GO GERMANY!

This may well be my last post before I go bury myself crying if Germany loses today, so I've decided to make this soccer-themed. Also, because I was asked to blog about soccer, since it's essentially my existence...

me: I want to destroy all vuvuzelas

Cooper: yes.

me: they have these annoying horns here too that the people outside insists on blowing every time

theres a goal scored

outside the office that is

Cooper: ha

ha

it's interesting

how this is so much bigger than the olymics

me: I m

ean at least you know when to check the score

Cooper: in terms of fandom

me: duh

people care

its hard to get people excited when its a different sport every day and the only thing uniting them is

your country

soccer is the worlds most popular sport, most people watch it already outside of the tournament, no

one really watches the olympic sports normally

most of them anyway

and sin

ce the athletes change every event its hard to keep track and root for them, so you just root

for your country

but in soccer you get really attached to a team of 11 players, you learn their names and how they

play and really care, and they are human, not just people dressed in your country's colors, which is

how I often feel with the olympics

Cooper:

haha

so passionate laura :-)

me: also

in the olympics, yeah you can say you won the most medals at the end, but really there's

so many gold medals given out that the end prize doesn't seem that great. like when the olympics

are over, does anyone care who won the most that much, no you forget. soccer everyone

cherishes the hope of winning at the end, and losing is horrible, in the olympics you can say oh well

there'll be an

other event tomorrow. soccer is more dramatic and a roller coaster ride.

Co

oper: haha

you should blog about this :P

And hence begins this post. I love this sport so much because the passion it unleashes. Unlike any other sport, despite how much I love tennis and winter sports, there's nothing like cheering at a goal. There's raw excitement, people coming together, people all sharing a love for something, something that everyone can understand. Soccer is not always beautiful, but it is always exciting. And being in Europe during a World Cup is all-consuming. Yesterday, as I was reading the many facebook status updates about the US losing and all I could think was that now people can go back to not pretending to truly care about soccer. It's not about just cheering for your country like in any other sport, it's not like the Olympics. It's not a patriotic thing. There's something ineffable about soccer, something I can't explain why I love it so much.

I suppose the simplest way to explain how much soccer has consumed my existence lately is outside of the matches. Reading the papers daily, even the English ones to prepare for today, the songs playing on my ipod 24/7, the jumping out of my desk at work ("so, are you following the World Cup?"- random person we met. "oh God, don't get her started or this will take hours"- fellow intern), and any one who's had even a five minute conversation with me about it leaving it saying 'wow, you're a REAL fan'. I wish I could write more, but I must get decked out in my German flag outfit (ok, so this time I'll actually wear shorts underneath I think), so I'll leave you with my favorite Go Germany! songs...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e5DyjAIU9c

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeF-qzxdl0w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXYXYvHPkGU&feature=related

and of course...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gosJRIPbw7k

GO GERMANY!!!! BEAT ENGLAND!!!!!!!!

If nothing else, my little brother is optimistic...

And of course the psychic octopus is optimistic too.

Daily Life

Life in Geneva has taken on a certain rhythm, and suddenly time is passing extraordinarily quickly. The weeks somehow disappear and the weekends, which I live for, pass even more quickly. I have a solid group of friends, bizarre though it is since none of them are fellow interns, which is lovely. I can only be truly thankful that we were all waiting for the same tram that day. I'm starting to pass as being Swiss, people talk to me in French and I can occasionally carry on a somewhat broken but intelligible conversation, and people have asked me for directions multiple times and I can actually give them. It's finally sunny, so I spent the day at the beach (ok, so its a large park with a pool, but it's called la plage). I'm realizing that living without carbs isn't so bad. I actually managed to cook myself a full three course meal made only of fruit and vegetables and mozzarella. Success. I suppose I have no particularly sketchy incidents to report (ok, so some creepy French dude kept trying to get me to come to his house while I passed a horrific half an hour waiting for a bus, I have learned that pretending to have phone conversations is a valuable skill). I've also learned that apparently going jogging and then going to a soccer game in said workout clothes is not a particularly bright idea in the avoidance of sketchiness. My job is still interesting, though it doesn't particularly feel like we are saving the world on a daily basis. But then I suppose, more so than any other organization, the UN moves slowly and works from the ground up. Anyway, new post entirely about the thing I truly have been dedicating all my time to, the World Cup, coming tomorrow.

World Cup Delights

This comes on the heels of Germany's fantastic 4-0 thrashing of Australia, so my energy levels are quite high. Leave it to me to find the group of fanatic German guys from Munich in Geneva. And I made friends on the tram ride there to watch the other matches and party with, so maybe my great resolutions will go downhill. But all this proves that soccer bonds like nothing else. And despite nearly getting the cops called on us on the tram ride back (so apparently the Swiss also don't celebrate much), it was the funnest night in a while. Much better than last night, which was stereotypical Genevan.

I can break Geneva down simply: it's quiet. Last night, I decided, having heard from all that Geneva is a safe city, that walking around by myself around 10 to 11 would be fine. I was right, it is a safe city. I found a total of three bars in which there were actually people. In general, the streets were deserted. Now, I give the Genevans credit- there's more happening here than in Basel. But that's not saying much. As a whole, I do not recommend this as a place to come to party. Or sightsee for that matter, as this afternoon as I decided to go out sightseeing and looked up top sights in Geneva online, I found that I had in fact seen them all in my 4 hour excursion last Sunday. So yes, last night was calm. I also discovered that while never really feeling physically unsafe, the guys in Geneva can be broken down into several categories.

1. Guys who attempt to give you things. Coffee. Ice cream. Alcohol. Money.

Yes, you read that last one correctly. Apparently being a girl by yourself makes you a prostitute. Never mind that I was wearing jeans and a long sleeved shirt. I still do not know if I should feel flattered or offended by this incident.

2. Guys who creepishly stare at you and yell things at you in French. This is 90% of them.

3. Guys who are not actually Swiss. You will be confused as to why they are not being as creepy as the ones in the first two categories. You will then see them pull out a map or speak a language that is not French, and it will make sense.

There is also the fact that as a rule, Swiss guys are unattractive. This may just be my opinion. There is also a complete dearth of attractive interns at the UN. This all sounds horrid, right?

Well, on the plus side, that's where soccer comes in an changes things. Thank God for being a girl who loves soccer, and sports in general, which is apparently a rarity, but enables me to bond with others who share my passion. And celebrate. So let's hope Germany keeps on winning!

Finance?

In many ways right now I feel like Becky Bloomwood in Confessions of a Shopaholic (the book, not the movie), where she's on that tv show giving financial advice to people and her bank manager sees it and says 'Rebecca Bloomwood is advising people on how to handle money?!?'. Truthfully, in the book it is an ironic situation, and it is equally here. Now why do I feel this way you ask?

A month, or even a week ago, if you'd asked me about finance I'd have said that it's a topic that I avoid at all costs. Inflation is about the extent of vocabulary I understand in the field. In fact, the economics requirement is the primary reason I did not transfer into the SFS, a decision I've regretted many times. Now, whoever has decided that I am qualified to write a paper for publication by the UN on human rights, government, and finance in Africa or something of that nature, must be off their rocker right? Those of you who know me, and I assume all my readers do (if you do not, that's kind of creepy that you're reading this, actually), will know that money and I don't mix particularly well. Sure, I understand that it exists and that I am a spendthrift, at least according to my parents, I don't believe I shop that much, but economics, investments, mutual funds, asset management, etc are all things that exist in some vague parallel universe for me. However, I am now going to be spending tomorrow locked up in my room eagerly awaiting Germany's start into the World Cup and researching years worth of financial information that I never bothered to learn. Should be interesting, right?

Let's start with how I got to this place. I intern at the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative. Essentially, they study how climate change, biodiversity, and human rights are affected by financial institutions and make recommendations to them on how to better apply environmental, social, and governance principles. I thought it sounded really interesting, as the UN is often not effective because it doesn't take the private sector into account, and the private sector drives the public sector in many ways. And yes, finance is a large part of that. On the whole, it's really interesting. They also do things like the green economy initiative and so on. Actually fascinating stuff. So for the first few days, I had lots of meetings and read a lot of material and learned about the workings of the initiative and did little actual work, and then on Friday I finally met with the human rights person who decided to revamp the section and do all these webinars and stuff that I would help her in setting up. Enter the head of the unit.

Shortly after this, I had coffee with my incredibly busy boss, the head of the whole initiative, (why he decided he had to time for coffee with me is still up in the air), who decided that since I was only here for seven weeks, he was going to help me get the most of my internship, do something really substantive, and improve my resume all in one. So now my project for the next six weeks is researching, calling a lot of financial institutions presumably, and writing a paper for publication on a topic to be decided, but something about human rights, either Africa or Asia, and financial institutions. Daunting, yes, but also really, really cool. In short, I adore my boss, who's probably the most amusing character I've ever met. And used to be a journalist, so we bonded. Overall, I'm pretty excited, not only because I get to have this thing published and not do menial tasks for six more weeks, but because I actually feel like I'll learn a great deal from it. So here's to researching finance. Two words I thought I'd never say.

Of Waving Flags, Jets, and Cafeteria Trays

Saturday marked my arrival in Geneva, after two absolutely glorious and relaxing weeks in Munich. Alas, as is typical for me, the journey was not a smooth one. After packing and cleaning in a space of an hour, forgetting my passport at home, the most rushed taxi ride ever, getting to the airport 45 minutes prior to my flight, and a flight endured through a pounding headache, I arrived in Geneva only to find that my luggage had not in fact arrived. I do not know which was worse: filing the report and thinking the luggage was missing but having the prospect of it safely arriving later, or the actual situation, which featured me finding my luggage split open with my clothes lying around the bulky baggage area. Apparently overpacking is bad. Who knew? After dragging myself to my hotel (I can't move into my apartment until next week), I collapsed, and finally awoke on Sunday morning, ready to take Geneva by storm.

I must say, Geneva is quite picturesque, if not bustling. I walked around the jardin anglais, saw the flower clock, the national monument, the Neiton rocks, the famous jet, and the lake. I must say, the jet was my favorite part, namely standing under it and seeing how it drove the water on the lake apart through its force.

I then proceeded to the musee d'art et d'histoire, St.Pierre, the musee internationale de la reformation, and the Place de Neuve. Speaking of the Place de Neuve, an apparently busy area, it is shocking how few cars there are in Geneva. Honestly, I could walk on the middle of the road without fearing for my safety. Ironically enough though, they somehow enjoy driving motorcycles on the sidewalk. I have almost been hit twice now. Clearly, this is my own fault. I also discovered that my plan of starting over here is going to work, if only because I did not see a single bar in all my explorations yesterday. There is an abundance of grass to sleep on though. Truthfully, it's a calming and quiet city. The place with the most people was in fact the Place de Neuve, where there was a pro-Palestine rally going on. Who ever said the Swiss were a neutral people? Lastly, there is an abundance of flags in Geneva. No, this blog title is not only a homage to a fabulous song by K'naan, though I confess I did think of it, but rather the fact that one cannot walk anywhere in the old town without seeing the Swiss flag. There are flags on top of every building. There are flags hanging from windows, one particularly pretty one that's everywhere, I can only assume to be the flag of Geneva. I don't speak enough French to ask anyone, though on the plus side I have managed to successfully buy food, coffee, and an adapter, without having anyone mock my French or lack thereof. At least they haven't spoken to me in English yet. And I haven't almost gotten arrested as a terrorist due to my lack of French knowledge, a la Paris two years ago.

There are also many, many flags of the UN.

Which leads me to the part you've probably been reading all this for ... the United Nations. Because really, who wants to know about how many museums I go to? Yes, yes I know, my squeal of delight at finding a room full of Corot that worried the museum guard is a fascinating tale. And if nothing else, it felt good to finally love art again, starting over is really happening. But more to the point, I started interning at the UN Environment Programme this morning. I didn't really know what to expect going in, as for any new internship, I was terrified, spent ages trying to pick out an outfit, and had absolutely no idea what to expect. Thankfully, I needn't have worried. I haven't done a tremendous amount of work yet, just orientation and learning about the different thematic areas, the head of the unit comes back from China on Wednesday and will give me a ton of projects to do then apparently. So right now I'm just reading lots of material and other fun stuff of that nature. Everyone is really nice and welcoming. I must say, just the concept of the UN is amazing. They have the UN logo on their cafeteria trays, which was pretty epic. And they actually shockingly enough have good food, such a change from Leo's. Also having an email with the ending @unep.org makes my life. Now, in a jolly mood, and off to continue to try to get my life on track by researching fall internships (and yes, I will instead by researching the World Cup, of which there is alas little sign here in Switzerland), I bid you all au revoir et a bientot. And yes, I only know that from the cappuccino receipt.

New Beginnings

Last Friday, as I smoked the now third cigarette of my existence in a crowded bar, I came to a realization. Two years ago, I could easily define myself: I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, and I do not do drugs. I’ve now broken every one of those rules. I could also easily define myself in other ways: overachiever, nerd, rational, introverted, focused on what I wanted in life and getting there. In many ways, I craved to be the person I am now: social, outgoing, spontaneous, irrational, bent on enjoying life. Now, as I’m seeing my life, or rather what I always felt my life should be, crumbling around me, I want to go back to being the person I was two years ago. I used to love classic literature, now I read nothing but fun and trashy novels. I used to thrive on art, now I rush through museums. I used to care about my schoolwork, perhaps obsessively so, and now I feel that everything I ever worked for is coming apart and it’s my own fault. Yes, these are not the hallmarks of my life, and I’m glad that I am no longer entirely the person I was, and that I no longer define myself through my academics. But I’ve grown to care too much for living in the moment. In many ways, these two months in Geneva, as well as this blog, will be a fresh start. My attempts to make amends, to become refocused, to try to find a balance in life. And where better to do this, for as I have learned today, there are no distractions in Geneva. So stay tuned for my adventures- for knowing me, despite my best intentions, I will still manage to get into many scrapes-, my musings, and my hopeful growth as an individual as I navigate the halls of the United Nations.