The clouds break to a beautiful morning

The difference between Monday and Tuesday is night and day.

I miraculously wake up exactly when I want to at 5:30 am. I get out of the hostel with no problem. That's right, no problem. Please excuse the repetition, as this kind of ease has not occurred yet. Let me break to paint you a picture:

Geneva at daybreak. Walking along the streets in the very heart of the great city and no one is around. The silence chills and the great hotels stand magnificently in the dawn.

I had to stop on the Rue de Lausanne for a good 10 minutes to take it all in. From here on out I know things are on the upswing.

I make the 7am train to Lyon. Arriving at the Lyon train station around 10am, I get a taxi to take me to ECAM, the college where I am staying. I arrive and find the correct building. At this point I am just happy to be in the right city at the right location. I am lead by a faculty member to, I assume, my future dorm room. Instead I am shown into the classroom where everybody is at the first summer school meeting (I'm only one hour late after all that's happened, not to toot my own horn or anything) As I enter he triumphantly announces "The final student has arrived!" to thunderous applause. Ok, maybe not thunderous, but it blew me away.

The liason in charge of coordinating the students then tells me that my bag is already at the Lyon airport. I almost faint because I did not expect to see it in the next week, if ever. Everyone is incredibly freindly and interested in my harrowing tale. Then to top it all of, my computer does not need a voltage converter, only an outlet adapter, so it works just fine. I bought an ethernet cord, while exploring with my fellow students. I am complete.

So, to wrap things up, in the span of just 10 hours I went from hopeless, bagless and getting close to penniless to perfectly normal and having the time of my life. Everything is right, and I can begin classes as if I was never diverted. I have never experienced such a shift in circumstance. It's scary how perfectly the stars aligned for me. Props to the Suisse baggage tracking service, they really did a wonderfull job.