Geneva, Switerland Meetings with the UN and WTO

Yesterday we came back from our two-day trip to Geneva, Switzerland. The purpose of this trip was to see and hear from both the United Nations and World Trade Organization; to gain more information first-hand. Although we were only there Thursday and Friday, we met with four people associated with the United Nations Offices in Geneva and one person from the WTO (also headquartered in Geneva). In the short amount time we had, we explored the city as much as possible. I may be a little biased, but this was the most beautiful city we have been to yet. I loved everything there but the prices. The city was so wonderful with great scenery and culture.


This picture was taken inside our meeting room in the UN. Left to right my new friends Pedro and Barry. I enjoyed our meetings immensely. My favorite was the presenter from the UN High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR). His presentation style and poise were the best out of all of our presenters. Our most prestigious presenter was his excellency the ambassador of the Czech Republic to the UNOG, Mr. Tomas Husak. He was very interesting, but was very quiet and tended more towards a lecture format.
Again, the weather and climate in Geneva made it very appealing to me. I had a great time even though we only stayed one night. It was an informative trip and I would love to go there again sometime (perhaps to buy a watch from one of the world famous companies headquartered there).

On a separate note, today I attended a meeting for the organization "Rent an American". This group searches for American study abroad students in Germany (in only a couple cities) and places them in local high schools as ambassadors of sorts for American life and culture. We spent much of today understanding differences in culture and how those differences affect our lives (much of which one doesn't even notice until in a new setting). In the next couple of days I will find out where I will be going first and to whom I will be speaking (what grade level). It should be a very thought provoking volunteer experience. The varieties of questions I will be asked about me and America will be blunt and somewhat intrusive by our standards, but I hope to be as honest as possible to give these students a glimpse into life in the U.S.

This week we prepare for our trip to Eastern Europe (Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary). The trip will be 9 days long and we leave Friday. So until then, I thank you all for your thoughts and prayers, and I hope to post again around March 1st (I can't believe how fast time flies!!).

Skiing in the Swiss Alps! And the Start of Classes.

By far the best skiing I have ever heard of, much less experienced. The scenery, snow quality, and length of runs were the best I have ever seen. We left Freiburg by bus at 5:30 in the am but it was worth it. Some of the runs took more than 30 minutes until we reached the bottom.

Partly since I don't ski black diamonds in MN, I chose to stay to the red and blues in Switzerland. This worked out because it allowed me to look up and see the beautiful scenery around ever bend, instead of fearing every hill that I couldn't see behind.

Halfway through the day, I discovered that there was a backside to the mountain, which gave a whole new perspective. This picture below illustrates that very well. You could see for sooo many miles. Incredible.

As promised. I also began classes this past week. As a requirement for the program, I have been taking a german course as well as EU Studies Integrative Seminar (the class that ties in our institutional field trips to the European Union). The other three classes, "Shifting Paradigms, From Domestic to European Politics: Germany in the EU", Europe- The Dynamics of Integration, From the Marshall Plan to the Eastern Enlargement of the EU" and lastly, "International Economics Relations of the EU" all are looking to be very interesting. The "Shifting Paradigms" class is taught in German, but shouldn't be too bad, since they understand that many of the students do not speak fluent German. This week should be good test to see how tough they will really be. We only have class Monday through Thursday and each day begins at 10:45, so it shouldn't be too stressful ;) at least not yet.

First Major Trip (within a trip)

Last night our program returned from our first "major" trip. My half of the group drove from Freiburg to Zurich and flew from there to Riga, Latvia in the Balkans. The other group flew to Tallinn, Estonia. From there we flew to Berlin for a few days. The main purpose of this trip was to see and experience what accession to the European Union has been like for the Balkan states. The stop in Berlin made since since it is the capitol of Germany, houses many international and European Union officials and diplomats and we were already in the area.

First Riga. The top picture is a freedom memorial with a woman representing freedom holding three stars representing the three distinct areas of Latvia (we saw only Riga). As a part of our first full day in Riga, we were assigned tasks in effort to put "Riga as Text". We went out into the older part of the city and generally had to find populated destinations (either for locals or tourists) and find out more about them by asking locals (they speak Latvian and Russian in Latvia; some English). This was a fun way to learn about the area. We also had the opportunity to attend talks by both an economics professor at the Riga-Stockholm School of Economics as well as the head of the department of Political Science at the University of Lativia in Riga. Both were great presentations where we learned much of what drives the economics and politics in Latvia. The second picture was taken outside the Stockholm Economics School which has influences of Art Nouveau, a popular architecture style in Riga.




The next leg of our trip took us to the Hauptstadt of Germany, Berlin. I had been here once before with my family, but this was a completely different experience. Riga was fun, but Berlin was better. There was so much more to do here (plus they speak a language I am familiar with). This picture shows the Berliner Dom/Cathedral. The ornateness and superb style of this church was truly something. In the background, you can see the televison tower built by East Germany during the Cold War to show how great East Germany was.

The lectures in Berlin were also great. We had two that all 35 people attended as well as course specific meetings. I only had to go to two, a meeting with an FDP parliamentarian (Mr. Hellmut Königshaus) in the Bundestag (Capitol building) as well as a meeting with a Dutch diplomat (Mr. Huub Drabbe pictured with me below) working in Germany's foreign service (state department). The two talks were very different but both very interesting. The picture above is of the students from Minnesota in our group. We also went out into the city to complete projects for our German courses. Mine took us to the DDR museum; very informative. All in all a great trip. I learned a lot more about the pros and cons of the European Union and how two very different countries operate within that entity. I was also able to grow some new friendships that will hopefully continue to become stronger. Just before this trip began marked the longest that I have been out of the country at one time, but all is well and I am having a great time! Now it will be interesting as classes get into full swing.