All over and back again…
2 Weeks of the "magical bus" tour and I am glad to be on this side of it all, filling you all in... It was an interesting trip on many fronts. Trying to convey the exact flavor of this trip would be pretty much impossible to do, but I will try to relay some of the high points of the trip… After leaving Lugano far too early in the morning on Sunday, we headed northwest to Geneva. Overall Geneva has been my least favorite Swiss city that I have visited so far. But we had the opportunity to visit a couple of organizations that made our stop there worth while. As I previouslymentioned we stopped into the Red Cross/Red Crescent Museum. It was a very well done museum that took us through past and present functions of the organizations doings. We also had the opportunity to visit the UN which is massive! The first portion of the buildings were built for the League of Nations after WWII, but were consequently handed over to the United Nations at the creation of the organization. My favorite visit of the whole trip was in Geneva when we visited the United Nations High Council for Refugees. The UNHCR presentation was one of the few presentations done by an actual field official. He knew his stuff when it came to the organization and he actually had real hands on experience in situations such as the refugee camps set up in Chad because of the Crisis in Sudan. This visit was by far one of the most interesting that I sat in on. This solidifies my desire to gain real world experience before becoming a teacher.
Next we headed to Paris! I LOVE PARIS! The thing about Paris was that our professor had originally planned for us to visit quite a few organizations in Paris, but many of them had to cancel on him for various reasons, which left a lot of unexpected free time in Paris! A great place for such things to happen!! I had a bit of time with Natalie while I was there. We went to the Latin quarter one night and had coffee near the Eiffel Tower the next morning. It was nice to meet up with her. I miss getting to travel with her and see her all the time. It was also in Paris that Jen and I got to know another couple of people on the trip. We had an awesome free day of going to the Louver and the up to Montmartre where there Sacre-Coeur Cathedral sits. . Anca and Adam made a fantastic addition to our tiny duo. We ran around Montmartre looking for places that were in the Movie “Amalie” (great French flick, if you are in the mood for subtitles). We The next day we went to one more organization and our guided tour of Paris after which we ran around for a bit more. We ended our night with a crape under the Eiffel Tower… It was absolutely wonderful. SIGH…. That city is fantastic…. My favorite by far!
We went to Brussels the next day where we spent a good chunk of our trip. We had the opportunity to eat many Belgium waffles and chocolate (and it shows) which, by the way was challenging the Swiss chocolate by the time we left. The city of Brussels has this tiny fountain of a little boy peeing. They have a rather weird fascination of dressing this fountain up and having a party while doing so… its is a rather weird social thing, but I guess whatever creates an opportunity for beer eh!? They have an extreme attachment to their beer. Ask any Belgian what is the best thing in their country, and beer would make spot number one. We also had an awesome day trip to Bruges. It was a really well preserved 13th century port town called the “Venice of the North”. With it being fall, the cool crisp air added to the falling leaves and old world feel of the city. It was a beautiful place that I don’t think we had enough time in, worth a quick trip to Brussels from England if you are ever in the area.
Next we ended up in Luxembourg (where I last updated from). Now THAT was a city that exceeded its small borders! Luxembourg is a beautiful city, and all the people we met were very nice. There wasn’t far too much to do, but the beauty of the “castle” (which turned out to be a bank) and the leaves changing on the trees, Luxembourg was a beautiful country that I feel so blessed to have seen. Hopefully one day I can go back and explore a bit more.
The next day we left for Strasbourg which, just as Luxembourg, we also only had one night in. We visited the European Council which was our final international organization meeting… and it couldn’t have been more welcome. After two weeks of not knowing whether or not an organization was going to be worth your time (and sadly a lot of them weren’t) it was time to finish off the visits to the international organizations. I most definitely enjoyed getting a chance to get an insiders view into these places. I know I will never have another opportunity like it. Strasbourg was nice but just like the need to be done with the International Organizations, I was also ready to get back to Southern Switzerland. So after 28 hours total on a bus ride through 4 countries and 6 cities we arrived back in Lugano exhausted, but very happy to be back… thus started the tail end of my trip… it was only a matter of 2 months before I was back in the states- that is one of the weirdest statements I have ever heard!
I know, this was a very superficial brief overview of my two week trip, but I promise… come find me, call me, or take me out to coffee (even better) and I will fill you in on all the details of my adventures from July 15th to December 17th when I finally arrive home… But I guess my adventures won’t stop there now will they!?!?!
