I’m home now, lingering in the surreal feeling that two weeks ago, I was living in a different country. A country in which I was not fully embedded into, but certainly gained a sense of familiarity with. Four and a half months is a strange amount of time. It’s not a miniscule amount, by any means, but it’s not long enough for me to tell people I’ve lived in Switzerland with a straight face. Yet I don’t want to tell people I merely studied there, for it doesn’t capture all that I did. I did more than sit in a classroom. I sat with nature until I felt a part of it. I attended workshops to involve myself in local climate discussions, where I spoke with residents about their lived experiences. I wandered through the city to experience the same curiosities and frustrations locals described for myself. When I wandered, I spent a lot of time thinking–about Geneva, about Switzerland, about the Earth and where I fit in it. At the first Global Gathering, at Wellesley, we were given a blue notebook with a pen. The pen has since run out of ink, and the notebook is now nearly full, the pages now jammed with postcards and pamphlets I found along the way. That notebook is full of the thoughts I had at my sit spot and beyond, thoughts that made it into my blog posts. I spent four and a half months doing something in between studying and living in Geneva, and my time with the Paulson ISF is some proof of it.

In addition to thinking, I observed. I wrote down everything I saw, heard, smelled, and tasted. Before I left for Switzerland, the people around me would ask me if I knew what I was doing. I wrote up bucket lists of things I wanted to do, activities I would go on, excursions I would undertake. Our plans are always action-oriented, and without this fellowship, I wouldn’t have considered making time to just observe. I hopped onto hours-long train rides without my homework, as my plan for the journey was to just look out the window. I felt guilty at first, thinking that I wasn’t doing something. However, I feel like I gained something from those moments of observation. I saw beautiful scenery in stunning autumn colors, I familiarized myself more with the region, and I practiced my French by eavesdropping on conversations. 

Going forward, observation is how I will continue to be an agent for change. Yes, change requires action, but action must be based on lived experience, which requires observation. My off-campus experience encompassed various elements, including getting involved in the climate policy sphere in International Geneva. I often wandered into workshops and conferences not having anything to say because I lacked the vocabulary and experience to know the details of what was going on. So I sat and observed, recording everything in my blue notebook. Through observation, I gained the confidence to speak up at the next event I attended, gradually gaining the ability to articulate a youth perspective. My final project carries this theme of observation. I am making a map that highlights the nature I encountered on my daily running route. As I continue to run–at Wellesley and at home–, I’ll take the time to notice my surroundings more often. Observation fosters admiration, and taking action to protect the environment requires loving the Earth first.