BONJOUR, friends:

Next semester, I will be performing research abroad at the University of Geneva in Geneva, Switzerland. The project, funded in part by the Swiss National Science Foundation, is within the field of bioethics. Along with a team of cognitive scientists and oversight professor Dr. Samia Hurst, I will assist in the study of vulnerable persons in the healthcare system, aiming in the end to solidify definitions of protection and vulnerability.

In anticipation for the experience, I have studied what I can about Swiss identity, language, geography and customs.

Pertinent to my time as a River Steward, I learned that Geneva is located on the southwest tip of the country, where the Rhone River meets the Arve (pictured just below) and Switzerland dips down to border France. Geneva is also known for two other important geographical elements as the city sits on Lake Geneva and the Alps slumber behind.

Come Springtime, I hope to have dipped my feet into the country's wine and chocolate culture, local traditions (including literary and intellectual figures associated with the region) and the infamous e-bike, featured here in the New York Times:

http://travel.nytimes.com/2011/08/28/travel/the-swiss-alps-on-an-electric-bicycle.html.

where the Rhone meets the Arve

Geneva, Switzerland

Bon aventure!!

Ashley