A big-ole case of the Blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahs!

  Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
Saturday, January 31, 2009

Don't mind my little rant ... if you don't care, skip down to the happy stuff ...

Switzerland and I are not getting along. Besides the fondue and the occasional trip to the mountains, Switzerland is LAME! This may not be a fair assessment of the situation ... mainly because a significant portion of my distaste for Switzerland is 1. my classes and 2. my professor.
1. Class: First of all we have class a lot. The past 2 terms we have only had class 2-3 days per week, while here we have class 4-5 days per week. Need I remind anyone that I am a graduate student?! NO ONE goes to class everyday of the week unless they're in high school or got the crap end of the stick in picking freshmen college courses. I have not signed up for the real world yet. Therefore, I can only commit to 3 days per week! That may be a bit of an exaggeration ... and I probably wouldn't mind 4 days of class if they weren't completely terrible. As I think I mentioned in a previous entry, I was really looking forward to these classes. They were supposed to be about interesting topics that I cared about. Now, not only are they the worst classes I have ever had, but they are making me HATE (a word I'm trying to eradicate from my vocabulary, but am forced to use here) topics I really care about. Someone please shoot me!
2. Professor: First, I have the same professor for both of my classes. Second, he is the biggest tool imaginable! He makes ridiculous claims and then points out teeny tiny facts that could possibly make it true. Example: On our first meeting he said, "Switzerland is NOT a mountainous country." Now, you might be thinking, "Becca, I thought 70% of Switzerland is covered in mountains." And I might say, "Correct! Brilliant friend!" or "Exactly! Average-to-above-average-family-member!". Nope. Not this tool. He thinks that Switzerland is not a mountainous country b/c the Swiss people don't live in the mountains. That's like saying that the Earth doesn't have water because people don't live in the ocean! Lord, help me!

Now on to the descent stuff ....

We've had the chance to visit a couple of really cool (sounding) places in our Professional Seminar Class. On Inauguration day we went to the United Nations Headquarters in Geneva. It was pretty awesome, I guess. They gave us a tour of the library (snooze) and then showed us around some of the huge conference rooms where really important world figures have held really important world meetings. We were given a talk by a representative from the UN Conference on Trade and Development (did someone say "economy" - snooze) and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The second one was actually pretty interesting, they coordinate relief efforts to natural disasters and conflicts around the world.

UN Symbol and Flag

Important Room

That night, the school held an Inauguration party for us. They served American food (is that even a term?) - hot dogs, mac 'n cheese, brownies, Budweiser, and root beer - and projected the Inauguration festivities on the big screen. It was great to get to see everything, but kind of sad to be thousands and thousands of miles away from the excitement of it all! I'd say that people around here are excited and eager to see what is going to happen.

The rest of the week was pretty lame. The weather has been really gray and cloudy. We know that we are almost entirely surrounded by mountains, but can rarely see them. We thought that Switzerland would be more like Colorado ... we were wrong! Anyway, last Sunday the sun came out!!!!!!!! Once I flung my shutters open to see that it was sunny, I headed out to get some vitamin D! I walked around "town" for a while, and then found a little path. I walked along it until it eventually dumped me back out on a road. I figured eventually another road would intersect w/ it and I could head back towards town ... no such luck, so I kept walking. Eventually I came to a small forest and a pretty nice farm, that had a great view of one of the sets of mountains. I took some pictures, and then headed back the way I came.

Pretty Mtns

About 2 minutes in, I started wondering why there was a parking lot on the side of an otherwise rural road. I waded through the mud (melting ice, dirt, and bad drainage) and found that there was a nature trail. There was a map and it looked like it headed back to Versoix, so I decided to follow the trail. It was awesome! It was great to be outside and enjoy some nature!

Nature Stairs

Nature Hike

This week we visited the World Trade Organization on Tuesday. The girls and I decided that the second anyone says "economy" we immediately zone out, and it was no different this time! I tried my hardest to pay attention, but I really didn't care. Tuesday was redeemed by the beginning of my birthday celebration. The girls and I made fondue (with plenty of wine, Lisa :) for dinner, and then most of the group went out for my birthday. The only bar in Versoix has karaoke Sun-Thurs., so I got to bust out some Aladdin, Bon Jovi, and DHT (with some appropriate fist pumping).

Fondue making

They Played the Birthday Song

Somehow we manged to get up at a decent time on Wednesday (my birthday) to go sledding. It took us about an hour to get up to the mountains (and into the sun!). This is the same hill we went to last time. It had some major bumps dug into it, and they were so much more trecherous this time! I had some crazy trips down the hill (often with my sled a few feet ahead of me). We had so much fun! There was enough time to talk to my awesome mom, have some bday cake, and take a nap before we went to class that night! I'm so greatful to have awesome friends here and at home to make my birthday awesome (and clearly the HUGE package my mom sent helped!).

Steap Hill

Yeah, I'm 24

Yesterday we were forced to go to an all day conference about Conflicts and Emergencies in Urban Areas. It had the potential to not suck. We were doing really well until the 3rd speaker gave their entire presentation in French. The 4th-7th speakers followed suit. Needless to say, we were all extremely pissed. Not to mention, that at the end of the day we were given our take-home midterm that is due Sunday night. Wooooooooo, we're having some fun ...

So, that's what I've been up to! I think we're going to try to make it to Paris next weekend. Hopefully that will bring a more fun-filled update! I miss you guys!