Synchronized Skating Summer Update--Adrienne Berkowitz
7/22/2009 12:00:00 AM | Synchronized Skating
ADRIENNE BERKOWITZ PHOTO GALLERY
Adrienne Berkowitz - July 22
Hey everyone!! I just got home/back to the U.S. last week! Six weeks flew by. I feel like it should still be the middle of June!! The last three weeks of my program were the most exciting/action-packed. Once we finished mid-terms in Dijon, it was off to Paris and Geneva, Switzerland.
Paris was amazing! We did all of the tourist things, such as visiting the Eiffel Tower (we were at the top at midnight, so we got to see it all lit up and sparkling), the Louvre, Versailles, Notre Dame, Picasso Museum, Champs-Elysees, and also took a boat ride on the Siene River and visited the Catacomes to name a few!!
We also went on some site visits because we were technically still in class. We went to the International Union for Health Prevention and Education. We also went to a festival for HIV/AIDS awareness. The festival lasts three days, and they have bands come and play. There were booths from all over the world promoting safe sex and how to prevent contracting HIV/AIDS.
Then it was on to Geneva!
Geneva is gorgeous!! It is a relatively small city compared to the big ones in the U.S. While we were there, we went to multiple organizations, including the WHO (World Health Organization), Medecins Sans Frontiers (or Doctors Without Borders as we Americans like to call it!), UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees), U.S. Mission, ICRC (International Committee for the Red Cross), United Nations offices at Geneva and a bunch of other places.
Doctors Without Borders was my favorite organization to visit. They were so passionate about what they do.
When we weren't at site visits, we hung out by the lake and shopped. In both France and Switzerland from the end of June to the beginning of July, they basically have a national sales event. Pretty much everything in the countries are on sale. It was awesome!!
Celebrating the Fourth of July in another country was kind of weird. There were no fireworks, carnivals and grills!! We ended up cooking hot dogs and hamburgers on a range top stove ... it just wasn't the same!
Then it was back to Dijon in order to give presentations on the organizations we went to and to take our finals. Once that was finished, we went back to Paris for our final weekend. Our last night as a group, we went to the Moulin Rouge. It was a lot of fun to actually be inside of it after hearing so much about it and skating to some of the music from the movie. The inside is nothing like how the movie portrays it!
I came home and hit the ground running! The morning after I got home, it was back to the ice, and the next day I started back to work. The study abroad program was an amazing experience and I have made a bunch of new friends that I hope will last a lifetime!
This is a continuation in a series of updates from the Miami University synchronized skaters throughout the summer.
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