Short trip to Geneva: UN and WTO

Allie, Taylor, and me in the UN
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Geneva 14 – 15 February

For some reason, the trip to Geneva is a huge blur in my mind. I think it was because I was struggling to adjust to the amount of traveling that we had done beforehand and my classes actually starting to require real work. Nevertheless, the city was beautiful, though I was a bit disenchanted with it, but I’ll explain that later.

Geneva & the Disenchantment Phase of the W curve

We left in the morning for our 6 hour bus drive. This was the first and one of the only trips that we took with the entire 69 of us. Well, actually we left with only 68 because one girl was unaccounted for. People banged on her door and called her, but apparently she slept through it all. I thought IES was really lenient for waiting an extra 40 minutes for people to try to find her, but we eventually left, and when she finally woke up she had to find her own way to Geneva.

Geneva from the steeple
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Once we arrived, we were let out by the lake to get some lunch. Then we checked in to two different hotels in a bit of a shady neighborhood a ways outside of the city center. One of the nice things was that everything was in French, so I was immediately more comfortable. Once everyone put their things away, we assembled and headed out for four consecutive meetings at the UN Headquarters. I don’t really know what I expected the European Headquarters to be like, but it just felt like a really big building. Once we reached the building where our meetings were and between meetings we took tea breaks, we saw how amazing the small café/lounge was with huge windows with a panorama of the woods outside of Geneva and the mountains in the distance. I would have worked there for the view.

kind of a cool picture from the steeple again
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The meetings were generally unimpressive, as well, until the last speaker. He was an American lawyer who switched to working as Director General of the Refugees and Asylum Department of the UN. He was extremely intelligent and actually an engaging speaker – something we have been seeing very rarely on our trips. Plus the subject matter really interested me. We had been discussing migrants and refugees in my Migrations and Ethnic Minorities class, so I already had a little bit of background about Europe’s situation concerning these issues.

by the lake
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After the meetings, we were all exhausted, but the bus took us back to the lake and we were given free time to look around. We were all dressed in business formal, so walking around the city (especially the Old Town with cobblestones) was a little tricky, but we managed. The most memorable part of our walk, besides buying Swiss chocolates J, was visiting the cathedral and climbing the hundreds of stairs to get to the top of the tower. I have a couple pictures from there. Unfortunately, the weather was sort of overcast, but I bet the city and the lake are absolutely gorgeous and days with clear skies.

in our UN meeting room
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After our free time, we went back to the hotel, changed clothes, and assembled again for a cheese fondue dinner on IES. I was really excited for fondue, especially because we were in Switzerland and the outside of the restaurant said that it was celebrating its sixtieth anniversary or something; but after a meal at the Melting Pot at home… I’m sorry- a meal of just cheese and bread, even if it’s really good cheese, just does not do it for me. I would have loved some veggies and meat on the side, yes please. Or at least some chocolate fondue and strawberries for dessert. We didn’t experience too much of Geneva’s nightlife afterwards because we were so tired from the long day and we had to wake up really early for the trip home.

cheese fondue restaurant
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It was a really short trip, but my small impression of the city and the people made me so much happier that I chose the Freiburg program over the Geneva International Organizations program with SIT. I am sure I would have learned a lot and had many unique experiences with SIT (including a homestay which I still want to do at some point in my life while I’m still young), but I am so so so happy that I ultimately chose Freiburg. I would not have had as many opportunities to travel and visit as many of the important institutions that currently manage Europe. So that realization and the disenchantment with the UN were what I mostly got from Geneva.

another view of Geneva
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Sorry if that’s a letdown for a blog. My down mood could have also been a factor of the “study abroad curve,” which really has held true for me and just about everyone else on my program. Below is an excerpt that I found which explains it pretty well. Basically, I’m fairly sure that the Geneva trip was the beginning of my “disenchantment” phase.

The Study Abroad Curve

The “U-curve theory” of cultural adjustment and the basic symptoms of culture shock were initially described by Kalvero Oberg in 1960. The “U-curve theory” posits an initial period of elation and excitement at being in foreign surroundings, followed by a period of progressive disappointment and disillusionment. This downturn is eventually resolved by a gradual, enlightened understanding and acceptance of cultural differences and the reestablishment of psychological equilibrium.

inside the cathedral
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The first phase of the U-curve cycle is often referred to as the “honeymoon phase.” Behaviors of the host nationals are viewed as exotic, charming, and in some sense superior to those in the everyday world that the sojourner has just left. Cultural artifacts such as art, music, and architecture are also viewed through this lens. People on vacation rarely leave the “honeymoon phase.” It is an initial and necessarily artificial interaction with the host culture, and it soon passes.

The downturn of the “U-curve” occurs when the initial euphoria of arrival subsides and the sojourner attempts to establish daily living patterns and meaningful social relationships with host nationals. This period is fraught with confusion, misunderstandings, miscommunications, unrealistic expectations, disappointment, and general disorientation. Although there may be several discrete events which shock the sojourner into the realization that he or she is unmoored in unfamiliar social and psychological territory, more commonly it is the gradual accumulation of day-to-day stress in dealing with host culture behavior and expectations that wears upon the individual. Tasks there were simple in the home country suddenly seem insurmountably difficult and complex in the host culture. Banking, shopping, commuting, casually interacting with host nationals – all these activities can assume Sisyphean dimensions. Common psychological reactions to this period of cultural adjustment include:

· Confusion

· Exhaustion

· Insomnia

· Headaches & stomachaches

· Frustration

· Anger

· Withdrawal

Not all people experience all of these symptoms, and their severity can vary according to many factors, including personality, previous experience with cultural differences, length of time to be spent in the host country, and personal goals for studying abroad, to name a few.

Certain things tend to inhibit cross-cultural adjustment. These include:

· Ethnocentrism – the belief that one’s own culture is superior to all others

· Not knowing the local language

· Isolation/withdrawal from the host culture

· Spending too much time with other Americans

· “Going native” – abandoning one’s given values and cultural behaviors and imitating those of the host culture in an attempt to feel accepted

· Judging others

· Impatience with oneself or others

Gradually, through a period of trial and error, most sojourners develop constructive social relationships with host nationals and learn the underlying rules of behavior in the host culture. Everyday tasks are no longer an ordeal. Students can set and accomplish realistic goals. They develop a self-awareness of the cultural values they inherited from their home country, and an appreciation for the differences in values they observe in the host culture. They become “bicultural.”

Certain personality traits lend themselves to cross-cultural adjustment and include:

· Tolerance for ambiguity

· Sense of humor

· Non-judgementalness

· Extroversion

· Respect for others and self-respect

-http://international.uiowa.edu/study-abroad/faculty/directors/non-academic.asp

From me again: In the GW Study Abroad handbook it also goes further than this curve and includes the reverse culture shock part for when the student arrives home. Basically its smiliar to the first half of the U curve (so it essentially becomes the W curve). There is initial elation and excitement about being home, disenchantment with the realization that no one can relate to any of one’s experiences over the last however many months, and then eventually reintegration. Can’t wait.