Another week or so has gone by since I’ve blogged! The weeks here are just flying by! In fact, we already have a final exam next week! It definitely doesn’t feel like I’ve already been here 6 weeks!
I actually was not even planning on being here in Geneva right now, because right now our group is actually on an excursion in Interlaken. We left on Thursday afternoon for Bern and Interlaken. However, as you may already know, part of the study-abroad program here in Geneva, Switzerland is an 8-week internship for academic credit. Each of us met with a representative from EUSA, the European , who we discussed our top three fields of interest and then she and her assistant have been working very hard to match us up with an organization here in Switzerland. We start our internships not this Monday but next Monday, on February 25th.
Just before we left for our excursion on Thursday I found out my internship! I will be interning at the IFUW, the International Federation of University Women. It is “an international non-governmental organization of women graduates working to promote lifelong education, to improve the status of women and girls, and to enable women to effect positive change for a peaceful, sustainable future.” Next fall I will enroll in an independent study course with my advisor in which I will write a paper about my internship, that way I will be able to count it for my concentration.
My professor here who came with us from school, Prof. Craig Rimmerman, paid for me to take a train home early from our excursion this weekend because I was invited to a conference and dinner with the organization last night. It was amazing! This was a meeting at which the different committees were meeting to discuss their goals. The 40 some odd women who were at the conference and dinner were women with extreme power and influence around the world. Because I was the only person from America, many of these women were very interested in what I thought about the elections and the primaries in America, which was fascinating and I was blown away that these women of such power and intelligence were asking my opinion about the 2008 elections! Some of the women at the meeting and dinner were…Louise Croot, from New Zealand and the current IFUW President; the four current IFUW Vice-Presidents: Sushil Bhardwaj from India, Marianne Haslegrave from Great Britain, Shirley Randall from Rwanda, and Phyllis Scott from Canada; Catherine Bell, from South Africa and the current IFUW Treasurer; Nadima Simon Dominguez, from Mexico and a current member of the Finance Committee; Clara Ikekeonwu, from Nigeria and a current member of the Status of Women Committee and whom I sat next to at dinner; Regine Oltersdorf-Paul, from Germany and a member of the Membership Committee; Leigh Bradford Ratteree, the current Secretary General at the IFUW Headquarters here in Geneva, Switzerland; Conchita Poncini, a representative to the ECOSOC and ILO at the UN in Geneva; Cynthia Ghorra-Gobin, a representative to UNESCO at the UN in Paris; Ilona Graenitz, a representative to ECOSOC at the UN in Vienna; and Elizabeth Poskitt from Great Britain who was the IFUW President from 1995-1998 and whom I also sat next to at dinner. These are just the names of a few of the very distinguished women who attended these meetings and dinner. I felt very honored to even have been in the room with such women! Although I did not get to visit Interlaken, attending the IFUW meeting and dinner last night was an amazing experience and I really look forward at interning in their Geneva office for the next 8 weeks!
Anyway, so looking ahead…next week is a short week again because we start mid-term break on Thursday. One of the other girls here and I are actually taking a train to Venice, Italy and meeting my aunt and uncle there for a long weekend which will be very nice! And then we start our internships that following Monday!
Alrighty, well I’d better get studying for my Swiss Life and Culture exam that I have on Tuesday! Have a fantastic rest of your weekend! I will talk to you soon!
The Albert Einstein Museum in Bern!
