Hi, my name is Melissa and I just finished up my first year at the School of Public Health at the U of MN. I grew up all over the country, but have been in Minnesota the longest. My family is form Minnesota and I consider myself Minnesotan. I also enjoy all of the typical Minnesota goodness: hockey, lakes, wild rice, clean cities/parks, public radio, mall of america, and that craving for a hot, strong kahlua-coffee every minute of everyday for the entire month of January. I am pursuing a master's degree in Environmental Health, with an emphasis in Global Health. For my field experience, I will be interning at the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland this summer. I'll be doing work on infectious diseases and am assisting in getting a scientific paper to publication. That is the "plan" anyhow.
Considering I am leaving for Switzerland in 46 hours, I still know very little about my upcoming internship and life in Europe. This is what I know:
1. I have never been to Europe, thus this is extra exciting/stressful
2. I am going to be living in France and commuting into Geneva
3. Geneva is super expensive (hence the living across the border)
4. Switzerland has 4 national languages: French, Italian, German, and Romansh. I don't
speak any of these.
5. Too much swiss cheese and chocolate will render my currently perfect-fitting
bridesmaids dress for an upcoming wedding a tight, satin nightmare.
I am very excited to blog my experience at WHO this summer. This is my first blog so...sorry if its lame? Also, please note I am incapable of avoiding sarcasm. There will likely be, to some degree, sarcasm in every entry. I can't help it.
I hope you enjoy following me through my adventures this summer! Please feel free to comment or ask questions!
-Melissa
