Hello again!

Hello there.

First of all--profuse apologizes for the long absence. Class ramped up toward the end of Term I, and I was putting all my energy into it...and Facebook. :) Well, I also decided to train for the annual Escalade race in downtown Geneva. It's a French-Swiss tradition, as it celebrates Switzerland's defeat of a French invasion attempt in the Middle Ages. I didn't really know the course beforehand, so I gauged the distance by listening to what the Swiss-French crowd was shouting. When I heard a woman yell, "finale!" about 1/4 of a mile before the end, I knew I better speed up and sprint to the finish. Overall--ran about a 8:20 minute mile for the 5 km, up hills on cobblestone. My classmates, Bam and Samiksha encouraged me along the way, although I think they were more excited about the free soup afterwards. :)

The end of Term I arrived on Dec. 19th, with a farewell Christmas dinner at the famous downtown Hotel de Angleterre. The food was exquisite and very French. As deputy spokesperson, I had the opportunity to give a speech and congratulations to one of the staff who decided to depart the GCSP for an exciting career with the International Committee of the Red Cross. The next morning, I took a 5 a.m. flight back to the U.S. for a two-week Christmas holiday. As always, it was a transition, but I enjoyed being back with those I love.

Term II began on Jan . 5th with U.S. week, where as one of the U.S. participants, I led a group seminar on the successes and failures of the Bush Administration's last eight years. I was a bit nervous about it, but not because of the often intense Q & A session that follows the 35 min. presentation. I was nervous because I was presenting my views against my fellow American's very conservative. All-in-all, however, it went very well as everyone was professional in the remarks and opinions, and even my conservative participant deemed the presentation note-worthy.

Speaking of "notes" (grades auf Deutsch...well "noten"), I had my Term I interview with the ITC-23 Course Directors last week, and was happy with my results. My evaluation was very positive (received top marks along with five other participants out of 34), so we spent the majority of the interview discussing my future career opportunities.

Planning for the future is something that is and has been stressful in several aspects, but I feel like I am getting closer to figuring out the next steps. More to come, soon! :)