Impressive speakers, the 4th of July and Montreux Jazz Festival

On Thursday we were honored to have two of Professor Singh’s colleagues join us for drinks on the Hotel Drake patio.  William Isasi is Senior Attorney at the General Counsel’s Office of the Department of Commerce, while Marisa Goldstein works in the legal trade division of the World Trade Organization.  Both Mr. Isasi and Ms. Goldstein provided valuable insight into the complicated world of international trade disputes and enforcement mechanisms.  An especially insightful moment was when Mr. Isasi likened the current legal framework of the WTO to the U.S. constitution in the first years following its drafting because of the precedence that current decisions will make in setting standards for future WTO practice.

Professor Singh and students with William Isasi (Senior Attorney, General Counsel's Office, DoC) and Marisa Goldstein (WTO, legal division)

On Saturday, we celebrated the 4th of July by having a picnic on Lake Leman in Geneva.  This was an especially significant day because it was Professor Singh’s first 4th of July as a U.S. citizen.  We listened to a fine selection of music from around the world and, thanks to Kasia, ate watermelon from Italy.

Professor Singh with fellow U.S. citizens Becky and Zach

Italian watermelon, with pips

On Sunday, the group traveled to Montreux for the annual Jazz Festival.  The festival features performances by regional musicians as well as internationally renowned acts such as legendary jazz maestro Herbie Hancock and the charismatic pianist Lang Lang.  We also traveled to the Chateau de Chillon, a castle located on the eastern end of Lake Geneva.  The oldest parts of the castle are thought to date back to the 11th century.  In 1816, Lord Byron made the castle famous with his poem about the imprisoned monk Fancois de Bonivard, titled The Prisonner of Chillon.

waiting for Bus no. 1 to the Chateau de Chillon

A window in the prisoners cell of the Chateau

Telecommunications and Old Town

We began the day with a class on telecommunication policy, one of Professor Singh’s many areas of expertise. Telecommunication policy is one of the most classic issues of the global service economy.   We examined in particular the shift from national monopolies within telecommunication toward gradual liberalization through an opening up of the market.  We considered the behavior of large monopolies within the context of international trade even after agreements had been made at the Doha rounds to collaborate with younger elements.  The threat of competition served to inhibit full cooperation between traditional power houses and newbies within the telecommunications industry.

Following a lively discussion, class broke up for the day and many students decided to visit “old town” Geneva, which lies across the lake from our hotel.  Some shopped, others wandered through the narrow cobble stone streets armed with cameras.  For some, the highlight of the afternoon was the short water taxi ride across the lake, which runs every ten minutes.

lunch in old town

“TRIP”in, IP Law, State Subsidized Raves

Every day at CCT Geneva is jam packed with action, and today was no exception. Dr. Singh began the day with an excellent lecture on Intellectual Property. OUr second speaker of the week, Mrs. Jayashree Watal of the World Trade Organization, spoke of her negotiation experiences during the Doha Rounds as a part of the Indian delegation. She gave us her first person account of the negotiation process that amended article 30 of TRIPS which gave developing nations access to affordable medicines. Several of us were so intrigued by her lecture that we plan to take her one credit health and international law seminar, which she will be teaching at Georgetown Law Center this fall.

Afterwards, we proceeded with our weekly Swiss chats. We were introduced to the requirements for our final papers and participated in a lively discussion concerning our intercultural experiences here in Geneva. One student was curious as to why pieces of street art or graffiti calling for police resistance were plastered throughout various parts of the city given that this city is abundant in social services. Another student jokingly responded, “There aren’t enough state subsidized raves in this city.” Dr. Singh concluded our intercultural discourse by recalling his first day in America when he was told to “follow the Golden Arches.” Needless to say, he had the entire class balling from laughter.

We were having such a good time that we were reluctant to leave class today. We began to realize the fact that we only have five more classes left here in Geneva. In most academic settings this would probably be just cause for some sort of celebration but this certainly isn’t the case at CCT Geneva. As we wrap up our third week and head into our final one, we each plan to relish every moment we have together in this magical city.

Goodbye Heather; New Class

On Monday, Heather returned to Washington, DC after two weeks with the CCT Geneva program.  We will miss her!

That same day, we began the second of our two courses: The Global Services Economy, taught by Professor Singh.  On Tuesday, we walked to the World Trade Organization to hear Rudolph Adlung speak about services liberalization.  An expert on the Global Agreement on Trade in Services, or GATS, Mr. Adlung provided in-depth analysis of the challenges and difficulties confronting the liberalization of the global services economy.  It was an honor to hear about the complexities of GATS from an insider like Mr. Adlung.

Sunday Visit to Annecy, France

On Sunday, June 28 we took an hour-long bus trip to Annecy, France – often called the “Venice of France.” Annecy has lots of medieval buildings, jails, churches, a castle – and gorgeous canals! On Sunday, they have a wonderful farmer’s market in old town, which provided an opportunity to meet the people making the local products (and get some great cheese and meat!). The town is situated next to one of the cleanest lakes in Europe with mountains coming down to the water. Annecy was one of the centers of the Counter Reformation after the bishops left Geneva as a result of the Protestant Reformation. In addition, Annecy also figures in the trade talks that our students will be studying. The GATT commenced in 1947, and the second round of the GATT, which further reduced tariffs, took place in Annecy in 1949. Annecy has also been a respite for negotiators and a meeting place for various negotiations that followed the 1949 talks held there.

Nargis at farmer's market in Annecy

Annecy

Cheese - lots of cheese, at farmer's market

Lake Annecy

Globalization and Conflict Resolution: a final farewell

Two intense weeks of reflection paper writing, literature reviews, workshops with WTO representatives, trade policy and development bank experts concluded yesterday with a European-style exam (two essays in two hours) followed by drinks on The Graduate Institute lawn.  The Georgetown representatives in attendance had the chance to say farewell to many of the international students from the course.  We will miss their presence in our upcoming course on the Global Services Economy.

On our way back from the farewell, we came across a Fete des Enfents being held on the lake, filled with children rock climbing and bottle rocketing.

Ah, Geneva.

Mt. Saleve and Views of Geneva from the Sky

On Saturday, a group us us took the public bus to the border of Switzerland and France, walked across the border (no immigration or border guards!), then took the telepherique up 1,000 meters to the top of Mt. Saleve – a mountain just outside Geneva. We had coffee to prepare us for the hiking at the top, had great views of Geneva and the lake on one side, the French Alps on the other, then had lunch at the top of the mountain. They make hiking so easy here!

Jumping for Joy - we made it to the top!

Veyrier, Switzerland - the town at the base of Saleve

Brannon and Kasia

at the top of Mt. Saleve - views of Lake Geneva

On the Telepherique

View of Saleve and Telepherique

Our Day at the Opera

On Sunday Geneva students had the pleasure of going to see Il Trovatore, one of Giuseppe Verdi’s most famous operas, at the Grande Teatre de Geneve.  It was an unforgettable experience.  We’d like to thank Professor Singh for his love of opera and his willingness to share such a beautiful genre of music with the students of the Geneva program!

Our trip to the opera gave us an opportunity to scrub up for one another.  Proudly presenting the Geneva guys (above) and gals (below):

And a big happy birthday to Eun Joo, who tried to have her birthday fly under the radar (but we intercepted with a surprise birthday party earlier in the day):

Fete de la Musique

Walking confusedly through the orderly streets of old town Geneva, we heard the sound of a lone saxophone. Curious, we moved down the dimly lit sidewalk until we came upon a wooded area, fenced, lit with street lamps covered in purple sheaths and glowing white huts. We soon realized that we had arrived at the Fete de la Musique, Geneva’s main annual music event. Each year, the festival takes over the streets and squares of the city for three days. Musicians from all over the world perform from many different genres. From Venezuelan rock to Flamenco (incredibly skilled and passionate dancers from Madrid and Seville included), to Roma/African hybrid jam sessions around a fire to jazz to inspired DJ sets set close to statues of Calvin. We couldn’t help but wonder, somewhat ironically, what Calvin would think about being bathed in a multicolored array of light and having a crowd of 20-somethings getting down to remixes of fusion Italian/Greek wedding songs. He might be less than impressed. We, on the other hand, were quite delighted.

The festival continued throughout the weekend.

CERN! (yes, we went underground to see the particle accelerator!)

Prof. Singh, Cynthia, and Madeeha before they head underground to the particle accelerator

Today we visited CERN and had a fantastic lecture and guided visit given by a physicist who had helped build one of the particle accelerators. Although CERN has stopped public visits to underground areas, WE got to go underground to see one of the huge experiments that is part of the Large Hadron Collider, also called the particle accelerator! It was fascinating, and our guide’s enthusiasm for the research done there was compelling. He also discussed Tim Berners Lee, who created the Internet at CERN.

We talked about technology assessment, how researchers do research, international collaboration and politics that go into making CERN work, and much more – all very CCT-like topics. The video below is underground looking at the particle accelerator and and experiment built around the accelerator.

For more information about CERN, the particle accelerator, and the 20th anniversary of the development of the Internet, visit CERN’s site.

underground looking at an experiment that is part of the particle accelerator

Originally uploaded by cctgeneva