Bonjour!
Where to start. Ok, so my job is awesome. My office has around 40 people, all from different countries around the world. In the programmes (we spell things the British way here, sweet right?) department alone, we have an Australian, a Brit, two Americans, and the other intern, who is ironically named Clare (without the i) is Swiss. So, basically it is a really international office. I found out yesterday that another intern at the office, named Jenny, is from Michigan too, and she is in her third year of med school at U of M! Along with one other woman in the office, there are three Michiganders! I think we represent Michigan pretty well:)
The International AIDS Society is primarily know for the large international AIDS conferences that they put on every two years. The IAS has been holding conferences for over 20 years now. The first one was held in 1985 in Atlanta, Georgia. What is so exciting about this, is that my job in the programmes department is to work on AIDS 2010 in Vienna, Austria! There is a large conference coming up at the end of July in Cape Town, South Africa (which i am going to!), so everyone else in the office is focused on that huge endeavor. Thus, it is up to me to keep the ball rolling with the Vienna Conference. I am still getting my feet wet around the office, so it seems like a daunting task, but I am confident that I can get the job done! Wow, that sounded lame, haha. I will keep you all updated as I get more involved in the planning:)
Along with the great things going on at work, I went to Paris this past weekend! It was a perfect weekend to go, because we had wonderful weather! We spend Thursday and Friday touring the city, hitting up the Eiffel tower, Napoleon's Tomb, the Grand Arche, Notre Dame, the Latin District, and Musee de' Orsay among other places. It was a busy but fun two days! As I previously mentioned Sarah and I were staying with my friend Amy and her family at their house near Paris. Unfortunately, Amy got really sick starting on Friday with Vertigo (inner ear infection that makes you feel seasick) and actually had to go the the hospital to be tested. She had to wait to get an MRI, so she was in the hospital for two days! It was really sad, but I was grateful to be there with her. I heard from her yesterday, and she is feeling much, much better, and the MRI looked fine. Thank goodness.
Our train left Sunday evening so Sarah and I visited the Sacre Cur Church during the day which was absolutely beautiful. The Church is up on a hill so the view of the city is spectacular. There are also lots of shops along the street leading up to the church, so we did some last minute Paris shopping! Aka, I bought more scarfs to add to my hefty collection, haha.
Anyway, I hope this finds you all well, and I look forward to sharing more detailed stories with you when I get back in August. I also wanted to take time to thank everyone who helped to support me in coming to Geneva. I am having the time of my life, and it has only just begun! We are hopefully traveling somewhere this weekend. There is another Swiss holiday on Monday which means no work and a three day weekend! (my boss wants me to come in this Friday...) But it is really hard to coordinate with a large group of people, so it is going to be a last minute decision.
Well, TaTa For Now -
Claire
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