Inconfortable

we finished up our week on thursday with negotiations at the UN and a conversation with the Austrian delegate. He's hilarious and great and i kind of wish we could be best friends.

We had Friday morning off so we decided to go to mr. pickwicks for karaoke as a whole group. Except erin, lindsay, and I got there first and proceeded to practice on stage before the others got there. One audience member goes, "was that you who just sang britney spears? Bad sound...but great performace!"....umm embarassing. Later on there was a great group performance of the spice girls as well...only slightly less embarassing. We even got Professor Garcia up there a few times. Thursday night proceeded on with erin and I making a last call appearance at our favorite spot and ill elaborate later if you'd like to hear.

Friday afternoon we met with our international co-op coordinator who is here in Geneva making connections with Prof. Garcia's connections to get us international co-ops in switzerland. All I can say is that Ketty Rosenfield and Denise Garcia are the two most fabulous ladies I have ever met in my life.
There were some alumni of northeastern who spoke to us as well. These alumni had no idea that Northeastern was no longer an engineering school so after we gave them the Northeastern Inc. commerical they were a bit shocked and things got a bit awkward.
We also met with some swiss private bankers who gave us a grim outlook on the economy but tried to persuade us that private banking is a great field to go into. Personally, since I dont even understand how to pay my credit card bill without help, private banking is not the field for me. Even after talking to the 24 year from Mexico working for Meryill Lynch who is making 6 figures and driving a Jaguar around Geneva who made banking sound extremely sexy- I just cant see myself handing other people's money because I'm not the best at handling my own haha.

One of the bankers was a schoolmate of prof. garcia and he is probably the smartest man i've ever spoken to...knowing everything about everything and just happened to "fall" into banking after working in foreign affairs. I was lucky enough to be able to sit next to him at dinner and pick his brain a little bit. OH because we had dinner with all of these private bankers and alumni at this cute restaurant in the old part of the city. it was the best meal ive eaten thus far.

Saturday we got up at 6 am and went to Paris. Let me just say, last year, I hated Paris. Because I got ripped off everywhere I went. Well, this year, because my French is so great now (hahaha) and I knew the vacinity of things, Paris for 7 hours was a lot better this time around. We decided to be uber touristy and get on a double decker bus and go around the city so er and linds could see the whole city. BEST IDEA EVER. 29 euro. BEST DEAL EVER. we could get on and off the bus whereever we wanted and how many times we wanted. Much better than walking around aimlessly. Then we got off and had a fabulous lunch and shopped in the Latin quarter for some souveniers. I love Paris as a tourist.

The train ride home from Paris was a quick 3 and a half hours (compared to the 8 hours from Venice). Sounds lovely right? Well no. We were tired, delirious, and acting very American. and being judged for it. But I'm over it. i AM from the US. judge me. hahha

Today, irony caught up to us. I knew it would happen after such a delightful day in Paris...the fates were going to turn somehow. We went to go take a boat to Yvoire, this medieval French town on the other side of the lake, but we get there at 12:20 and it leaves at 12:30 and there is NO ONE in the ticket booth. So we missed the boat on that one (ha ha ha pun intended). then we decided to take a boat tour of the lake and just as I say "we couldn't have asked for a better day for a boat tour" the sky on the other side of the lake starts to turn black and thunder. Oh well...the boat tour was lovely while it was nice out.

And, so now it is Sunday, and there is nothing to do in Geneva because the city shuts down. If you are hungry, that sucks. you have to go eat out somewhere because the grocery stores are closed and all of the shops as well. I suppose we will go get some kebabs or falafel because we went there last night and they are still in love with me at that shop. But, lesson learned the hard way: lay off of the hot sauce unless you want your mouth to swell up and cause you horrible pain.