Must. Write. Blog.

Apologies for the lapse in blogging..it has been a busy week here. I'm exhausted! Lets see...what has happened....

Well, all of Europe descended on Geneva on Saturday for the start of Euro2008 (Euro 2008! Wooooo!). By about 3pm the streets were crowded with drunk football fans. In Plainpalais (a neighborhood in Geneva) there is a big screen set up outside to watch the games. Having seen this earlier, I thought it sounded like great fun to watch football games outside on the big screen. I was picturing a nice outdoor picnic-like experience where we could bring blankets and stretch out and relax....what was I thinking?? I forgot that soccer is like a religion here. A violent, riot-provoking religion. We stopped by the "Fan Zone", as its called, for about 30 seconds and then moved on to a loud smoky bar which was much more comfortable. I got conned into betting on Turkey and was liable for a round of drinks when Portugal won. I'm pretty sure that directly after the game, if one were to visit Portugal one would have found the country entirely empty, as every Portuguese person simultaneously got in their car, positioned the Portuguese flag strategically in the window, and staked out a place in the middle of a Geneva street from which to honk the horn continuously for 16 hours. As we sat outside the bar trying to carry on a conversation over the noise, I couldn't help but hope that the same scene was taking place in Paquis as the landlady tried to sleep. I could just picture her marching around the neighborhood posting typed notices about proper post-match etiquette.

Saturday, before the football matches, I met a German girl who lived in Norway for a while and so we went for a coffee and attempted to speak only Norwegian. We were relatively successful I think. After she finishes a French exam she has in a couple weeks we plan to meet regularly and (hopefully) recruit a real Norwegian or two to correct us.

Sunday I went on the usual Sunday cycling trip, this one to Lausanne, which was considerably farther than the usual destination. We went over 80km there and then took the train back. This took far longer than anticipated as the group included 20 people, and the amount of stopping/waiting seems to increase with the size of the group. But it was worth it--the ride, especially the last bit along the lake, was gorgeous!

At work I have been learning more than I ever wanted to know about aflatoxins (I'll let you google it) and have been gradually improving my running abilities. Although apparently not as much as I thought... last Monday when I came back from my run the security guard commented on how short a time I'd been gone. Now I make sure to spend an extra 10 to 15 minutes stretching before coming back. I also tried out the indoor pool near work, which is pretty good. I found what appeared to be the best deal in Switzerland at Migros (of course): four boxes of petits beurres (cookies) for only 5 francs!! Unfortunately, having four boxes of petits beurres in my desk raises my daily cookie consumption to 1 box/day. Yesterday I it took all of my willpower to avoid the ongoing cookie sale and buy rice cakes instead. I don't know how much longer I can hold out though.

Last week I also discovered that my WTO badge gets me into the main UN building, so I had lunch in the Palais de Nations with a woman that I know from an Arabic class in SF who works at UNHCR. Its like a museum in there--I need to go back and take the tour sometime.

The research paper I helped work on at ITC last semester is now posted on the GTAP website at: https://www.gtap.agecon.purdue.edu/resources/download/3983.pdf. My colleague Michael is at the GTAP conference in Helsinki this week presenting it. My debut on the economics scene!! I'm so excited!

Things I have learned this week:
-In French, walkie-talkie is talkie-walkie
-We are all going to die from carcinogenic aflatoxins in our peanut butter. Unless we're European, in which case we will die from aflatoxins in something else, like corn. If anyone manages to avoid the list of food containing aflatoxins, they will most likely be taken down by WMDs previously hidden by Saddam Hussein containing, you guessed it, aflatoxins.
-Damien must be using toilet paper to remove his make-up, because I certainly haven't done so (although I admit I have occasionally used it to blow my nose. Shame on me.)
-Getting a Maîtrise makes a lot more sense than getting a Maîtresse. For me anyways.
-I like watching football.
-Swimming with plastic paddles on your hands is dangerous and against the rules. Doing handstands on the high dive and having your friends push you off is ok.
-Swiss Indian food is my kind of Indian food (no spiciness!)
-If you offer to take someone to dinner as a thank you and plan to spend less than 120 bucks, don't let them pick the restaurant. Also, don't live in Switzerland.