"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.

"Once you get to that point when you can just be yourself and relax, I just think that you're so much happier in general." Jacqueline Emerson

First time I've ever seen
anyone pain a light

Friday is the chill day for me (sometimes). I started off by going into work and doing some stuff for my project and kind of just walking around.

My floor is a conference floor, and because of that, there is usually food around (Don't worry guys, I don't take it unless it's offered to me). The air smelled good and I was definitely sadder than I should have been. I ended up putting stuff together for the meetings and the conferences that the USG had to use for the day. After she left, I kind of tried to find my own work to do. 

At lunch, I ate some leftover pizza and just kind of hung out for a bit whilst getting all my information together. 

It was a bit of a casual day at work, which was nice and relaxing, but it also
made it kind of boring to try to do anything. 

Lots of people grabbing
ice cream!

At lunch (good thing I ate my pizza early) I headed over to a UN Women event called "Brownbag" where I listened to a woman speak about the issue of violence and child marriage against young girls (Wrote a paper on this recently) and I gotta say, it was pretty interesting to attend - even though I was a little late.

As I left the event, the first floor of the building (the News Building) was having an event that was sponsored by a real estate company so when I went
over, they offered me lots of ice cream and lemonade, which was great to really cool me down in this weather... Then headed back to work and shared some of my ice cream with a co-worker. It was the first time I was able to educate her on Magnum bars. 

After work, I decided for the first time that I did not want to go to the Delegate's
Lounge, I wanted a nice chill night. So I invited my friend over from the Canadian Mission to have a night of movies, dinner and chill - especially from the hectic night we had before.

They gave me so much...

Made it myself!

I left to walk around the city for a bit and take a look at all the stuff around, passing by Bryant park and bam! I was given free ice cream. Lots of it. They gave me a bunch of haagen-dazs samples, vanilla, chocolate and ... pina colada? I mean, hey, as an intern no complaints.

I headed back home and cooked up a storm! Made some orange chicken with pasta and had some chips + dip and then watched some good cheesy movies, like the Prince and Me and Legally Blonde. 

And then a PUPPY SHOWED UP and hung out with my friend and I for a bit. 

All in all, a good chill night.

"A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions." - Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr

I woke up at a reasonable time today. Eight am to try to get into work at 9am. When I got in, I tried to do my thing, work on my stuff and in general get the job done.

Schnitzel Wednesdays at the Embassy

That is, until a new intern showed up and literally everyone in the office did not know what was going on. Turns out the office that interviewed us and told two of us that we would be the only interns... but hired three. So we got a new intern. We made do with it and I tried to give her as much work as possible.

Other than that, it was a pretty normal day - except! I went over to the German Mission. It was pretty big and imposing, I must say, it was about 23 stories high and half of it was the consulate and the other half was the Mission. As I found out, each diplomat had their own intern so there were (As far as I know) about 20 different interns. That's wild. Some of them have to stay and work on weekends as well so they seem to be also overworked. But the office I was in was pretty cool and there was a lot there!

We headed up to the top floor, the 23rd floor where they had this beautiful restaurant that overlooked much of New York and had some really delicious food. I grabbed some German Schnitzel with salad and potatoes and it was nice. We sat at the unofficial intern table and I got to meet some more of the German interns. Their work is definitely interesting (not that I should or can really talk about it, sorry).

After my nice lunch, I headed over to the card and identification office where they changed the office

The Germans have the best view!

that was on my card (They had originally put OHRM but I work for the EOSG) for me! No hassles or questions, just the way I like it.

Afterwork, my friends and I congregated outside, grabbed some pizza and dinner and walked down to Times Square.  Why? Because we had X-Men pre-screening there! How cool is that? We walked into the theatre and it was HUGE. There were massive amounts of seats and I noticed that the sizes of the drinks here are absolutely massive. I couldn't even believe how big their cups were (yes that is the first thing I noticed when I was there).

Gotta say, the movie was pretty Hollywood, but well done. I enjoyed it a lot and liked that they kept it open for the next few movies. They also had some really clever and funny jokes in it. Worth the watch boys and girls!

Movie screening with some buddies!

Even though I got home "early" I was still exhausted and had to flop into bed to sleep. So tired. But in reflection, it's been amazing being able to experience and do so many things that I haven't done before. It's been amazing just to push myself and do something new and through this become a better person.