Environmentally-friendly Geneva!

After encountering numerous instances of environmentally-friendly activities here, I thought this topic deserved a blog post. This is not to say that such activities don't exist in the US, but at least from my experiences, they are much more extensive and established here in Geneva.

1) Motion-sensitive lights
Not a particularly new concept I suppose, but these lights are everywhere! Take the WHO bathrooms for example. If no one has been in the bathroom recently, all of the lights are off. And each individual stall (they are enclosed) also has motion-sensitive light bulbs. And of course, all of the light bulbs are fluorescent!

But be careful! Once I was using the mirror in the restroom to fix my eye makeup (yeah, yeah, I know…) and I guess I wasn't jumping around enough for the motion detectors to realize I was still there -- all at once, the entire room was pitch black! Let's just say that my eyeliner definitely had to be redone afterwards…

2) Motion-sensitive escalators
Admittedly these are becoming increasingly common in the US as well, but over here, I don't think I've seen any escalators that aren't motion-sensitive. OK, granted I've only seen a total of 3 escalators over here (Geneva is such a walking city…jeez, take the stairs!), but still, 100% is worth something. (OK, excuse my blatant use of faulty statistics with little significance to support my overarching point…just trying to replicate drug companies' methods of data analyses…haha only kidding!, sort of).

3) No plastic bags at grocery stores?
As I approached the front of the line to pay for my groceries, I looked around for where the plastic bags were stored. A preliminary scan yielded no success and the lady at the cash register asked me to pay. As I swiped my card, I asked her for a bag. She pulled out a medium-sized paper bag and asked, ¨this one?¨ Sure, any bag would do. ¨20 cents,¨ she responds. And I pay again.
No wonder all the other shoppers were walking around with large cloth bags…and well, now I do too!

4) WHO's work on Environmental Health
Besides the WHO, of course there is UNEP and tons of other organizations with offices in Geneva, working on environmental policy. Just to show the WHO's involvement in climate change and health, here's an excerpt advertising for a lunchtime seminar today:

¨On Tuesday, 16 June, the Public Health and Environment Department will host a lunchtime seminar entitled 'Climate Change Prospects, Risks and Opportunities: Mainstreaming Human Health' in Salle G, at 12:30hrs. An open dialogue with Dr Tony McMichael, President of the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology will give you an opportunity to discuss population health risks due to climate change. Professor McMichael is one the world's leading experts on climate change and health. He has served on three rounds of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and authored numerous scientific papers, books and reports on climate change and health including several on behalf of WHO, over more than 20 years.¨

5) Tap water = really good-tasting drinking water
The tap water is definitely drinkable and in my opinion, tastes better than it does in NJ where I live. I went to school in Philly and I would not have drunk the tap water there without first having passed it through a Brita filter. I can't go into all of the percentages of impurities, etc in the water in both places (mainly because I don't know the stats at all), but it doesn't take a brilliant observer to notice the accessibility of clean drinkable water and the bright blue waters of Lake Geneva.

I've also read that Geneva has one of the lowest rates of air pollution out of all the OECD countries!

OK, well, that's it for now…I'll write more if I stumble across any more interesting environmentally-friendly activities in Geneva :)

Shazia Mehmood is a participant in Duke University's Global Health Fellows Program. She just finished her first year at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, and is very involved in domestic and global health policy.

Hierarchy in the Workplace and How YOU can be the Hero!

I won't pretend to be the Hero intern. In fact, only some of this is based on my experiences, and a lot is based on my observations of other interns and their strengths. With that caveat, I shall begin...

As most of us interning know, autonomy is a tough thing to come across in your first few days (or even weeks!) as an intern. By the end, we all almost have it, but no matter what, we are interns and most of our work needs to be overseen and approved before we move forward. Here are a few ways to show your supervisor that you deserve the autonomy and how you can play on your strengths:

1) Act before you're told.

You finish Phase 1 of a project. Your supervisor tells you she needs to approve it, and several other researchers need to look at it as well before you can move ahead. Except she and the rest of them have meetings for the rest of the day and are traveling for the next two days.

It might be frustrating to have to sit around and wait, but there are some things you can do in the meantime! Keep editing your own work even if your supervisor hasn't told you to do so, and email them every once in awhile with updates. This shows that you take your own work seriously and that you are eager for their assessment.

2) Be proactive

After you've finished editing everything you can possibly think of, look ahead for the next step. After Phase 1 is done, what do you think Phase 2 will be? Perhaps your supervisor told you. In my case, it would be to distribute our research questionnaire to the Ministries of Health. So, think of what the next steps would be. Draft an email to respondents at the Ministries, explaining the purpose of the questionnaire and how they can access it, and send the draft to your supervisor. This shows your supervisor that you are proactive and can take initiative on your own. Plus if you do a good job, they'll let you email the Ministries and Regional Offices directly and let you uphold these important correspondences because they've seen your work and they can trust your writing skills early on.

3) Offer to help- constantly.

After all of that- ask your supervisor what else you can help with. Show her that you're eager to continue with your project but in the meantime you're willing to help lighten her load (so she can find time to look over your work sooner!).

4) Finally, use your language skills!

For me, English is all I really have. It's good, but far less unique. Several interns here have the ability to take our questionnaires or powerpoint presentations and translate them to several languages. At the WHO, our materials are FAR more useful when they can be distributed and presented to those who speak other languages. Often, even our contacts at Regional Offices and at Ministries, don't speak or understand English well and feel far more comfortable reading in their native language. If you speak and write any other language, make sure your supervisor knows and often it's put to good use. It can be a surprisingly rare quality to have an intern who can do so!

--

But of course make sure you have fun in the process. Sometimes work can get slow when you have a large hierarchy above your head, but small things can hopefully give you more autonomy and show your supervisors that you deserve it. And hopefully it will make your work even more rewarding in the end :) Hope this helps!



Shazia Mehmood is a participant in Duke University's Global Health Fellows Program. She just finished her first year at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, and is very involved in domestic and global health policy.

Suggestions!

Hi! I just wanted to leave here some suggestions...on saturday I had dinner at the "Restaurant Edelweiss"...IT IS LOVELY! The food, the environment, the decoration, the music..very, very good. Contacts: 0225445151; e-mail: edelweiss@manotel.com.

And if you are wondering what to do "next sunday"...please consider going to Yvoire...you will not regret! Such beautiful little town! You can go by trolley and come back by boat..."La Creperie d`Yvoire" is an excelent choice for lunch!Contact: 0450728078.

Have fun!

Jorge


Jorge Ferreira is a student at North Carolina State University, Comparative Biomedical Sciences PhD programme, Population Medicine and Public Health concentration area, with the minor in Public Policy. He is participating in the ¨Health track" of the DukeProgram in Global Policy and Governance and working as an intern at the World Health Organization.

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.

World Health Organization, here I come :)

by Shazia Mehmood.

This morning, I woke up extra early to prepare for an exciting first day of work at the World Health Organization. I'll admit that I had small butterflies as I went downstairs to eat breakfast-- just thinking that momentarily, I'll be standing in the WHO headquarters with my supervisor handing me a big stack of papers and telling me to "get started." Although it didn't exactly work out in such a daunting way, I did end up having a busy (but productive!) day.

The morning was filled with paperwork- applying for my badge, submitting my Terms of Reference and Accident Insurance Policy forms to the Internship Coordinator, and signing forms to get my Carte de legitimation for living in Geneva. By the time I finished the comprehensive tour of headquarters, I was already exhausted.

One thing's for sure though-- even if I don't have time to exercise while I'm here, running around the WHO building all day should be more than enough to keep me in shape!

Afterward, luckily it was lunch time and so I went to eat with a few interns in my department, who are all amazing! I was also lucky enough to attend a global health seminar that the Director General of the World Health Organization hosted for all WHO Staff on issues that were discussed at the World Health Assembly. It was definitely awesome to see her speak and watch the forum and videoconferencing with the WHO Regional Organizations as well!

And from 2-6pm I worked non-stop. I did tons of reading, writing, editing, and a good amount of questioning in the process (thankfully my supervisor didn't mind at all!). I think my supervisor was actually happy with my progress, so I'm hoping that we can make good headway into my project this week! All-in-all: a wonderful day :)

Shazia Mehmood is a participant in Duke University's Global Health Fellows Program. She just finished her first year at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, and is very involved in domestic and global health policy.

Day Trip to Annecy, France.

by Dyah Kartikawening.

I heard that in the US, a hundred years is a long time, but in Europe, a hundred miles is a long way. My favorite activities (in addition to my fabulous internship at the ILO-IPEC, of course), is to take weekend trips around many small towns and destinations nearby Geneva.

After researching (through google) and listening to my coallegue's story of her parents' honeymoon, we decided to go to Annecy, which is about an hour bus ride or 42 kilometers south of Geneva.

Annecy is definitely a must-go destination. The town website has a load of information of what to do and see, but the stores, hotels and restaurants available in the area seem to be ready for tourists. The bus leaves every morning from Gare Routiere (gare-routiere.ch) and the last bus from Annecy leaves at 7pm.

This is the "old town" of Geneva, in the medieval era that influenced the character of today's Geneva. It's located in the Haute-Savoie, Rhone-Alpes region of France, where the lake and mountain is the center of the town. I forgot to print out a map, but it turned out that we did not need it at all. The town is so small, we walked through it probably twice in a day! But, this is an established tourist destination, so the tourism office will have all the information we need: lac-annecy.com. And of course wikitravel (wikitravel.org) has a page or two of basic information.

There are many things to do such as sailing on the lake, or parasailing, but most people I saw were content and were having a good time, watching people, shopping, strolling, throwing a blanket on the grass. Every June, there is a big International Animation Film festival that take place in this town.

We came on a Saturday, where they have an occasional antique market, but the town's farmers market is on Sunday. We were lucky to see the antique markets and many other souvenir stores selling knick-knacks to furniture. Specialty stores, wine, herb, crazy herb aged-cheese that looks more serious to even to think about how it taste, to some monogramed mugs. The variety of wine came from both Switzerland and France (the Rhone-Alpes region). Since the stores are for tourists, we hit the local grocery stores to get some decent wine with a better price.

I suggest to bring some Euros, in case the exchange rate from Swiss Franc is terrible (which was the case with us), since everything in France is way cheaper than in Geneva (to the half of what everything is cost here).

The day was well spent. We had a good time.

Dyah Kartikawening is a student at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Department of City and Regional Planning. She is participating in the Human Rights Track of the 2009 Duke Geneva Program in Global Policy and working as an intern with the International Labour Organization - International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour. She enjoys photography, small things, and a cup of coffee.