Annecy, France
Getting ready for the soccer game.
Mouse & Cat <3
The halloween group
Geneva in the Fall So a lot has happened in the past couple of weeks, and per usual I am terrible at updating my blog, so I'll try to catch you up.
A couple of weekends ago was the NGO forum for the upcoming UNECE (United Nations Economic Commission of Europe) meetings, it was also a forum to prepare for the upcoming Beijing +15 meetings which will update the status of women's rights around the world. My organization was leading a caucus event and so Heidi and I worked the whole weekend at the forum. Our caucus was meant to create a brainstorming session within various NGOs to discuss the role of responsibilities within human rights. While so many groups and meetings are focused on human rights (and justly so) there if very little talk about the responsibilities that go along with those rights, because who really wants to be responsible for things? No one, especially not governments. My boss decided Heidi and I were going to be the special rapporteurs for the session which involved taking notes on who said what and essentially what happened during the meeting, and then drafting those notes after the meeting. Sitting in a room with 20 + women and having to catch all their comments wasn't the easiest thing ever, but Heidi and I made it through and were able to finalize our notes that night. The next day at the forum a group of women from the meeting got together to draft a resolution statement that would be read aloud at the UN, Heidi and I were also involved in the meeting and created the resolution. It was so interesting to sit in on a brainstorming session like this and learn about all the little specifics that have to be just right for something to be read and taken seriously at the UN, every word has to be so precise and they truly use a different language. After the NGO forum, the next Monday and Tuesday were the actual UNECE meetings where our boss read aloud the statement we wrote to all the delegates and the secretariat and such, it was an amazing feeling and definitely something to add to the resume.
After working hard all weekend it was time to celebrate Halloween (or at least try to). A few weeks into our study abroad when we realized that Halloween isn't really celebrated in Switzerland Heidi and I went on a mission to make our own Halloween. While there was no carving of pumpkins (a pumpkin here goes for around 11 us dollars), and no trick or treating, we did find a party to attend. A local group called "glocals", which is basically a group for expats living in Geneva, throw a party every year at a club called Palledum. We dressed up (Heidi was a mouse and I was a cat) and convinced some of the boys (Jack, HCL & Chris) to come along and headed to the biggest halloween party I've ever witnessed. There were about 1,200 people dressed in all sorts of costumes and dancing the night away, it was a perfect way to celebrate. It was actually really fun to notice cultural differences just by costumes, they LOVE dressing up as Napoleon and most guys just dress up in drag. After a long work week dancing to Thriller surrounded by 1,200 people from all over the world dressed up for Halloween was a perfect way to relax.
After Halloween everything has pretty much been the normal, working and waiting for the weekend. On Wednesday a group of us got together to play soccer (or football as they call it here) outside which was a bunch of fun until I hurt myself...a couple of times. Per usual I was the one who got beat up, I'm sure partly because I had no idea what I was doing and am clumsy and partly because I get kind of competitive and throw myself out there, either way at the end of the game I couldn't really walk and was in some pain. On Sunday my ankle was HUGE and blue, all kinds of gross so yesterday I went to the doctor and through his limited English skills learned that I have some deep bruising and a sprained ankle, 100 dollars later I have a cream for my sprain and some gel pads to put on it, Swiss medicine isn't exactly as effective as the states. I was also told to stay off of it for 10 days but seeing as I have some trips coming up, that probably won't be happening, either way I just hope it heals quickly.
Speaking of trips I went on a day trip to Annecy, France on Sunday (which did not help my swollen foot) and had a blast. Heidi, Sam, Chris and I all went and spent the day walking around and eating delicious crepes and drinking hot wine with orange slices, it was rough. I had been to Annecy once before in high school and remembered it to be one of my favorite places, going back only confirmed that. I'll put up a separate blog with photos and more info about Annecy. As for other trips, on Thursday I'll be heading to Zermatt, Switzerland to see the Matterhorn and then on Friday-Sunday I'll be in Prague which I keep hearing will be my favorite place, I really can't wait. Expect lots of pictures and updates soon!
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