Pat has arrived!

Friday was a big day, my last day at WHO and Pat's arrival in Geneva!

I was able to get my work wrapped up and met with Nicole in time to meet Pat at the airport.  I almost had a disaster on my way to have coffee with Nicole.  I got a bottle of wine for her as a thank you gift, and as we were walking down to the terrace, I slipped and fell on the stairs.  I somehow managed to catch myself and not drop the bag with the bottle of wine in it.  What a way to end my internship that would have been, falling down the stairs and smashing a wine bottle.

It was easy to spot Pat at the airport as the only one wearing a Jays hat.  I made a bet with Pat that he would not see a single other man wearing a ball cap, but I lost about 40 francs just on the way back from the airport.  Pat was pretty jet lagged and sleepy, so he napped at the hotel while I ran some errands, figuring out the reservation for dinner, and storing my big bag in the foyer basement.  

We caught up with the interns group at Scandale, a pizza restaurant nearby.  There were 35 interns RSVP'd for dinner, a lot more than my estimated 20, so we had to go to the basement to eat.  It was kind of a shame on such a beautiful evening, but it was easier to socialize with more people down in the "lounge" area than it would have been sitting at a huge table.

I'm sure it must have been overwhelming for Pat to meet so many people at once, but he did well to be social even on so little sleep.  He even had a little "baby foot" (fooseball) tournament going.

Interns do Thai karaoke 

After dinner, we migrated over to Jame's Thai restaurant and karaoke bar, on recommendation from some other interns. At first, all the songs were in Thai, but slowly, people got braver and started singing.  Eventually, everyone was standing up, shouting and dancing and scaring off other patrons. Nat also met up with us at the karaoke bar.  I think she and Pat had a good time catching up, although I think Nat wondered why we chose that establishment.

Nat & Pat!

It was sad to say bye to some good friends that I've made over the last few months, but I have a feeling that we will meet again sometime.  It's a small world these days, I think. : )

GIA drinks with the office-mates

Thursday was my last spinning class in Geneva.  Even though it was the most beautiful day, I went down into the basement to climb imaginary mountains, "team sprint" and sweat a whole lot.  I have really enjoyed those classes over the last few months.

I am going to miss the mountains!

After a quick dinner, shower and packing up my whole room.  (it's pretty easy when you only have 2 backpacks), I met up with Rachel, Loren and Sandra for some ice cream and drinks.  We went to Movenpick on the river.  The ice cream was pretty delicious, but 5 CHF for one scoop!

We met up with lots of other WHO interns at the GIA drinks night just around the corner.  It was quite a different experience from the first GIA drinks I went to on my first week in Geneva. It's really nice to have gotten to know so many people, but it makes me a bit sad to be leaving all these new friends so soon.  There was dancing at this bar, which was a first for the GIA drinks that I'd been to, so that added a new element of entertainment.  Sandra made her last train back to Lausanne, and I walked home back through Paquis to the Foyer for my last night there.  

Spring on the 8th floor

Wednesday was another beautiful day.  The morning was clear and crisp and made me want to keep walking by work and head back to the lake for the day.  I went to a seminar at lunch on risk communication during crises that was really interesting.  I love when people can just stand up and speak eloquently for a hour about a topic with no notes.

UNAIDS from above.

I took a break in the afternoon to go up to the 8th floor for a little dose of the mountains.  I didn't take a picture of the Jura on the other side, but you can really tell that the snow is melting up there. I am going to miss the mountains when I'm back in flat Ontario.  Although, I will be happy to see Lake Huron again.  I hope it is melted by then!

Hello mountains!

This evening I went for a drink with my friend Julia from my foyer and her intern co-worker at IP watch. It was an interesting group of IP journalist interns and landscape architects, and I got a chance to practice my French.

I also checked out of the foyer tonight, with an inspection by Therese.  I "passed" and got my deposit back. It was a pretty slow and painful process to go through each of the items and fill out all the paperwork. Therese always insists on speaking to me in English, even though I have a much easier time understanding her in French.  The laundry closes every day this week at 7:30 pm, so I may have to wait until Barcelona to do washing...

Last intern hike

My desk continues to get messier and messier and expand beyond the limits of the tiny desk, with books and papers and notes everywhere.  It's a good thing I don't have more space to make messy. 

Getting a bit tired of the intern cave.

After work was another intern hike.  It was pouring rain in the morning, but by 5pm, the sun was out and the sky was blue.   I am so happy that the flowers are blooming outside of the WHO offices now.  Apparently they only bloom for 2 weeks, so I am luck to see them!

Not a bad walk home. 

We hike the exact same route as last week, north from WHO along a path following the lake to Versoix.  It was a completely different group this time, so I was the only one re-doing the hike. We took the train back to Geneva again after grabbing some groceries in town.  

Along the trail.

After dinner, I made a big batch of rice and beans and all the vegetables I had left to share with Sarah.  Sarah made some tea and Julia joined us for a nice chat.  I am going to miss my foyer-mates. 

World Health Day

Did you know that April 7th is world health day, and the anniversary of the establishment of WHO?  Me neither, until last week when I volunteered to help out with the world health day celebrations.  I spent most of the morning as a usher for the panel discussion on vector borne diseases.   It was a nice change from sitting in front of my computer all day. 

I feel silly taking pictures at work, but luckily some of my intern friends on facebook do not, so I am borrowing some of their photos and some from the WHO page too.  

Sarah saving Lea from the mosquito...? I didn't quite understand this one

Look at all those people filling all the seats.

Cake!!

The DG, up close and personal.

Boarding passes.

The flowers are starting to bloom at WHO!!

Bike ride Geneva to Annecy

Sunday was another early day, I met my friend Fintan at the bike rental place at 8:00 am to bike from Geneva to Annecy in France. The ride was a long gradual climb, followed by a really fun long downhill.  It was my first time biking in France, so I pretended I was in the Tour, naturally.  A really slow version of the Tour, with two people with no bike shorts, wearing backpacks and periodically chatting along the way.

The route from Geneva to Annecy.

The scenery along the way was really beautiful.  We biked along beside the Saleve for a while and at the top of the climb, there was a gorgeous view of the farms and villages in the valley below.  We crossed a really high bridge with castle-like archways at the ends.  I think it would make a good bungee jumping spot, I got spooked looking over the edge.

A bridge in the middle of the route.

We were chilly when we arrived in Annecy, on account of the breeze on the long down-slope into town. We stopped for a coffee to warm up and then explored the town a bit on foot.  We also ran into another group of interns eating lunch along the river.  They had hired a car for the day to go visit Annecy.  WHO interns are everywhere!

Fintan looking small next to the castle

We ate our picnic lunches by the castle and then biked around the lake a bit to get a better view.  The sun started to come out after lunch, and the streets and parks were really busy.  I love how everyone flocks to the parks and to the lake when the sun comes out.

Awkward Kristin in front of beautiful lake Annecy.

On the way home, we took a bit of a different route, through the town of Annemasse in France before heading to Geneva.  This route took us much closer to the Saleve, and we saw a bunch of paragliders jumping from the top.  By this time the skies were fully blue, and it was quite an awesome sight.  I should have stopped to take a photo, but we were biking too fast on the way back down to Geneva.  I have to say, cars are very courteous to cyclists in France, it was much appreciated, merci!

By the time we returned the bikes at 5:30pm, I was pretty tired and sore.  The weather was so beautiful, that I went down to the park by the lake to relax for a bit before heading home.  Hanging out by the lake in the sun was a great way to end my last weekend in Geneva!

The great Geneva treasure hunt!

Saturday morning I slept in for the first time in a long time, it was nice to not have an early morning commitment on a Saturday.   Sarah made breakfast for Alija and I, a traditional Egyptian bean dish called ful. It was delicious, and so filling!  I think Pat will really like it, since he's not really a fan of most breakfast foods, and this seems more like a lunch food.

Rainbow in the Jet d'Eau

In the afternoon, I put threw together a Geneva scavenger hunt for the interns group.  I borrow the questions from a hunt that was developed by CERN for new staff.  I was really happy with the turnout, 22 people showed up.  Most people seemed to have a good time.  I wish I'd had more time to personalize the instructions a bit more for the WHO group.  Maybe the next activities coordinator can figure it out.

The trees are blooming!

At the end of the treasure hunt, we all met up to give out prizes and try to figure out what the actual answers are (I didn't have an answer key).  Different groups definitely took different approaches to the hunt, but I think overall people had fun.  It would be nice if we had an easy space to meet up for after an event like this.  If I was organizing this in Toronto, I would definitely meet at the back room at the Ferret and Firkin, although I think that place shut down.

One of the groups after the hunt.

Friday intern dinner

I volunteered to help out with World Health Day on Monday, so we had some brief training about it on Friday afternoon.  Other than that, Friday at work was a typical day of trying to keep writing this paper.

Dinner was in the old town at a place called demi-lune cafe.  The restaurant didn't open until 6:30 pm, so I convinced a bunch of interns to walk down from WHO to dinner.  It was about an hour walk, but it was a nice evening and it saved me buying a bus pass.

The strange trees are starting to get leaves. 

After dinner, we went to a nearby bar in for drinks on an outdoor patio.  It was really nice to spend an evening in the old town, because it's so different that anywhere back home.

Bourg de four square in the old town.

Later in the evening, we headed over to the student-bar street, for more affordable beverages.  The bars were so crowded, we ended up mostly standing out on the sidewalk chatting.  It was one of those evenings that went by so quickly that I was surprised when they were closing the bar at 2:00 am.  I am going to miss the new friends that I have made here, and how easy it is to meet new people when everyone is in the same situation of being in a new city and not knowing anyone.

Wine tasting

I had a final coffee meeting with Ahmad and Nicole on Thursday afternoon.  It was kind of strange, since I still have a week and a bit left of work, but since Ahmad is travelling next week, this was it.  I was able to give some feedback on the internship and they got me some really nice WHO souvenirs.  It will be nice to have those to be able to remember my time here.

Thursday night was another going away party for an intern friend, Inneke.  We had planned to go out for dinner, but a bunch of others were going to a wine tasting at the cave du palais de justice.  I skipped spinning class and went to drink wine and eat snacks instead!

There were about 10 of us and we definitely stood out.  We were the only ones speaking English, the youngest by at least a decade and also definitely stood out as being less classy than the other cave clientele. We paid 15 CHF to get into the tasting, which included a credit towards buying a bottle of wine.  Not a bad deal, especially since there was lots of cheese snacks and hors d'oeuvres. It was kind of dangerous, since I am still definitely in the "eat all the free things" intern mode, which also included drink all the "free" wine.

Inside the cave.

Wednesday, fajita day.

My supervisor is travelling to India next week, so on Wednesday we went out for lunch at a restaurant nearby WHO.  It was nice to get outside the office during the day and to have some time to socialize with Ahmad, Nicole and Anne.

Wednesday night, I had another group of friends over to the foyer for another fajita dinner.  Some girls couldn't make it last week, so I decided to host another.  All the fajitas and fixings, including fruit for dessert cost my around 25 CHF, which easily fed 6 people for less than the cost of dinner and a drink for one here in Geneva.  Plus, I enjoy cooking for other people, it's much more satisfying than cooking for myself and then eating the same dish for 6 meals straight.

I am trying to eat up all the food I have left in my place, since I move out next Friday.  I see a lot of rice and lentils in my future...

Birth day display in the library

There is a new photography gallery on display in the library called birth day, all about child birth around the world.  I haven't had a chance yet to look at all the photos, but this counter is on display in the lobby, counting how many babies have been born around the world starting from midnight, today.  I think I took this photo at about 5:30 when I was leaving.  It is mind boggling to think that there are over 300,000 babies born across the world ever day!  That is pretty much the entire population of London, Ontario born in a single day.

The Vatican

Sunday morning I was up bright and early (even earlier, because Europe went to daylight savings time Sunday) to see the Vatican Museum.  I inadvertently visited Rome on the last Sunday of the month, which is free day at the museum.  The line up at the entrance to the museum was crazy!  I arrived at 8:00am, and had to wait for 2 hours just to get in the museum.  Once inside, it was so packed, that you had no choice but to shuffle along slowly with the crowd from room to room.

Inside the Vatican museum.

The paintings all over the walls and ceiling were incredibly beautiful,but after a while they became a bit overwhelming.  There was a modern art section, which was a nice break from the rest.  I found it very strange in the Sistine Chapel to have the guard announcing over loud speakers every couple minutes for everyone to be quiet.  I think it kind of defeated the whole purpose of the silence.

Everyone waiting for the pope.

Walking back from the Vatican museum, I walked through St Peter's square while the crowds were waiting for the pope to do his Sunday morning address. People looked like they had been camped out there for quite a while.  I didn't stay to see the pope, I needed to get away from crowds for a bit.

View of the city from above.

I went out for lunch at a nice little Trattoria.  I think eating out is my least favourite part of traveling alone, it is always so awkward.  I really wish I had brought some reading material or the newspaper or something.  I also have no idea how to pronounce anything in Italian!

My favourite fountain.

I think my favourite part of the day may have been wandering around one of the big city parks.  I don't think there's much money to maintain the parks, as the city isn't in great financial shape, but that made the park even more charming.  I really loved this one overgrown fountain.  I broke my sunglasses a couple weeks ago, so I bought some new ones from a guy in the park.  I was proud the negotiation skills I learned in Cambodia and Vietnam, I was able to get him down from 15 to 4 Euros.  The glasses probably don't have any UV protection and will break soon, but they did the trick for the day.

Hanging out in the park with my 4 € shades.

In the evening, I went out for pizza with some Central American girls from my hostel.  They were really friendly, and good to hang out with for a meal.  One was is from Honduras and is studying in Germany, and the other is from Panama and is working in the UK.  They decided to meet up for the weekend in Rome to celebrate both their birthdays.

Pizza and Peroni

Hike, Mafia

Tuesday was another beautiful day in Geneva!  I had a really productive day at work, getting through the draft of the introduction, methods and results sections of my paper.  I know it's not at a polished state yet, but it feels good to have something down on paper to build from. 

Less than 30 minutes walk from WHO, in the Swiss countryside.

After work, I led the interns group on a hike.  There was a bit of confusion about the meeting time and place, but there ended up being 6 of us, not a bad group for walking.  We left straight from WHO and went up a pathway behind the UNAIDS building.  I have run up there a few times, but this was my first time taking this hiking route.  The paths are very well marked in Switzerland, so it is easy to follow trails without getting lost. The route we took was one leg of the Swiss Alpine Route, a 600 km trail across the whole country.

Action shot of the group hiking. 

We hiked for about 2 hours to the town of Versoix, north of Geneva on the lake, and took the train back to the city.  I've really enjoyed these after work intern hikes, I wish that I had started organizing them earlier in my internship. It helps now that it is daylight savings time, and the sun is up until nearly 8pm. Next week will be the last one for me, maybe someone else will take over planning hikes.

A cute church in one of the villages along the way.

After returning from the hike, I had just enough time to grab a quick bite to eat and head to my first course with the Geneva Trade School.  I took a course on the use of deception and interrogation in the strategic game of Mafia.  It was quite a fun game to learn, and I met more new people.  Apparently I am quite suspicious looking, as I was always on trial for being a Mafioso!  There was an Indian cooking class before us, so I even got to try some curry paneer and chipati. Om nom nom!

The Trade School is a really cool concept, where people offer to teach courses on topics they have knowledge in, and the payment system is all based on barter.  The instructor puts out requests, and the students can decide what to bring as payment.  I am offering a home cooked vegetarian meal to my instructor from last night.   The fact that I am not allowed to have men in my home complicates things slightly, but I am going to make some roasted vegetable sandwiches for a picnic sometime next week.

There are Trade Schools in Toronto, Vancouver and other cities around the world, and I would recommend checking out the course offerings.  I think it's a really great concept, kind of like couchsurfing or ridesharing but for learning!

Back in GVA

I was up really early to leave the hostel and get to the airport and fly back to Geneva.  It's really great how close the airport is to the city in Geneva, I can be at work within 40 minutes of landing, including grabbing a coffee and lunch from the grocery in the airport.   

Spring! 

After work, I went to spinning and ran home quickly to grab some dinner and shower before meeting up with Natacha over on Ecole de Medicine.  I hadn't seen here since the first weekend I arrived in Geneva.  It was really great to meet up with her and her friends and to be able to really test my French.  I don't think I did very well, it was quite hard to follow the conversation.  I also still get quite nervous and shy trying to jump in and say something.  I'd like to say part of that is not the language, and just my nature, but I think mostly it's the language.

Rome by bike

Sorry for getting behind, I lost my European adaptor for my laptop, so she had been dead for a couple of days.  

I got the best night's sleep I've had in a while (in a hostel!) and woke up refreshed on Saturday morning for some touring of Rome.  The hostel breakfast was free, so I loaded up on that before heading out.  The weather was amazing, about 25 degrees and sunny.  While I was in a tank top and sweating, the locals seemed to still be in jackets and scarves. 

What a blue sky!

In the morning, I wandered around the city by myself and tried to get my bearings.  I couldn't figure out how to turn on the fancy electronic stove at the hostel, so I also grabbed a coffee at a cute little cafe.  I really love the trees in Rome.  There are palm trees, orange trees, lemon trees and those trees with really tall trunks and then the leaves on top make an umbrella shape.  I just looked them up, they are called stone pines.  I mentioned a few weeks ago how cool it is to see someone see snow who doesn't see snow often.  I feel like I am the same way with palm trees, I am in awe by the most normal sight to people who live in the tropics.

The coliseum.

After lunch, I met up with a couchsurfer for a bike tour of the city.  I was a bit apprehensive at first, since this is my first experience as a couchsurfer and not a host, but I figured a meet up was a good place to start. Also, if things were to go pear shaped, I am on a bike and can ride away.  Claudio ended up being an excellent guide and really kind host.  We started by going to his Mom's apartment to pick up the bikes.  The inside of the apartment looked exactly like what you would expect an older Italian lady's apartment to look like, it was great.  The apartment building had this amazing courtyard, where people were hanging out their laundry.

Stone pines on the left.

Claudio had just bought a new road bike, and I rode his mountain bike.  It was a bit scary in the Rome traffic, but we did alright.  It was actually the pedestrian traffic that was hardest to navigate near the main tourist sites, and we had to get off and walk our bikes a lot. 

To prove I was actually there.  Taken by my CS host, Claudio.

After I dropped the bikes back off at Claudio's Mom's place, I continued to wander by myself and got gelato for the second time of the weekend.

Tourists, tourists everywhere!

I was considering going out on Saturday night with some people from my hostel, but I had a paper due at 6am EST and didn't end up getting it done in time to head out with the group.  It was probably for the best, as I head that the pub crawl wasn't as good as expected, and one of the Scottish girls from our hostel went a bit nuts and had to be taken care of and carried back home. 

Rome!

I left work at lunch today to head to the airport and catch an Easyjet flight to Rome!  I slept the whole way on the flight and made my way via shuttle and metro to my hostel.  The hostel is kind of out of the way and does not at all look like a hostel from the outside.  When I rang the doorbell, no one answered, which worried me a little, but I just went to a Gelato shop down the street and used their wifi to e-mail the hostel, it was no problem.  The fact that I was calm about this, I think was a big step for me.

The hostel kitchen.

Once I was able to get in, this place is pretty amazing.  It is decorated very eclectically and it feels very welcoming.  Fabio, the owner, gave each of the new guests a welcoming drink when we arrived and he made pasta for everyone for dinner.  I am upstairs in the "quieter" part of the hostel, and so far I even have a room to myself.

Some of the hostel guests were going out for a pub crawl tonight, but I am really exhausted, so I am just going to finish my INDEV603 paper and get a good night's rest so I can be fresh and ready to explore the city in the morning.  I am supposed to be meeting a couchsurfer to go on a bike tour of the city.  We'll see how that goes!

Trade School Opening and GIA drinks

Thursday was a pretty regular day of work.  I think I am finally getting out of my project rut and I'm starting to be able to get some actual writing done for the final paper.  It does feel kind of strange to be writing about a subject I knew little to nothing about only 10 weeks ago.

Spinning was quite intense after work.  It was Shannon and Marissa's last spin class of their internships, so Blair, the instructor gave us an extra "team sprint" at the end.  The team sprint consists of a 10 second sprint, then as soon as someone yells "Sprint", a 20 second sprint, and this repeats for the entire song.  Since we have some pretty competitive people in the group, the song ends up being pretty much four minutes of pure sprinting.  I got quite the sweat on, but now I have so much laundry to do!

They started decorating near the cafe with flags...

In the evening, I went to the launch of the Geneva Trade School.  When I first heard about the Trade School, I thought it was where people go to learn how to be pipefitters or plumbers or electricians, but that is not at all what the school is about.  The "trade" part refers to the fact that all courses are offered for free, or on a bartering basis.  An instructor offers to teach on a subject, and then makes requests for items or services from students.  The courses offered are incredibly varied, including: yoga, this history of Ukraine, active listening, Indian cooking, tango, project management and alternatives to banking.  The requests from students are often things like a home cooked meal, some tea, a poem, nothing too expensive. 

It's a really cool concept, and Trade Schools are starting up in cities around the world, including Toronto, Edmonton. Halifax and Vancouver.  Nicole, who I work closely with is on the organizing committee for the school.  I didn't know anyone else at the launch, but I spoke with some interesting course instructors and had some yummy snacks. 

After the launch, I went around the corner to GIA drinks for a while.  There is a German girl named Kristin who just started at WHO on Thursday and was at GIA drinks.  We had some entertainment introducing ourselves and Kristin and Kristin.  It was quite crowded at the bar, and I was sleepy so I headed home early to pack for Rome!