doooooshland week dos!
Alright, so I’m a little late on the weekly update as my mom prompted me tonight so here goes…
First of all, I am pleasantly surprised at how much to do there is in a relatively “small” German city. I’ve been out so many of these nights and done something totally different each night. And school hasn’t even started for the regular German students attending university…they actually don’t even start until the end of October. This is a good sign.
So, this week has been really busy. Last Saturday began ridiculously with a make-up class. Seeing everyone roll up that morning ready to learn was hilarious. But IES redeemed themselves with a trip to France in the afternoon. We took the party bus to this giant castle on top of this mountain called Le Haut Kosnigsbourg. Although it was a complete touristfest the castle did boast a stunning view of Alsace, France and we lucked out with clear weather. Rumors were also going around that there was another castle nearby with monkeys, but alas, we will have to save that escapade for another weekend. After visiting the castle we went to the quaint city of Colmar (home of the designer for the Statue of Liberty) for a lovely crepe dinner/desert and of course, wine tasting. It just makes the busrides so much more…social.
On Sunday, some friends and I went to a local cathedral in Freiburg and I just want to comment that it was so cool not understanding a single word of the mass, but still knowing what was going on. I thought it was so neat how a language and culture barrier made me really appreciate the universality of an activity. Deep, I know.
Monday night was an IES “cultural” field trip to a Straussenwirtschaft, a local wine love affair, aka a seasonal restaurant located on the premises of a family vineyard. It was so funny, about 30 of us went on the trip and we round the corner to go into the restaurant courtyard being the loud, shameless Americans that we are, and just about everyone sitting there gets silent and just stares at us. You can just see them thinking “Oh god, more Americans…” Needless to say, as the night went on and the wine continued to flow, tensions eased. Overall, I think I enjoy German restaurants over French restaurants. The best was that there was no way in hell we would have ever found such a small, authentic place like that by ourselves.
On Thursday we had our last trip together as whole program (then the polisci focused kids and the economics kids have opposite trip schedules so traveling is more manageable) We went to Geneva Switzerland for two days. First of all Switzerland is gorgeous and definitely supports the stereotypes of cuckoo clocks, watches, chocolate, expensive food, and neutrality. Geneva itself is right on huge lake that juts into France, surrounded by mountains and such.
We had field study meetings and seminars at the UN, the Palais des Nations, on both days. We all felt pretty sweet wearing our personalized security badges and speaking in our personal microphones and headpieces. It was hilarious because we looked all classy and studious in our attire and demeanor during the seminars and then the instant the speaker left the room, we all turned on our earpieces and busted jokes and made bad impressions of our chaperones like eight year olds. There was some good program bonding for sure.
The first day we had a seminar with a Human Rights Officer representing OHCHR and an Economic Affairs counselor of Finland who holds a permanent Mission of Finland to the UN Office in Geneva. Both talks were interesting but I think I got more out of the OHCHR rep. I think one of the main goals of these types of field study learning trips is to gain personal insight on international issues that you can’t understand by reading a book. So, for instance Mr. Matthias Behnke, who was the Human Rights Officer, told us about his recent experience on the ground in Darfur during negotiations and then we got to ask questions. It was really eye-opening.
That Thursday night in Geneva meant a traditional Swiss cheese fondue followed by a night I won’t ever forget. The scenario consisted of us singing Bob Marley songs with a Canadian cover band in an Irish Pub…in Switzerland….accompanied by Swiss kids and 8 franc beers. Unbelievable.
The next morning (struggle) we had seminars with Senior External Relations Officer for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) followed by an Information Officer for the World Trade Organization. It was interesting to learn the different focuses of the UN in Geneva versus the UN in New York. Afterwards we made one final visit to the Permanent Delegation of the European Commission to the UN Office in Geneva and talked to one of the EU officers stationed in Geneva for UN relations. It was intense. Overall, I like the Swiss, but there’s no way I could afford another night on the town there. Too expensive! (But the chocolate was worth it…)
Most of this weekend was set aside for recovery but Sunday was a fun/random day. We went to this Black Forest German celebration called Almabtrieb which literally means driving down the mountain pasture. It’s basically a German celebration of cow herds taken down to their stables in the valleys…and it basically confirmed every German stereotype you could think of. Beer in the morning, cheering, decorative cows, luderhosen, polka bands, and hey, did I mention decorative cows? Despite the rainy weather, it was very entertaining…
While on the subject of decorative cows, my flatmate literally just walked in the door from Oktoberfest. It was opening weekend and he went to Munich to meet his dad for his birthday. Judging by his state, it looks like next weekend holds much promise.
Oh yea, I also go to school here. As a matter-a-fact, “real” classes start tomorrow. Yea, about that…
Hope everyone is doing well on the homefront and in the international arena :]
Much love always - and I swear eventually ill get consistent internet so I can start posting my Asian tourist photos I know you are dying to see.
First of all, I am pleasantly surprised at how much to do there is in a relatively “small” German city. I’ve been out so many of these nights and done something totally different each night. And school hasn’t even started for the regular German students attending university…they actually don’t even start until the end of October. This is a good sign.
So, this week has been really busy. Last Saturday began ridiculously with a make-up class. Seeing everyone roll up that morning ready to learn was hilarious. But IES redeemed themselves with a trip to France in the afternoon. We took the party bus to this giant castle on top of this mountain called Le Haut Kosnigsbourg. Although it was a complete touristfest the castle did boast a stunning view of Alsace, France and we lucked out with clear weather. Rumors were also going around that there was another castle nearby with monkeys, but alas, we will have to save that escapade for another weekend. After visiting the castle we went to the quaint city of Colmar (home of the designer for the Statue of Liberty) for a lovely crepe dinner/desert and of course, wine tasting. It just makes the busrides so much more…social.
On Sunday, some friends and I went to a local cathedral in Freiburg and I just want to comment that it was so cool not understanding a single word of the mass, but still knowing what was going on. I thought it was so neat how a language and culture barrier made me really appreciate the universality of an activity. Deep, I know.
Monday night was an IES “cultural” field trip to a Straussenwirtschaft, a local wine love affair, aka a seasonal restaurant located on the premises of a family vineyard. It was so funny, about 30 of us went on the trip and we round the corner to go into the restaurant courtyard being the loud, shameless Americans that we are, and just about everyone sitting there gets silent and just stares at us. You can just see them thinking “Oh god, more Americans…” Needless to say, as the night went on and the wine continued to flow, tensions eased. Overall, I think I enjoy German restaurants over French restaurants. The best was that there was no way in hell we would have ever found such a small, authentic place like that by ourselves.
On Thursday we had our last trip together as whole program (then the polisci focused kids and the economics kids have opposite trip schedules so traveling is more manageable) We went to Geneva Switzerland for two days. First of all Switzerland is gorgeous and definitely supports the stereotypes of cuckoo clocks, watches, chocolate, expensive food, and neutrality. Geneva itself is right on huge lake that juts into France, surrounded by mountains and such.
We had field study meetings and seminars at the UN, the Palais des Nations, on both days. We all felt pretty sweet wearing our personalized security badges and speaking in our personal microphones and headpieces. It was hilarious because we looked all classy and studious in our attire and demeanor during the seminars and then the instant the speaker left the room, we all turned on our earpieces and busted jokes and made bad impressions of our chaperones like eight year olds. There was some good program bonding for sure.
The first day we had a seminar with a Human Rights Officer representing OHCHR and an Economic Affairs counselor of Finland who holds a permanent Mission of Finland to the UN Office in Geneva. Both talks were interesting but I think I got more out of the OHCHR rep. I think one of the main goals of these types of field study learning trips is to gain personal insight on international issues that you can’t understand by reading a book. So, for instance Mr. Matthias Behnke, who was the Human Rights Officer, told us about his recent experience on the ground in Darfur during negotiations and then we got to ask questions. It was really eye-opening.
That Thursday night in Geneva meant a traditional Swiss cheese fondue followed by a night I won’t ever forget. The scenario consisted of us singing Bob Marley songs with a Canadian cover band in an Irish Pub…in Switzerland….accompanied by Swiss kids and 8 franc beers. Unbelievable.
The next morning (struggle) we had seminars with Senior External Relations Officer for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) followed by an Information Officer for the World Trade Organization. It was interesting to learn the different focuses of the UN in Geneva versus the UN in New York. Afterwards we made one final visit to the Permanent Delegation of the European Commission to the UN Office in Geneva and talked to one of the EU officers stationed in Geneva for UN relations. It was intense. Overall, I like the Swiss, but there’s no way I could afford another night on the town there. Too expensive! (But the chocolate was worth it…)
Most of this weekend was set aside for recovery but Sunday was a fun/random day. We went to this Black Forest German celebration called Almabtrieb which literally means driving down the mountain pasture. It’s basically a German celebration of cow herds taken down to their stables in the valleys…and it basically confirmed every German stereotype you could think of. Beer in the morning, cheering, decorative cows, luderhosen, polka bands, and hey, did I mention decorative cows? Despite the rainy weather, it was very entertaining…
While on the subject of decorative cows, my flatmate literally just walked in the door from Oktoberfest. It was opening weekend and he went to Munich to meet his dad for his birthday. Judging by his state, it looks like next weekend holds much promise.
Oh yea, I also go to school here. As a matter-a-fact, “real” classes start tomorrow. Yea, about that…
Hope everyone is doing well on the homefront and in the international arena :]
Much love always - and I swear eventually ill get consistent internet so I can start posting my Asian tourist photos I know you are dying to see.