Lessons in Diplomacy From Geneva

By Ivelina Georgieva ‘10

I embarked on my Geneva adventure with zeal but I have to admit that I was initially disappointed. The program’s academics lacked structured, my Swiss family turned out to be cold and reserved, and the city? Small and unexciting. For about a month I went to lectures with lukewarm enthusiasm and saw Geneva with quiet disdain for all those Gucci-clad stylish bank executives and diplomats that populate the city. “Where are the normal people?” I would catch myself thinking. The name of the infamous Facebook group “Geneva Ultimate Eurotrash” was acquiring new significance for me. What threw me aback the most was that the Swiss seemed so unapproachable—no benevolent smiles at the shop, no random conversation in the public transport. Everyone seemed to be walking with a purpose, working without respite.

 

Flash-forward two months later during the final week of the program. I am sitting in the spacious living room of my second host family after a particularly cheesy (literally full of cheese) dinner. Washing down the vestiges of the raclette, a traditional Swiss meal, with a glass of cold white wine, I am busily working away on the cyber-legal labyrinth of my independent project “The Geopolitics of Cyber Warfare.” Although Watchlandia is certainly not going to make my post-undergraduate destinations list, I had seen and learned more than I expected to.

Regarding international relations (IR), we had the amazing opportunity of having the whole diplomatic world of Geneva at our disposal. Not only did we have our lectures in organizations such as the UNCTAD, UNHCR, OCHA, ILO, WTO, WIPO, the Red Cross and many other organizations, we could attend a multitude of IR events that were open to the general public, including cocktail parties held by diplomatic clubs, briefings and conferences. For instance, just in the course of two weeks I visited talks by Joschka Fischer and Joseph Stieglitz, went to one panel on sovereign wealth funds and another one on the financial crisis in Webster University, and randomly met and conversed with an ex-captain in the Pakistani Navy, the present chair of a movement for the liberation of Kashmir.

The quality of programming varied greatly. Admittedly, some of our lectures were quite disappointing. Instead of addressing a concrete problem, the speakers would make Q & A presentations of their organization. Other talks, however, were terrific. We met plenty of people with immense field experience and organizational qualifications, people who started their presentations with, “I used to think the UN’s work is nonsense” and then proceeded to explain how they got involved in their work. They would talk at length about the countless bureaucratic levers they need to push everyday to make the UN wheel spin. Most importantly, they addressed why it had to keep spinning. We met the energetic President of the International Peace Bureau, one of the largest civil research and lobbying organizations for peace and disarmament. We also met the President of the South Club, the Southern equivalent of the International Monetary Fund. One of the judges who oversaw the process against Milosevic gave a marvelous two hour presentation on international humanitarian law. I would not exaggerate the tiniest bit if I said that some of the speakers left me enchanted, inspired, breathless and impatient to contribute my share.

Everyone truly appreciated the second aspect of the program—the study trips. These were well-balanced, since normally we had lectures in the morning, while the rest of the day was free for exploration. In Bern, we stayed in a charming hostel downtown. In Paris, we looked out on the Eiffel Tower. In Brussels, our small hotel sat close to the Guinness award-winning bar whose menu included 2,500 beers.

Of course, the trips were not solely to visit organizations and have fun, but also to expose us to the varieties of Francophone culture. To demonstrate our observation and analytical skills, we had to complete two culturally-based projects. Since I did one of mine on Swiss cinema, I managed to meet a number of Swiss directors, actors and producers, which was easy to do because of the size of Switzerland and its movie industry.

Throughout the semester I visited most of urban Switzerland, including Zurich, Lausanne, Fribourg, Bern and Montreux, as well as quite a few villages in the area, whose Beaujolais and alpine landscapes proved irresistible. I swam and sailed in the Geneva Lake. I went to the Museum of Paul Klee, my favorite artist, reducing the list of my life dreams by one. I heard a myriad of variations on French and German, and tried a hundred types of cheese. I visited CERN, saw some fantastic art collections, and made friends with the so-called French buddies and a Lebanese kebab owner (who would occasionally treat me to a free falafel.) I finally understood why Bill Bryson made that joke about Zurich; “How do you call a gathering of a lot of boring people? Zurich.” I learned to love Geneva—especially after Zurich. Life is ultimately about comparative advantages, just like Ricardo’s economics.

But most importantly, I had the luck to live with a host mom and brother who made my world a wonderful place to be. Ils sont simplement les meilleurs. Them and the raclette.

Ivelina Georgieva ‘10 is a junior Diplomacy and World Affairs major and Russian Language and Culture Minor. She can be reached at igeorgieva@oxy.edu