Bon weekend!

So.

We need to talk.

I don't really know how to say this...I don't want to scare you away, and I don't want to move too fast, but... I can't help it:

::
Geneve, je t'adore.
::

Wait, Don't go!! I know what you're thinking! We only just met, and we hardly know each other, and I know it sounds crazy, but tu es incroyable!

Your fondue, in all of its cheesy, tangy goodness...the reflection of the morning sun and on your lake...your public transportation system more reliable than my 15 year-old dog...your melt-in-your-mouth-as-you-melt-my-heart chocolate...le sigh.

And yet, one of the best things about you is not about you per se, but about your utter connectedness - to the rest of Europe, to the entire world!

Living inside your beautiful canton, for example, made it irresistably easy to hop over to Berlin for a weekend (thank you, easyjet!) to try some amazing Flammkuchen, take impromptu salsa lessons from a 40-something Caribbean man in a 4-story salsa club, tour the Reichstag, visit the Berlin Wall, Brandenburg gate, and Holocaust memorial, have real Bavarian pretzels, and practice clearing my throat in desperate attempts to speak German.


And, mon amour, can you blame me for creeping away to peek at Barcelona for just 36 hours?

I mean, you practically *begged* me to go sample the paella de mariscos on las Ramblas, see for myself the incredible works of Gaudi that I'd only dreamed for more than a decade - la Pedrera, Casa Botllo, La sagrada familia (increible!), and, sigh: parc guell

...but despite the churros y chocolate, the sun on my face, and chance to be in a country where I actually speak the language, Geneva, mon cher, I missed you!

You are so sweet to come home to after weekends away -- now that I actually know which tram to take back from the airport :).



Disclaimer: I do more than just travel and write love letters here in Geneva! Just ask my roommate, I happily work long - but fulfilling - hours at my internship...more on that in a bit :)

Jenny Knoester just finished a grueling third year of medical school at the University of Michigan. She is a Global Health fellow in the Duke Program in Geneva on Global Policy and Governance, and she is delighted to be the Policy and Advocacy Intern at the International AIDS Society.