I've been back in the US for almost three weeks now and a few differences became apparent almost immediately:
1. In Europe there is a toilet brush next to every toilet public or private thus minimizing the embarrassment of an already lengthy trip to the loo.
2. It's not that American's are friendlier than Europeans, but they are more likely to start up a conversation and ask about your day
3. Being able to understand the conversations around me was surprising and new when I returned, not hearing French, German, or Slovenian at every surrounding table was quite a shock at the beginning
4. I noticed the strange phrases used amongst the Geneva Study Group participants slipping into my day to day conversation such as
- "la meme chose" or "the same thing"
- "d'accord" or "I agree"
- "DTC" or "down to clown"
- "The Wif" or "WeeFee" or "WiFi" or "Wireless Internet"
- "Ca va" or "OK/That's Fine"
5. The prices, the difference in price of my latte in Geneva at Starbucks, versus the price of my latte in portland is unbelievable-the first time I went to Starbucks with my Dad we ordered 2 grande nonfat lattes and when I saw the total I thought they forgot the second latte then realized that the price was half the franc price (unfortunately my current deadbeatness and lack of job have prevented me from enjoying this sudden affordability)
6. Getting ID'd when purchasing alcohol (sometimes twice)
7. Unlimited bread and drinks at restaurants
8. Watching the news-despite having the Wif the whole time in Geneva, we didn't really pay much attention to news worthy events
9. Knowing when I arrive at a counter I will understand the person who is helping me and they will understand me-despite a couple of "s'il vous plait"s, "merci"s and "ca va"s end up coming out on my side.
10. Using my phone in order to make phone calls and not just as an ultra helpful more intelligent than I Smartphone.
I think the biggest surprise is that despite all the very noticeable differences, the transition has not been as hard as I expected it to be, returning to daily life was almost like I never left in a weird way, and all the trains, monuments and cultures seem like a really good dream-I guess part of that comes from any once in a lifetime experience.
I have returned with a travel bug that just wont quit, so much so I volunteered to take a trip to Memphis this summer, I also have a trip to Las Vegas on the agenda in order to celebrate my 21st birthday with my two best friends. So as the say (cheesy as it may be) and I think (hope) this will hold true-It is only the end of the beginning of my travels, more are yet to come!
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Leavin' on a Jet Plane-Don't Know When I'll be Back Again... I Really Hate to Go
The last week in Geneva I spent my work time at the Human Rights Council at the UN, far more interesting then the downtime we'd been spending in the office. We were responsible for monitoring the sessions' spontaneous happenings. There was also a lot of debate about the happenings in Israel which kept it interesting and I got to see the council vote on a draft resolution. It was like my MUN experience was finally fulfilled. We spent the evenings hanging around the cite not doing anything in particular.
Thursday Melissa, Grace, Elise and I had the day off so we decided to go to the infamous Bain de Paquis that Professor Shain always raved about, it's supposed to be a public beach where you can swim in the lake and hang out, there's a restaurant etc. and because of Shain's obsession with it, and it being the place where I celebrated my 21st birthday it was on our bucket list of Geneva must dos. Unfortunately the weather wasn't really cooperating and it was pretty cold. So we decided to go in the Hammam or sauna/steam room thing. In our typical American fashion we wore our swimsuits, the Europeans in the typical European fashion did not. So we were accompanied by two women in their mid to late forties, naked who eventually began to scrub each other down. Big win for us. We stayed for probably 15 minutes or so and then hit the road to do some last minute souvenir shopping, enjoy a final kebab and try another reputable ice cream place. My ice cream was chevre flavored (that is goat cheese) it tastes like cheesecake and was really good with chocolate.
That night we had our final group party and Melissa, Ben and I were in charge of the shopping so we stopped by the cite to shower and went to meet Ben at the Coop (in Switzerland the Co-op to us Colgate kids the Coop). We enjoyed our final party playing beer pong, flip cup, and 7s (as taught to us by Professor Shain). Even Lady Garga, our internship coordinator, joined in the fun. Afterward a couple of us went to another Geneva Bucket list local - Mr. Pickwick's the Ex-Pat bar, I enjoyed a nice frothy Boddingtons (as seen on Friends!) We stayed until it closed and caught a cab back.
Friday morning was the worst part of the whole trip. Packing. Eventually fitting 5 months of our lives into 2 suitcases, 1 carryon and 1 personal item. After sufficiently depressing ourselves through packing, Melissa, Grace, and I went to old town to have a beer in the finally cleared up weather. We sat for a while and then went for our final meeting with Shain where we stored all the GSG kitchen stuff for the 2011 group. Afterward a bunch of us went and got Pizza which we enjoyed on the roof of the cite until we were told that was "illegal" and moved the party downstairs to play kings. Then we went to a club on Ben's recommendation where we all had a lot of fun. We made it home in time for me to enjoy my last cite shower, and catch about 2 hours of sleep before getting up to catch the plane home.
Luckily Melissa was looking out for me because I didn't hear my alarm and she knocked on my door at 6:10 am (we had a 6:15 departure time) Just enough time for me to throw the rest of my stuff in my bag and run out the door (leaving my room a little messier than I would have liked). But we all got on the bus and to the airport, without being charged for overweight fees (despite all of our bags being at least a little bit overweight, the one thing Geneva didn't over charge us for). After an uneventful flight from Geneva to Newark, I am currently sitting in Newark waiting for my final flight to Portland. In the airport I enjoyed a giant hamburger with blue cheese and french fries.
I haven't even made it home yet, and the move hasn't really hit me, but already the changes and cultures are hitting me. English is the biggest transition so far, but we'll see once I begin re-immersion.
In about 8 hours the trip will be officially over. It all seems a bit like a dream.
Thursday Melissa, Grace, Elise and I had the day off so we decided to go to the infamous Bain de Paquis that Professor Shain always raved about, it's supposed to be a public beach where you can swim in the lake and hang out, there's a restaurant etc. and because of Shain's obsession with it, and it being the place where I celebrated my 21st birthday it was on our bucket list of Geneva must dos. Unfortunately the weather wasn't really cooperating and it was pretty cold. So we decided to go in the Hammam or sauna/steam room thing. In our typical American fashion we wore our swimsuits, the Europeans in the typical European fashion did not. So we were accompanied by two women in their mid to late forties, naked who eventually began to scrub each other down. Big win for us. We stayed for probably 15 minutes or so and then hit the road to do some last minute souvenir shopping, enjoy a final kebab and try another reputable ice cream place. My ice cream was chevre flavored (that is goat cheese) it tastes like cheesecake and was really good with chocolate.
That night we had our final group party and Melissa, Ben and I were in charge of the shopping so we stopped by the cite to shower and went to meet Ben at the Coop (in Switzerland the Co-op to us Colgate kids the Coop). We enjoyed our final party playing beer pong, flip cup, and 7s (as taught to us by Professor Shain). Even Lady Garga, our internship coordinator, joined in the fun. Afterward a couple of us went to another Geneva Bucket list local - Mr. Pickwick's the Ex-Pat bar, I enjoyed a nice frothy Boddingtons (as seen on Friends!) We stayed until it closed and caught a cab back.
Friday morning was the worst part of the whole trip. Packing. Eventually fitting 5 months of our lives into 2 suitcases, 1 carryon and 1 personal item. After sufficiently depressing ourselves through packing, Melissa, Grace, and I went to old town to have a beer in the finally cleared up weather. We sat for a while and then went for our final meeting with Shain where we stored all the GSG kitchen stuff for the 2011 group. Afterward a bunch of us went and got Pizza which we enjoyed on the roof of the cite until we were told that was "illegal" and moved the party downstairs to play kings. Then we went to a club on Ben's recommendation where we all had a lot of fun. We made it home in time for me to enjoy my last cite shower, and catch about 2 hours of sleep before getting up to catch the plane home.
Luckily Melissa was looking out for me because I didn't hear my alarm and she knocked on my door at 6:10 am (we had a 6:15 departure time) Just enough time for me to throw the rest of my stuff in my bag and run out the door (leaving my room a little messier than I would have liked). But we all got on the bus and to the airport, without being charged for overweight fees (despite all of our bags being at least a little bit overweight, the one thing Geneva didn't over charge us for). After an uneventful flight from Geneva to Newark, I am currently sitting in Newark waiting for my final flight to Portland. In the airport I enjoyed a giant hamburger with blue cheese and french fries.
I haven't even made it home yet, and the move hasn't really hit me, but already the changes and cultures are hitting me. English is the biggest transition so far, but we'll see once I begin re-immersion.
In about 8 hours the trip will be officially over. It all seems a bit like a dream.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Wine Tasting FOR FREE
Well Monday through Wednesday were spent finishing up papers at work along with a little bit of real work - a research project on the defamation of religions. The evenings were spent doing more homework and keeping out of the way of people that also had homework. We did eat our dinner on the roof Monday - that was really exciting.
Thursday we had a meeting with Professor Shain to wrap up the semester a little bit.
Friday I had lunch with Brenda, Melissa, Zunaira, and Grace at Les Recyclables the restaurant at Melissa and Brenda's work - we had to show Zu how great the chocolate fondant was. After that I headed home and hung out and did a little bit of studying for my final the next day.
Saturday we had a final in the morning for 4 hours (2,000 words ~ 6 pgs) After the final it was "les caves ouverts" this meant almost all of the Genevois Wineries were open to the public for free tasting. We got on the bus and after some slight confusion trying to figure out where and how to get there we eventually ended up at the first winery. We got to sit at a table and request different kinds of wine and got to drink them for free. We tried three at the first one (I bought a bottle of my favorite) and then headed to the next one where we tried a few more (I tried all the reds) and then went to one last winery, this one had a band and along with wine there was apple juice (for grown ups). We hung out there for a while trying wine and talking etc. until a glass broke and my toe ended up with a fairly large gash, taking that as our cue to leave we headed out, barely escaping an invite to a Brazilian hosted party, but we made it out almost in one piece with all the same members we had started with!
Sunday morning Melissa and I went to a farmer's market to get vegetables for the week. It actually ended up being cheaper than the grocery store! When we got back I made an omelette with some of the fresh goat cheese I had bought at the market. I spent the rest of the day relaxing as the weather was bad so I couldn't do anything outside, and it was Sunday so I couldn't do anything inside, and I couldn't leave Geneva because train tickets were too expensive even to go a short distance. So I tried to stay out of people's way as many people were still finishing homework and spent the day doing some much needed R&R though after the rate at which I've been moving for the last 5 months, I found myself getting very stir crazy very early and had bad cabin fever.
We now are beginning our last week in Geneva and of our study abroad program. Feelings are pretty mixed, people are excited to be done writing papers, and see friends and family, but we are also sad to be leaving the place and people we've spent the last 5 months with. It's a weird feeling to be leaving because it's truly the end to a once in a lifetime experience. The general mood floating around the cite is sullen a lot of comments about "this is the last time we will..." But there's also strong feelings of accomplishment and pride. Nobody really has any regrets.
Happy: to be leaving
Sad: to be leaving
Nervous about: leaving
Thursday we had a meeting with Professor Shain to wrap up the semester a little bit.
Friday I had lunch with Brenda, Melissa, Zunaira, and Grace at Les Recyclables the restaurant at Melissa and Brenda's work - we had to show Zu how great the chocolate fondant was. After that I headed home and hung out and did a little bit of studying for my final the next day.
Sunday morning Melissa and I went to a farmer's market to get vegetables for the week. It actually ended up being cheaper than the grocery store! When we got back I made an omelette with some of the fresh goat cheese I had bought at the market. I spent the rest of the day relaxing as the weather was bad so I couldn't do anything outside, and it was Sunday so I couldn't do anything inside, and I couldn't leave Geneva because train tickets were too expensive even to go a short distance. So I tried to stay out of people's way as many people were still finishing homework and spent the day doing some much needed R&R though after the rate at which I've been moving for the last 5 months, I found myself getting very stir crazy very early and had bad cabin fever.
We now are beginning our last week in Geneva and of our study abroad program. Feelings are pretty mixed, people are excited to be done writing papers, and see friends and family, but we are also sad to be leaving the place and people we've spent the last 5 months with. It's a weird feeling to be leaving because it's truly the end to a once in a lifetime experience. The general mood floating around the cite is sullen a lot of comments about "this is the last time we will..." But there's also strong feelings of accomplishment and pride. Nobody really has any regrets.
Happy: to be leaving
Sad: to be leaving
Nervous about: leaving
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
What's there in Geneva to See?
Thanks to the national Swiss holiday of Pentecost we all had a day off of work today, a couple of us decided to use the opportunity to do some long over due sightseeing.
Melissa, Grace, Olga, an unusually pleasant Parker and I started by taking a ride up the FUNicular to the top of the mountain that I can see out my window, it was so exciting to actually be on top of the mountain I see every day. From the top of the funicular we hiked up a little further and sat and had a picnic lunch. We all packed separate lunches and listened to music and had a little beer at the top of the mountain with a view of Geneva and Lac Leman on one side and the French alps on the other. We then hiked back down to the funicular and made our way back to ground level.
We then took the bus downtown, dropping off Olga on the way and, due to my insistence on accomplishing all things touristy today, we stopped by to see the flower clock, unfortunately it was being reseeded and was thus even lamer than ever due to it really being more of a weed clock today. We met up with Katie and Zunaira near the Jet d'Eau and went back to get some of the best ice cream in the world and walked toward the jet with our ice cream. When we pointed out the pedal boats we had rented Parker decided they were not up to his boating standards and decided to head back to the cite with Zu and Katie. Melissa, Grace and I proceeded to our 4 person pedal boat complete with Toboggan (aka SLIDE!) and pedaled our way out into the middle of Lake Leman where we sat back, relaxed in the sun, and enjoyed some beer while listening to some music. Eventually my need to pee overcame my fear of the cold water and I jumped into the Lake, the initial shock was such that I couldn't really speak and the need to urinate was momentarily suspended and my graceful climbing onto the boat had never been better. But Grace and Melissa soon followed suit jumping into the Lake, the water was clean and felt very different from normal water-so refreshing. We obviously used our slide and did the standard jumping into the water pictures and were disappointed when our hour and a half rental was over far too soon and we pedaled back to shore.
Our dip inspired another trip to the best ice cream in the world and we were able to exercise enough self restraint to only purchase one boule (scoop) each. Then we caught the bus over to the Parc de Bastion where the giant chess boards are located, the tourist attraction we had been eager to visit since we first passed it and took a couple pictures followed by a game of very poor strategy between me and Grace (I blame the heat for impacting my logical decisions) and then we caught the bus three and headed back to the cite where we showered and fixed dinner and ate outside on our exclusive roof. After dinner we made coffee in order to force ourselves to work. I was more productive this evening then I had been all day yesterday when I cooped myself up inside to do work so I could have this wonderful day of enjoyment-and while the work yesterday was minimal this was easily the best day we've had in Geneva.
Biggest Mystery: Despite a plethora of emails few GSG members were lured to our day of fun and excitement
Finally: We played chess in the chess park!
So Close: to being DONE with finals!!!!
Melissa, Grace, Olga, an unusually pleasant Parker and I started by taking a ride up the FUNicular to the top of the mountain that I can see out my window, it was so exciting to actually be on top of the mountain I see every day. From the top of the funicular we hiked up a little further and sat and had a picnic lunch. We all packed separate lunches and listened to music and had a little beer at the top of the mountain with a view of Geneva and Lac Leman on one side and the French alps on the other. We then hiked back down to the funicular and made our way back to ground level.
We then took the bus downtown, dropping off Olga on the way and, due to my insistence on accomplishing all things touristy today, we stopped by to see the flower clock, unfortunately it was being reseeded and was thus even lamer than ever due to it really being more of a weed clock today. We met up with Katie and Zunaira near the Jet d'Eau and went back to get some of the best ice cream in the world and walked toward the jet with our ice cream. When we pointed out the pedal boats we had rented Parker decided they were not up to his boating standards and decided to head back to the cite with Zu and Katie. Melissa, Grace and I proceeded to our 4 person pedal boat complete with Toboggan (aka SLIDE!) and pedaled our way out into the middle of Lake Leman where we sat back, relaxed in the sun, and enjoyed some beer while listening to some music. Eventually my need to pee overcame my fear of the cold water and I jumped into the Lake, the initial shock was such that I couldn't really speak and the need to urinate was momentarily suspended and my graceful climbing onto the boat had never been better. But Grace and Melissa soon followed suit jumping into the Lake, the water was clean and felt very different from normal water-so refreshing. We obviously used our slide and did the standard jumping into the water pictures and were disappointed when our hour and a half rental was over far too soon and we pedaled back to shore.Our dip inspired another trip to the best ice cream in the world and we were able to exercise enough self restraint to only purchase one boule (scoop) each. Then we caught the bus over to the Parc de Bastion where the giant chess boards are located, the tourist attraction we had been eager to visit since we first passed it and took a couple pictures followed by a game of very poor strategy between me and Grace (I blame the heat for impacting my logical decisions) and then we caught the bus three and headed back to the cite where we showered and fixed dinner and ate outside on our exclusive roof. After dinner we made coffee in order to force ourselves to work. I was more productive this evening then I had been all day yesterday when I cooped myself up inside to do work so I could have this wonderful day of enjoyment-and while the work yesterday was minimal this was easily the best day we've had in Geneva.
Biggest Mystery: Despite a plethora of emails few GSG members were lured to our day of fun and excitement
Finally: We played chess in the chess park!
So Close: to being DONE with finals!!!!
Sunday, May 23, 2010
I Spy...
Monday morning our boss was in Spain, but we were supposed to be at the office in order to wait for a delegation from Spain who was holding a conference on Tuesday at the UN, so we went in to the office, with no assignments and did homework, waiting for Spain to show up which, they of course never did. The one work related task I was able to do was accompany our new coworker from India to the United Nations to sign up for her "ALL ACCESS PASS!" aka UN badge. Fortunately, I was able to finish quite a bit of homework. That night I polished off my 25 page research paper for Professor Kott.
Tuesday we were supposed to attend and take notes on the conference that Spain had come to hold. Our boss though that the badges we had acquired to use during the UPR would extend through this conference, they did not. Alison had forgotten her UN library badge so we had to make a whole to do about getting inside which of course alerted security to our presence. After my backpack went through with my water bottle (which I've taken into the UN many a time), I was told to drink out of it, which I did, it is a camelback so it has a straw which I was drinking out of and the security guard said, no drink drink, and I continued, until she made me take the top off and was like I told you to drink and then she saw the straw and everything became clear. Then we tried to register for the conference with the forms our boss had handed us before she ran off to the meeting reminding us what room it was in as her coat flew behind her. So we tried to register but couldn't, and then the security guards made sure we didn't get into the conference so we returned to the office to do homework etc. and our boss didn't return until later, later being 5:30. She asked what happened and when we told her she basically told us we should have just snuck by the UN security guards and that we all learned a lesson. Unfortunately for her sneaking by intergovernmental security forces is NOT in my unpaid internship job description.
Wednesday work involved more homework all day long but more importantly OUR FINAL CLASS WITH KOTT! and TURNING IN MY 25 PAGE PAPER!!! HORRAY!!! To celebrate we thought we would try the free champagne bar again. However apparently when the next day isn't a national holiday it's not nearly as crowded. This means 7 GSG members and maybe 10 other people? What is this the best kept secret in Geneva or something?
Thursday at work we found out our boss was taking Friday off to make her long weekend longer (DAY OFF FRIDAY!) then she asked us when we came into the office not to let strangers poke around as we've had issues with spies... (what?) apparently they're convinced that certain governments have spies coming to check out our stuff-and apparently they have a decent case.
Since I had Friday off (or I just came in really late and left really early) I planned on meeting Melissa and Brenda for lunch. Then we went to Starbucks and Melissa's dad met up with her!! I finished another paper and relaxed the rest of the evening with beer and pizza on the roof. Then we had heard about a club that was supposed to be low key with good music so we thought we'd check it out. Music good, atmosphere good, creepy older men offering to buy you drinks bad, only about 20 people inside bad. Do people in this city EVER go out?? But we stayed for a couple hours anyway dancing.
Saturday morning I went to a cafe with Grace and we did homework for a while. Then we got some Kebab and walked over to the Jet d'Eau and saw it up close and personal. The weather was AMAZING, so we stopped in an ice cream place that looked good-it had a line out the door, and we both got banana and chocolate ice cream which was some of the best ice cream I've ever had: Arlecchino. http://www.larlecchino.ch/4598.html <-- SO GOOD! Then we stopped at McDonalds to do a little bit more work (it was cheaper than Starbucks and on the way to the grocery store), and did our weekly grocery shopping. Since it was so nice a couple of us decided to play Beer Pong outside which was fun, the weather was beautiful. Afterward I was so tired I fell asleep by 10:30... whoops!
Best Discovery: Arlecchino
Most Excited For: Monday Sight Seeing
Ready to: Eat chipotle and see everybody again
Sunday, May 16, 2010
and then we went to Starbucks to do work, and then we went to Starbucks to do work, and then we went to Star...
Thursday was a national holiday in Switzerland, the Ascension of the Lord so nobody had work this day-a perfect opportunity to sleep off club platinum for a little bit. Once semi rested we headed to Starbucks to continue working on our papers. We spent several hours at Starbucks and then headed back to the cite to eat dinner and then do some MORE work on our papers. Quite an enjoyable day!
Friday morning I once again had to journey to Apple because this time my charger broke! (I'm still waiting on the call that says the part is in for my optical drive...) so that was annoying, this computer has really seen better days. After that Grace and I (we both had the day off again), went to Melissa's work to have lunch with her and Brenda. Their job supports micro-financing and has a cafe to help employ refugees so we thought we'd try it. The food was actually really good (the coffee was mediocre) and the chocolate fondant was AMAZING (like chocolate lava cake). Grace and I then headed to Starbucks to do some more work for the day. Then headed back to the cite to eat dinner and... you guessed it! Do more writing!!!
Sunday I slept in-mostly on accident and then for something new and different I went to Starbucks to do some work! I ended up spending a lot of the time there watching the live stream of Colgate's graduation online-
CONGRATULATIONS CLASS OF 2010!!! YOU DID IT!!!
Now as I write this blog I procrastinate my night of doing more work!
Hopefully next week will bring something a little bit more exciting to write about.
1 year from yesterday: I will be faced with the "G" word
3 weeks from yesterday: I will be climbing off a plane back on American soil reunited with family whom I haven't seen in 5 months
14 weeks from yesterday (more or less): I will be once again on campus reuniting with friends whom I haven't seen in a year
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
(Short) Project Week
Work Week two was designated as "Project Week." Alison and I each received individual project assignments to be working on this week. When we originally received them we were told to do a "Mapping Exercise." When asked if we understood what that was I asked if it was like a comprehensive outline (we'd both received large stacks of print offs). She said no and asked if we knew what a map was then proceeded to explain to us how a map has tram lines and one way streets etc. so you can find your way. This still did not really help us with understanding what exactly she wanted us to do for our "mapping exercise." So when Monday morning kicked off project week I asked again for clarification on my defamation of religions project-I got a little more direction but not enough to be confident in my work. Due to lack of direction and mass amounts of homework I split my time between my project and my 20-25 page paper on the Yugoslav Wars. However, at about 10 am a class of Italian students came for the training session on the UPR that is held in our office so we told our boss we were going to the UN to work until the class was over. This information seemed to fluster her and asked if we would be returning, we told her we would and when would she like us back? She then asked if we would be back after lunch and we said no problem and headed to the Serpent bar at the UN to do some work
pictures of the bar where we work from the UN-in the one on the right you can kind of see Lac Leman
After lunch we returned to the office, and continued our split attentions until 6:00 then when we were about to leave the woman from Kenya asked me for help sending an email attachment. Normally this would have been very easy-however the settings on the computer were in Korean-not my first language. I was eventually able to navigate through the Korean and convince her more or less that she couldn't just staple the hard copy to the computer for it to work and then it was time to go to class with Professor Krause. His class is only one tram stop from our office which is nice. AND he decided to weigh our final grades heavier on the paper than on the final exam (which is good as we haven't really been keeping up with the readings since our pile of work landed squarely on our heads). After class we headed back to the cite and went to sleep.
Tuesday morning when we arrived at the office our boss quickly showed us to a room (the third of the three in the office) where we could work uninterrupted by the class and then not end up at the UN. So we now work in a smaller room with a pseudo desk set up and spent the day again splitting our work between our papers and our projects. The woman from Kenya came in to say goodbye because she was headed back to Nairobi as the UPR on Kenya had officially ended. Then a little before four our boss had to leave to pick somebody up from the airport so we got off early. I headed back to the Cite where I hung out for a little bit before making dinner and then went up to our classroom in the cite to do some more homework-quite the exciting life I lead these days.
Wednesday we went to work working on our projects and our papers (surprise surprise). And later tonight we have Kotts class (which I already know will go poorly), for dinner since it's a quick turn around between work and class dinner will be purchased from the chicken man who parks in the parking lot of the cite and sells chicken on Wednesdays-yes this is a real life thing. After class we are going to go to ladies night at Club Platinum-this is where I tried to go out on my birthday but failed due to silly music department policies at Colgate-so we are trying again. Hopefully there will be some good updates from that.
And in about 4 hours my work week will be over because we have Thursday off as the Assumption is a national holiday in Switzerland (Europeans take every opportunity-more than I do to take work off). Then our boss is going to Spain until Monday so she said we could have Friday and Monday off too! Yugoslavia HERE I COME (but only in the paper writing sense...)
Goals:
pictures of the bar where we work from the UN-in the one on the right you can kind of see Lac Leman
After lunch we returned to the office, and continued our split attentions until 6:00 then when we were about to leave the woman from Kenya asked me for help sending an email attachment. Normally this would have been very easy-however the settings on the computer were in Korean-not my first language. I was eventually able to navigate through the Korean and convince her more or less that she couldn't just staple the hard copy to the computer for it to work and then it was time to go to class with Professor Krause. His class is only one tram stop from our office which is nice. AND he decided to weigh our final grades heavier on the paper than on the final exam (which is good as we haven't really been keeping up with the readings since our pile of work landed squarely on our heads). After class we headed back to the cite and went to sleep.
Tuesday morning when we arrived at the office our boss quickly showed us to a room (the third of the three in the office) where we could work uninterrupted by the class and then not end up at the UN. So we now work in a smaller room with a pseudo desk set up and spent the day again splitting our work between our papers and our projects. The woman from Kenya came in to say goodbye because she was headed back to Nairobi as the UPR on Kenya had officially ended. Then a little before four our boss had to leave to pick somebody up from the airport so we got off early. I headed back to the Cite where I hung out for a little bit before making dinner and then went up to our classroom in the cite to do some more homework-quite the exciting life I lead these days.
Wednesday we went to work working on our projects and our papers (surprise surprise). And later tonight we have Kotts class (which I already know will go poorly), for dinner since it's a quick turn around between work and class dinner will be purchased from the chicken man who parks in the parking lot of the cite and sells chicken on Wednesdays-yes this is a real life thing. After class we are going to go to ladies night at Club Platinum-this is where I tried to go out on my birthday but failed due to silly music department policies at Colgate-so we are trying again. Hopefully there will be some good updates from that.
And in about 4 hours my work week will be over because we have Thursday off as the Assumption is a national holiday in Switzerland (Europeans take every opportunity-more than I do to take work off). Then our boss is going to Spain until Monday so she said we could have Friday and Monday off too! Yugoslavia HERE I COME (but only in the paper writing sense...)
Goals:
- to finish the outline of my first paper tonight
- to see some of Geneva this weekend
- to catch up on sleep
- to have an amazing time out in Geneva as we have yet to successfully enjoy the nightlife
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