Our Last Full Day in Switzerland :(

Today was our last full day in Lausanne, Switzerland and boy am I going to miss the magnificent views, especially the ones from our hotel looking over Lake Geneva. We started the morning looking pretty spiffy and headed to the University of Lausanne to visit the International University Sports Federation. We met with Julien, a member of FISU. He presented a lecture in which he gave a general overview of FISU as well as the history and structure of the federation. FISU organizes events for student athletes. These athletes are 17-28 years old and must be enrolled in a university. The goal of FISU consists of a combination of achievement in sports as well as education. More specifically, the federation conducts three main types of events including sports events, developmental programs, and educational programs. Some educational events include the FISU forum, the FISU seminar, and transfer of knowledge programs. As an education major, I admire the educational aspect of FISU and the ways in which the federation implements both sports and academics together.

            FISU conducts both summer and winter Universiade’s every two years (these games occur during odd years). The Summer Universiade is the core event in which 173 countries compete for approximately 12 days, competing in 14 compulsory sports and 3 optional sports. Approximately 2,600 universities are represented during the summer games. The Winter Universiade is much smaller in that only 50 countries compete in 8 compulsory sports and 3 optional sports. 650 universities are represented during the winter games. In 2023, the 31^st Winter Universiade will be held in Lake Placid. This is extremely advantageous because it promotes the games in the US which furthermore leads to greater involvement both in the US and throughout the rest of the world.

            After the presentation, we got to explore FISU and look at some artifacts from past winter and summer games. We even got to pick up some of the torches that have been used for the games (these torches are very similar to those used during the opening ceremony of the Olympics). Let me tell you, some of those things were heavy!

            Overall, our time at FISU was extremely interesting, personally I had never heard of the summer and winter Universiade’s, so I really enjoyed learning about athletes my own age competing in international games similar to the Olympics. After FISU, we returned to our hotel and had a free afternoon. While many slept, some of us explored Lavaux, a popular region of vineyards and wineries in Switzerland. Specifically, we climbed (yes, we actually had to climb) to Domain de la Crausaz. There we tried a view traditional blancs and enjoyed a beautiful view of the vineyards and the Swiss Alps. It was a perfect way to end our final afternoon in Switzerland. After the winery, we headed back to the hotel but of course stopped for some Swiss chocolate. Boy, am I going to miss this place!