Intern Newsletter Issue 2

The second issue of our intern newsletter is out. I should probably clarify that the newsletter is not a part of my work at the UN, it is just something extra we are doing on the side. Ah, the fun I have.

An Afternoon at the Iranian Mission

Photo with the Iranian diplomats, stolen from the UN intern newsletter.

I went to visit the Iran’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations the other day with a group of interns. A UN mission is sort of like an embassy, just to the UN instead of a country. The visit was pleasant enough, with refreshments and free promotional material, and the Iranians had set aside a lot of time to answer our questions.

The tone of the meeting was set when the opening question from a member of our group was about Iran’s nuclear technology. I loosely quote a part of the answer one of the diplomats gave:

“We all agree that a knife is dangerous, but what is a kitchen without a knife? It is the same with nuclear power. We need it to generate electricity for farming, hospitals and so on… And we need to make our neighbours think we’re dangerous – look where we are positioned on the map”.

And equally uncomfortable questions followed with themes such as divorce, women’s rights, the Iran-United States relationship, and stoning:

“There is no stoning in Iran. And if there is, the stones are a lot smaller than described in western media. Besides, a person should feel harm when he or she betrays his significant other, no?"

I have to give them credit for answering everything though. We asked some pretty sensitive questions that I know were not received as openly at some of the other missions.

Moment of the day: One of the diplomats was solemnly explaining how they were not allowed to go further than 20 miles (or something like that) from the Iranian Mission or they would get in trouble with US immigration, to which one girl blurts “but what if you want to go shopping!?”

UN Intern Newsletter

I somehow decided it was a good idea to join the intern newsletter committee. And after two weeks of threatening people to write stuff and finding volunteers to pose for pictures, the first issue is now out. Hopefully there will be a second. But then again, there's just so many things to do in New York that no one seems to have time to write about them. Happy read (there's three pages, just click on the arrows at the top).

Key to the City

I have the key to New York City attached on my key chain, but it is not as great an honour as it might sound. The Key to City is an interactive public art project, where you get a key that actually unlocks various things, such as gates, boxes or secret rooms, around the city’s five boroughs. 

We tracked down a few of the places the key unlocked in Manhattan on Sunday, and despite a few disappointments, we did experience some pretty cool stuff. Perhaps more importantly though, was that the mission gave us an incentive to visit places we would not normally have gone to.

This key opens doors, boxes and experiences all over NYC.

St. John's Cathedral, one of the world's largest cathedrals, was one of our first stops.

My key opened this padlock that gave us access to part of the church not open to the other visitors.

 

My flatmate and his friend enjoying the privilege of being in the "VIP" section.

New York, New York

My travelling days are over, at least for the summer, as I am doing an internship in New York City. I have been here for nearly three weeks now – and I am loving it. I am of course missing the thrills of being on the road, but NYC is definitely not the worst place to live for a few months.

Here is a recap of May and June:

• Finished exams and left Kentucky.
• Visited some new states: Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, Idaho and Washington.
• Survived a 37 hour Amtrak train ride.
• Grabbed coffee from the original Starbucks in Seattle.
• Popped over the border to Canada to check out Vancouver.
• Fell in love with lox and cream-cheese bagels.
• Got detained at the Mexican border due to a missing stamp.
• Checked out movie stars at Universal Studios, California.
• Got my bag “stolen” at the JFK airport.
• Gave up my freedom and started an internship at the United Nations.
• Now busy saving the saving the world and exploring NYC.