Hi my name is Brittany and I'm currently failing at this blog. My free moments are few and far between, and any of the topics I've considered writing about have had way too much attitude for me to ramble on about over the interwebs. And this post isn't going to do much to redeem my slacking, but here goes.
What have I learned as a result of being here and during my sightseeing? I honestly feel like I've learned so much that I don't actually know where to begin, but I suppose I'll talk about the United Nations and our meetings on Monday and Tuesday with the Permanent Missions of India and Saudi Arabia to the UN. Actually, I'll only speak on Saudi Arabia, because I found the ambassador to be quite candid and willing to answer most questions in a way that was not as brochure-esque as the man from India. He not only was willing to discuss Palestine and the bid for statehood, but also touched on the Arab Spring and Saudi relations with Iran--it was a politics nerd fest.
But what did I exactly learn? I suppose I learned another opinion on statehood and whether Palestine is within those guidelines. We've been discussing sovereignty in our seminars, and the ambassador's statements could not have been more timely. Palestine, as explained, has a land, a people and an ability to conduct itself as a state. The people, I knew, the ability, I doubted, and the land, I knew of no established borders. However, Palestine evidently has fairly established borders and even institutions that are in charge/work for its people, which, as someone who supports the bid for statehood, I should have known.
As for the most interesting person I've observed/worked with/interacted with this week, I must say (sorry Andrea for stealing this) it has been our dear German friend and neighbor, Jannis. Not only is Jannis one of the most hilarious people I've ever met, he asks questions and brings up ideas that make me consider the excess and ridiculousness of American culture. One of the first things Jannis asked us was, "Brittany and Andrea, what is American culture?" Since then, I actually think this about 12 times per day, and try to identify what exactly American culture is. Jannis actually just stopped by and I had to stop writing. He met Scott Hunter, the quarterback for the Packers in the 70s. Lovely. Maybe that's American culture. Anyway, he is most certainly the most interesting person I have met.
Ok, best part of internship/seminar. The best part of my internship is the people I work with and building relationships with my coworkers. My office is very young, and casual. We have a lot of group lunches where massive amounts of food is ordered in, and we sit around the conference room and tell stories. People go out after work together often. It's been a great experience and since everyone is so approachable, I've felt comfortable asking to do more and learn more. As for my seminar, I absolutely love going to hear speakers and events and then debriefing with our class afterwards. We literally get out of events and are quite disconcerted if there is not time to discuss what we heard and what was said.
Anyway, I hope to have a more well-written and interesting post soon, but for now this will have to do!
