"Real People" Living

Monday was Day 1 of my internship at the WHO!  I was a combination of nervous/anxious/excited to get the first day under my belt and I survived!  My supervisor, who is such a nice man, just got back from Thailand and had a lot of personal affairs to attend to so I spent a lot of yesterday independently reading, discussing what I read with him briefly, and heading back to the library to continue reading articles published by our department.  We are still finalizing what my project for the next 2 months will be so I am eager to get going on that, whatever it may be!  I was able to sit in on a department meeting, which was fascinating but there are a lot of terminology I found myself jotting down to look up later.  Everyone I met in the department, including other interns, is incredibly friendly and I look forward to getting to know them on a better level in the weeks to come!

Today was our first day of our Controversies in International Health course.  Essentially, this week is “syllabus week” all around.  I look forward to next week’s class, which will hopefully be more interactive and engaging.  But all the “firsts” of the second half of the semester are over (at least in terms of course work)!  Our professor brought in pastries so I have a feeling this class is going to be a good one :) We have class for 3 hours in the morning, an hour off for lunch, then a site visit in the afternoon.   Today, we visited the UN--something I knew was bound to happen at some point this semester.  We had a guided tour of the complex and visited 3 conference rooms both in the Old and New wings.  My favorite room we saw was the room in the Palais de Nations with the incredibly brightly colored ceiling done by Spanish artist Miguel Barcelo.  The UN is filled with awe-inspiring art work and