I got back from Greece a week and a half ago. Since then, it’s been a rush of internship days, three-hour French, and somewhat spontaneous adventures via train. I’m trying to savor Geneva and Switzerland more right now because I have some international trips planned in April. The program is halfway done already!

I’m writing this on the train to St. Gallen which is almost as far as you can get from Geneva on one train. As we move northeast, I’m enjoying the ability to watch the countryside go by. With my bag full of snacks and chargers, I’m set for hours in my little office setup. The reason I’m going to St. Gallen is to see my cousin who I haven’t seen in ten years. In an odd twist of fate, she’s engaged to a Swiss scientist and we’re all getting brunch together. Definitely unexpected, but infinitely cool. Last weekend I took this same train to Zurich just so I could walk around in the rain, see their old town, and check out the historic sites. I visited the National Museum of Zurich which has an incredible exhibit on Swiss history and the formation of the federation. It helped underline for me why the cantons are so important and how remarkable this peaceful formation is. While making my way up and down the riverfront, I also checked out the Grossmünster Protestant church which began being built in 1100. To give context, that’s the high middle ages. Despite the history, they had the most marvelous stain-glass windows I’ve seen in a church since maybe Notre Dame. I loved the union between modern and ancient which reflects the church’s stated mission to evolve with the times. 

Note: Public bathrooms are decently difficult to find, but the dependability of Starbucks still stands here. However, I’m still hurting from my seven-franc 12 oz Starbucks iced coffee. An expensive coffee on the train, however, felt totally worth it. The longer trains have adorable dining cars with white tablecloths and lanterns. As an old movie fan, it was a small price for the whimsy of feeling like Eve Kendall in North By Northwest (1959).

Now that we’ve moved into the second half of our program post-Greece, I have a new schedule. Mondays and Fridays are three hours of French, SIT seminars Monday afternoons, and the three middle days of the week at my internship with International Bridges to Justice (IBJ). I know that sounds like a lot of French, and while it is, we are learning at an accelerated pace and progressing faster because of it. Our big project for this second piece of the program is to write a paper related to our internships by interviewing at least three experts from the field. I am beginning to brainstorm who I want to talk to and what my prepared questions will be. However, It’s only been three days of my internship, and I feel like I have barely touched the surface. The first day was nerve-wracking as to be expected. Within a few hours, I was already assigned a project. This past week was an especially weird one to join IBJ I think because they were in a rush to finish a major grant. Before I knew it, I was writing a budget narrative, checking numbers, and formatting their grant application. What has been most reassuring about my internship is that there are three other interns, at least that I’ve met so far, who are from other programs based in Geneva. We sit together in the main room and it’s been nice to have collaborators/coworkers. It’s a small headquarters office of mainly upper-level administrators since IBJ’s real employment base is at its Justice Resource Centers offices overseas. The Geneva headquarters is kind of like the central nervous system to their employees, partners, and programs overseas.

I’d be remiss to not also briefly mention my other train-enabled escapades. 

Montreux: Gorgeous city of lake riviera and a one-hour train ride from Geneva. It lived up to its reputation as a place Hollywood golden age celebrities would escape to… Charlie Chaplin, Coco Chanel, and Freddie Mercury. However, that was just the beginning, since the real treat was taking the cog railway (Swiss pass applicable) up the mountain to the tiny ski resort of Rochers-de-Naye. I forgot about how snowy it would be and we scrambled/slid up and down the slopes to the viewpoint.

Versoix Chocolate Festival: This is serious business. This festival is the annual gathering of the best chocolatiers in the region for a showcase of chocolate sculptures and unique flavors. Don’t be fooled by the crowds of children running around with chocolate on their faces, Swiss chocolatiers do not mess around and hold court over their superior chocolate booths with reserved elegance. Behold my variety of emotions as I bite into a chocolate truffle I could not read the label of…

Joy? Intrigue? Disgust? Delight?

Finances (Thursday 3/16-Saturday 3/25):

– 25 CHF on chocolate

– 20 CHF for crepes in Yvoire

– 20 CHF lunch from Manor in Geneva

– 15 CHF on various coffees

– 8 CHF on museum pass

– 150 CHF on groceries/lunches

= 238 CHF/258 USD

*estimates, not exact figures. Not sure why so much at Migros lately. Might update.