COP19 and Dialogue on Sustainability

I'm still not quite sure how the semester with the fewest amount of classes has turned into the busiest one yet, but somehow even this insanely busy semester is almost finished.  What should have been a reading week last week (and no classes) turned into an opportunity to attend two conferences, which I was extremely fortunate to be able to do.

Long days at school and earlier sunsets mean some pretty gorgeous views

Still not too busy to fit in a tour of a local sparkling wine producer with the Wine Society.

Or a hockey game...Linz vs. Vienna

Sunrise in Warsaw.  Early mornings and late nights for sure.

For two weeks every year the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) puts on a Conference of the Parties (COP).  This year COP19 took place in Warsaw, and the organization that I interned with in Geneva was able to get me accredited to attend and help them out for a week.  So Thursday the 14th I took the train from Vienna to Warsaw.

The conference itself was held inside the National Stadium in Warsaw which is still pretty brand new.  It opened last year in time to host some Euro Cup matches while it was being hosted by Poland and Ukraine. The main plenary rooms and a few meeting rooms were built in these temporary boxes on the field, and then many other rooms and offices were set up on the main levels surrounding the field.

The hallway through the plenaries from the inside

One of the two main plenary rooms, listening to Nicholas Stern give a talk regarding climate finance

The COP is the formal meeting of the UNFCCC parties to assess progress in dealing with climate change as well as negotiate and establish policies for the future.

There are also many organizations and countries who set up exhibition spaces throughout the stadium

The fancy NASA wall in the US Pavilion

There are side events going on pretty much constantly all around the space on a variety of topics.  This particular side event was about the human rights lessons learned through CDM (Clean Development Mechanism) projects.

The main floors around the stadium

This is where I spent a large majority of my time.  IETA had a room inside the stadium which they used to host their own series of side events as well as a space for partner organizations to hold their side event panels as well.

Our room was just past the locker rooms, helping to remind us that we were in fact in a huge soccer stadium.

It takes a lot to keep this place running.  This is the computer center, always crowded and buzzing.  And this is not even the media center...

Food being served in several locations, some even 24 hours a day for those negotiations that go into the middle of the night.

Emirates airlines had provided these cool bean bag chairs which were set up in the hallways around the meeting rooms, this is one of the rare times they weren't completely filled by people working.

And the outside of the stadium at night, with the sun going down about 3:30pm in Warsaw, there wasn't much time to see daylight anyway.

I did have Sunday off while I was there, which gave me a little time to run around the old town of Warsaw a bit.  This was my first time in Poland, and I definitely hope to go back and actually be a tourist at some point.

And of course, if there is a lookout spot I will gladly pay my 5 zloty and climb up the super narrow steps to the top.

The stadium off in the fog across the river

My dad studied in Warsaw in 1978 and my mom sent me several pictures he had taken while he was there.  I was able to find the exact spots to match several of them which was a really neat experience.

The sun rising over Warsaw from my hotel room

And of course plenty of pierogis and borscht, the food was constantly delicious

The following Thursday morning I took the train from Warsaw to Ingolstadt, Germany which is about halfway between Munich and Nuremberg.  The Ingolstadt School of Management was hosting their third Dialogue on Sustainability, and myself and 4 other colleagues in my program were accepted to participate.

The conference was two days of workshops and dialogues about various aspects of sustainability, including some presentations on the final afternoon about our work in our case study groups.

Our castle like lodging for the weekend

The final dinner.  It was really neat to be able to meet over 100 students from all over (although mostly Germany and Austria) who are also hoping to find solutions to make our world a more sustainable place in the future.

The gate into the old part of Ingolstadt.

And then yesterday I finally made it back to Vienna, where Christmas seems to have appeared while I was away.

I'm thankful to have a friend who knows that Christmas markets are the best way to be revived after a long and exhausting couple weeks.

No Christmas music at the market? not a problem.

Now it's back to hitting the ground running in order to get everything accomplished that needs to be done in the next couple weeks.  I have another elective coming up the end of this week, finishing my classes, final papers, and my official thesis proposal presentation.  I also need to stock up on all things Christmas in Vienna before I'm back to the states for Christmas this year.  I'm thrilled to be able to go home for a while and get my fill of that as well, but I want to be sure I also soak in all the wonderful things about this festive month in Vienna.

October Celebrations!

October is one of my favorite months, the beautiful colors on the trees, the crisp autumn air...so many fantastic things...but of course I have always been slightly partial since it contains both my birthday and Halloween.  For my birthday this year all I wanted was a nice classy dinner with a few close girlfriends and perhaps some swanky drinks somewhere after.  My dear friend Nora planned a perfect birthday celebration, I could not have possibly asked for anything else!

This is year two with the flaming dessert thing...and yes I do also have a photo of me looking horribly terrified...I should be more used to this I suppose.

Drinks at Albertina Passage after dinner.  We actually then all met up with a big group of friends from school to go dancing.  Those of us in our nicer cocktail dresses and heels were a bit overdressed, but definitely an awesome way to start my 29th!

Then...by the miracle of the Great Pumpkin or something...a box my sister mailed 2 weeks ago arrived on Halloween afternoon, complete with a supply of American trick-or-treat candy!  I felt like a bit of a weirdo with my bag filled with candy as we went around on Halloween to various celebrations to share, but people didn't seem to mind.

Americans sticking together to be mildly scary on Halloween night.

Those of us from our little group who decided to dress up.  Halloween still isn't much of a thing here, our various accessories and things had to be gathered pretty creatively, not just a quick run to the store to pick something up.  There did seem to be an increase of organized Halloween parties this year, mostly at clubs and bars, but our school had a fairly organized party at a club downtown that we all went to.  It's funny that most of my friends here don't have the same experience with Halloween that I do, having years of memories of deciding what to dress up as, and working on your costume for weeks before finally getting to wear it to school and march in a parade or something before trick or treating, but they're getting the hang of it. (4 of us in this photo are North Americans though...)

Speaking of North America, this is our best geographic representation of ourselves...2 Canadians...2 Americans and a Mexican...

Pumpkin pie makes group work better.

Other than that, things around here are pretty nuts at the moment.  My days seem to be scheduled down to the hour (including the 30 minutes or so I've allotted myself to post this), classes are in full swing, with one actually already winding down, final presentations and papers to be done.  The end of last week I found out that I will be able to attend two conferences later this month, beginning with the annual UN Climate Negotiations in Warsaw and a Dialogue on Sustainability Conference in Germany immediately following.  So many of the projects I thought I could work on over the next 3 weeks or so, have now been pushed up to the next 10 days before I leave.  Definitely not complaining though, so excited for both of these opportunities, and a few other fun things on the calendar before I'm back in the States for Christmas!