Back to Switzerland

From March 23rd to April 2nd I was out of the country (Canada) on a trip to Switzerland with 11 other UBC students for the Harvard World Model United Nations conference in Geneva. While the conference itself was poorly run and couldn't compare to the level of the UBC Model UN in January, the trip was still very much worthwhile and a terrific experience. As usual, I took a lot of photos.

Our private plane to Seattle:




Sara made friends with tiny children on every flight




Sara also thought she lost stuff a million times, and in this case actually DID leave her iPod behind on the plane when we landed in Copenhagen (she got it back)



Once we arrived in Geneva, time to take the train into town



I got a Rolex for $10 in Thailand... works fine.



UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency headquarters



International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, founded in Geneva



Just outside the Red Cross Museum, which of these things is not like the others?



Drew, Kat, and I chose to eat a cheap lunch by shopping for groceries and eating in our hotel room, and it was DELICIOUS! We're good sandwich-makers.



We got a private visit with the International Organisation for Migration. This is the stylish waiting room.



Juan with the IOM flag. The IOM is not a UN Agency, but works with UN agencies and other humanitarian agencies. The visit was really educational and I'm seriously considering doing an internship with them during my Master's degree, as I was really impressed by the staff members who put a lot of effort into their presentations for us.



Devon, Sara and Juan taking a break in my room.



We had a rather lacklustre visit to the dreary campus of Webster University, and the highlight of that excursion was this brochure. If you don't understand why I think it's funny, please ask and I will explain to you.



Sara, acting as Mom during the trip, tucks Cam into bed.



Juan and I visited a really neat museum of art and history, and this piece of armour is just his size!



The description for this one says that it is supposed to be bovine, so those horns aren't demon-horns but cow horns, and those are little cow ears too.



The section of the museum with all the guns was really nifty. These are a couple of old school grenade launchers.



This is both a pistol AND a battle axe!



This Flemish painting from 1613 (I think) shows people clearly playing hockey. Crazy.



On our visit to the UNHCR, Juan got to try on their field staff safety gear, a bulletproof kevlar vest and helmet in UN colours. The vest weighs 11 kilos.