Land of Acronyms and the Worst Smelling Cheese

Guten Tag! I am so sorry that it has taken so long to update everybody on the happenings here in Grand-Saconnex. Since my previous post, I have found myself getting into a bit of a groove. Classes have begun and slowly but surely I am getting back into the academic mode. I am currently taking four classes: Two PS classes and Two ECON classes to be exact. All seem to be quite great. I am especially enjoying my European Economic Integration course with Professor Low. Professor Low is the Chief Economist at the WTO and he is both quite intelligible as well as a very personable person. His knowledge of the inner workings of the WTO and really the world as a whole is quite astonishing. It is quite weird being in classes with sizes ranging from 6 people to 12 when at home my class range has always been classes of 20 to classes of 300. It seems that every time I make a snide comment, I'm called out on it. But no worries my friends, that does not stop me! In fact, I have come to think that the professors here are much more laid back to both their Europeaness as well as the small class sizes. As an example, in my last International Business class we went on quite the non sequitur making fun of Canada. And what a swell time it twas.

Other than classes, my internship has taken quite a bit of my time. I work for the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development which is headquartered in Châtelaine, Geneva. I am interning with the Intellectual Property Protection Division which deals with the issue of keeping IP rights strong while still allowing for the dissemination of knowledge to the developing world. ICTSD does not take a position in any negotiations, instead they remain unbiased and merely try to get both sides talking to foster progress. My supervisor is Ahmed Abel-Latif, a former Egyptian Diplomat who was stationed at the Egyptian Mission in Geneva. If you can believe it, he is actually more disorganized than I am. Sadly, for some incomprehensible reason he would like me to work every other friday which cuts down in my traveling plans which means that I now must figure out which cities I would absolutely love to go and which I can leave off. It also means that I may just have to come back to Europe as well :).

My Job details are as follows:

I write articles to be published in Bridges, the ICTSD publication whose readership is in the thousands.

I set up meetings or dialogs between Countries, NGOs, or just important people to discuss IP issues

I take random quizzes given to me from Ahmed for no apparent reason

I check ESPN every once in a while to make sure my Hawks are still kicking arse (british english version on ass)

I stare out of my giant window and look at Mount Blanc, Jet d-Eau, and soviet bloc era buildings

I drink a lot of water giving me excuses to go to the bathroom, and to go to get more water

A slight aside on this water. First off, people here like their water as they say 'with gas' or basically carbonated. Thats just weird. Secondly, we have this thing called POWER WATER which is just regular water infused with oxygen gas. Its supposed to make you more powerful and work harder. I don't believe it.

This brings us to the poll question of the day. There are two possible trips I would like to go to on Spring Break, one goes to Istanbul, Troy, and Athens. Another brings me to the UK, Ireland, and Scandinavia. I cannot decide which trip to go on so I'll leave it to my loyal readers. Please comment on which trip you would think is better. If you are lazy you can say E for the Turkey/Greece trip and W for the UK/ Scandinavia trip.

Red Cross, Old Town, Jura Mountain, and Melted Cheese

Bonjour from the Confoederatio Helvetica (hence the country code CH)!

Orientation week is finally over and it seems that I have both just arrived and yet still have been here forever. I have previously left you off at the great experience of the US Mission. The next day we took a tour of the Red Cross museum and a tour of the old town. The Red Cross museum was very interesting. Below is a picture of a statue of a person helping someone without asking for anything in return. I have edited the photo a bit to give it a darker tone. I like it:

After the museum we visited the old town section of the city. It was also something that you cannot really convey in words. You can just feel the history that occurred in this city from the reformation to the Alabama claims arbitration. We also visited the St. Pierre Cathedral which is where John Calvin preached during the reformation. It is quite funny how things that Americans think of as old are quite young in respect to many of the buildings here and in all of Europe. Below are pictures of the entrance to and the inside of the cathedral.

Yesterday we took a train up to the Jura Mountain where we hiked up the mountain to a restaurant to eat some fondue. It was quite delicious. Very Cheesy. More so than cheetos. Geneva has been blanketed in fog however the train took us above the cloud line and the sites from within the train and during the hike were quite spectacular to say the least. Below is a picture of the fondue as well as my personal favorite picture of the hike.

I hope all is well at home and don't forget you can always contact me by email at Jacob.A.Chodash@gmail.com

Départ, d'arrivée, Nations Unies, and the United States Mission to Genève

Bonsoir from Suisse!

This will be a quick post and I shall embellish it at a more dutiful time.

And that time is now!

To all those who wish to know, yes I am still alive. This was seemingly one of the most smooth trips I have been involved in to date. No delays, quick customs, and got all of my baggage in one piece. The flight was long enough to be tiring but not too long as to be completely uncomfortable. In fact for the first time in my traveling career I was actually moved to an earlier plane in O'hare instead of being delayed. As well, a bit of mid-western charm got me out of paying a baggage fee so that is a plus if I have every seen one.

When we arrived we went to Geneva's version of Union Station (some jibber-jabber name in French) to get our bus passes. If anyone thought the bureaucracy was bad in the United States try coming to Geneva. Here is a picture of a map on the wall:

We went to the United Nations today. Although it is not the headquarters of the UN (NU here) it is where most of the negotiations and actual work goes on. The UN is located in Palais des Nations where the failed League of Nations was once headquartered. It was quite a site to see and I hope you all one day get a chance to visit. Whereas in America a distinct stench of cynicism exists in respect to international cooperation, once could really sense the aura of hope within the building. We visited several large meeting rooms as well as political rooms where important treaties have been signed. Below is just a snippet of the pictures I took, many of which illustrate the hope, size, and importance of the Nations Unies within our existence as humans in a global community.

We then went to the US Mission within Geneva. A mission is quite different from an embassy or even a consulate. Matters like lost passports or imprisoned citizens although troubling they are not relevant to the mission. Instead the mission is concerned with negotiating US policy with the many IOs or International Organizations located within the Geneva canton. This mission was very secure (yet not as fortified as the Russian Mission) and the diplomats within were quite candid about US policy and the effectiveness therein. In fact many of the diplomats who spoke to us seemed to stray off of what would seem to be established 'talking points' and into what is the more practical and realistic policy positions of the United States.

Find the mountain:

A little bit on Geneva itself...The city is quite expensive. What is called a 'cheap' lunch ranges between 10 and 20 CHF or swiss franc which are currently exchanging at a one to one ratio with the American Dollar or USD. These cheap meals are found in cafeteria style restaurants many of which are either in grocery stores, department stores, or IOs. Everything here seems to be a bit lazy or slower than what we would see in American. Even the sirens for the ambulances seem to be a bit slower as if they are whining "We will get there when we are good and ready." The public transportation system is self serve meaning that you can just get on the buses or trams without having to pay a driver. However you still need a ticket or a pass and without one a hefty fine will be your burden. I have been told countless times that this is the most snow that Geneva has gotten in years and yet it is minuscule in comparison with the snow that has already fallen atop our big shoulders at home. Many people here do speak English or at least Fringlish so as long as one of us makes an attempt normally you can find your way or get what you want. As well, I have found that many people also speak Spanish including the owner of a bar in Grand Saconnex which has given me the opportunity to dust off a bit of archived knowledge. Una cerveza más grande por favor.

I hope all is well in the states and I will most likely post again come the weekend.

--JC