Anna's Study Abroad Blog! (Comparative Public Health)

With bittersweet emotions, I'm writing my reflection for the last day of this course: day 26. What an adventure it has been; full of exciting new experiences, creative and flexible travel planning, inspiring speakers and contacts, beautiful sights and sounds, and, of course, Swiss chocolate :) Well, to start off the last day here, Olivia, Aidan, Hannah, and I all went to Sunday mass where the Ole alum Lutheran pastor who had us to dinner a few nights ago was preaching...it was a very simple little church in the middle of old town, so a nice walk through the city as well to reminisce about all of the memories we all made here. I realised that I hadn't been to mass since the trip began, and so going again was very much welcome. We stayed for a few minutes afterwards in order to chat with his wife and him, but had to sneak out pretty quickly to make it back to John Knox for individual presentations. They were very interesting today(as they have been on previous days as well)...

Welcome to day 25! Today was an excursion day to a little ski village just outside of Geneva, called “Chamonix” (it was Paul’s suggestion that we all visit this village as a class!). It’s in France technically, so now it’s safe to say that in this trip I’ve been to the US, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany AND France (and soon to be Poland too!) Like many of the places where we’ve traveled, Chamonix reminded me of a movie set; I could try to describe it using words, but it’s probably best if you look at the pictures!                                       I was actually feeling quite sick this morning, but wanted to go on the trip anyway since it’s not everyday that I get the chance to visit a ski village in the alps! I certainly did not regret it, but I paid for it in the evening since the changes in altitude aggravated the headache I already had, and it p...

Day 24:) Unfortunately our last day of speakers has arrived…they went out with a bang though, since today our speakers were (in my opinion) super entertaining, engaging/interactive, and memorable!  I woke up this morning hopeful that my cold might have gone away, but alas, I was wrong  😬  I think I’m just going to have to accept that I’ll deal with this cold when the trip is done…I just can’t justify taking any time away from class right now to help heal it because this opportunity will not be here for very long! I know I’ll have to pay for this decision later, but, as the orphan Annie (from the musical) says, “that’s not now…that’s then!” :) Anyway, after breakfast, we boarded the bus to a different part of town, it was actually kinda residential which was nice to see since we’ve been in the heart of the city for most of the time. We arrived at the building and began listening to our two speakers for the day! Speaker: United Nations Development Program ...

Day 2 of United Nations talks! Welcome to day 23, a busy day at the UN filled with plenty of very interesting talks. So, let's begin! Speaker: Lawrence Fioretta , United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Top 3 things to know: 1. The UNHCR was created after WWII and was only supposed to exist for 3 years, but thankfully has existed ever since! 2. Currently, there are 22.5 million refugees worldwide, and 40.3 million internally displaced people (meaning they’re people who have been forced to flee their homes, but have not or cannot cross out of their country’s border) 3. There are three pillars that the UNHCR tries to use in order to best help refugees: 1)voluntary repatriation (once the person’s home country is guaranteed safe, they send them back home) 2) Local integration (settling the person into an asylum country, hopefully establishing school/work/community) and 3) 3rd country resettlement (moving the person to another country that’s differ...

UN Palace UNAIDS Building    Day 22:) Today was our first full day back from our free weekend, and we spent it at the UNAIDS building and at the UN palace. Both were the kind of place where you walk in and you just know that things are happening around you that are changing the world. The UNAIDS building: working to end AIDS worldwide and end stigmas around individuals who may be at risk or are HIV carriers; The UN palace: the mastermind behind every single UN organisation, where the world health assembly meets each year, where diplomats from all 193 member states convene to discuss what will be the next steps for each country’s policies and populations. It’s a feeling that stays with you the whole time, leaving you slightly nervous, slightly exhilarated, completely awe-struck. What fortune we have as a class to be able to be here:) Apparently some of the meetings at the UN are open to the public, so perhaps if I’m ever back in Geneva I’ll come to one! Today we...

Welcome to day 21! I’m currently sitting in a coffee shop in downtown Geneva working on this journal…I debated working in the Starbucks down the road, but I decided that I wanted to find somewhere that’s not somewhere I’ve ever been before. This little coffee shop has  homemade  cakes, super strong and delicious coffee, and a perfect little nook for writing in my journal. I love working in coffee shops because it’s a great way to get to know the local community vibe through people watching:) I even ordered in French and I’m pretty sure that what I’m drinking at the moment is indeed what I intended to order! There is a couple having afternoon coffee sitting next to me, and on another side of me are two older women chatting about something in French, and they all have no idea that they’re now in my journal! Anyway, I’m working here while having great coffee because today is our work day, so I didn’t want to just spend it inside at the hostel. So, Aidan, Olivia, and I went ...

Day 20! After the bus arrived in Geneva at 6am, I got back to the John Knox center, ate breakfast, and decided to sleep in an actual bed for a few hours before we heard from our speaker, Tony Burton. I figured it would do me good to stretch out a bit, and that was certainly correct:)  For the remaining talks that we’ll see, Julie has requested that we use a new template for our reflections, so I’ll be doing that from now on in my journal! :) Speaker: Tony Burton, WHO (data analysis, used to work at CDC) Top 3 things to know: 1. The WHO began in 1851 in response to the Cholera pandemic. It began in Geneva, and the first director General(person in charge of carrying out the tasks appointed by the world health assembly) was a a Canadian(!) 🍁 named Brock Chisholm. It has since grown into a group of ~8,000 employees worldwide! 2. The WHO and CDC don’t ever send healthcare to countries, and they never enter a country without having been sent a request from that coun...

Day 19. Already? Why is the time going so fast?? It feels like this interim trip just began, and now it’s 2/3rds done😳. Well today certainly felt like it went quickly too-I went to the Neue Pinakothek  modern art museum with Jackie, during which we both spent a lot of time trying to figure out what exactly the artists were trying to convey through their exhibits, because it was all very much open to interpretation! We had a great time trying to get into the minds of the artists. It was quite mentally tiring, though interesting to see the whole museum, and very impressive-there was an entire exhibit just on chairs, their history, their functions, and creation-pretty cool, right? Some parts were sorta dark/grim comments on the world in which we live, som e were hopeful/bright, and all parts were deeply open to philosophical discourse! We enjoyed it quite a bit, and after feeling sufficiently culture-filled😊, we went back to watch some soccer, eat dinner, and, the worst part, I pac...

Welcome to day 18:) and happy Saturday! I promised myself that I would be up before 11am today because I didn’t want to waste the day, but the bed that Jackie and Florian gave me is so so comfortable, so let’s just say I maybe got close to 11 (😉 Anyway, because Florian was a bit under the weather, Jackie and I spent the whole day together exploring the city while Florian slept and drank tea…I hope it helps, it really seems like he’s got a tough cold or something :( So, Jackie and I began by getting freshly baked croissants and pretzels at the bakery down the road (how wonderful is that? having a bakery down the road where you can get delicious baked goods every day of the week! I’m going to miss that when I get back to Minnesota I’m sure) Then we went on a 5 hour walk around Munich, and saw lots of sights and chatted and (as my mom says) “solved all the problems of the world”. She was quite the tour guide! We saw lots of great sights-see the descriptions/photos below:) Our Delici...