Steve's sandbox

Tag: Geneva

  • Josie Holley – Case Study Geneva, Switzerland (2013-2014)

    After having finished my degree in French and Spanish with Interpreting at the University of Sheffield, I knew where I wanted my career to go. Since the age of 16 I have wanted to be a conference interpreter. I took the entrance exams for the University of Geneva, and I was accepted.

    The only problem was that Geneva is not the cheapest city in the world, to use a good old British understatement.

    The money I received from the John Speak Trust enabled me not only to survive through my Master’s but also to grab as many experiences as I could firmly by the horns.

    Conference Interpreting is a career path which requires deep cultural understanding of the countries whose languages you study. Geneva being a French speaking city, the francophone side was already covered, but the money from the John Speak Trust also allowed me to travel to the south of Spain for two weeks during my Christmas holidays and to travel around Switzerland, both French and German speaking during Easter.

    As it currently stands, I have just passed my second semester and am gearing up to face my third and final semester here in Geneva. This bursary has enabled me to discover a city that I love, and one which I hope will be my home for a few years to come.

    My experience in Geneva has confirmed me as a citizen of the world, as Geneva serves as a cross roads for many languages, cultures and ideas thanks to its International Organisations, including the UN, which I have been lucky enough to work in as a volunteer over the past few weeks. I had already experienced life in a French speaking country through my Erasmus in Bordeaux, but Geneva offers a different, unique perspective, being a town that is French speaking only in name; I regularly hear French, English, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Chinese and goodness knows how many other languages that I do not even recognise, and that is just on the tram!

    My advice to anybody considering a bursary to travel abroad would be to grab the opportunity while you can!

    It is a unique experience, and one which is not always easy, but it provides you with excellent skills for the jobs market, and more importantly broadens your personal horizons and opens doors that you never knew existed. The most important thing to do is to go native so to speak. Eat where the locals eat, drink what the locals drink, chill out where the locals chill out, and above all, make every effort to speak what the locals speak!

  • Amy Clark, Montpellier, France – November 2014

    Amy Clark – La Plagne, Geneva, Nov 2014

    Cet mois a été plus tranquille pour moi, je n’ai fais pas beaucoup des choses outre que le travail. Le temps a commencé a changé comme c’est novembre maintenant et il a plu beaucoup récemment, ce qui est toujours un dommage. Je vais être honnête et dire que ils me manquent ma famille, mon fiancé, mes copains et en général être chez moi en Angleterre, c’est très difficile à vivre dans un autre pays et être des milliers miles de la. Je sais que cette occasion pouvoir vivre et travailler à l’étranger est incroyable et j’ai bien profité d’apprendre la langue ici et voir nouvelles choses, mais je suis impatient pour finir le travail et passer deux semaines en Angleterre pour les vacances noëls, avant revenir pour les derniers deux mois de mon stagiaire en France.

    Cependant, je voudrais parler du week-end dernier que j’ai passé en Genève. Mon copain a juste commencé un stage dans La Plagne, travailler dans une station de ski ce qui est situé a proximité, donc trois de mes amis et moi ont passés le week-end découvrir la belle ville de Genève. J’ai pris le train qui duré environ 4 heures mais le temps passé assez vite et je suis arrivée fin de vendredi soir. Nous avons fait beaucoup des choses ; nous avons visités le Lac Léman et le Jet d’Eau, nous avons fait un petit tour de la ville en train et nous sommes allées aux bars et restaurants traditionnels différents pendant les deux jours.  C’était assez cher, donc ce est une bonne chose que nous n’y sommes allés que pour le week-end, mais c’est une très jolie ville et nous avons bien profités.

    Plusieurs choses cet mois a me fait réaliser que mes compétences français ont améliorés; par exemple, j’ai encore plus confiance quand je parle aux clients au travail, je suis beaucoup plus vite quand j’écrire des emails en français et aussi j’ai eu a traiter des choses importantes en français, tels que appeler ma banque, ce qui a bien passé. En général je me sens que tout est devenir plus facile chaque semaine et j’espère que quand je revienne à l’université il sera perceptible par mes professeurs.

    Amy Clark – Nov14

     

    ENGLISH TRANSLATION

    This month has been much quieter for me; I haven’t done much apart from go to work. The weather has started to change as were in November now and it’s rained a lot recently which is always a shame. I am going to be honest and say that I miss my family, friends and fiancé and generally being at home. It’s really hard to live thousands of miles away. I know that this opportunity to be able to live and work abroad is amazing and I have really enjoyed learning the language here and seeing new things, but I’m looking forward to spending two weeks at home for Christmas before coming back for my last two months of my work placement in France.

    However, I would like to talk about last weekend that I spent in Geneva. My friends had just started a placement in La Plagne, working in a ski resort, which is, situated close by, so three of my friends and me spent the weekend discovering the beautiful city of Geneva.  I went by train, which took around 4 hours but time passed quite quickly and I arrived Friday in the late evening. We did lots of things; for example, we visited ‘Lac Leman’ and the ‘Jet d’Eau’, we went on a little tour of the city by train and we went to different traditional bars and restaurants during the 2 days there.  It was quite expensive so it’s a good thing that we only spent the weekend there, but it’s a really lovely city and we enjoyed it a lot.

    Several things this month have made me realise that my French skills have improved; for example I have even more confidence when talking to clients at work, I am much faster when writing emails in French, and also I have had to deal with important things in French such as calling my bank, which went well. In general I feel that everything is becoming easier each month and I hope that when I go back to university it will be noticeable by my teachers.

    Amy Clark – Nov14

  • Josie Holley – Case Study, Geneva (Nov 2013 – May 2014)

    Alhambra

    My advice to anybody considering a bursary to travel abroad would be to grab the opportunity while you can!

    After having finished my degree in French and Spanish with Interpreting at the University of Sheffield, I knew where I wanted my career to go. Since the age of 16 I have wanted to be a conference interpreter. I took the entrance exams for the University of Geneva, and I was accepted. The only problem was that Geneva is not the cheapest city in the world, to use a good old British understatement.

    The money I received from the John Speak Trust enabled me not only to survive through my Master’s but also to grab as many experiences as I could firmly by the horns.

    Conference Interpreting is a career path which requires deep cultural understanding of the countries whose languages you study. Geneva being a French speaking city, the francophone side was already covered, but the money from the John Speak Trust also allowed me to travel to the south of Spain for two weeks during my Christmas holidays and to travel around Switzerland, both French and German speaking during Easter.

    As it currently stands, I have just passed my second semester and am gearing up to face my third and final semester here in Geneva. This bursary has enabled me to discover a city that I love, and one which I hope will be my home for a few years to come.

    My experience in Geneva has confirmed me as a citizen of the world, as Geneva serves as a cross roads for many languages, cultures and ideas thanks to its International Organisations, including the UN, which I have been lucky enough to work in as a volunteer over the past few weeks. I had already experienced life in a French speaking country through my Erasmus in Bordeaux, but Geneva offers a different, unique perspective, being a town that is French speaking only in name; I regularly hear French, English, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Chinese and goodness knows how many other languages that I do not even recognise, and that is just on the tram!

    My advice to anybody considering a bursary to travel abroad would be to grab the opportunity while you can! It is a unique experience, and one which is not always easy, but it provides you with excellent skills for the jobs market, and more importantly broadens your personal horizons and opens doors that you never knew existed.

    The most important thing to do is to go native so to speak.

    Eat where the locals eat, drink what the locals drink, chill out where the locals chill out, and above all, make every effort to speak what the locals speak!

    Cordoba Skyline at Night

  • Décembre 2013 L’Escalade

    Qu’est-ce que je peux dire du dernier mois de semestre ? Tellement de choses se sont passées que je vais me concentrer sur un évènement qui se passe chaque année à Genève : l’Escalade.

    L’Escalade se fait en deux parties. La première partie est la course à l’escalade. Cette année la course s’est tenue le 7 décembre. Je suis allée la voir très brièvement comme mon colocataire fait la course semi-professionnelle.
    La deuxième partie est le cortège de l’escalade. Cette partie est la partie plus culturelle. En fait il y a une histoire qui remonte jusqu’à 1602. Le 11 et 12 décembre de l’année en question, Genève s’est vu attaqué par les Savoyards qui ont essayé d’escalader les murailles de la ville.

    Malheureusement pour les Savoyards, ils ont essayé d’attaquer dans le mauvais lieu. Ils ont attaqué une rue très étroite, et à leur malheur il y avait une dame qui avait fait un potage pour le jour suivant dans une marmite qu’elle a donc renversé sur les soldats depuis le premier étage, ce qui les a brûlait et les a obligé de battre en retraite. Les actions de cette dame a fait pencher la balance en faveur des Genevois, qui ont finalement gagné la bataille.

    Pour commémorer cette victoire phare chaque année il y a un cortège d’hommes, femmes et enfants habillés en tenue traditionnelle, quelques-uns montés au cheval, qui défile dans la vieille ville. Après il y a un feu de joie et on vend des marrons et du vin épicé. Je suis allée le voir avec deux amis, et c’était une occasion festive, malgré le froid et le brouillard givrant.
    Il est traditionnel de manger ce qu’on appelle une marmite. C’est un grand chaudron en chocolat, avec des légumes en pâte d’amandes dedans, pour imiter le chaudron de la dame avec son potage. Si on mange un repas traditionnel comme j’ai fait avec mes colocataires ici, on la mange comme dessert et tout le monde met les mains en dessus de la marmite et puis on la brise tous ensemble pour pouvoir manger les légumes à l’intérieur.

    J’ai bien aimé les deux évènements- la course et le cortège- et c’était bien de pouvoir le fêter avec une famille genevoise qui connaît les traditions. Le cortège a vraiment marqué le début de noël pour moi, comme il faisait froid et c’était la première fête de la saison.

    English translation

    What can I say about the last month of the semester. So much has happened that I am going to concentrate on one event which happens each year in Geneva: l’Escalade.

    L’Escalade has two different parts. The first part is the escalade race.  This year the race took place on the 7th December. I briefly went to watch as my house-mate runs semi-professionally.

    The second part is the cortège de l’escalade. This is the more cultural part. In fact, the story goes back to 1602. The 11th and 12th of December of that year, Geneva was attacked by the Savoyards, who tried to scale the town walls.

    Unfortunately for the Savoyards, they tried to attack the wrong place. They attacked a very narrow street, and to their misfortune, there was a lady who had made a stew for the following day in a large cauldron, which she then tipped on the soldiers heads from the first floor. This burned them and forced them to beat a retreat. This woman’s actions tipped the balance in favour of the Genevans, who went on to win the battle.

    To commemorate this iconic victory, each year there is a parade of men, women and children dressed in traditional costume, some on horseback, which wends its way through the old town. Afterwards there is a bonfire, and they sell roast chestnuts and mulled wine. I went to watch with two friends, and there was a very festive atmosphere despite the cold and the freezing fog.
    It is traditional to eat what is known as a marmite. It is a large cauldron made of chocolate, with marzipan vegetables inside, to imitate the woman’s cauldron with the stew inside. If you have a traditional meal as I did with my house mates, it is eaten as dessert, and everyone puts their hands above it and smashes it together, so that you can eat the vegetables inside.

    I really liked both events- the race and the cortège- and it was great to be able to celebrate them with a Genevan family which knows the traditions. The cortège really marked the start of Christmas for me, as it was so cold, and it was the first celebration of the season.