Week Three: Lake Geneva, the Fête de la Musique, and the Euro!
Hello again from Geneva!
This week was another whirlwind of work and fun with the other IBJ interns! This week, I had a few very exciting projects that I continued for IBJ and some that wrapped up. Early in the week, I finished up the grant for lululemon’s funding opportunity. Through my work writing up this grant, I found out that over the course of IBJ’s involvement in China, IBJ has trained more than 30,000 defense lawyers, reached more than 11 million people through its Rights Awareness campaigns, and represented more than 140,000 cases. It’s amazing to see the direct impact that the funding opportunities we pursue at IBJ have on people’s lives. I also helped out with a new grant this week that would allow IBJ to establish programs for youth both in Geneva and in the countries where IBJ operates country programs.
In addition to the grant proposals that I accomplished this week, I’ve been working on two much larger projects. The primary project that I’ve been on is a grant proposal for Armenia that is due at the end of July. This opportunity would allow IBJ to establish an entirely new program in Armenia to promote the rule of law and to connect pre-trial detainees with pro bono legal representation. For this project, I’ve spent the week reaching out to the Armenian Ministry of Justice, local community service organizations, and justice sector stakeholders like the police. In addition to the Armenia project, I’ve been helping to write a grant proposal for Tunisia, where IBJ already has an established country program. This funding would allow IBJ to reinvigorate our efforts in Tunisia and launch an app that would directly connect defense attorneys with clients, helping to bridge the gap between the accused and legal aid.
Outside of work this week, I have had an absolutely amazing time exploring Geneva with the other interns! Laura (W&M legal intern), John (another legal intern), and I ended work Monday with an absolutely frigid swim in Lake Geneva. Although Laura and I had already gone swimming once in the lake, this time it was incomprehensibly cold. For those of us who are from the South, it was definitely a shock haha. We stuck it out in the cold for a while, though, and we were able to warm up and get food at a local pizzeria as a reward. The cold failed to scare us off from swimming, though, and we ended up going swimming three more times this week! Each time the water was a little warmer, so it won’t be long now until our post-work swims are less like ice baths.
One thing that has made me fall in love with Geneva is the fact that every weekend brings new adventures and activities for us to explore! This weekend was no different, and from Friday to Sunday the city hosted the Fête de la Musique – a city-wide festival where dozens of bands and artists gave free concerts. On Saturday, Laura and I stumbled upon a fantastic band in Old Town Geneva after going thrifting and accidentally became involved in an impromptu parade. We met up again with John in the Old Town and ventured over to the city’s park where we found concerts for practically any style of music you could desire. From orchestral concerts in the city’s historic churches to punk rock artists with fog machines in the park, we were able to experience so many musical genres for free in this amazing festival!
Unfortunately, the day ended with a massive rainstorm that cut many of the festivities short. Luckily for us, though, our favorite local cafe was open late on the weekend and we were able to pop in for perhaps the best hot chocolate I’ve ever had, which we enjoyed in the Old City Arsenal where a French opera singer was performing. It was a fantastic day made even better by the friends I experienced it with!
I finished the weekend with a trip to the Plaine de Plainpalais on Sunday with the other IBJ interns, including Laura, John, Elijah, Itana, and Kejsi, where the city set up a massive “fanzone” for the ongoing Euro soccer (sorry – football) matches. The Plaine de Plainpalais currently has massive screens in the center of the square so that all of Geneva can come together to watch the Swiss team compete for victory in the Euro. On Sunday, Switzerland faced off against Germany and was leading the game 1-0 for the entire 90 minutes of gameplay! In an absolutely devastating turn of events, however, the game went into overtime for four additional minutes and Germany scored a goal with approximately three minutes remaining of the game. The game ended tied 1-1, and our Swiss friends were definitely upset, but it was still a fantastic game and a fun experience with our friends.
I’m so excited to see what this next weekend brings, and I’ll be sure to share more of our adventures here next week! See y’all soon!
Kristen