mountains & medicine.: Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Winter is here!

Despite images of snow-covered Alps and frozen lakes, I had been under the impression that it doesn't actually snow that much in Lausanne. In September, a post-doc in my lab told me I could expect one or two "good-sized snows" per year. Although it snows very often in the mountains (hence the superb skiing!), Lac Leman provides Lausanne with a more temperate climate, leading to lots of rain, a good bit of fog, and the very occasional snow.

Needless to say, I was pretty surprised when it started snowing last week. Not just flurries, either-- big, thick, quickly-falling flakes of snow which, over the next couple of days, blanketed Lausanne in about two feet of powder. My immediate thought upon seeing so much snow was "snow day!", but despite only getting an occasional snow, Lausanne was completely prepared. The streets were scraped and salted, stores remained open, and classes and lab kept going as if nothing had happened.

Despite still needing to go into lab, Ben and I took advantage of the surprising weather and spent a lovely afternoon playing in the snow.