I realize this is long overdue, but I've been spending most of my time recently working on my ISP and any free time I have is been devoted to doing anything BUT typing. However, last night I finished the full first draft of my paper and so I'm feeling like updating today.
So I was in Barcelona last weekend?!?!
I left Thursday afternoon and got in around 5pm. Took a half hour bus ride to the center of the city and met Jena at Placa de Catalunya. The city was unbelievable. My first impression was, woah, there are a lot of people here. Guess that comes with living in a village with 2000 people for 4 months. The city does not have the old, historical feeling that many European cities (Paris, Geneva, Brussels) have. The city is fairly modern. Another impression - there are no people between the ages of 30-60 in the city. Everybody is either old spanish or young students.
Thursday we hung around in Jena's apt for a while with Mandy, and then went out to get some dinner in the neighborhood of La Gracia. After dinner we went over to Shana's apt and hung out for a bit there. Then we met back up with Mandy and went to a few bars. We were in a cool bar with good music and lots of Spaniards but the electricity kept going on and off randomly. We called it a night around 2 or so.
Jena and I woke up early(ish) on Friday to go start exploring. We walked from her apt which is near La Sagrada Familia (crazy Gaudi Church) to Placa de Catalunya and grabbed a quick pastry for breakfast. Next we headed down Las Ramblas, this cool touristy pedestrian mall with performers and little booths that sold any kind of animal you could want (including pheasants!). Also, two of Gaudi's famous houses are located on this street. Gaudi is known for his INSANE architecture. We walked around Jena's favorite food market where you could literally buy anything you could possibly want. Then, we headed straight down to the pier.
Barcelona is sweet because its a huge city, but its situation right between the sea and the mountains. So, we walked from the pier to the beach! It was really nice out and even a bit hot! So much nicer than Geneva's decision to be 40 degrees and rainy for all of April. We chilled on the beach for a while, then headed to a cool restaurant to meet Mandy for a good lunch. After we headed back to prepare for one of the craziest nights of my life.
Friday night we drank a bit in Jena's apt after gettin some really good Tapas. We headed out to meet Jena's friends at this awesome old Absinthe bar where supposedly Hemmingway and Picasso used to frequent. At about 2 am, we headed to this insane club called Pacha. The club was really cool and fun and there was even a live violinist and guitarist playing over the DJ. We left around 6 am and passed out in Jena's apt finally.
Sat morning/afternoon (hahah) we woke up and headed out to El Borne, a sweet shopping area with cool boutiques and stuff. I got many gifts for various people and spent far too much money (as always with Europe). After, Jena and I grabbed some lunch and headed to her favorite park, Parc de Ciutadella. There were tons of young people outside and it was beautiful and we just chilled for hours catching up. After, we headed home and made some plans for the night.
Sat night, Jena and I got excellent Mexican food and then walked around El Borne and found some really cool bars. After, we went to another club, Mary's Place (I think named after the Bruce song), where the DJs were awesome and everybody was having a really good time. Around 4:30am, or so, we headed home
We woke up on Sunday and Jena really wanted to show me Gaudi's Park, called Parc Guille (pronounced Wheel). It overlooks the city and is HUGE. It has amazing architecture because, according to Jena, he was obsessed with making nature look like art. We walked around and took pictures for a few hours and then headed back down into the city. Jena took me to a really sweetly designed hospital near la sagrada familia and we got some lunch along one of the streets near it. After we came back and chilled at her apt, then got some dinner at a really cool restaurant (Princesa 23 I think). Then Jena took me to a really cool backpacker's bar where they had excellent Sangria. Jena wasn't feeling too hot though, so we left earlyish. Got up on Monday morning early and headed to the airport - muy triste!
It was amazing to see how much life the city had. No matter what time, or where we were, there were always tons of people out. People were really friendly and didn't seem to have a care in the world. It was an incredibly happy city, I think there is no way else to describe it. I had a great weekend and it was great to see Jena again. Oh also, it was fairly entertaining because from Friday on, Jena had no voice (for a change) and so communicating was fun. Also, Catalan is a crazy language, a near dead mix of French and Spanish. ANNNNDD turns out I remember a lot of Spanish which was a nice surprise.
The rest of this week has been kinda shitty. Geneva in April sucks - its constantly raining/snowing and has been fairly chilly. I spent most of the week getting interviews, getting annoyed at my ISP/professors. They haven't been really clear about what exactly they want until this point and now we have limited time left to fufil the requirements. Regardless, I have a draft complete so I'm much happier now than I was the rest of the week. Time to go put in my edits....
Friday, April 18, 2008
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
April 9, 2008
So Saturday night ended up being a lot of fun. I went out in Nyon to Cactus Jack's (or "Tex" as the swiss call it, like a kind of island themed bar" with Chiara and Nico. We met up with a bunch of their friends and drank for most of the night. Glad to know that i can still outdrink somebody, because by the end of the night most of them were wasted, and I wasn't really feeling much (although I think they thought i was very drunk lol). I also introduced Nico to the wonderful world of Jager Bombs.
Most of this week has been pretty low-key. Most of the group was still in Barca until Tuesday, so I spent Monday in the UN doing some work. Yesterday, I ended up getting an interview with some people at the BTRF (Borneo Tropical Rainforrest Foundation) through a contact I had at the IISD (Internat'l Institute for Sustainable Development). It was a guy and a girl who were working in the field trying to implement a microfinance scheme in this remote part of the rainforrest to encourage forest conservation in addition to working with them to encourage eco-tourism as a way to increase money flow into the village. This would allow them to build infrastructure and other necessary things for the village. Anyway, they were really cool and helpful.
Today I met Greta and Steph for some thai food for lunch, shopped a bit at H&M (which has surprisingly cool guy's stuff for cheap) and then went to meet my guy from the ILO after lunch. Turns out he forgot about our meeting, but I did get him to agree to be my adviser for my project, so that was good.
Other than that, i just scheduled for a kick ass next semester (no classes on mon or fri). Just packing up some stuff, as I'm headed off to visit Jena and other wisconsinites in Barcelona tomorrow! Hopefully the weather will be much better (its been raining/snowing here for the past few days - turns out its snowed more in March & April than in January & February!)
Most of this week has been pretty low-key. Most of the group was still in Barca until Tuesday, so I spent Monday in the UN doing some work. Yesterday, I ended up getting an interview with some people at the BTRF (Borneo Tropical Rainforrest Foundation) through a contact I had at the IISD (Internat'l Institute for Sustainable Development). It was a guy and a girl who were working in the field trying to implement a microfinance scheme in this remote part of the rainforrest to encourage forest conservation in addition to working with them to encourage eco-tourism as a way to increase money flow into the village. This would allow them to build infrastructure and other necessary things for the village. Anyway, they were really cool and helpful.
Today I met Greta and Steph for some thai food for lunch, shopped a bit at H&M (which has surprisingly cool guy's stuff for cheap) and then went to meet my guy from the ILO after lunch. Turns out he forgot about our meeting, but I did get him to agree to be my adviser for my project, so that was good.
Other than that, i just scheduled for a kick ass next semester (no classes on mon or fri). Just packing up some stuff, as I'm headed off to visit Jena and other wisconsinites in Barcelona tomorrow! Hopefully the weather will be much better (its been raining/snowing here for the past few days - turns out its snowed more in March & April than in January & February!)
Saturday, April 5, 2008
April 5th, 2008
This week was fairly low key, most of it was spent working on my isp paper. That entailed spending most of my days locked in the UN Library looking at hundreds of journal articles and books. Basically, if i see the word microfinance again, I'm going to throw up. I started writing my paper a little bit yesterday because I had nothing better to do. This weekend 20 out of 26 kids on my program are travelin out of the country. I would have joined, but like 15 were headed to barcelona, and im going there next weekend to visit Jena and other wisco people.
Last night Greta, Ida, and I went out to the Fisherman's Pub and had a pretty good time.
Today turned out to be great, though. Nico and Chiara and I woke up early, grabbed some breakfast, and headed out to Neuchatel. Neuchatel is about an hour and a half by car and is yet another amazingly beautiful old city on a lake. We walked around for a while, saw the obligatory old church and castle, grabbed a small snack and enjoyed the great weather.
After, we drove to Lausanne, a city not far from home, which is really cool because there is a big university there so the city is filled with younger people. Nico and Chiara showed me the centre of the city, which I had not been to yet. There were a ton of people and really cool stores and shops. We had a really good time just walking around and talking and chilling. Oh, and we had sushi for lunch - tres bonne.
Thats about it, prob going to work on my paper for most of tomorrow and monday, and then I'm off to Barcelona on thursday!
Also, working on going to Basel, Switzerland (near germany) to see a soccer match with nico, and then to Lyon, France to see the top French soccer team play the last weekend of the program (hopefully both will happen) - thus fulfilling my dream to see a European soccer game.
Last night Greta, Ida, and I went out to the Fisherman's Pub and had a pretty good time.
Today turned out to be great, though. Nico and Chiara and I woke up early, grabbed some breakfast, and headed out to Neuchatel. Neuchatel is about an hour and a half by car and is yet another amazingly beautiful old city on a lake. We walked around for a while, saw the obligatory old church and castle, grabbed a small snack and enjoyed the great weather.
After, we drove to Lausanne, a city not far from home, which is really cool because there is a big university there so the city is filled with younger people. Nico and Chiara showed me the centre of the city, which I had not been to yet. There were a ton of people and really cool stores and shops. We had a really good time just walking around and talking and chilling. Oh, and we had sushi for lunch - tres bonne.
Thats about it, prob going to work on my paper for most of tomorrow and monday, and then I'm off to Barcelona on thursday!
Also, working on going to Basel, Switzerland (near germany) to see a soccer match with nico, and then to Lyon, France to see the top French soccer team play the last weekend of the program (hopefully both will happen) - thus fulfilling my dream to see a European soccer game.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
March 30, 2008
Not doing much today so I figured I'd update.
This week was ok. Tuesday I worked on our take home final that was due on Weds.
Weds I went in and did a bit of research on my ISP at the UN Library and then headed into the office for a bit and handed in my test. Weds night was actually a lot of fun. Nico and Chiara invited me to go to the neighbors house who is one of their good friends (Jeremy) to party with them. I showed up and there were about 6 people there, and about 4 bottles of hard liquor to each person, which is impressive cause they are incredibly expensive here. But it was funny cause they were all like Malibu and fruity vodkas and stuff. Nico told me to invite my friends, so Rikki and Dave came. We taught them how to play King's Cup and they loved it! They also got really drunk really quickly which was funny cause they all started speaking english so much more. At about midnight, we went over to daves to smoke a little hookah. Finally, at about 2:30 i headed home.
Thursday I stayed around the house all day and did a bunch of research. I think my ISP topic shifted a bit further, and now I'm going to focus on microfinance and the role that it plays in empowering women, with a case study of Bangladesh. Rikki and Dave came over for a bit to hang out and that was about it. Oh, and Daniella and I played some backgammon and she obviously kicked my ass...she's way too good.
Friday I went in late to the UN library, then met Kat, Steph, and her friend for lunch at one of our favorite restaurants. After, I headed to the office to do a bit more work, and then got my hair cut. Turns out that may not have been a great idea, seeing as i no longer have very much hair :-O Good thing I got a month to grow it back before I see you all. Fri night I just hung around the house, played some Trivial Pursuit Genius Edition with the family, which would have been hard enough as it was, but obviously it was in French as well.
Yesterday was a lot of fun. Dave, Rikki, and I headed into Nyon around noon. Dave and I met up with Chris and played some basketball for a while, and then headed over to Jeongki's for a bbq party. Turns out about more than half the group came, and we grilled and chilled outside cause it was beautiful out and drank a bit. After, we played some more bball and soccer, and then around 6pm we headed home. I was pretty wiped so I just hung around again last night but it was nice to just relax.
This week should be more of the same - more research and interviews (hopefully) for my ISP as I try and really gain some ground on the topic.
Also, I'm home 5 weeks from today?!? Craziness. It's weird because sometimes time feels as though its flying by, especially when I think about all I have done in the time I've been here. On the other hand, it also feels like I've been here forever...strange.
This week was ok. Tuesday I worked on our take home final that was due on Weds.
Weds I went in and did a bit of research on my ISP at the UN Library and then headed into the office for a bit and handed in my test. Weds night was actually a lot of fun. Nico and Chiara invited me to go to the neighbors house who is one of their good friends (Jeremy) to party with them. I showed up and there were about 6 people there, and about 4 bottles of hard liquor to each person, which is impressive cause they are incredibly expensive here. But it was funny cause they were all like Malibu and fruity vodkas and stuff. Nico told me to invite my friends, so Rikki and Dave came. We taught them how to play King's Cup and they loved it! They also got really drunk really quickly which was funny cause they all started speaking english so much more. At about midnight, we went over to daves to smoke a little hookah. Finally, at about 2:30 i headed home.
Thursday I stayed around the house all day and did a bunch of research. I think my ISP topic shifted a bit further, and now I'm going to focus on microfinance and the role that it plays in empowering women, with a case study of Bangladesh. Rikki and Dave came over for a bit to hang out and that was about it. Oh, and Daniella and I played some backgammon and she obviously kicked my ass...she's way too good.
Friday I went in late to the UN library, then met Kat, Steph, and her friend for lunch at one of our favorite restaurants. After, I headed to the office to do a bit more work, and then got my hair cut. Turns out that may not have been a great idea, seeing as i no longer have very much hair :-O Good thing I got a month to grow it back before I see you all. Fri night I just hung around the house, played some Trivial Pursuit Genius Edition with the family, which would have been hard enough as it was, but obviously it was in French as well.
Yesterday was a lot of fun. Dave, Rikki, and I headed into Nyon around noon. Dave and I met up with Chris and played some basketball for a while, and then headed over to Jeongki's for a bbq party. Turns out about more than half the group came, and we grilled and chilled outside cause it was beautiful out and drank a bit. After, we played some more bball and soccer, and then around 6pm we headed home. I was pretty wiped so I just hung around again last night but it was nice to just relax.
This week should be more of the same - more research and interviews (hopefully) for my ISP as I try and really gain some ground on the topic.
Also, I'm home 5 weeks from today?!? Craziness. It's weird because sometimes time feels as though its flying by, especially when I think about all I have done in the time I've been here. On the other hand, it also feels like I've been here forever...strange.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
March 25, 2008
I made it back late last night from out Easter Break trip to Genoa (or Genova if you're Italian), Italy.
We left early Fri morning, around 7 am, from Geneva, and after almost missing our train from Nyon to Geneva and sprinting through the train station, we settled in for the long first train to Milano, Italy. It was nearly blizzarding as we left Switzerland. The first train was about 4 hours and finally we made it to Milano after the incredible tardiness of the train once the Italian authorities took over at the boarder.
From Milano, we took another train that seemed to never end to Genova. Me, Steph, and Kat were on an early train and Chris, Kellen, and Greta were on the later train. So the 3 of us got to the hotel after an insane bus ride, checked in, and headed out to explore. The city was really cool. An interesting mix of old Italian buildings, new high rises, a huge port, and industry. We got a snack and a glass of wine down by the port and chilled until the other 3 got in around 5 pm or so.
Fri night we headed out for some dinner, got a bit drunk, and enjoyed the night out at some bars in a large outdoor area with a few hundred people.
Sat we woke up around 10 am and decided that we all wanted to go to Cinque Terre. This was about a 1.5 - 2 hour ride from Genova but it was def worth it. There are five towns 9 km apart and you can hike from one town to the next.
We started at Monterosso and hiked up into the mountains for the longest of the five hikes (I think). Unfortunately, because we started too late, we ended up only hiking Monterosso and Vernazza, but it was still amazing. You hike up into the mountains, through vineyards and crazy scenery and for about two hours walk along cliffs and the sea. Finally, you round a cliff and there, nestled in a tiny bay, is the small town of Vernazza. It had a ton of great restaurants so we stopped to get some food and then spent another hour or two exploring and enjoying the perfect weather, before catching a train back to Genova.
Sat night put a bit of a damper on things. After a good dinner, we headed out to the outdoor bar area where we were all enjoying ourselves when Greta realized her purse had been stolen. Luckily her passport wasn't in it, but her train tickets and money and stuff was, so it really kinda killed the night. We headed home all a bit down.
We woke up on Sunday (Easter) and decided to go to the famous aquarium in Genova (apparently the second biggest in the world). However, we didn't anticipate that everybody in the entire city would be there because everything else would be closed. So we had to wait on a long line and it was cold and rainy and windy and everybody was a bit grumpy. Once we finally got inside we all were much happier and we browsed the aquatic life along with 1000000000 little screaming Italian kids.
When we got out, we walked around the harbor and the docks for a while taking everything in. Then Greta, Chris, Kellen, and Kat went to go get new train tickets for Greta and Chris and Steph and I went off to explore on our own. We found some cool buildings and a sweet farmer's market with amazing cheese, meats, and wines. We all met back up before dinner.
For dinner we found an amazing pizza place and had a nice long dinner, where eventually the waitstaff forgot about us because the sat us downstairs, away from the main floor of the restaurant (oops haha). We headed back to the hotel and somehow managed to find Casino Royale, the movie, on in English which was perfect.
Sunday, we woke up late, checked out, and explored a bit more until we had to catch our trains home. Finally we got back into Geneva around 9 pm, and I got home to Arzier around 10. Apparently it didn't stop snowing the entire weekend and as of last night, was still snowing! I would say there was about 2 feet down, and would def be considered a blizzard in the US.
Today, seeing as I just woke up, I think I'll stay around the house. I have a take-home exam to do and then class is officially over and our ISP period starts!
Here are pics from this weekend - Part I - Part II
We left early Fri morning, around 7 am, from Geneva, and after almost missing our train from Nyon to Geneva and sprinting through the train station, we settled in for the long first train to Milano, Italy. It was nearly blizzarding as we left Switzerland. The first train was about 4 hours and finally we made it to Milano after the incredible tardiness of the train once the Italian authorities took over at the boarder.
From Milano, we took another train that seemed to never end to Genova. Me, Steph, and Kat were on an early train and Chris, Kellen, and Greta were on the later train. So the 3 of us got to the hotel after an insane bus ride, checked in, and headed out to explore. The city was really cool. An interesting mix of old Italian buildings, new high rises, a huge port, and industry. We got a snack and a glass of wine down by the port and chilled until the other 3 got in around 5 pm or so.
Fri night we headed out for some dinner, got a bit drunk, and enjoyed the night out at some bars in a large outdoor area with a few hundred people.
Sat we woke up around 10 am and decided that we all wanted to go to Cinque Terre. This was about a 1.5 - 2 hour ride from Genova but it was def worth it. There are five towns 9 km apart and you can hike from one town to the next.
We started at Monterosso and hiked up into the mountains for the longest of the five hikes (I think). Unfortunately, because we started too late, we ended up only hiking Monterosso and Vernazza, but it was still amazing. You hike up into the mountains, through vineyards and crazy scenery and for about two hours walk along cliffs and the sea. Finally, you round a cliff and there, nestled in a tiny bay, is the small town of Vernazza. It had a ton of great restaurants so we stopped to get some food and then spent another hour or two exploring and enjoying the perfect weather, before catching a train back to Genova.
Sat night put a bit of a damper on things. After a good dinner, we headed out to the outdoor bar area where we were all enjoying ourselves when Greta realized her purse had been stolen. Luckily her passport wasn't in it, but her train tickets and money and stuff was, so it really kinda killed the night. We headed home all a bit down.
We woke up on Sunday (Easter) and decided to go to the famous aquarium in Genova (apparently the second biggest in the world). However, we didn't anticipate that everybody in the entire city would be there because everything else would be closed. So we had to wait on a long line and it was cold and rainy and windy and everybody was a bit grumpy. Once we finally got inside we all were much happier and we browsed the aquatic life along with 1000000000 little screaming Italian kids.
When we got out, we walked around the harbor and the docks for a while taking everything in. Then Greta, Chris, Kellen, and Kat went to go get new train tickets for Greta and Chris and Steph and I went off to explore on our own. We found some cool buildings and a sweet farmer's market with amazing cheese, meats, and wines. We all met back up before dinner.
For dinner we found an amazing pizza place and had a nice long dinner, where eventually the waitstaff forgot about us because the sat us downstairs, away from the main floor of the restaurant (oops haha). We headed back to the hotel and somehow managed to find Casino Royale, the movie, on in English which was perfect.
Sunday, we woke up late, checked out, and explored a bit more until we had to catch our trains home. Finally we got back into Geneva around 9 pm, and I got home to Arzier around 10. Apparently it didn't stop snowing the entire weekend and as of last night, was still snowing! I would say there was about 2 feet down, and would def be considered a blizzard in the US.
Today, seeing as I just woke up, I think I'll stay around the house. I have a take-home exam to do and then class is officially over and our ISP period starts!
Here are pics from this weekend - Part I - Part II
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Ma Famille!
Here are a few pictures of my host family (mostly from today's trip)
Nice and early in the morning in the car...
(From L to R: Chiara, Antoine, Daniella, Tiff - Nic's Girlfriend, and Nic)
Outside of the water park
(From L to R: Chiara, Georges, Tiff, Nic, Daniella, Antoine)
Me and the fam
Vasco!!!!! (my host dog!)
Nice and early in the morning in the car...(From L to R: Chiara, Antoine, Daniella, Tiff - Nic's Girlfriend, and Nic)
Outside of the water park(From L to R: Chiara, Georges, Tiff, Nic, Daniella, Antoine)
Me and the fam
Vasco!!!!! (my host dog!)
March 16, 2008
Ah so the rest of this week was tre bon.
Weds was open for research so I did some work around the house in the morning, and then headed in to meet Alex, Greta, Steph, and Kat for lunch. Chris was supposed to show but messed up his bus schedule and ended up not coming.
After lunch, Tina and I headed over to the Salvation Army in Geneva to do some research for our FSS papers on Homelessness in Switzerland. It was pretty interesting and we learned there is a ton of resources available for people but it seems that generally they do not take advantage of. Also, it seems as though many of the homeless/beggars are immigrants and therefore, Switzerland is now the most xenophobic place ive ever seen.
Thursday we had a stupid cultural reflection on our trip to Paris/Brussels in class in the morning and then instead of having French class, we went with our teachers to the ICRC (Red Cross) museum. It was actually really cool and really nicely done.
Friday we had a short meeting at the South Centre in the morning, a NGO that deals with promoting South-South trade. The weather was perfect-finally-and after we all grabbed some sandwiches and headed to a small park in Geneva. A bunch of us hung out and played some frisbee and even managed to hit a local Genevian in the face with the frisbee (way to go Chris) and get yelled at haha. But seriously, who walks in the middle of a frisbee game and doesn't even look?!?
Friday night David and I headed into Nyon around 9 and met up with Alex, Chris, Steph, and Greta. We drank for a while on a pier and then went to the Fisherman's Pub, our fav pub, and proceeded to throughourly enjoy the night. Dave and I caught the last train out of Nyon at 12:17 and rode in a semi-mosh pit of drunk local kids (most of whom were under the age of 17, making me feel like an old man). As we got off the train in Arzier, I hear my name, and my h-mom is in her car apparently picking up Chiara and her bf who were also somewhere on the train. Needless to say, not exactly who I wanted to interact with at 1 am but it was nice to get a ride haha.
Sat morning I woke up with a bit of a headache, shook it off, and went with Dave and Rikki down to Sus-Chatel to Jake's house (its about a ten min ride down my mountain on the train, about three or four towns over). We studied for our French final for a while and then met up with Jeong-Ki to go for a hike. We hiked up a few trails for about two hours and then decided to catch the train back home. I chilled for a while, and then ate some dinner, and then Dave and I headed down into Nyon to celebrate St. Patty's day.
The Fisherman's Pub was having a big celebration because its an Irish/English pub, and so a whole bunch of the group showed up (like 15 or so), and it turned out to be a really good night. There was a really funny duo of Irish/French guys singing, and obviously lots of singing and drinking. We all got cool hats that look like big Guinness beers attached to a clover. We caught the last train out of Nyon and sadly had to leave the group.
(Me and our very drunk friend, Ash, a British guy who's workin in Nyon and playing rugby on the side, thus the cast)
This morning, I woke up nice and early around 9, and we had a big nice breakfast. We had pancakes (which really resembled crepes more especially since we ate them with our hands), bacon, fruit, sausage, and eggs. At about 11, my family and I headed out to AquaPark, an indoor water park on the other side of the lake, about an hour away.
We got there around 12:30 and for about the next four hours we had a lot of fun. There were about 7 water slides, none especially big or insane, but still fun. There were also wave pools and a cool spa section with Saunas and stuff. It was just really nice to hang out with the family and have fun and feel really included and comfortable. We all had a really good time, even Georges and Daniella were sliding away! We left, had a small late picnic, and then headed back home. The whole car slept on the way home, and we got home to cold cold rain. We ran inside, grabbed a nice cup of tea, and then spent most of the rest of the early evening playing with Vasco! It was glorious to say the least.
Here's the water park haha!
We had an awesome dinner of steak avec cafe au paris (a kinda hamburger thing with amazing sauce on top), and some potatoes and some really good true Bordeaux wine. It was a really good end to a really good day.
This week is a short one, but we have a few assignments due in the next few days. On Weds I also have a meeting set up with the head of the Special Finance Programme at the ILO to discuss my thesis and some questions I have. And then, on Friday, Greta, Steph, Kat, Chris, Kellen, and I are headed to Genoa, Italy for the long Easter weekend. Should be very fun.
That's all for now, I can't believe its half way through March already.
Weds was open for research so I did some work around the house in the morning, and then headed in to meet Alex, Greta, Steph, and Kat for lunch. Chris was supposed to show but messed up his bus schedule and ended up not coming.
After lunch, Tina and I headed over to the Salvation Army in Geneva to do some research for our FSS papers on Homelessness in Switzerland. It was pretty interesting and we learned there is a ton of resources available for people but it seems that generally they do not take advantage of. Also, it seems as though many of the homeless/beggars are immigrants and therefore, Switzerland is now the most xenophobic place ive ever seen.
Thursday we had a stupid cultural reflection on our trip to Paris/Brussels in class in the morning and then instead of having French class, we went with our teachers to the ICRC (Red Cross) museum. It was actually really cool and really nicely done.
Friday we had a short meeting at the South Centre in the morning, a NGO that deals with promoting South-South trade. The weather was perfect-finally-and after we all grabbed some sandwiches and headed to a small park in Geneva. A bunch of us hung out and played some frisbee and even managed to hit a local Genevian in the face with the frisbee (way to go Chris) and get yelled at haha. But seriously, who walks in the middle of a frisbee game and doesn't even look?!?
Friday night David and I headed into Nyon around 9 and met up with Alex, Chris, Steph, and Greta. We drank for a while on a pier and then went to the Fisherman's Pub, our fav pub, and proceeded to throughourly enjoy the night. Dave and I caught the last train out of Nyon at 12:17 and rode in a semi-mosh pit of drunk local kids (most of whom were under the age of 17, making me feel like an old man). As we got off the train in Arzier, I hear my name, and my h-mom is in her car apparently picking up Chiara and her bf who were also somewhere on the train. Needless to say, not exactly who I wanted to interact with at 1 am but it was nice to get a ride haha.
Sat morning I woke up with a bit of a headache, shook it off, and went with Dave and Rikki down to Sus-Chatel to Jake's house (its about a ten min ride down my mountain on the train, about three or four towns over). We studied for our French final for a while and then met up with Jeong-Ki to go for a hike. We hiked up a few trails for about two hours and then decided to catch the train back home. I chilled for a while, and then ate some dinner, and then Dave and I headed down into Nyon to celebrate St. Patty's day.
The Fisherman's Pub was having a big celebration because its an Irish/English pub, and so a whole bunch of the group showed up (like 15 or so), and it turned out to be a really good night. There was a really funny duo of Irish/French guys singing, and obviously lots of singing and drinking. We all got cool hats that look like big Guinness beers attached to a clover. We caught the last train out of Nyon and sadly had to leave the group.
(Me and our very drunk friend, Ash, a British guy who's workin in Nyon and playing rugby on the side, thus the cast)
This morning, I woke up nice and early around 9, and we had a big nice breakfast. We had pancakes (which really resembled crepes more especially since we ate them with our hands), bacon, fruit, sausage, and eggs. At about 11, my family and I headed out to AquaPark, an indoor water park on the other side of the lake, about an hour away.
We got there around 12:30 and for about the next four hours we had a lot of fun. There were about 7 water slides, none especially big or insane, but still fun. There were also wave pools and a cool spa section with Saunas and stuff. It was just really nice to hang out with the family and have fun and feel really included and comfortable. We all had a really good time, even Georges and Daniella were sliding away! We left, had a small late picnic, and then headed back home. The whole car slept on the way home, and we got home to cold cold rain. We ran inside, grabbed a nice cup of tea, and then spent most of the rest of the early evening playing with Vasco! It was glorious to say the least.
Here's the water park haha!
We had an awesome dinner of steak avec cafe au paris (a kinda hamburger thing with amazing sauce on top), and some potatoes and some really good true Bordeaux wine. It was a really good end to a really good day.
This week is a short one, but we have a few assignments due in the next few days. On Weds I also have a meeting set up with the head of the Special Finance Programme at the ILO to discuss my thesis and some questions I have. And then, on Friday, Greta, Steph, Kat, Chris, Kellen, and I are headed to Genoa, Italy for the long Easter weekend. Should be very fun.
That's all for now, I can't believe its half way through March already.
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