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.