Rachel Johnson
News Editor
Pepperdine’s newest overseas program in Lausanne, Switzerland is off to a bumpy start with students not living where they had expected.
Pepperdine administrators had planned to renovate a hotel they had purchased and make it into the program house, similar to the living situation at the program in Florence, Italy. However, negotiations were not completed before the students left on Jan. 9th and they were relegated to a hotel until procedures are completed.
Until the new facility is ready, the university is leasing rooms from La Croissee Hotel, a hotel that overlooks Lake Geneva where the students are staying now.
“We prefer to have our own facility and therefore, are presently negotiating for a building that was formerly a hotel,” wrote Dr. Charles Hall, dean of International Programs, in an e-mail. “But there are so many students that we virtually take up the La Croissee Hotel and so, to the students, it probably feels like our own facility.”
Some students, however, have a different opinion.
“It was kind of a disappointment to hear that we weren’t going to have our own Pepperdine housing this semester,” wrote Angie Leon, a sophomore participating in the program, in an e-mail.
According to Leon, a benefit is that all of the participants’ rooms have views of Lake Geneva. Though she said it was a bit strange to essentially be living with the other hotel guests, Leon said all of the students have banded together and are having a good time.
“We are located close to everything but as far as student facilities, kitchen and laundry facilities, things are still being determined because it all costs money for us to be using them, and it isn’t like other programs,” Leon said. “It has been difficult to find a hang out place in the hotel but hopefully something will work itself out.”
Hall said that, if it is possible, the facility will become Pepperdine’s permanent location but the administration is carefully analyzing all options.
The main goal of the continuing negotiations is to secure a permanent Pepperdine facility near downtown Lausanne and the main train station.
Other than the living situation complications, the new program seems to be proceeding smoothly.
After the Lyon and Paris programs, university administrators decided to establish a program in Switzerland to find a place for students who wanted to experience living in a French-speaking area of Europe outside of France.
Switzerland’s central location provides students with the opportunity to practice their French and gives them the ability to easily experience many areas of Europe.
Lausanne is in western Switzerland, 30 minutes from Geneva. Its location allows students to take a 30-minute boat trip across Lake Geneva and arrive in France, and the Swiss Alps are less than an hour away.
The trains from the main station in Lausanne are frequent and make stops in multiple cities in surrounding countries.
Lausanne itself has a population of 130,000 and a range of nearby activities, including sailing, hiking, skiing and visiting the International Olympic Headquarters, where the Olympic Museum is housed.
This semester’s faculty advisor is Dr. Carolyn Hunter, who will be teaching a humanities course as well as a course on the American people.
According to Hall, Dr. Mike Sugimoto from the International Studies division will be the visiting faculty next year.
The program coordinator in Lausanne is Mary Mayenfisch, a local woman originally from Ireland who speaks French and English. According to Hall, she was a human rights lawyer for many years and taught at Lausanne’s famous hotel hospitality school.
Jo Grealey, from England, is her full-time program assistant.
“She [Mayenfisch] loves American college students and has fallen in love with Pepperdine,” said Hall. “Both ladies have charming personalities and the desire to provide our students with life-changing international experiences.”
01-18-2007
