at me and said, you are a brave girl travelling alone!' And just like that, she started a conversation and before i got off, i had her card and an invitation to visit her studio as she was a photographer here. Are these people for real?

I got down at the geneva central station, and similarly, at least 5 people smiled at me, and helped me to locate my hostel where i had my reservations. Not once was i looked at in annoyance or even, with fear in their eyes (like in seoul) for i was a foreigner. The experience continued today everywhere i went. Every place, starting from the supermarket to the churches has people for whom the word amazing was invented, or maybe i am from a city so rude that these common courtesies seem like luxuries. Whatever it might be, geneva...je t'aime.