Two Weeks In

Hey everyone, I am creating this blog for all of my friends and family who want to keep up with me while in Geneva for the next 2-3 years.

Just to catch you all up, I graduated from the University of Miami (FL) in December, 2009. I took the following semester to decide exactly what I wanted to do with my life post-college. After much introspection and valuable discussion (thanks to everyone who listened to me and gave advice), I decided that I was not prepared to put away the textbooks forever. Instead, I decided that I wanted to pursue an international professional career, thanks in large part to my incredible study abroad experience in Granada, Spain in Spring 2009, and staying in school to complete a Master's degree seemed the best option.

I sent a last minute application off to the University of Geneva's Master's in Political Science with an International Relations track, and after anxiously waiting for 3 months, I was admitted to the program in May. However, I will have to complete an intensive French language course this summer and display a level B2 proficiency in French at the end of August (see http://www.coe.int/T/DG4/Portfolio/?M=/main_pages/levels.html for further description). After the presumed passage of that exam, I will have to complete the Annee Passerelle, or preparatory year, to be admitted to the Master's in Fall 2011. This is because I do not have an undergraduate degree in International Relations. All in all, my time at the University of Geneva should amount to 5 (least) to 6 (most) semesters of study.

So, there is work to be done.

For the past 3 months, I have been studying with the French Rosetta Stone about an hour a day, and I took an 8-week beginner's French course at L'Alliance Francaise in Miami.

I arrived in Geneva on June 2, 2010. For the first 12 days, I stayed with Ana and her family at their apartment. I recently moved into a student-shared apartment a little south of the city center (see http://maps.google.ch/maps?hl=de&client=firefox-a&hs=JrL&rlz=1R1MOZA_enUS376US376&q=rue+de+tambourine+geneve&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=Rue+de+la+Tambourine,+CH-1227+Carouge+%28GE%29&gl=ch&ei=Q34aTNeKE8ibOJvNhL4K&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CBwQ8gEwAA).

I will be living here until the first of September, at which time I will hopefully have a positive answer from the university housing for which I applied. Note: There is a terrible housing crunch in Geneva, and it is very difficult to find inexpensive student housing.

I have tried out a little bit of my French. I have stumbled my way through conversations with Ana's Dad and Grandma, both of whom do not speak English or Spanish, so our only means of communication is French. I have been told I speak like a 2-year-old, but be that as it may, speaking is speaking. I'll have to wait for my intensive summer course to start before I can really make any serious strides in the language.

I want to leave myself material for my next post, so that is all for now. Bonne nuit a tout le monde!