"You can't buy happiness, but you can buy ice cream. And that's kind of the same thing." - Unknown.

Today was just as bad weather wise as it was yesterday.

They had America flavoured...

As I was walking over to work, there was a Basket Robins on the corner of the street and they were handing out free "ice cream pizza" and "patriot ice cream" (Really, different flavours of sorbet in different colours). It was quite a nice way to start my day!

During the time I was in the office, I was doing my work, but at the same time, Once an hour or so, I would click on UberEats. 

Why?

Because free Magnum bars, that's why.

Yes. That's right, for national ice cream day, Magnum partnered up with UberEats and delivered 4 free

Ice cream :D

Magnum bars to people across the city. 

This was the most exciting thing that happened at my work today. 

It was pretty hot, about 32 degrees with humidity, and UberEats had bikers biking around with these ice cream bars. I can't even believe how crazy that was. It also took me about 2 and a half hour before I finally had an uber biker deliver the ice cream to me.

But it was well worth it, double caramel ... *drools*

Magnum bars promised!

I gave away my three other bars (for the sake of my waist and because who actually needs 4 ice cream bars) and went back to work after a nice brisk walk out. 

At the end of the day, I started walking over to the other side of the city on the West end to a nice rooftop/bar/club area where there was a huge United Nations Association of New York event happening.

I got this finally!

It was in a quite nice venue and it was interesting because there was a huge mix of people, from people who were very dressed up to people who weren't dressed up at all as well as age ranges from around my age to late 50s just networking hard. It was interesting.

Afterwards, my friend and I headed back over to the UN and headed up to the Delegate's Lounge
where we stood around, talked to people and just enjoyed the company. It was my first time actually staying there until closing time. 

Since it was closing time, I went back home and relaxed a bit before heading to bed.

"Take it easy, but take it" - Woody Guthrie

Today was an easy Thursday. Honestly after what felt like a vacation (Tuesday was an easy day and I didn't have work on Monday or Wednesday - seriously, I need more days like today!), it was nice to go back to work and do *something.*

These people "work" for the UN...

Unfortunately, we didn't have too many things in terms of actual substantial (at least for me) so I worked on one of our newer projects (which when it comes out, I'm sure I'll alert the blog) for the whole day. 

I went out for lunch with a bunch of my Canadian friends and I gotta say, there were so many of us! We've really grown into this big family and we just keep expanding. Don't ask me how, but I just keep finding Canadians everywhere. It's ridiculous. 

I kept working at my stuff, staying a bit late because I had heard *through the grape vine* that there was going to be an event with the Venezuelan Embassy for their independence day!

Creeptastic shot of my
friends

Halfway through, I went down to the Delegate's Lounge to check out the football game between France and Germany and my god, were there a lot of people slacking off for the game. It was insane. 

But I knew I couldn't just dip from work for that long so I headed back up and wrapped up a few more things before heading BACK DOWN to the Delegate's Lounge. 

I hung out with a friend in the Delegate's Lounge for a while before heading up and finding out - there's nothing there. 

Turns out the party was tomorrow. Whoops.

I was a bit sad since I originally planned to go to a Cookie Factory Open house, but it was all good since I went to the intern bar, Calicos and had some nachos and fun with some friends. 

Early night home that day. Was a good time. 

"Let your life lightly dance on the edges of Time like dew on the tip of a leaf." - Rabindranath Tagore

Today I got through work pretty easily.

Football game

There was a little bit of work, lots of meetings and then worked on some projects until it hit about 5pm and then headed over to the Delegate's Lounge with my friend for MAI TAI DAY!

It was Mai Tai all days in the Delegate's Lounge and my friend and I sat there and watched the soccer game going on (Portugal won) and watched the delegate's freak out during the game. It was quite interesting to watch.

Mai tai day!

Afterwards, we headed over to another building where they were hosting their first United Nations Intern Association (UNIA) elections and I went over with my friend to listen to the speeches and vote for my friends.

Afterwards, my friends and I headed over to the UNOPs building where they were having their once a month after work happy hour. It was amazing. It was great vibes, everyone

was super young, they were happy and everyone seemed so talkative and like they really enjoyed their work.

Up on the roof

The UNOPs place was amazing. It was in their kitchen and had a beautiful patio outside view of New York from the sky. It was gorgeous and such a great place to talk and enjoy meeting other people and mingling. The music was all whatever we

wanted, the drinks were cheap and the snacks were good. 

It was a great time.

Afterwards, my friends and I headed over to another place where we tore up the dance floor and then headed home. 

“I look out the window and I see the lights and the skyline and the people on the street rushing around looking for action, love, and the world's greatest chocolate chip cookie, and my heart does a little dance.” - Nora Ephron, Heartburn

FRIDAY - Webster's dictionary states that this is the best day of the week, full of promise, full of hope and the start of the weekend (that's a lie, don't quote me, I don't know what Webster's says). 

I started it off as I usually do, walking over to work in the throng of well-dressed, slick and clean-cut people. I really do love walking to work as much as I hate getting out of bed. It's always so amazing to see the determination (or dread, can never tell which one) in people's eyes as they walk straight through the red lights and into oncoming traffic (Really, this one is no lie). Or even seeing the annoyance and perseverance on people's faces as they try to hail a cab or navigate through the moving maze of bodies.

People's natures and humanity are almost like poems come to life. It's interesting to see. People are still friendly and polite though. I still have my bad habit (that I picked up as a hostess) of smiling at people whenever we make eye contact and every single time, someone would always smile back at me - even if it's nervously or tensely, they did it. 

It's really the city I kind of want to live in. People definitely live in their own lives with a one track mind kind of thing going on but even with that sense of purpose, they'll still take the time to smile. 

I hope one day I can find my proper purpose in life like the people here but still be down to earth about it and be able to take the time to smile. Although one thing that I have noticed, because there seems to be such a steadfast culture and atmosphere, I feel like people miss out on a lot. They don't take the time to look around and absorb the beauty that is around them, whether it's the weather, the trees, the fashion or the other people around them. I rarely ever see a New Yorker looking around (that's one tip on how to search out the tourist and the New Yorker. I've luckily found that balance so that tour guide people don't look at me but I can still take in the city). I've noticed such small things, like owls (that are meant to keep away pidgeons) and carvings of acorns and oaks (as mentoined in a previous post). 

Anyway, you guys didn't come to my blog to read about my reflections and thoughts, right? Just the nitty gritty of what an average UN intern's life is, so I'll try to keep on track.

When I got to work, I worked a bit on my long term project, which involves synthesizing and summarizing material and documents (some of them of the "utmost confidentiality"). 

At lunch, I went out with two of my friends to the nearby market that was on 41st between Lexington and 3rd. 

The market!

Wow, you could really see the smoke coming off of those BBQs and smell the delicious scent of roasted meat and corn on the cob. It was just amazing to see, there were so many people, so many foods and the line ups were up the street. There was rolls of italian sausage, gyros, Carribean rum cake (oh my god, so delicious please give me more always, all the time), phone accessories, corn, vegan pasteries... pretty much anything and everything you could want. It was amazing. I loved just walking through and seeing everything that was there. And people were so welcoming and nice. I would ask them where they got their food or sometimes join into their conversations and people were 100% okay with it. Sometimes they even laughed at my comments and conversation even though I wasn't invited into them (I need to stop it, I feel creepy sometimes). 

My lunch came in a ridiculously
cute box

I ended up buying a Shawarma/roasted chicken/falafel wrap. It was delicious and amazing. I just talked to the girl as I talk to everyone, open up with whether or not they were busy and I think in general, everyone welcomes someone who wants to talk to them. Especially when they're working at a service job where they may be bored or tired of just asking "what would you like in this." She was really nice and when I had originally asked for shawarma (since it was one of the options), she actually asked me if I wanted a little bit of everything - and that's what I got. 

We were all so hungry so we all headed out to the park nearby, sat down and ate together. We actually ran into a few of my Brazilian friends, including the one I met yesterday and sat with them.

I found out the friend I met yesterday is LEAVING ON TUESDAY. I was so sad and heartbroken. When I told my friend about this, she told me that such is the way of the UN, people constantly come and go. They leave. I was heartbroken because we were getting along so well... and then he had to leave.  It makes me sad because it makes it hard to form really strong friendships (not saying that long distance doesn't work but it is a lot easier to be friends with someone when you can see each other and talk to each other face to face on a regular basis). 

After my heartbreak at lunch, I headed back to work and worked a bit on my project. One of my co-workers at the office actually pulled me out and told me "we're going for a walk." She brought me to the other building across the street, which is another UN building and I ended up just standing there to the side awkwardly as she introduced me to a million people that she knew (She worked there originally). It was amazing to see it. 

Actually, I really do admire her. She's quick, efficient, does good work on time and even in high-stress situations, she maintains her chill. She also gave me good advice. When things are high stress; leave and go out for a walk. It's a good way to relax and calm down. She's a smart lady. 

When I got back, it was just about time to head out, so I left the office, headed back home, ate a little bit (Honestly, my dinner was chips, don't judge me). I walked around with a friend at the market afterwards and we both kind of hung out and enjoyed.

 After relaxing a bit, I headed out to go to the Delegate's lounge. 

At the market

It was as great as ever, but the weather was gorgeous so everyone was outside enjoying themselves on the balcony. It was a really stunning, beautiful view. 

I know that a lot of people now just say "meh" to the delegate's lounge and treat it as though it's something they do every day and like it's not a big deal, but I hope that never happens to me. I want to go to the delegate's lounge every week and still be amazed and awed by the view of the UN, the river and be awed by the presence of some of the world's best and brightest (in terms of politics at least). I want to always feel like it's a big deal - because it is. All around the world, I know that some people would do anything to get where I am now and do what I'm doing now. So I will try not to disappoint them.

Tonight was a pretty good night, I met some interns from Spain, Finland, EU mission delegates and ... almost the whole German Mission delegation actually. It was an interesting and fun night. It was really nice to talk to the German delegates since I love listening to them speak German and I absolutely love their food. I remember back when I lived in France, most of my friends were German as well, so being here and meeting the whole German mission was a bit like France (Ironic I know). It was great though. I met some really nice people and enjoyed.

I found out that they are extremely overworked. They told me that they would be going into work... On a Saturday. Because they had to sit in and take notes about the Fifth committee. Also the German mission has their own building and restaurant (But not a permanent spot on the security council [?] I won't comment further on this, just pointing it out). They were all really nice to me and I got to practice my (limited and almost non-existent) German on them! I don't think they were too impressed but I definitely had fun talking to them.

All in all, a very good night, I left a while before the lounge closed up and went home to relax. I have a tour tomorrow morning of SoHo, Chinatown and Little Italy so sleep is of the utmost importance!

On a side note, I know my last few posts have been lacking a bit on photos, I will try my best to make up for that!

"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.