"We live in the age of the refugee, the age of the exile." - Ariel Dorfman

Beautiful made in
Guatamala

Today I got to work and it was quite quiet, something different than normal. 

I bought flowers in the morning for a co-worker and that was about the busiest I was all day. I worked on some menial stuff, tried to make myself my own work and then headed out for lunch with a friend to the UNICEF centre. Halfway through walking with her, I pulled out an ice cream cone and she literally burst into laughter because she could not believe I had just pulled out an ice cream stick out of my bag. #WendysBag

We noticed that UNICEF was having a 75% off sale so we dropped in, but it was almost empty. I talked to the guy at the register and he told me that the store was just simply not making enough

The platform for it

profit and they were going to close by Friday at lunch. 

It's kind of sad to hear that, but apparently their website will still be up and running and they'll do shipping rather than having a physical store. 

I bought some change purses that were made in Guatemala and then headed back over to work where I did a little bit of stuff and then we took a break and wished our co-worker a happy birthday! We sat and talked for a bit, took some photos and then went back to work.

The man fighting
for rights

I stayed back at work for a bit since there was a reception coming up later that day that I wanted to attend for World Refugee day. It was downstairs in the m
ain Visitor's lobby (I assume so that everyone, even visitors could see it). And I waited there with my colleague to try to get a photo with one of the guests: Ban Ki Moon.

The speeches were quite wonderful and I really enjoyed the unveiling of the Refugee exhibit that they were there for. They had pictures and photos in the main hall for visitors to take in as well as a gigantic container where you can go inside and actually talk to a refugee somewhere in the world. It was pretty amazing.

Food made by refugees!

We had a few more speeches from other refugee groups as well as a USG for DPI. It was a truly great event.

After the ceremony, I went to find my friends and talk to them about the exhibit. It was pretty cool.

Of course, at the end of every reception opening... there was an open bar and food.

My photo with him :D

The food this time around was quite interesting! All the food that we had was made from Refugees!
There was a lot of Middle Eastern and Nepalese food there. It was delicious and so well made. I really appreciate the reception providing us with it.

My friend and I headed over to Bryant Park where there was this really cool event called "Movies in the Park" and they were playing the movie Ferris Bueller's Day off. 

We managed to find two seats in the crowd, grabbed some drinks and chairs and sat down and enjoyed the movie.

Movies in the park! :)

I gotta say, it is amazing being a part of something that is so much bigger than myself. When the music in the movie started playing, people actually got up and started
DANCING during scenes where there was music! It was so fun to watch! And people danced hard.

It was a bit difficult to hear, however, they had subtitles under the movie screen (which was also hard to see) for all to hear and enjoy. 

After the movie, I took my short walk home and crashed into bed.

"Started from the bottom now we're here" - Drake

The park! It's so pretty and clean. Though
it is extremely full at lunchtime

So today started out pretty normally, woke up, got dressed, ate and then headed over to work. It was a beautiful day out, a little big foggy/smoggy so you couldn't see the sky too well but it was beautiful (I think) nonetheless. I walked a different route to work (I do a different route every day so I can get to know the city and the area around me better). It still blows me away how often people just jay-walk or cross red lights... Especially cars running red lights. That just blows me away. Earlier, I saw a taxi rear end another car and all that happened was that the passenger from the car screamed at the taxi driver. 

On another side note, all the cars here are HUGE, like, escalade drug dealer car huge. And they all have tinted windows, so they're either extremely rich, confused soccer moms or drug dealers. That's

How cool is this building
right?

my conclusion. Oh, and of course, the city never stops honking. On one last side note, I swear to god the garbage men on my street take out the garbage every other day.

As I was walking to work, I was walking by Ralphe Brunche park which is a really awesome place to go to for lunch - it's beautiful, it's outdoors, clean and they have extra chairs that you can move around so that you can actually face each other and not be awkward! It's a really great place. I'm going to try to eat out there as much as possible. 

When I got to work, my supervisor (the big head honcho) was in. So the office was in this go go go, constant state of action. It was quite interesting to watch.

The ECOSOC chamber. Didn't take a
photo of the inside but it is
BEAUTIFUL and hightech.

Lots of raised voices actually. I was a bit scared so I kept my head down and did my work. At one point, I had to go up to the floor right below the Secretary General (the floor below also belonged to him but it's more "accessible") to get some office supplies and since my office is technically mandated under the "Executive Office of the Secretary-General," I had to go to them for stuff. I got to go two days ago, but I still get giddy and stupidly excited because there's personnel and security that guard the doors before they let me go through (how intense is that?). 

When I came back, I was told that a lot of people were waiting for me - Shit, I was only gone for 10

minutes to go get some office supplies and I had to grab stuff and go. I didn't really know where I was going (since no one told me) but I grabbed a pen, paper and walked to the elevators. As I found out, I was heading over to the ECOSOC chamber. 

How.

Awesome.

The hallway by most of the chambers and the delegate's lounge

Is that.

Holy wow, I was going to go and sit - and take notes - on a high profile meeting in the ECOSOC chamber ... to listen to my supervisor, as she sat on the panel with the President and the Under Secretary General and speak about the work our office is doing. 

For those who don't know, the UN is made up of 5 main organs that all other UN organizations fall under. ECOSOC (Economic and Social Council, is the principal body for coordination, policy review, policy dialogue and recommendations on economic, social and environmental issues), the Security Council has primary responsibility, under the UN Charter, for the maintenance of international peace and security. It has 15 Members (5 permanent and 10 non-permanent members), the General Assembly The General Assembly is the main deliberative, policymaking and representative organ of the UN. All193 Member States of the UN are represented in the General Assembly, making it the only UN body with universal representation, International Court of Justice (The International Court of Justice is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. Its seat is at the Peace Palace in the Hague (Netherlands). It is the only one of the six principal organs of the United Nations not located in New York [United States of America], I wish I worked here!)and the Secretariat (I work for this one! The Secretariat comprises the Secretary-General and tens of thousands of international UN staff members who carry out the day-to-day work of the UN as mandated by the General Assembly and the Organization's other principal organs). There's the Trustee Council but it's not relevant.

Cloudy, and it rained. But it was beautiful
and a rainbow came out.

So I got to sit and see the Secretariat present in the ECOSOC chamber (where they meet up to discuss important stuff) to the General Assembly. Wow. It was such an amazing experience. I sat behind Germany and was just feeling... Inspired, tiny, humbled, proud, goosebumps- everything! It's not everyday that people get to sit on the ground floor of the chamber (there are higher seats for public but you don't go through security for that) behind delegates and listen to a meeting de-brief that is only on the work that your office was doing. I'm still freaking out a bit right now. After the meeting, it was interesting seeing so many people come up to my supervisor and co-workers, talk to them, shake their hand and congratulate them. I guess I stand among greatness. 

The meeting went on for a while. When we got back, my supervisor actually bought us lunch so I 

Entrance to the North Delegate's lounge

NYC's 2nd Ave Deli. Gotta say, their portions were generous and huge. It was a pretty good sandwich. We had a working lunch, so we ate and talked a lot about work and responsibilities. The rest of the day was still pretty hectic, people had a lot of work to do still. 

When I got off work, it was raining ... and I had no coat... or umbrella. I'm lucky I live so close to HQ or else I would haveb een really screwed. I was

 definitely soaked, but not drenched. I relaxed a bit, took a shower and then headed back out to the UN... because tonight, tonight was the DELEGATE'S LOUNGE. I had only heard of it from friends who had gone before and never gone myself... so I was excited. Unfortunately, as an intern, I am not allowed to go into the UN building after 6pm and... I'm not even allowed to go to the delegate's lounge. I also can't get into anywhere. At all. Perks of UN interns is very small (although...there are some awesome things, like 20% off the giftshop, free entrance to the MoMa... just to name a few). 

Everyone had smiles, OBVIOUSLY. Behind is the GA

I was lucky because I had a few friends who are delegates (they're interns at their nation's Missions to the UN and have the letter "D" on their badge whereas I have the letter "A") and can get into the delegate's lounge. So I had my french friend (Who I went to school with in France!!) take me in. It was kind of surreal and hilarious having her go through with me and her constantly saying "She's my guest" flashing her D badge. It was pretty damn great.

I love awkward photos of myself

When I got to the lounge, it was packed. So many interns, delegates and just people in general! Insane amounts of people. And it was amazing. There was a balcony outside that overlooked the river, lots of bartenders, lost of people speaking in various languages... Honestly, it was just a really good time! I hung out with my french friend and her fellow co-workers but then I kept walking around to see if I could find other people to talk to and other interns to meet. I met quite a few new interns! New ones from Switzerland, Greece and Brazil! Even another one from 

More awkward photos galore

France who was interning with the EU Mission. It was a pretty whirlwind night. I ended up meeting a lot of new interns, and they were all really awesome and fun to talk to. 

One of them even said "So you're the Wendy that everyone knows!" and I was so confused because I had only been in the city for just a week now - A WEEK!! - and I didn't think I knew many people at all! Apparently because I posted so much in the whatsapp group and I went to events people knew 

Friends from Germany, UK, Greece and Switzerland!

me, haha, it's honestly just a small world (Although that group has apparently over 200 people...). It was pretty awesome though and very flattering to hear that people were talking about me in a positive way, I was very happy to hear that! Making new friends and having such kind and nice people speak well is always awesome. 

I chatted around, spoke to a whole wackload of people (even met a French guy who studied in Quebec city, and got to meet almost literally the whole team of interns at the Brazilian Mission to the 

99 cent pizza always hits
the spot and brings out the
acid reflux. yeah.

UN). All in all, it was great, got to hang out outside on the balcony, make new friends and just enjoy New York! Of course, I ended it with my regular Friday night slice of 'za.