Hello,

Sorry for my delay in updating this!  I’m writing this on my very last night in Geneva. So sad to think! It really has been a wonderful past two weeks. When I think back on all we’ve done, learn, and seen, I’m amazed!! I feel very fortunate to have had this experience and I’m looking forward to taking what I’ve learned and putting it into practice! It’s given me lots to think about. 

Tonight, a few of us had one last dinner in “Old Town.” Complete with a lovely dessert of Swiss coffee and creme brulee. The rest of the evening will be spent packing and going through all of the materials I came away with from the World Health Assembly!

Earlier today, we had the opportunity to visit the U.S. Mission in Geneva. Their purpose is to work across countries and international organizations on diplomatic work related to health, labor and trade, the environment, arms control, human rights, etc. This was extremely interesting. We heard from a panel of speakers who represented refugee/migration work, the human rights council, economic and science affairs, and the World Trade Organization. Of particular interest to me were the speakers on refugee health (a personal interest of mine) and the human rights council. It is really interesting how much work is done in Geneva in the realm of international relations. The city really does buzz with it!

Following the U.S. Mission, we came back to the dorm, had some lunch, met as a big group one last time, and then we dispersed to do last minute things - souvenir shopping, packing, walking through the city, etc. I took this opportunity to stop by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). This past semester, I’ve begun doing more research into refugee health issues and it is very clear this is a major global health concern. They have a visitor’s center available, so I stopped in and grabbed some information. Maybe some day I’ll have the chance to do some work for them! (http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/home).

As for yesterday, we spent the morning visiting the International Council of Nurses (ICN), a global organization that works with nurses to advance practice standards. It was really interesting to hear from the clinical perspective how care is delivered across the world. Again, we learned more about how different clinical experiences can be depending on the country and region in which you live. We are fortunate in the U.S. to have the health care system we do, despite the challenges and flaws it may have. 

After our visit at the ICN, we had the rest of the day to ourselves. A few of us went and checked out a Swiss Salvation Army to see if we could come away with some good thrift finds. We left empty handed, but it’s fun to do familiar things in new settings! For dinner, we returned to our lovely Lebanese restaurant that we stopped at earlier in our trip. As usual, the food was amazing - I don’t think I’ll ever forget how delicious those falafel wraps were :)

The big news to share since my last post was our trip to Paris!! We had a really good time, even though we didn’t have tons of time to spend there!  Our day began bright and early - our train was leaving at about 6:20 am, so we met at about 5:15 am to make sure we were there on time. It was probably one of the easiest early morning wake ups I’ve had in a long time - Paris is worth waking up early for!  When we arrived at the train, though, we had some technical difficulties which resulted in us not leaving until about an hour after we were scheduled to. (Something was wrong with the track). Traveling by train is a fun experience though!  

The trip into Paris took about 3 hours - luckily, with the early morning wake up, we were able to get some sleep in on the way!  

When we arrived at Gare de Lyon train station (a main train station hub in Paris), our first order of business was to get Metro tickets and make our way to Notre Dame. After spending a little bit of time at the ticket machine, figuring out just which ticket it was that we needed, we were on our way! 

This was my third trip to Paris, but honestly, going back is always like the first time! Paris has a special place in my heart - it’s such a beautiful city with a (in my opinion) very fascinating history. I was just happy to be there! 

After hopping on and off the metro, we strolled along the streets for a bit until we reached Notre Dame. We had the opportunity to walk through the church, which I think is just beautiful. After Notre Dame, we made our way to the Louvre. Since our time was limited (and the line was long), we didn’t get the chance to go in. We snapped some fun pictures in the mean time, though! From there, we walked along the Champs, had some lunch, and then went to the Arc du Triomphe. We decided to take a trip to the top of the Arc and take in the view, which was fun! Getting to the top required you to walk up a winding staircase of a couple hundred steps to get to. The view was gorgeous though! (See below). 

Following the Arc, we had one last major stop we were able to make - the Eiffel Tower. At this point, the day, which had been overcast for the most part, perked up and we had lovely blue, sunny skies. No better way to enjoy the Eiffel Tower!  We also took this as an opportunity to buy some crepes (I had nutella and banana - so delicious!) and coffee and enjoy them along the river by the Tower. It was probably one of my favorite parts about the trip!

After the Eiffel Tower, we unfortunately had to make our way back to the train. The day went by SO fast (all of them have out here). The train ride there and back was fun, though. Eight of us were able to share a section, so we had fun just hanging out! By the time we got home, we were exhausted!

So that’s the past few days in a nutshell!  As I’ve said, this trip really has been an extremely beneficial, educational, and wonderful experience. I got to spend time exploring a new country, city, and culture, and I also learned so many things that will benefit me professionally for years to come. I’m going to come home with lots of think about and I hope that I can make a difference somewhere in the future based on what I’ve learned. In many ways, the journey is just beginning, even though the trip has ended! I appreciate you reading along - I hope you’ve enjoyed it! I plan to continue updating periodically on how things have gone since the trip - after I arrive back in the U.S., everything picks right back up! Lots of public health work to be done :)

Until next time!

Diana