The United Nations

This first full week in Switzerland was quite something.  During the morning Monday-Wednesday we had classes in the SIT building (in our teeny tiny little classroom), the afternoons Mon, Tues and Thurs were spent in French class.  I now know how to say things like: how are you (comment ca va?), conjegate one verb, how to say the alphabet etc.  Now I can sit at the dinner table and understand a little of what my host dad says - I think we should make it a trade-off and I should teach him English :p

Anyway, one of the really interesting things we did this week was visit the UN headquarters in Geneva.  All of us received passes to the library so we can use it for research throughout the semester, in addition to this we will attend two briefings at the UN during the semester.

Official UN Library Pass

The UN grounds were very impressive (we spent the majority of our time in the library though) - imagine our surprise when we saw Peacocks strolling about the grounds!
Side note about that: "The Palais stands in the 45-hectare Ariana Park among majestic trees many of which are over 100 years old. The City of Geneva has made the park available to the UN for its offices for as long as the UN exists. The park was originally owned by the Revilliod de Rive family whose last descendant bequeathed it to the City of Geneva. One of the bequest's conditions was that peacocks should roam freely on its grounds. It is not unusual to see peacocks dancing in full splendor in the Palais grounds. The park also contains a 1668 chalet brought from the Gruyere district to Geneva for the national fair of 1896."- http://www.unog.ch/80256EE600581D0E/%28httpHomepages%29/BCE0EBD8DCE4470C80256F040067307C?OpenDocument