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

The view of Mont Blanc, walking from our school towards our hotel…

DSC03153

Originally uploaded by cctgeneva

The view of Mont Blanc, walking from our school towards our hotel. The natural beauty of the lake and environs is stunning, especially on a clear day like this.

Humanitarian Actions, Visit to the UN, and START Negotiator

Wednesday and Thursday we looked at Reforms and challenges of the global humanitarian system with Prof. Gilles Carbonnier, and Human Security: Challenges & Prospects with Prof. Keith Krause. On Wednesday afternoon there was a public forum that went into case studies of humanitarian crises in Afghanistan, Lebanon and Iraq.

with humanitarian aid workers and others from UNHCR

Thursday afternoon, students visited the UN Office in Geneva, then thanks to the assistance of one of our students, Kasia, the Dr. Edward L. (Ted) Warner III, former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy and Requirements May 1993 until November 1997 and Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy and Threat Reduction November 1997 until October 2000, met with students to discuss his current work on the START negotiations for the U.S. government.

Great Classes….

On Monday and Tuesday, we had truly engaging lectures and discussions. Monday was the first day of class with students from all over the world who are participating in the first two weeks of class with us. Monday morning’s lecture entitled “Fear’s Legal Dimension: Counterterrorism and Human Rights” was given by Dr. Andrea Bianchi, a professor of international law at the Graduate Institute. The afternoon workshop on Post-Conflict Justice was led by Dr. Pierre Hazan, a journalist and human rights consultant, working currently for the U.N. High Commission for Human Rights. He held fellow positions in D.C. and at Harvard Law School, and prior to that was a journalist covering international crises including those in Afghanistan, the Balkans, the Great Lakes region of Africa, the Ingushetia–Chechen border, the Middle East, Somalia, and Sudan.

Students had a welcome cocktail reception afterwards, and enjoyed a chance to talk with other stduents from the first day of classes.

Today, Prof. Andrew Clapham gave a fantastic talk on non-state actors under international law and the issue of talking to terrorists. Prior to teaching at the Graduate Institute, he was the Representative of Amnesty International at the United Nations in New York. He has worked as Special Adviser on Corporate Responsibility to High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson, and Adviser on International Humanitarian Law to
Sergio Vieira de Mello, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Iraq. Students were especially engaged in the topic, and they brought experiences from their diverse backgrounds and viewpoints (Afghanistan, South Africa, Brazil, Suriname, just to name a few..) into the discussion.

In the afternoon, students attended lectures given by professionals at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

The Geneva Experience, Pt. 1

City Tour and Welcome Dinner

Madeeha, Brittany, Yixian, and Eun Joo enjoying fondue

On Saturday, we met with Guri from the tourism office who gave us a lovely tour of the old town section of Geneva. We learned about John Calvin and Geneva’s ties to the Protestant Reformation, the founding of the Red Cross, the formation of Switzerland, and the the cantonal governments, among others.
We met at Restaurant de Saviese in the Paquis area, close to the hotel, for a lively traditional Swiss fondue dinner which lasted well into the evening. We finished the meal with good strong espresso (a theme you’ll see in Geneva), and enjoyed a stroll along the lake (one more theme hard to avoid!) afterwards.

Inside St. Pierre Cathedral with our tour guide, Guri

City tour - in old town

ice cream!

Roni, Prof. Singh Cynthia, and Becky

The students of Geneva 2009

The 2009 Geneva group is as diverse in culture as ever.  Our students speak French, Urdu, Pashto, Spanish, Farsi, Italian, Hebrew, Arabic, Chinese, Russian, Portuguese, Uzbek, Tajik and Korean.  We have been to Kazakhstan, Russia, Uzbekistan, Italy, Portugal, China, Hong Kong, France, Canada, Taiwan, Zimbabwe, New Zealand, Costa Rica, Mexico, Poland, Scotland, Bulgaria, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Brazil, Vietnam, Israel, South Korea, Japan, Argentina and Australia.

We also have a wide variety of academic interests.  Roni Lippman, a Liberal Studies graduate, is interested in global governance policy issues and their relation to the nation-state.  Anna Palladino, a CCT graduate, hopes to gain a better understanding of how questions of intercultural exchange affect global governance.  Brannon Cullum is interested in issues from the European perspective with regard to global telecommunication issues, internet governance, censorship issues, the role of NGO’s and their relationship to multilateral institutions.

The 2009 Geneva group has prior training in international political economy, public policy and film studies, multicultural studies, trade and business diplomacy, international relations, sociology, international development studies and journalism, as well as a good deal of experience putting theory to practice.  For example, Kasia Podbielski worked at the American Embassy in Warsaw, Poland, for five years prior to entering into the CCT program.  Eun Joo Lee served as a junior diplomat for two years, while Nargis Jumanova has six years of experience in international organizations in both Tajikistan and Washington D.C.

Our group has specialized in many different areas of international relations issues.  For example, Zack Pentel focuses on intellectual property regulation and international copyright and publishing standards as they relate to creative industries.  Yixian Li specializes in telecommunication and international relations, Cynthia Ferman’s area of interest concerns trade and business diplomacy and James Schad specializes in the Middle East and African issues.

We are looking forward to putting our diverse backgrounds to work in Geneva!