Mamy Dina
Last weekend, I took a trip across the border to Paris. I have family there and I haven't seen most of them in almost four years. Between travel costs and schoolwork, there wasn't much time to go to Europe.
One of the reasons I wanted to have an internship in Geneva is because I would be close to my grandma, Mamy ("grandma") Dina. She is in her 90s and after she fell and broke her leg about 15 years ago, her age started to show. But even so, her personality is still as vibrant as ever.
My grandma is stubborn. Almost 100 years old and she lives on her own. She loves giving orders but she hates depending on others. When I walked into her apartment, she immediately put me to work cutting vegetables for a stew she would feed me at lunch. So that's how I spent my visit in Paris--cutting vegetables in a small Parisian apartment with an old lady.
On its face, it seems like an insignificant weekend, or maybe even an awful vacation. But it meant a lot to me. For the first time in my life, I am finally living close enough to my grandma where I can go visit her whenever I want and build more insignificant memories with her. In the end, the best part of my internship this summer won't be my work with IBJ. It'll be the memories I formed with Mamy Dina.