Day 6 | Advent Calendar
My First Taste of Christmas at McDonald’s in Geneva by Dr Gulara Vincent
‘Let’s go to Geneva for Christmas,’ my friend said.
It was late autumn 2004 and we were taking French classes. As our vocabulary was expanding, my friend had a bright idea of putting that knowledge into practice.
‘Why not France?’
‘It’s harder to get a visa to France. Let’s go to Geneva for Christmas, and get back in time to celebrate New Year. We’ll have the best of both festivals.’
It sounded like a good plan, so after a few rounds of this conversation, I agreed to go. She had a friend working at a travel agents, and all I needed to do was to hand over my passport and money for her to sort it all out.
Finally the big day arrived and we headed to celebrate our first ever Christmas in Geneva. Arriving at a deserted small town with a giant lake and a tall fountain gushing in the middle of a lake was a shock to the system. There was nothing festive about Geneva. Coming from a country with no tradition of celebrating Christmas, we had no idea that it was a family festival, that everyone was either at home, or had booked every available seat in the restaurants. The next day, we walked the empty streets of Geneva with rubbish flying around us. It was surreal, almost like a scene from one of Stephen King’s books. All the shops were closed, you couldn’t see a single person on the street, and there was definitely no one to speak to in French.
The next day was no better.
What was going on, we kept wondering. Public transport didn’t work either, so the height of the visit was walking to look at the Red Cross building … from the outside. Eventually we managed to quiz a Russian-speaking receptionist from Latvia, who explained that during Christmas everything shuts down for three days. Doh! How were we supposed to know that? The worst part was there was nothing much to eat. The only place that was open was McDonald’s. We had our breakfast, lunch and dinner there, and after five days of that diet I vowed to never go anywhere near McDonald’s again.
Towards the end of our visit, sleepy Geneva started waking up with people bustling at the train station. I even managed to speak to a cashier in broken French. It was worth the visit after all.
Author Bio:
Dr Gulara Vincent is a writer, university law lecturer and a Momentum Mentor for Writers. When not writing or teaching, she helps women writers to re-write their inner stories so that they can (re-)gain momentum in their creative process. You can connect with her on her website (www.gularavincent.com), on Facebook (www.facebook.com/drgularavincent) or Twitter @gulara_vincent. Better yet, sign-up to her mailing list to receive compassion meditations and other support she sends out to her subscribers https://www.gularavincent.com/subscribe-gularas-newsletter/.
Solveig Werner 
Aargh – five days of McDonalds sounds like pure torture!!!!! At least you were able to practice a little French.
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Not sure whether it was worth it in relation to practicing French, but it did make a good story, so I guess it was totally worth it in the end. 😀 Thank you for reading.
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Sorry, I’m laughing! What a way to experience Christmas AND learn French… but McDonald’s… OH NO!!! LOL!! 😉
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It was funny, afterwards, Gwynn, once I recovered from all that McDonald’s food 😀 Thanks for reading.
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Reblogged this on willowdot21 and commented:
Hi this is part of Solveig Werner’s at https://solveigwerner.com Advent Calendar. | Day 6 | My First Taste of Christmas at McDonald’s in Geneva by Dr Gulara Vincent | Day 6 | Advent Calendar 2016. A lesson in different cultures and …. eating at McDonald. I shall be trying to reblog the entries daily! By the way my entry is December 22nd. Happy Advent . Enjoy. xxx
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OH! dear… how was the New Year? xxxxxx
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Much healthier 😀 Thank you for reading and sharing too. I look forward to your post.
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It was a lovely post! Thanks for sharing!
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Five days of food from McDonald’s anytime and I’d be walking back home. At least you have a small reprieve. Hey, it was an adventure, right? 😀 😀
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Definitely! And unforgettable in some ways too 🙂 (I’m still avoiding McDonald’s 😀 ) Many thanks for reading.
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How unlucky, at least it left you with a great story to tell.
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Yes, Eric, that’s what I came to realise too. The same applies to any life events, right? If only we can have that perspective in the moment (It’ll make a good story one day), any life events could be seen positively 🙂 Many thanks for reading.
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I’ve had to live on McDonald’s while traveling too, it’s not pleasant, haha.
Didn’t know that about Geneva, very interesting!
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Geneva is a lovely place to visit, but preferably not during Christmas. Sorry to hear you’ve been through McDonald’s diet too 🙂 Thank you for reading.
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Christmas in a ghost town, how eerie!
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It was eerie, so weird, but memorable. Thank you for reading, Holly.
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How fascinating and how revolting to have to exist on McDonalds. Yuck!
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