Am I almost done already? Whoops

A view of Geneva, the lake and the Jet D'eau from the Old Town


Ok...so I have been a real slacker about the blog entries, but I am going to try to be better. I have been in Geneva over a month and the President of the Human Rights Council just called for a thirty minute break, so now seems like a good time to start my new resolution.
I thought adjusting to life here would be easy, but it has not been at all. The Swiss are not the warmest of people and I am definitely still suffering from culture shock. However, I have finally settled in and am beginning to enjoy the city. Geneva has a beautiful location; the city borders Lake Geneva and sits right below the Swiss and French Alps. On a clear day I can see the lake and the alps. It is a lot like Washington in that it is very small and politically significant. You can walk from one end of the city to the other in a few hours and driving across it takes about 40 minutes when there is not much traffic.
I have had many adventures and misadventures. Everything is different here, even ordering hot chocolate and buying produce is a confusing experience. The women who work at the University bakery still dislike me because I have not learned the names of all the different pastries, but in my defense they aren't labeled and there are at least 20. I am doing my best to enjoy everything Geneva has to offer, which to me means: Chocolate, Cheese, the UN and snow sports. I have had much more success with the first three than the latter. In fact, the black eye I got after being hit in the head by a ski lift has almost healed. I have eaten fondue in the famed fondue restaurant in the Old Town, shared a table in a cafe with the president of Maldives and have discovered my complete lack of self restraint when it comes to dark chocolate...
In lieu of boring you with a long detailed summary of the past month and half I have decided to post captioned photos that I have taken detailing Ma Vie en Suisse!

Switzerland in Photos

This is the Old Town in Geneva, the part of Geneva that dates back to before Calvin.
Geneva has a rich history, but is mostly known for Calvin, the man who brought us Calvinism and converted lots of Catholics in Europe to Protestantism. The Old Town used to be surrounded by huge walls because Geneva used to be an independent state within the Swiss Federation. The walls were taken down when Geneva was no longer threatened and the city expanded, but the old town (as well as Calvin's desk chair) still remains intact.

This is me in front of the giant clock. The face is made out of plants. The clock faces Rue du Rhone, the most expensive street in Switzerland. This is the extent of my knowledge about the clock, but it is a famous landmark and lots of Japanese tourists have their photos taken in front of it...so it must be important for some reason...

The Palais des Nations, ie the United Nations headquarters in Geneva. I spend a lot of my time here monitoring the United Nations sessions, dozing and resisting the urge to throw spitballs at delegates who are talking on their cell phones during the Human Rights Committee meetings. I also spend a lot of time commuting here since it is quite far from the center of town. The building was originally constructed to hold the original League of Nations, but that fell apart before the construction was finished. When they founded the United Nations Geneva offered up the original League of Nations building to be used for the UN and it became what is now known as UNOG.

Me again! In front of the Palais des Nations is an ENORMOUS statue of a chair with one leg broken off...apparently it was erected as part of a push to get nations to sign the International Land Mine Ban Treaty, but it definitely makes quite a statement...

My life in Swiss...more photos

This is a photo of my comfy comfy bed. I am living in Corsier, a Village outside of Geneva (about 25 minutes by bus), with the Kellers. The Kellers are a retired couple; Jules used to be a Swiss banker and his wife Helen now makes mixed media art pieces primarily using ties (or Cravatesas the French call them). They are Swiss German, which means that the TV, food products, and books in this house are all in Swiss German, a dialect found in the German part of Swissland. I cannot comprehend any Swiss German, but I do enjoy watching Music Schtar on Sunday evenings with the family...its the Swiss German American Idol, but its a bit like a bad Karaoke show.

This is a view of the inside of my University building, UNIMAIL. The University of Geneva is 450 years old and is HUGE. It is completely overwhelming. There are over 13,000 students. You could fit all of Guilford inside UNIMAIL, and this building only houses a few of the University's faculties such as Social Sciences and the School of Translation and Interpretation (where I am studying). Question of the day: What is the difference between translation and interpretation? I'll be impressed if you know!

This is what 11 francs (about 10.50USD) will get you at McDonalds: a six inch water bottle and a 4inch square hamburger thingy. A big mac is almost 12USD here. The cost of living in Geneva is very high, and finding an apartment is downright impossible. Although people here seem to have a lot of money, only 3% of the population works in the banking sector, though banking makes up about 30% of the economy. Having money is a large part of the lifestyle here; the Swiss love to shop and they love their Louis Vuitton Bags. The people here are overwhelmingly fashionable and a basic Swiss watch will set you back several thousand dollars...I have yet to see the effects of the financial crisis surfacing here, but I will keep you posted. Switzerland has incredible social support for its citizens so it is rare to see homeless and unemployed people on the streets.


This is a photo of one of Toyota's electric concept cars at the Geneva Auto Show. The Auto show is very famous and very well attended. Despite not being a huge "car person" I really enjoyed the show. Surprisingly enough Ford Motors and Mini Cooper had the coolest displays. Although, I really wouldn't mind taking the Diesel Subaru Forester for a ride...check out my Flikr Page for more of the cars!

Yay for the Alps!

This is a view of one of the Ski lifts in the Les Contamines, a ski resort in the French Alps near the Mont Blanc region. Mont Blanc is the highest mountain in Europe and only about an hour or so by car from the city. Geneva is very close to France...I can walk to the border from my house. Even though Switzerland isn't a member of the EU it is still really easy to travel around which makes for good skiing, snowboarding, hiking etc. The Alps are gorgeous, you just have to watch out for those ski lifts!

Here I am with Riley during her visit to Geneva. We rented a car and drove through the French Alps, an experience I'd rather not repeat even though the scenery was beautiful. The French are really aggressive drivers...imagine all the angry drivers in New Jersey, hopped up on red bull, driving compact cars down windy mountain roads...needless to say we got the finger a lot and I even got cursed at by a Frenchwoman at a tollbooth when I tried to pay my Euro toll in five cent Swiss Franc coins.

This photo is of La Vattay, a cross country ski resort in the French Alps (on the opposite side of Lake Geneva from the Mont Blanc Region). Jules and Helen lent Riley and me their cross country skis and dropped us off at the resort. Cross country skiing is a lot easier to learn than snowboarding and a lot of fun. The only tricky thing is stopping once you have picked up too much speed!

A glamorous shot of my eye after the Teleski lift incident. Those things are a lot harder to use than they look...

Switzerland has progressive policies regarding squatters....right?

Apparently when people in Geneva refer to the housing crisis they aren't talking about the economy or the global housing market meltdown, they are talking about the fact that there isn't anyplace to live.
This morning I was politely informed that there was no way in hell I'd get a room on campus this spring, let alone a coveted student studio for $450 a month. I was referred to the University classifieds and strongly encouraged to take whatever I can get...as soon as possible, even if it is three "friendly" men looking for a "friendly" new "friend" to split a 2 bedroom apartment with for the small price of my firstborn child.
So the apartment hunt begins. If by chance you know any femmes non fumeuse who want to split une appartement meuble avec WC et Lavabo, please give them my information. pooImroyallyscrewed@gmail.com

Here I am as designer handbag toting hobo...or sans abri as the French politely call them...actually it's MK Olsen, but you get the idea....