good times in good ol' geneve

During my last two weeks in Geneva, I didn’t go to work that often (but I was in class, so I have a valid excuse), but I also didn’t really blog. I had a great time during the end of my stay though and actually was sad to leave, especially because I ended up meeting a lot of cool people (y’all know who you are) through the fellows program during class. Here are some scattered memories that I wanted to jot down while still jetlagged, so I can pretend I’m still somewhat in Geneva. I’ve always found it hard to blog about my experiences in another country after the fact, and since I’m now back in the US, I want to get down as much as I can before I lose the essence of what it was like for me to be in Switzerland.

In no particular order (and definitely not of importance), here are my fave memories of Geneve. (Sorry for the inside jokes, but someone will get them who reads it)

- Googlechat with kim at work, ‘WHAT is your father’s name?’ Sharing stories from our respective childhoods involving such entities as dance teams, the Thai Community, most embarrassing moments, crappy ex-‘s, and more. The implosion of the African Studies Institute at Columbia. (This was not a fave memory, but the use of the word implosion was). Kim as mystery friend to other people we know.

- Long lunch meetings at IOM with thiru

- Cocktails and dinner with Cecilia and crew. Finding out Cecilia is also Theravada Buddhist! Listening to policy wonks discuss (while drunk) issues such as access to second line treatment, a new approach to research and development, and the selection of a new Director-General for the WHO

- Late nights at Central Perk (I will enclose a picture – it’s really a café that’s scammed off of the sitcom FRIENDS)…food and drinks with my two bf’s in Geneve (you know who you are)

- Watching World Cup Matches at Scandale, this lounge/bar in Geneva. Once when I was there with Nina, watching as the place turned into a Japan/Australia reception with random white people doing taiko drumming immediately after the match ended. The place being infiltrated by tons of Japanese expats.

- Jeck’s place with Kim and Thiru. YUMMY! (can we get a bigger carafe of water possibly?)

- D-Vine (a wine bar) with Kim, clueless waitress (the wine bottles ARE labeled), and drunk dude who was excited that we had put our feet up on other chairs.

- Thiru introducing me to some cool peeps at the WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) Development Agenda Meeting. People from Brazil arguing about the best place to go on a honeymoon (Chris and I plan to go to Brazil!) A guy from IP-Watch remembering me from looking at my resume! 80 centime coffee!

- Sweet beer at La Terrasse, which still reminds me of a random frat party.

- Falling asleep on the little motorboat Roxanne, Amit, Aditya, Jenny, Jen, and I rented in Lausanne

- Getting giggly on the train back from Montreux

- Swapping boy stories with Roxanne

- Cheering for Portugal in a sea of British fans during the England/Portugal match in Montreux. Being sad yesterday when Portugal couldn’t follow through and lost to France.

- Hanging out with Pan one day after I got locked out of the apartment, eating a yummilicious Greek salad at a cute bakery/chocolaterie, finding new cute places in Geneva, people watching on a park bench in Place Neuve
- Fondue at Home St. Pierre (I know, local Genevois, that fondue in summer is a no-no…it wasn’t my idea!), Harold being upset about Buffett donating all his $$ to the Gates Foundation (all power shouldn’t be concentrated in one place), eating a lot of salami

- My ‘special’ meeting with T, in which a certain girl F was not invited ;)

- Roxanne speaking every language to random hotel people in Cinque Terre. Hanging out at America, America with 15 year old kids flirting with each other over pool tables

- Brunch at Le Calamar with Thiru, Roxanne, Jen, and Kim. Terrible European service. Kim dying of hunger and thirst.

me, kim, roxanne, and jen


Golden Paradise Flying Cheesesteak.

- Gazosa and kir at Le Barge with Kim and Thiru, this cool trailer set up near the river that raises money for local charities.



- Diabolos (Limonade with Peach syrup) at Café Arts

- Neverending hunt for Lemon Soda (this stuff is da bomb, and has little pieces of lemon floating around in it and isn't too sweet. We only could find it in Italy and Switzerland bordering Italy)….being sad that limonade in Geneva=Sprite and that iced tea was never available (even though hot tea was)

v
enjoying lemon soda in cinque terre (i got everyone hooked)

- Flight home from Paris. Sitting next to a super Chinese dude who kept asking me about myself at the beginning of the trip and then after much prodding finally revealing that he was a professor at the medical school but did research in the field of tumor biology. Asking me if I knew that Michigan was a good med school and telling me its ranking. I was like uh, actually, our ranking fell last year, but I didn’t say it. Of course I know about the med school, I just spent the last three years of my life there.

- Ramseier (I probably spelled this wrong) carbonated apple drink from the German part of Switzerland

- Hanging out with Jen (sans a certain person we know).  Making last minute travel plans.

- Good coffee, but why is it in little cups?

- Yummy chocolate (although I didn’t have much of it)

- Cereal with strawberries, courtesy of Pan

- Kumar making fun of me saying, ‘Hi! What is going on? (you can insert any number of random questions here)’

- David Heymann telling me to finish residency. Harold telling me that it was necessary

Things I won’t miss about Geneva

- The price of food
- Everything closed on Sunday
- Everything closed at like 6 pm on weekdays
- French! (mostly because I don’t speak it). I like that lots of words end in ‘-erie’ though. Confiserie, chocolaterie, patisserie, etc.
- No air conditioning anywhere (what’s wrong with you people?! Near the end, I would go to work and sweat up a storm just sitting at the computer)
- Dirty looks from dirty men!
- The size of washing machines (I really did essentially all my laundry in one load when I got back to the US. Amazing!)
- Honking and/or screaming (aka general madness) post-World Cup matches until three in the morning