Upon Arrival

As we descended, I thought to myself that I had never seen beauty comparable to the view of Geneva from the sky. The towering Alps eclipsed the grandeur of the Rockies in my memory, and within the forested landscape, comprised of various shades of vivid green, was a scattering of houses that seemed to merge organically with their environment. Only when we flew into the heart of the city did it become clear that it is densely populated, with most residents living in massive apartment complexes, everyone living stacked upon one another like a round of human Jenga. I held my breath until we touched down, and then breathed a sigh of relief as four months anxiety left me. I had made it, and the opportunity that had been in question for so long was finally secured. I was in Geneva, ready to begin my internship with the Worldwide Organization for Women (WOW) at their United Nations offices in Geneva, Switzerland.

The experience leading up to this moment, however, was not without setbacks. A week into the spring 2011 semester it was suggested to me that I apply for this internship... within a few days. After an arduous application process mainly due to limited time, I was able to meet with the organization's Vice President of International Affairs, Afton Beutler, who accepted me into the Global Education Opportunity Program. From there on it was fundraising, fundraising, fundraising. How does a university student come up with thousands of dollars to fund a hands-on international policy and grassroots project experience? She works all semester, puts money aside, applies for grants and scholarships, and approaches potentially supportive departments on her university campus. Contributors included The College of Humanities and Social Sciences, the Integrated Studies department, Peace and Justice Studies, Gender Studies, the Utah Women and Education Project, and Internship Services. I was overwhelmed to encounter so much support on the campus of Utah Valley University. Additional financial and emotional support has come from my family, friends and mentors, who have really made this possible.

Once the spring semester ended, I threw the essentials into two suitcases and headed for the airport on May 15. At the airport I met my good friend and fellow intern Nicolle Johnson (www.awowexperience.blogspot.com) who contrasted with my dress suit and heels in her sweatshirt, yoga pants, and tennis shoes. I was thinking we would be meeting Afton directly upon arriving in Geneva, but I didn't necessarily take into account that our travel time was set to be 36 hours. I proceeded to pull a T-shirt over my undershirt and slip on my Nikes, yet remained unwilling to change out of my dress pants in front of the American Airlines ticketing desk. I then weighed the large suitcase I intended to check, but because it weighed over 50 pounds (63 to be precise) I had to open up both suitcases, transfer some of the weight to my carry on and just get rid of some altogether. Our flight to Chicago was a relaxing one. I read and napped and listened to music in a way that I hadn't done all semester. Our flight from Chicago to London was much the same, except add 5 hours, some snoring passengers, and microwavable curry. In London's Heathrow Airport we had a four hour layover, most of which was spent in a large shopping court in terminal three keeping an eye on the digital list of upcoming flights. When it came down to an hour before take off, we approached the British Airways ticketing desk to inquire as to the status of our flight since we had not seen it displayed on the digital tracking board, and she informed us that we had in fact waited in the wrong terminal for three hours, pointed us in the direction of terminal five, and instructed us to hurry because time was short. Getting to terminal five included too much walking, too much luggage, and a 15 minute bus ride. Once there, Nicolle had her ticket scanned without problem, but when they scanned mine they informed me that I had been booted from the flight. Panic set in. Thankfully, the woman who had successfully scanned Nicolle's ticket took it upon herself to contact multiple people and create a small window of time for us to rush to the gate of departure. To get there we had to go through security once again, but we made it just in time. There was confusion at the boarding entrance, however, because they had removed Nicolle's checked luggage from the plane due to the existence of another Nicole Johnson on the flight. This debacle took about 20 minutes to work out (holding up the entire flight, mind you) but after all of this hassle the flight to Geneva was genuinely serene, yet we both anticipated our arrival in Geneva, wherein our housing situation was uncertain and we both didn't know quite what to expect.

The feeling I got while looking down upon Geneva put me at ease, however, because in such a setting, one can only have adventures. We have been here for three days and have already had many enlightening experiences and have many fascinating stories to tell. Yet, those will need to wait until tomorrow, because it is 5:08 a.m. in Geneva and I have a long day ahead of me.

Bon nuit!

Our first lunch in Switzerland!

The Bonny's apartment building.

Front entrance of the United Nations.

The assembly hall where we hard from various health ministers and Bill Gates.

The grounds at the UN.