Y todo lo que ya viví lo sigo cargando

lo llevo muy dentro de mí, nunca lo he olvidado. Lo siento tan cerca de aquí, lo llevo muy dentro de mí.

Ready, set... go?

I only have about a month left before my mid-term seminar. This means that I have done more than 50% of the work that I need for my thesis (which includes all my fieldwork, two papers, one internship and a boat-load of classes). I just finished filling the forms and will need to start working on my presentation very soon.

I like speaking in public. I'm not afraid of that at all. I'm just antsy and can't help but wonder what will I do once I finish my PhD...

Harvest

Summer is over and now the leaves are turning and the wind is blowing. I can see it in nature and I can see it in people. In the street and in the office everyone seems to be dressing more formally, wearing (more serious) high heels, suits and looking just a little less relaxed than they did a couple of weeks ago.

Autumn is harvest time and since I am getting ready to leave Geneva in just a few days, and it got me thinking on what I got out of these months away from friends and family in both 'my homes' (Guatemala and Umea).

This is the first time in my adult life I've ever been homesick... but I missed two places at the same time. I wanted to see my family, my gramms, and my friends that got married, had babies and already went through a long time without me in their lives. I also wanted to go to dinner and make bread, eat chocolates, drink tea and laugh with my Umea friends. The last time I felt sad like this was when I was about to go back to Guate after my little stint with my godparents in Puerto Rico... but I was 11 so I guess it was OK to miss my mom!

This is also the first time I realized just how many lovely, wonderful people are in my life (even if they are long distance). I never noticed when I made so many friends (specially because this is not something that comes naturally to me). This summer I got to meet with many of the ones that have been far away for years, and with all of them it felt as if time had not gone by. I got to remember why we were and are friends and learned things about myself and how I've grown in the years between the last time I saw them and now. I still need to be better at writing, though!

...and even though I still like to make sweeping generalizations about people, cultures and places, I really feel like I'm more 'grown-up' now.

The cautionary whale

So I found some sort of 'shuffle' thing on youtube. It's a great thing to have while I'm trying to make my 'Word art' a little more professional looking. Of course I tried to shuffle Regina Spektor first but it eventually got into the Juno soundtrack (hence the title of the blog).

This morning's song!

Oh, and the title is a not-so-obscure reference to Juno :)

En la vida...

Hoy vine a la OMS un poco después de las ocho de la mañana. Tenía ganas de sentarme y escribir, de avanzar, de tener ideas. Ahora son las 4.23pm y estoy cansada. Reorganicé mucho de mi borrador, tuve una conversación muy interesante sobre la equidad en salud y las ideologías dominantes (qué rico, me hizo sentirme como que estaba en la clase de Isa Rodas) y ya no me siento con tanta inspiración como hoy en la mañana.

Hoy decidí escribir en español por la canción a continuación. Me recuerda a tener 21 o 22 años y sentir la pasión por la sociología, por la teoría, por entender. No es que no la sienta todavía pero como todos los amores, éste se ha transformado con el tiempo, ha madurado y me ha hecho madurar a mí.

En fin, qué mejor que los Fabulosos Cádillacs haciéndole burla a los Backstreet Boys y una súper canción

Gotta have it, really need it to get by...

Nope, I'm not talking about the sugar high Renée Zellweger sings about in that iconic 1990s movie 'Empire Records'... I'm talking about decent, high-speed internet.

I really can't complain much about life in Geneva. The weather has been awesome, I get go to out and run through wonderful old houses and the huge gardens in Grand Saconnex and its surroundings, I've had friends come and I love going to the WHO everyday.

But there is always a 'but', I guess. With the really bad internet signal I have in the 'hell hole' (aka as the John Knox Center, which is where I live), I can barely log into Skype. I miss my regular Sunday chats with my mom, my e-beers with everyone and I have to say, it's really made me homesick.

Today, after more than two weeks of unsuccessful attempts at Skype I finally got to call my mom... for 1.45 minutes.

I should just go to the Parc des Nations with my Ipod and call her from there... seriously.

*sigh

'The illustrated guide to a PhD'

So does this mean my thesis is like a pimple in the face of knowledge?

That actually explains quite a lot.

Thanks for the link :)

http://matt.might.net/articles/phd-school-in-pictures/