Week one complete! It still feels a bit weird to know that I'll just be here for about 10 weeks or so, and if all the weeks go as quickly as this one did, it will all be over before I know it. Somehow this seems like an odd mix of being on an extended vacation and actually trying to have some sort of normal routine going. I suppose that's probably normal for a stay anywhere this length of time...not nearly enough time to feel like home...but a bit too long to just be wandering around aimlessly like you're on a trip.
One way to help with that is the reason I'm here in the first place. Going back to being in an office full time has actually been pretty great. Perhaps it's also a bit novel since I haven't been working full time for about a year and a half, and I know that at the end of these 10 weeks I go back to being a student for a while, but for the summer it's a nice change of pace. I'm interning here...with IETA...and am enjoying diving deeper into all things carbon trading this summer. It's nice to see how all these months of environmental economics courses actually function outside of academic papers.
Also doesn't hurt that the lake is just at the end of the street...awesome for lunch breaks and after work.
About a block the other way from the office is this giant park.
I've only been to a small portion of it I think...the map shows it continuing on quite a ways...but there is this beautiful mansion, with several other buildings behind it, and lots of sprawling lawns and manicured gardens.
The view towards the lake from the house
Huge rose garden that is down closer to the lake, a lovely spot for enjoying my lunch hour.
Geneva itself is sort of unreal. It's almost like being in a fancy yacht club in the middle of the mountains. Especially now that it's hot I assume, but the lake seems to be the center of most of everyone's thoughts and activities. There are plenty of places to rent boats, or take boat rides, swim, wake board, paddle board, etc.
But then there's also this. There are mountains to some varying degree everywhere you look. Perhaps this is just somewhere that really does get the best of both worlds.
One of the lakeside beach areas...this one is just about at the end of the street where our office is...my office mates highly suggest having a bathing suit at work, just running down there and jumping in and coming back. It is funny that because of how highly air conditioned my office in New York was, I really don't have that many truly summery work clothes. Even the ones I do have I used to wear with a cardigan or something while inside and just be able to take it off once I got back outside into the heat. Not so much here...we keep the windows open to get whatever breeze we can...but with temperatures in the low 30s...it's hot.
Sitting with a view of the fountain one day this week during lunch...the wind kept shifting as we watched people run back and forth trying not to get drenched. Hilarious.
This woman seems to have lunch hour figured out. She's there most days...complete with her beach chair, umbrella, and fancy picnic basket. I'm not quite this advanced.
That's about it for week one! I did sort of intend do go explore the old city this morning, but ended up enjoying whatever momentary coolness we had from the shade of our balcony here, and then ran a few quick errands. Melting in the sun while walking around trying to soak in some meaningful history didn't seem all that appealing. Soon though! Can't put all this off too long.
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