Who is Farhan Lalji?

Some colleagues of mine went/came to Switzerland last week. They stayed mostly in Lausanne and spent a couple of hours in Geneva. They had terrible weather and in short they hated it. I had been hearing for a few days about how few people would be on the streets, how little there seemed to be to do, all in all how unliveable it was.

My experience has been totally different. I had pleasant weather on my first day (pictures will be uploaded to Flickr when I get back). Loved the scenery, saw some great restaurants and have enjoyed practicing my French, even if it’s just a listening and understanding exercise for now. We’ve seen some really nice villages around Lausanne, there’s a nice little buzz in the area. And I can totally see myself here, at least for a little while.

I think this is largely due to priming effects. The fact that my expectations were set so low, that I was told how unpleasant it was and how few people there would be, has meant that Lausanne has been able to exceed my expectations. Phew.