Saturday, 14 Feb

Happy Valentine's Day! Jess and I spent a romantic morning at CERN, the European Center for Nuclear Physics.


( Read more... )

Friday, 13 FebHow cute is my workplace? Even though Valentine's Day fell on a Saturday, they refused to skip the celebration. On Friday, they put up decorations in the cafeteria, made special Valentine's Day desserts, and handed out free chocolate hearts. Much to my chagrin, I took for granted that the free chocolate would be somewhat mediocre, and ( Read more... )

Dammit! I can't believe I'm already there. At least life here isn't boring.

Live music. It's the one thing I've been missing out on since getting here. Finally, last night I made it to a local jazz night with some of the other interns. It was just a jam session of whoever felt like getting on stage, but it was surprisingly good. Highlight of the ( Read more... )

Let me just start by saying that 2.5 days in London isn't enough for all the eating I had planned to do. I missed out on the full English breakfast, and their famous curry. To be fair, I would have made it to those items had I not found other irresistables along the way, but still. If I want to be honest with myself, this trip was just too short. ( Read more... )

Today, Dr. Margaret Chan, the DG of WHO, gave a seminar on the global economic crisis and it's relationship to global health. During the question and answer session, one of the interns spoke up to voice our thoughts on how we can help WHO increase its capacity and productivity during the crisis. Dr. Chan's response ( Read more... )

My boss is awesome, so I am taking a three-day weekend to see what all the fuss is about London. No sooner did I mention this to Barras, then he proceeded to tell me all the things I should eat (fry up, curry, "proper cheddar") and directed me to ensure that I was in a pub at 3PM GMT on Saturday to catch the England-Italy rugby match. I knew there ( Read more... )

Work is no fun without Jess. Thank god she and I are leaving WHO at the same time, because otherwise I would bawl like a little bitch on her last day. She writes me entertaining emails, sings me songs, and makes fun of others with me. Without her, I literally just sit and do work all day. She was out sick, and the worst thing about her being sick ( Read more... )

Well, kids, I can add another notch on the snob card: I learned downhill skiing in the Swiss Alps. This weekend, Barras, Kirsten, and Kirsten's uncle Robin took me out to Crans-Montana in Valais and introduced me the joys of an Alpine holiday. Not only that, but I now officially have a deep and abiding love for all Swiss people, as I'm pretty sure ( Read more... )

I can't believe I forgot to mention this last night. Just goes to show how tipsy/half-asleep I was. Someone finally decided to teach me how to say mean things in French. Not just cursing, because that is easy. No, I mean serious insults that may or may not get you in a fight if you say them at the wrong time to the wrong person. Alain, the dude who ( Read more... )

It's 2:15AM. I have again stayed out too late with Barras' friends. Here's what has happened in the last 3 days.

1. The Lebanese dudes are nice to me. I went to a Lebanese place with 5 coworkers, and after we ordered from the counter, Jess and I walked back to our table. The dude behind the counter made a gesture that I thought meant "pay now," ( Read more... )