Florence, Venice, and the Power of Pasta

Last Thursday, as Geneva was shut down due to a public fasting day (on which no one ever actually fasts, according to those more in-the-know than me), and the ILO graciously gave us the Friday after off (thank you exalted Guy Rider, Director General of the ILO, for realizing that no one would come in on Friday), myself and my fellow Cornell ILR interns hopped on a plane and jet set ourselves to Italy for the weekend. And, oh my, what a glorious weekend it was.

Reflections on Traveling

As I was taking my shower today, I kept thinking about my upcoming trip to Italy (mostly because I have to do laundry, I'm not sure how to use the washer, and I don't know where my landlady is or when I'll see her next to ask her). And, as I was thinking about this trip to Italy, I was thinking about how I, personally, like to travel. Now, I like to travel in comfort, usually, and I like to travel in groups. I can understand how people can travel by themselves and have life-changing experiences (and I'll probably be doing some solo traveling, myself), but I think I love the idea of sharing experiences with people you grow close to. I feel like my best travel experiences, so far, have been with People to People, and that those have shaped my preferred method of travel.

And another week bites the dust....and another one pops up.

The view from my office Thursday afternoon

On moving in...

So, I've moved into my apartment for the semester, here in Geneva (didn't I mention it? Oh, I did? Sorry, I just like to repeat it!), and after stressing about apartments for awhile, but being lucky enough to find one that meets all of my very specific requirements (bed, wifi, bathroom, kitchen), I thought I would just write a little about something about moving in and away from your family, be it the first time or just another stop in the road.

And the vacation continues...

So it's been a couple of days since we've done all this--luckily I have both my notebook and my mother to remind me what's been done.

First Day In Geneva

The from the plane from Zurich to Geneva

SOOOO... we arrive in Zurich after leaving Montreal EXHAUSTED--8 hours on a plane isn't so bad by itself, but combined with people their seats ALL the way back into your lap the WHOLE (save takeoff and landing), it becomes fairly tiring. And then we find that we made a big whoops--Mom's flight Geneva is 3 hours after mine, and the airports don't have convenient seating, forcing me to spend the three hours in a highly uncomfortable chair. Combined with jet lag, it's a wonder we even got to our hotel. But get to it we did! The Hotel Edelweiss, a quaint little number with accompanying fondue restaurant, is in a quiet part of Paquis, and has everything we need--beds, a shower, and a door to lock at night. After arriving, and our room not being ready, we drop our bags and head out for a walk along Bains de Paquis, the promenade along Lac Leman, or Lake Geneva. And find a small park that is heralded at the entrance by a mausoleum, and a cute cottage cafe (whose name is literally Cottage Cafe) where we get much needed sustenance in the form of fruit (did I mention there's no food in baggage claim of the airport? Well, there isn't.) and a little coffee. And then, blessedly, our room is ready so we take the required jet lag nap. And a glorious nap it was. And then. We do things.

I C.U.~Updates and News~

Back from the dead, with news to share.

So for the past academic year, I've been a student at Cornell University. (I.E., the only Ivy that was coed upon founding. Fun Facts.) This past year has been amazing, and I'm truly grateful I got the chance to change schools, and that my parents and family were so willing to shell out the extra cash to give me the change. Now I'm a student of the School of Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR), and I'm thinking about minoring in English and Near Eastern Studies (which is basically the study of the Middle East--and also referred to as NES by those in the know). I've been studying Arabic, Creative Writing, Human Resources, Labor Law, Collective Bargaining, and all kinds of other courses, and I've gotten into the salsa and Latin dance scene here in Ithaca.

Some people may question why I changed schools. It's a combination of a lot of factors: my first semester at Iona, the lack of direction I felt in my academics, and the lack of a good Arabic program being a few. Plus, the acceptance packet Cornell sends out. Man, is it nice.

"But Cornell's such a big school--completely different from your other schools."

So I went to a really small high school and middle school (relatively), and I knew everyone in my graduating class. We were around 100 kids. All housed in the same building, all people who knew each other for a long time. And it was great. I had people who I was really close to, and I had people I'm still really good friends with, and I also had those people that I wasn't so close with, but with whom I could always talk. The virtue of going to such a small school for a long time (I think) was that you got to a point where there was virtually no-one you didn't have a common bond with, no-one with whom you didn't share at least teacher, and no-one that you absolutely could not find one good thing about, because you got to know them so much, even if you didn't really know them. Don't get me wrong, there were people I definitely did not like, and those people didn't like me. But at the end of the day, we all shared something.

I went to Iona because it was kind of like that--the setup (small, private, Catholic school) was relatively similar to my high school, but it was far enough away that I didn't feel like I had to come home that much. But trust me, there's a huge difference between college and high school, and I think it mostly comes into play with housing. In high school, you go home and you're home. Maybe your sibling goes to the same school, but the likelihood you have the exact same schedules is slim, and they are your family. You kind of have to deal with them. In college, not so much, especially if you're an out of state student, and especially if you also take almost every class with the people in your dorm. Now, some people may see this as a plus (props to them), but I'm here to say, that's not the case for everyone. It's great to have friends nearby in the same classes, but living and taking classes with them 24/7? Not so much in my case.

People often ask: Would you rather be a big fish in a little pond, or a small fish in a big pond? The answer is supposed to tell you something about the person's ambition, what they want out of life (do they want the security and respect of a little pond? Or the chance of a big one, the anonymity?) First of all, there is something inherently flawed in this question: To be either a big fish or a small fish, there must be fish of other sizes, or you are comparing the size of the fish to the pond. So perhaps the better question is: Would you rather be a relatively big fish compared to the small pond, or a relatively small fish in comparison to the large pond? I chose the relatively small fish in a big pond.

And with that choice comes my big news of the day: I'll been in Geneva, Switzerland, next semester (from September to December) working with the research branch of the International Labour Organization (ILO).

(And despite the very professional way I have presented this, yes I am very very excited about it.)

That's all for now!