Inaugurating Study Abroad

I arrived in Geneva on Monday June 9th for the School of International Training's (SIT) program in International Studies, Organizations, and Social Justice. Since then... I've understood that the town I live in--Mies--is pretty much a minuscule village that nobody would attempt to tour through. I've been erroneously fined 80 swiss francs for unknowingly sitting in first class (there is absolutely no difference) when they could have simply asked me to move. There have been soccer matches viewed on the large screen in Nyon (not bougie enough to be able to buy tickets) and saunters past the home of the Indian ambassador by accident. And finally, I have taken three French classes at a third grade level. If you want, I can give you a list of colors, numbers, fruits, jobs, and could count up to one thousand (the French AND Swiss ways). It is all quite exciting.

Many other events have, of course, filled my first two weeks in Geneva. I've been through about a week of lectures and briefings which have been very stimulating. Even after this short period of time, I have already had relevant and useful conversations about trade, carbon footprints, peacekeeping, the WTO, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and the differences between European and American politics.

Our program requires us to complete an independent study project for which I made a small excursion to the ICRC library. My topic is on the intersection of international law, public health, and torture. I found myself, two weeks into the program, sitting in a dark room at the ICRC watching a tape used by the US government in the 1970s that taught soldiers how to care for prisoners of war (POW) in a humane way. The video was obviously pertinent but also a bit superfluous. Think about the superfluous nature of "Tippy the Turtle: How to Survive a Nuclear Attack" from the 50s. If you haven't seen that video, please go here: http://www.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=8126762 or google it in your own time. The POW video was shot in the jungles with the prisoners of war depicted as being of some type of Asian descent, an attempt to be in line with the contemporary conflict in Vietnam. It was both eerie and comical to look back at such a tape. An interesting point it brought up was the short time period in which a combatant, once captured, can turn into a harmless and unarmed person with POW status. I wonder how such a tape looks right now, in a time where the lines between combatant and civilian are extremely blurry in the first place.

Once I was a trained US soldier ready to battle the Vietcong, I ventured back out into daylight and took a few pictures of the UN headquarters and surrounding area. My camera is really not able to capture the vastness of the space Geneva is situated within, but I try my best. An even greater challenge was presented when we took a cable car up the mountains between France and Geneva. The view of Lake Geneva (Lac Lehman) was grand and we ate lunch while watching 20 or 30 parasailers take advantage of the clear skies. The hiking trails around the top of the mountain were worthy of a second and third visit. We only had enough heart and lung for one small descent and the subsequent ascent.

Other than the above events, I've spent a large amount of time with the other eleven students in our group as well as attempted several small conversations with Helene, my five-year-old homestay sister. The rest of my homestay family will disperse after dinner and she will look at me, take my hand, and lead me to play with something she is speedily describing in French. I won't completely understand until we actually begin to play but she could care less. We have already made matching collages of houses. These exercises are excellent for my French vocabulary. During the house collage activity, for instance, I learned that "pluie" meant rain because she sang it to herself as she indicated to me, quite clearly, the rain she was drawing on her collage. She is very patient. Never will I forget pluie.

So this post is both a bit chaotic and has no central point, but those are also characteristics of my first two weeks in Geneva. It is the first time I have been in a non-Hindi, Spanish, or English speaking place for an extended period of time. It is the first time I have been so exposed to an alternative world view of the political scene. Watch out American realists, Roshen is being armed with other ideologies to combat the power-centric approach to everything. It is also my first homestay experience. In a nutshell everything I am experiencing is raw, which is generally how I feel experiences should be. I wouldn't say my experience has been hard or taxing, but it has been a series of small and significant changes, including everything from class content and design to language to a more formal lifestyle.

In short, this is the first necessary post to inaugurate my study abroad experience. This weekend is the Geneva Music Festival so it shall be my next adventure!


Rosh