Au revoir!

It ain't over 'til it's over. Actually, Lenny, I believe it is over. Or is it? With 5 days left in Geneva I have been grappling with not only this song but this impending reality. As the torrential downpour here has been completely destroying my hiking plans I have been filling my time cafe hopping and watching EuroCup games (which altogether has been pretty enjoyable).

I am officially finished with my research and passed in my final paper to my professor almost 2 weeks ago. Although putting the paper together was inevitably tedious it was rewarding and gratifying to have a solid piece of work to sum up the semester. Even so, the research project as a whole is not complete and my professor and I intend to be in communication in the future to continue working on it. I'm excited to see how this will work out and what direction our research will be heading!

So, briefly, my research:

We aim to explore a correlation between family leave policies and prejudices and stereotypes against women as well as empowerment of women. While previous research has examined how generous leave policies are not necessarily the most beneficial in assisting women in advancing their careers there has yet to be an exploration on how these policies interact with the views held by the people who do and do not take them. Our research aims to fill in this gap as we try to understand if there is a correlation between a state’s family leave policies and the citizens’ of that state’s value of women.

Over this semester I have done a literature review on past studies and research surrounding and dealing with our topic. I created an extensive database for 34 countries that includes their various family leave policies (maternity, paternity, parental leave etc.)and I have extracted questions from the World Values Survey that are relevant to our study. Using SPSS, I ran preliminary tests correlating our country-level and individual-level data with their family leave policies.

Some of our findings (keep in mind that they are mostly preliminary) are in accordance with past research. For example, we found that the higher a country's paid maternity leave, the greater the negative stereotypes of women were. Female respondents who were citizens’ of a country with a high paid maternity leave were more likely to respond that men will be better in positions of power (as business executives and political leaders) than women. We found that this view was also mildly significant for male respondents. If women are not present in positions of power then it is less likely that people will be able to envision them in such roles, consequently limiting women’s ability to be hired in such jobs and perpetuating the cycle.

Currently, around the world (although I'll give some parts of Scandinavia a break), there is a need for better paternity and parental leave policies. The caring of children must no longer be solely the woman’s responsibility. With paid paternity leave, fathers will more easily be able to take a leave from work. If these leaves are also non-transferable (the mother may not be allowed to take the leave) then there is a higher chance that the fathers will take the leave. Parental leave must be able to be divided between parents, with time specifically set aside for just the father’s use.

With the previous actions, equality in the workplace, as well as in the home can be envisioned. Until then, more research needs to be done in order to further emphasis and explain the importance of family leave policies and their relationships with the value of women. Which, I hope to contribute to.

Sooo, the day after all that info was typed and e-mailed (or should I say hours after), I was on a plan to Roma to meet up with my two friends who had finished their semesters in Stirling, Scotland! We got Eurail passes for Italy and traveled to Rome, Pompeii, Naples, Florence and Venice. Epic. Magical. and more. Some pictures to prove it...


Probably the most packed bus I have ever seen in my life: Rome, obviously.


Eating tartufo on the curb never looked so good.


Mt. Vesuvius being ominous in the background of Pompeii.


These clowns...discovering the buried city.


Can't even begin to explain the Vatican so here's St. Peter's with two lovely Clarkies



Obviously this had to happen...


...and this.


The Duomo, being unphotographable and ridiculous.


Gondola traffic.


And so my mask obsession was dangerously triggered (good thing easyjet doesn't have hand luggage weight restrictions...)



Yes, this looks like what you think it is. How did it happen? Couldn't tell you.



As a preventative measure I'll end with one of the last pictures I took in Venice so I don't uploading the preceding thousand

And now it's just saying goodbye to the amazing people I have met here, buying as much chocolate as I can fit into my suitcase, cleaning my apartment and passing in my form for Swiss departure....which I tried handing in today only to find out after an hour bike ride that I needed my passport which obviously I didn't have... and then stepping out of the office building to be greeted by blinding rain (yes, I needed to share that and yes, I did bike home in it).

Cliches, cliches, cliches, but really how time flies. The end of my time over here really hit while my friends and I were walking in Florence and were stopped by a group of American students who wanted us to go out with them. It was only their second night in Italy and they wanted to explore the city. We had to get back to our hostel as we had an early train to catch so couldn't join them. Needless to say we felt old on our walk back. And not because our legs had been on autopilot for the past week. We were hard, study abroad veterans who were ending their experience while a new set of Americans were just beginning. A bittersweet feeling that I'm still thinking about.

My time here has been amazing and while I will watch the mountains disappear from underneath me, digest my chocolate and most likely somehow or other manage to break or ruin all my souvenirs at some point, the memories will continue to fill my daydreaming and I will always remember my time abroad.

I've always wanted to see what my brain would like if it was lime green...Now you can see too!

Here’s a story to add to my list of things I hope I never have to do again (but am glad I did).

My friend, the other EuroScholar here at the University of Geneva, is working at a neuroscience lab. They are currently conducting research that uses fMRIs to study the mechanisms behind recognition of faces and emotions. And they needed participants. So, as a fellow researcher I offered up my brain for inspection.

Essentially, an fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) produces a picture of your brain by measuring the change of oxygen in your blood flow with a giant magnetic scanner. How is this picture taken? Well let me tell you …

After removing anything and everything that might be the slightest bit metallic on and in my body, I entered the room where THE scanner was located. My eyes immediately focused on the cylindrical slot that seemed to be an auspiciously perfect size for a human body. Yes, I was going to somehow be inserted into this slot. Like a plug into an outlet.

I laid down on a gurney type bed and put earplugs in and headphones on; conveniently heavy enough that it was more than difficult to lift up my head. Electrodes were put on two of my fingers so they could measure how much I was sweating and see how unnecessarily nervous I was. Two-thirds of my body was then graciously draped with a soft blanket and I found myself getting pretty comfortable. Until they put a plastic cage over my head.

I was given a panic button in case I, for any reason, wanted to esca-I mean stop participating in the study. The researchers had me test the button and not only did it work but the sound that triggered was what I imagined to be equivalent to the alarm system of the National Treasury. Which was comforting. I also had a keypad that I would use for the actual study.

I was then raised up and inserted into the ominous hole. The cage around my head ironically prevented me from realizing how claustrophobic the situation was. There was a mirror on my muzzl- I mean helmet that allowed me to view the screen that I would be looking at. Maybe I was reading too many articles on Space-X (happy lift-off!) but I likened myself to an astronaut being sent into space. And then the researchers left the room and shut the lights off and there were no stars.

As I lay inside this contraption, relatively immobile, save for enough space to itch my nose, I questioned how it was that I ended up in this situation. All in the name of science, I suppose.

After doing some preliminary tests it was time to turn on the beast. The machine whistled a merry tune and then started singing a song I have never heard before. A mix of sounds ensued that put dub step breakdowns to shame. Sounds that could only have been produced in one other place- Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory. I kid you not. I questioned whether my brain was being scanned or if I had finally found the secret to everlasting gobstoppers- the human brains’ magnetic energy. I could only lay on my gurney and look up at the mirror on my helmet projecting soothing images of snow-capped mountains and lush rainforests.

Anyways, enough about my overreactions and hyperbolic thoughts ... I was shown images and had to determine whether the faces were male, female or “ce n’est pas un visage" by pressing the buttons on my keypad. Sounds relatively easy but was actually quite challenging…and not because I’m a Gender Studies major. We did five runs of this for about five minutes each and then one last test that showed sporadically repeating images that I had to identify. I found myself getting competitive- wanting to prove how good my brain was.

And then I found out those tests have nothing to do with the actual experiment and are just to make sure I focus on the pictures. Ha.

But in all seriousness I was only in the scanner for about 30 minutes. The researchers were more than caring, amazing and professional. And I, a bit overdramatic and sometimes too sarcastic.

And then I was paid 50 francs. Yes, all in the name of science.

Salut!

I am currently sitting on the terrace (roof) of my apartment building overlooking the beautiful Salève mountain. Unreal. The weather is beyond beautiful here which is definitely not conducive to productivity. Thankfully my research is somewhat flexible in that I can do it anywhere I can bring my laptop (and usually if there’s wifi when I need it!). Geneva is getting to be more amazing each day and I’m afraid that it will be even more difficult to leave in June.

I traveled to Neuchâtel last week to meet with my professor. It was so great to get in person feedback on the work I have been doing for the past month and a half. The department I am working under at the University of Geneva has allocated me some funding to travel to Neuchâtel more often which will definitely be great- it’s pretty lonely all by myself in my adult office.

I have finished collecting data on family leave policies from about 42 countries and am now in the process of converting that qualitative data into quantitative data to be put into an SPSS (an amazing yet sometimes overwhelming statistics program) dataset. It’s proving to be quite tedious as each country’s policies are so different and it is sometimes not beneficial to water down the data so that there is one common variable that applies to most of the other countries…but I’m working on it. Ah! Ladybug just flew onto my sunglasses. Beautiful. Yet at the same time alarming. Digression, sorry.

Anyways, my two French classes are almost over- only about 3 more classes left! I am increasingly freaking out over my two finals –one next week and the other the week after that- although I think I might be the only person in my class who is as I am the only person who is taking the classes for credit (the rest just need an attestation which is basically a certificate saying they took the course). My final oral French presentation is next week and I do not hesitate when I say that I really do not want to do it…but I have no choice. Although I have to say that I am happy I was able to choose my own topic- my research! It’s been great learning how to say what I’ve been studying for the past 3 months in proper French…now I just need to be able to convey it other people.

Aside from all my studious activities…I was able to travel to Sevilla, Spain to visit some of my amazing Clark friends who are studying there (and who also came to visit me)!- although their program ends tomorrow-ah!

Needless to say, it. Was. Incredible. I went with my friend who was doing some travelling after her program in London ended as well as two of my friends from my University here. The week we went was Feria which is this giant festival that happens once a year.

The women wear traditional dresses

and there are horse-drawn carriages

and dancing

and you basically get transported back in time and then realize that yes, this is reality and you are in Spain. Amidst all the dancing, tapas, bull fighting (yeah, right…didn’t go), river strolls, churros and gardens, it was so nice to see all my friends (cue cheesy prime time TV background music). But really it was such a comfort to see everyone and know that 1. They were all alive (not that I ever thought the contrary) and 2. That they were having an amazing time and 3. To be infinitely jealous that they were living in Sevilla (a cafe for 1.20 euros…unfair).

Side note: a few of us went to a soccer-sorry, a futball match- which was definitely an experience to say the least. May I say that for the first time in my life the line for the women’s bathroom was at LEAST ten times shorter than that of the men’s. AND there were three male bathrooms for every one female bathroom. I kid you not. At halftime-key word halftime, as I walked by the winding line of males jumping up and down (exaggeration) I literally vocalized my amazement to no one as I waited behind TWO, yes two, women. Amazing. Just amazing. Although startlingly short female restroom lines may be the only benefits of such a male dominated activity. That and ….no, no, can’t think of anything else at the moment. Anyways our team, Sevilla Betis tied against Atletico Madrid in an epic last 5 minutes where Madrid scored. Horrible. But amazing. The range of emotions that were experienced throughout the game was just incredible. The passion and anger that surfaced was great to watch and I reveled in the fact that I somehow got caught up in it as well. BETTIIIISSSSS (We also all bought flags).

And lastly- need to get going, my face is on fire from this ridiculous sunlight (seriously. It’s 6:30pm. Switzerland, who knew?)- my trip to Stirling Scotland! To visit two of my other lovely Clark friends who are studying there. Ok, fast recap. Stirling!

Dumyat-amazing hill we hiked. Again, not reality.

Edinburgh!

Stranded in Edinburgh! But! Hostels everywhere!Particularly this one with seriously painted walls.

Highlands!! (note same clothes...)

Lake Loch Ness (with monster)

Alors, I must go now. À bientôt!

M.I.A apologies, Mid-Stay Program and future egalitarian societies!

OK. Just registered for classes. For my senior year. Unbelievable. Don’t really want to delve more into this but needless to say it is quite surreal (clarification: the fact that I will be a senior is surreal...registration actually went well and am excited for my classes in the fall!).

Aside from that experience I want to apologize for not updating for such a long time! It’s been crazy busy over here and I’ve been getting a little overwhelmed. The rest of March was characterized by a Saturday skiing in the Alps (my second time skiing!), coding family leave policies for my research and my Mid-Stay Program at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden, through EuroScholars...which I shall describe to you...now!

I flew into Stockholm with my friend, the other EuroScholar from the University of Geneva, and met up with two lovely ladies from Clark who are also on the EuroScholars program. The four of us took the train to the main station and met the other four EuroScholars (another student from Clark!) and our coordinator from the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm. We then went to KI where we were greeted by another coordinator of the program who works at KI. Both were helpful, kind and gave us lots of coffee, tea and sandwiches.

Due to KI’s role in choosing the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine,

we were provided with our own personal lecture on the history and logistics of the Nobel Prize by one of the professors of KI who also is on the Nobel Prize Assembly. After dropping our luggage off at our hotel we all met up for dinner at a beautiful restaurant next to the water. It was nice to meet all the other EuroScholars and talk about our study abroad experiences.

The next day we all made informal presentations on the research that we have been working on throughout the year. This was definitely my favorite part of the program as everyone was genuinely interested in each other’s work and we were able to have a fruitful discourse on each one’s project. All eight of us are doing quite different work; neuroscience, cognitive development, German literature, and biomaterials are some of the subjects, for example. It was so great to hear everyone’s work and I was impressed by everyone’s passion for research. Two other professors were present and they provided feedback on our work which was really helpful.

More coffee and sandwiches followed and we were provided with a lecture on qualitative and quantitative research from a professor at KI. While I have taken both Quantitative and Qualitative Method courses I found the lecture to be valuable as the professor tailored it our needs and incorporated our specific projects into his lesson. He emphasized epistemology, the importance of recognizing where the knowledge you have comes from and how that consequently affects your research. What we deem valuable or important is reflected in our work and in order for our research to be as accurate as possible, we need to state our stance and positioning prior to our work.

The rest of the day involved two more lectures, one on global health and the other by the Dean of Higher Education on Master and PhD Studies at KI. It was interesting to hear KI’s view on research as well as their outlook and school mission. We all then met up with a KI student from Sweden and a KI student from Germany who took us to their school pub in the basement of one of the University buildings. In a different atmosphere, it was great to relax and talk with the students.

(this is actually from a restaruant in Gamla Stan (Old Town) where the two KI students took us)

On our last day we went to the Nobel Museum

and said goodbye to our coordinators and some of the EuroScholars.

I stayed an extra night with some of the other EuroScholars and we were able to explore some of Stockholm which was a lot of fun.

While the Mid-Stay program was a great way to see first-hand another international research university and meet other EuroScholars, it was also a nice opportunity to go to another country. Which leads me to my view of Sweden and the vibe I got from some of the people I met there. I was able to talk with a student from central Sweden at KI about the research I was doing and I was surprised to find that he really knew what I was talking about. While there might be a small language barrier with some of the students I talk to in Geneva, for the most part, they still do not seem to understand why I am studying international family leave policies once they tell me they know what they are. This has always concerned me as it would seem that they don’t find this topic of importance. Not to mention that my major (Women’s and Gender Studies) at Clark doesn’t even exist at the University of Geneva (or many Universities for that matter). But right away, this student (a bio-engineering major) started talking about the necessity of getting women into higher work positions and how “of course” he was going to take paternity leave when he had children. Hearing this honest egalitarian outlook I was curious to see if others actually thought this way and he assured me that he was not some freak outlier, set to distort my perception of all Swedish men.

While I am completely generalizing right now it was so refreshing to be able to talk freely about this issue. I was also able to talk about my research with two professors at KI (professors at a University- yes, I know biased sampling) who took paternity leave in Sweden. As Sweden allots a relatively generous leave for fathers, these two men were able to stay home with their children. One of them spoke of how it was not uncommon for fathers to take leave when they had children (as it is in most other countries). Hearing their views of women’s rights as a national concern that needs to be addressed and won by both men and women of Sweden was really reassuring.

While I only spoke with these three men, and heard their view of other Swedish men, what I heard was both enlightening and inspiring. An egalitarian society is possible! Who would have thought? Disclaimer: I am not saying that Sweden is a perfect example of an egalitarian society by any means but, from what I saw, relative to what I have been seeing (women in Switzerland gained the right to vote in 1971) they are moving in the right direction.

After that whirlwind of a weekend, I came back in time to meet my mom and sister at the Geneva airport. It was so great to see them and show them part of what my life has been like for the past couple of months. We went all over Geneva and did day trips to Annecy, France,

a medieval castle on the eastern part of Lake Geneva

and the Fribourg region of Switzerland where we did a tour of the Cailler chocolate factory (possibly the greatest experience of my life- yes, that is me in front of the tasting room where we were able to try various, and large quantities of chocolates)

and the Gruyères cheese factory.

It was amazing. Aside from all the great travelling we did, I have to say that what I enjoyed most was just hanging out in their hotel room, watching (not really) Swiss television. It was so great being not only with people who spoke English as a first language, but with people who were essentially physical manifestations of my home

.

But now, sadly, I must go. I’m currently on Easter break but still need to do some studying. My French isn’t looking too good as my recent long weekend spent in the German speaking part of Switzerland with two friends from Spain really hasn’t helped improve my speaking skills. It’s also my week to clean the apartment kitchen and I’m leaving for Scotland on Thursday to visit my friends from Clark who are studying at the University of Stirling! Ah, yes. Au revoir!

Happy International Women's Day!!!

So in lieu of today, this just happened.

Perusing the internet last week searching for events on International Women's Day I came across the United Nations Human Rights' page. A "high-profile event on the occasion of International Women's Day" was going to be held that's invited guests included "delegates of the Human Rights Council, United Nations staff, media and academics". External participants could attend with invitation and accreditation. So, obviously I e-mailed them asking if I could attend.

As you can see, I received an invitation. My friend was able to attend as well which was really great. Entering the Palais de Nations was super intense as we received badges with our names printed on them, went through metal detectors two separate times, passed through fancy doors...yeah the whole shabang. So official.

The program took place in Room XX (pictured below). Mmmm surreptitious, no? In reality, the room is not some secret meeting place where entry is granted through biometrics and secret passageways but is the Human Rights and Alliance of Civilizations Room. Still pretty cool. The ceiling alone was magnificent and has an interesting story attached to it if you care to read it here.

But, despite the fact, that's not the reason I was there.

Hosted by the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms. Navi Pillay, the theme, if you will, of this years International Women's Day program was "Capitalizing Women's Potential in Times of Crisis." The program began with a video of Alice Walker addressing the audience and reading her powerful poem, "Remember." An panel discussion ensued in which the following was addressed; "the impact of the global financial, food and climate crisis on women and the role of women in promoting peace and human rights." Panelists included the co-founder and co-director of AIDS-Free World , the Head of Foreign Relations for the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, the Executive Director of Greenpeace International and UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for the Culture of Peace in 1997. A relatively diverse panel they all provided inspiration and positive actions for the future of women of the world, particularly in leadership positions.

Digression. Please watch this video, thank you.

I was elated to be able to, essentially, be a part of such an important discussion and was even more excited that these issues were being discussed at such a high systematic level. Needless to say, particularly as a Women's and Gender Studies major, I was loving every minute and itching to put my academic knowledge to the test of all this real-world discussion. Recognizing that women's rights ARE human rights is an important step that I was thankful was being addressed. One of the panelists (who we actually got to talk to at a reception after the panel-she was amazing) was a young woman who was heavily involved in the 2011 democratic protests in Bahrain. She highlighted how the role of women in the Arab Spring uprising has brought a "new" image of women to the forefront as active agents that are able to make change that stretches beyond the home although, as has happened in history many times before, they were left out of the policy making of new constitutional changes. Women's important and essential contributions need to be recognized.

The "first to suffer when basic human rights are threatened" (from the UN pamphlet I got at the program) women are disproportionately affected by natural disasters/climate change, poverty and hunger compared to men. Essentially, women bear the biggest burden of mainly man-made problems. Yet, every day women prove their capacity and ability to endure, sustain and create. Panelist Stephen Lewis eloquently stated his dislike for the term "women's empowerment" as it suggested that we needed to give this tool to women. Give something they clearly prove they already have. He reasoned how it's not about capacity development but capacity releasing. Women, as half of the world's population, need to be recognized and active in decision making. Only then will we be able to create better policies and in turn better societies.

The power of gender needs to be taken seriously. It's not just a "woman's" issue. It's a human issue. It only makes sense that when women gain greater equality and consequently the benefits of that set in, then men will benefit as well. Women are perfectly capable. It's time to celebrate and appreciate their work, let their voices be heard and have their ideas become reality.

As it's a bit late and my writing skills are quickly disappearing along with the amount of sleep I'll be getting tonight, I shall leave you with a progressive and more empirical piece. Voilà.

An informal Swiss grocery-store analysis and other things of importance in my life at the moment

Salut!

Where to begin…well technically I just finished my first week-even though I’ve been here for a month! It feels like I’ve only been here for a few days although I feel pretty settled. I finally received the hard copy of my resident permit as well as my demi-tarif (a card that allows you to travel anywhere in Switzerland for half the price- amazing!) which makes me feel more legitimate. I’ve been to the 5 major grocery stores, one of which is located in France.

Yes, I crossed the border to buy chicken.

A smooth 15 minute tram/bus ride away, with no border checkpoints, Carrefour provides Genevans with a wide variety of food and name brand products at a lesser price…particularly their meat….no, I was not joking about the chicken. Despite their cheap poultry, I have declared Migros the best (conveniently located about 4 minutes from my apartment although that didn’t factor too much in my decision ;])

On a more academic note, I have finally started my two French classes. I am taking an Oral French class that meets once a week for two and a half hours and a Writing and Grammar class that meets once a week as well for an hour and a half.

Uni Bastions- The beautiful building where I learn French

Both of these classes are entirely in French and are made up of students from all around the world. Hopefully my French will start to improve as I am finding not as many people speak English as I had thought. Yes, I know, how ethnocentric of me- I’m learning!

I also started a tandem; initially facilitated by the university, tandems offer students the opportunity to be paired with another student who would like to practice and improve their language of choice. I set up a request on the tandem website that said I would like to practice my French and in turn could offer English. I was readily matched with a girl who wanted to practice her English and could offer French. We met yesterday at this Swiss cafe and it went quite well. She’s from Geneva, and although her English is better than my French, we had a fruitful conversation. We’re planning on meeting once a week for an hour which should be nice.

I have also started my research project! I met my supervisor who is a Professor at the University of Geneva researching Gender and Emotion under CISA (Le Centre Interfacultaire en Sciences Affectives aka the Affective Sciences program). CISA is the program that I am researching under but not with the aforementioned professor (she mainly oversees my work in Geneva) but with a professor from the University of Neuchâtel. I met with the latter professor and other members of the faculty at the University of Neuchâtel which is about an hour train ride from Geneva the Thursday before last.

Neuchâtel! -->

It was a great experience as they all took my opinions seriously and treated me as more of a fellow researcher than as a student. Which reminds me to show you this …

My office -->

Back in Geneva I have been given an office in UniMail (one of the main University buildings) to share with another post-doc who is working in CISA as well. The whole setup is quite intimidating. I find that I have A LOT of freedom in terms of when and how I do my research. Essentially, I must complete around 24 hours a week of research. As of late I have been assigning myself “homework” and assignments to complete and try to keep a regimented 5 hour workday. I keep in touch with my professor in Neuchâtel through e-mail (we plan to use Skype soon as well) and update her on the work that I am doing.

What work am I doing, you may ask? Currently I am researching maternity, paternity and parental leave policies in various countries around the world. I have been researching various articles and studies, reading them, and figuring out how to incorporate them into our project. I am also reviewing data and questions from the World Values Survey (WVS) which we plan to use in our final analysis. Fortunately my work has kept my interest and I am learning a lot each day.

This whole process is quite different than what I’m used to at Clark. Aside from my two French classes, the lack of set class times, homework assignments, tests and essays is a bit jarring. It would almost seem that I am not in school although I can assure you that is definitely not the case. The work I do for my research project is essentially up to me and whether or not it gets done depends on me setting a schedule for myself and doing it. I’ve been enjoying this freedom and independence although sitting in an office by myself on a sunny day in Geneva reading about the lack of paternity policies in Germany isn’t too tempting when you have friends who want to go to a café and a work schedule that is up to you.

Which leads me to the ever important social life. I truly have been meeting some wonderful people. I am amazed at how many languages my friends can speak and am humbled and shocked at the mass influence American culture has on some parts of the world. I had a good 20 minute conversation with my friend from northern Spain about prom and her dream of attending one and felt ashamed that I did not know of an equivalent event of “importance” in her culture. Along those lines, my friends from Australia can carry on an intelligent, knowledgeable conversation about American politics while I haven’t the slightest idea what their political situation is (I have been learning though- the recent Bob Carr business is pretty interesting). I find myself overwhelmed at the sheer massiveness of the world and how much there is to learn. My one month here is already putting the world into greater perspective and I really am loving each day.

Alors, until next time... À tout à l’heure!

I have arrived.

Well I have arrived safely in Geneva and may I start out summarizing my experience by saying that I happened to unknowingly stumble across the Palace of Nations during my daily travels (will detail later).

(apparently I was so taken aback I couldn't take a straight picture...sorry about that)


It's been amazing. Geneva is an absolutely beautiful, vibrant city and I still cannot believe I am here. My plane ride was not too bad as the flight was about 20% full and I had two seats to myself. My apartment -->

is situated in Les Acacias which is about 10 minutes walking distance from the center of Geneva and about two tram stops from Uni Mail which is the main University of Geneva building. Geneva is pretty small and I find that I have been walking everywhere and will most likely not be taking the tram to my classes and research.





Especially since this is the bridge I have to cross to get there;

I have my own room which is quite large, a kitchen, 2 bathrooms, 3 roommates and an unnecessarily long and large hallway. I live with a boy from Luxembourg and a boy from Tunisia and will be getting a girl roommate in about a week which I am pretty excited for. They both speak English (thankfully!) but mainly speak French. Which leads me to how horrible my French is. I will be taking two French classes next week and cannot wait. While most people speak some English, everyone speaks French and it is usually the preferred language. I studied French in high school and took one class my first semester but since then have not spoken a word and consequently forgot A LOT. Along those lines let me say that I have never felt more American in my life. In order to illustrate this I have decided to start a running list of my American moments and revelations in my new Switzerland home:

1. Going out to an Italian restaurant, ordering pizza and receiving an uncut pie and a knife and fork. Am I supposed to eat with my utensils or hands? Naturally, I cut two diagonal lines from the center of the pizza to make a perfect slice. As I pick up the triangle with my hands I notice that most people are eating their pie in small bites, cutting much like one would do with a pancake. Apparently I have horrible utensil skills.
2. Finding out Claire’s, UGG boots, and “NYC” related merchandise are not only available and appealing to people in America. Globalization is alive and thriving.
3. Milk and eggs do not have to be refrigerated before purchasing.
4. Aisles in the local grocery stores dedicated to purely chocolate is a real thing. Will post a picture of this marvel soon.
5. Smiling to the other person on the sidewalk as you pass them is not a common occurrence.
6. Bureaucracy in Geneva seems to be a way of life. They take it to a whole new level.

While a bit unnerving, arriving early seems to have served me well. I’ve been able to get a feel for the city and the tram, bus and train network. I mostly wandered around by myself for the first three days but people here are pretty friendly and I found some good conversation (although in broken French and English). I rode one tram line to both its ends and discovered the Palace of Nations along with other NGO and IGO buildings. It was a bit of a shock to experience this by myself, and even though I might have been talking to myself at points, me, myself and I really enjoyed ourselves.

While Cat and company were having a fun time, they realized one of the main reasons they came to Geneva so early was to visit the lovely Joanna.

In all seriousness, my roommate at Clark and amazing friend is currently in London studying through the London Internship Program. The trip there was a bit much as it consisted of taking a tram, a train, a shuttle, a plane, a shuttle, a train, the tube and then walking. Needless to say I listened to the Clash the entire trip and pretended I was in a British film. Totally necessary, not ashamed. Although we didn’t spend a lot of time there, her apartment was amazing and conveniently located in central London. She has five roommates, four of them from Clark and one from Stonehill College. It was nice being around people that spoke fluent English as well as seeing some familiar faces! Among the many things we packed into my four day vacation was a day trip to Oxford. We climbed Carfax Tower which overlooked the whole University of Oxford, went to Christ Church’s Cathedral which was gorgeous and pretended that we were in Harry Potter the whole time. In London we hit up pretty much all the stereotypical London attractions

;Buckingham Palace, Tower Bridge, Westminster Abbey and of course Platform 9 ¾ =). It was amazing. She’s been there for a little over a month so we also got to go to some local places which made me feel cool and less touristy...well I like to think so.

Sadly, my time there was limited as I had to return to Geneva. Once back I applied for my resident permit and met the other student from the EuroScholars program. He is doing research on cognitive and affective neuroscience which will look at the mechanisms behind recognizing faces and emotions. We are the only two students from EuroScholars so it was nice to finally meet someone who has been going through the same steps that I have.

I haven’t started classes yet so am still in a bit of a daze. Much like summer vacation the days have been meshing together and I often get confused as to what day of the week it is. This will soon end as I have a meeting with my research professor tomorrow and a French Class Enrollment session Thursday.

As there is no meal plan here I am slowly adjusting to feeding myself. As of now my diet has consisted of mainly pasta, nutella and whichever Swiss chocolate bar suits my fancy that day

(this has truly been the mvp of swiss chocolate as of late)

Clearly the staples. While my favorite foods since I arrived here, they are rapidly becoming…not my favorite (except the chocolate…and maybe the nutella. OK so just the pasta). This past week I have been exploring the city with the other EuroScholar’s student. We visited the beautiful St. Pierre’s Cathedral (also called Calvin’s church after John Calvin, the Protestant Reformer), went to Tavel House- the oldest house in Geneva, walked to Lake Geneva where we were sprayed by the iconic Jet d’eau- the 459 foot water fountain and of course found the essential IKEA. We’ve come to realize how walkable Geneva is and have since been literally walking all over the city despite the cold weather. There is so much history in this city and I am looking forward to continue exploring!

And seeing more swans. They're all over the lake. One can't go wrong in taking a picture when you have the Alps in the background, the clear lake and city in the middle ground and SWANS in the forground.

So now it’s time to put down my spoon and jar of nutella and try practicing my French. I can hear my two roommate’s startlingly deep voices conversing in French and think I should probably engage in some conversation. Or figure out how to do my laundry with a french washing machine and german laundry detergent. Think I'll go with the former.

Au revoir!