Goodbye Geneva!! -November 23, 2008

Goodbye Geneva, we'll miss you!

We all had a great time during the last week. If any of you ever get a chance to visit Switzerland I highly recommend it, you won't regret it! Our flight left Geneva around 9am (Swiss time, 1am Arizona time) and we got into Phoenix around 8pm (Arizona time). Again, I had never flown Continental Airlines, but would defiantly fly with them again! My next big trip is to Dubai, UAE in April 2009.

I now have 2 finals to work on and another online class where we have virtual teams working on a simulation project. I get a couple of weeks off from school until January 5, 2009 when I start one of two week long residential weeks for Spanish class.

Adoios Amigos!

Geneva (Bern) Day 8- November 22, 2008

Today was our last full day in Geneva. As I mentioned yesterday, we did not have class today! So a group of us got on the train and went to Bern, the capital of Switzerland. As you can see from the below pictures it SNOWED which made for an amazing train ride.






The Cathedral, although similar to the Cathedral in Geneva, was spectacular. We walked as the choir was rehearsing. It felt like we had just entered into something magical.

Anna is from Russia and taught me how to use my scarf to create this neat hat to keep my ears warm. It was rather chilly in Bern!

We also stopped in at Albert Einstein's house! Einstein lived in an apartment at the Kramgasse 49, the site of the Einsteinhaus, from 1903 to 1905, the year in which the Annus Mirabilis Papers were published.

For lunch we at a cute German cafe. I had a bratwurst, some had fish while a couple of brave souls had the Horse meat dish (which they said was the best meat they've ever had!)

Bern is a beautiful city with cobblestone streets! The official language is German. You definately need more than 6 hours to see this beautiful place!

Geneva Day 7-November 21, 2008

Today was the last day of class, we wrapped up CCC a couple of days ago and have been focusing on Global Political Economy. We were scheduled to have class tomorrow, Saturday, but they decided to give us the whole day as freetime. Late this afternoon we went to the Infiniti's European headquarters for a presentation by a T-Bird alumni. The drive there was lined with vineyards as you can see from the blury pictures. We also had our last group dinner while in Geneva tonight. There were several toasts to the class for exceeding everyone's epectations and for all the lifelong friendships that are developing as a result of being in this class.

Geneva Day 6-November 20, 2008

In addition to class, we went on a tour of the U.N. European Headquarters. The day before representatives from Russia and Georgia were at the UN having peace discussions.

"The United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG) is the representative office of the United Nations in Geneva. With more than 1,600 staff, we are the biggest United Nations duty station outside of headquarters in New York and provide critical support to the Organization’s efforts. We service over 8,000 meetings every year, making UNOG one of the busiest intergovernmental conference centres in the world and a focal point for multilateral diplomacy. Together, we strive to strengthen our contribution towards realizing the vision of the United Nations for a more stable, secure and prosperous world for all."

Geneva Day 5- November 19, 2008

Today we had class in the morning then went for a group lunch at the Red Cross Museum. Afterwards, we went the the U.S. Mission for a presentation. Unfortunately, security is very high at the U.S. Mission and you have to check your camera!

Tonight we had T-Bird Ladies night. Out of the 50 students in our class there are only 11 women! So we decided to have a night all to ourselves. We went to dinner at Cafe de Paris where they only serve steak and fries. We had a great time laughing and getting to know eachother better. We went for an after dinner drink at a very nice bar overlooking the lake.

Geneva Day 4-November 17, 2008

Today we had our third day of class at The Graduate Institute. Its a beautiful building with amazing views of a botanical garden! We have it rough!!!

We also had a reception tonight for the Thunderbird alumni in the Geneva area.

Geneva Day 3-November 16, 2008

Another full day of class at the Hotel today. This afternoon a group of us went back to the old part of Geneva to see the Cathedral! Its absolutely amazing and words and pictures alone cannot describe its beauty.

After the Cathedral, we wandered around trying to find a place to eat and came across the below statue. We ended up at a Kebab (gyro) place!

Geneva Day 2-November 15, 2008

Today we had class in the hotel, Cross Cultural Communication (CCC). The professor is awesome! He is teaching our negotiating class in April in Moscow...but I think I'm going to Dubai for that trip (I've been going back and forth on this decision and really cant go wrong on either choice.) If you ever get a chance to do a COI assessment I encourage you to take it!

Today we also went on a bus tour and had a group dinner-Fondu!

More information on Geneva:

Geneva is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich). Situated where the Rhône River exits Lake Geneva it is the capital of the Republic and Canton of Geneva. The city proper had a population of 186,825 in June 2008 and the metropolitan area had 769,000 residents according to a 2005 census. The Geneva metropolitan area extends partly over Switzerland (517,000 inhabitants) and partly over France (251,000 inhabitants).

Geneva is a worldwide center for diplomacy and international cooperation, and is widely regarded as a global city, mainly because of the presence of numerous international organizations, including the headquarters of many of the agencies of the United Nationsand the Red Cross. It is also the place where the Geneva Conventions were signed, which chiefly concern the treatment of wartime non-combatants and prisoners of war.

A 2007 survey by Mercer Consulting found Geneva to have the second-highest quality of life in the world (narrowly outranked by Zürich).

Welcom à Genève

Well I made it to Geneva! Half of the class flew on Continental, while the other half took other airlines. I have never flown with Continental, but I am impressed! We flew from Phoenix to Newark then Newark to Geneva, a total of about 12 hours flying time. Geneva is 8 hours ahead of Phoenix. I dont think I've really slept much since leaving, so tonight I'll sleep like a baby! I saw one of the most amazing sunrises ever as we were approaching Geneva this morning, beautiful red sky over a sea of clouds and the mountains in the background. I didnt get any pictures of this, but I believe one of my classmates did, so i'll try to get a picture. Tot he left is a picture i took from the plane of the country side as we flew over it....it was really green!!!

Once we got to Geneva, we took the rail close to our hotel, what an adventure first just trying to figure out where the rail was, how to get tickets, and then which stop to get off at! We ended up getting to the hotel around 9ish, but they didnt have all our rooms ready so we patiently waited in the lobby. After we all got our rooms and freshened up a bit we ventured our into the city.

Geneva is beautiful! Below are some random pictures I took today (the internet here is very slow, i'll try to post more tomorrow: