Work at the United Nations

A lot of my blog has been more about my roaming in Roma than where I actually spend the majority of my time, at the UN. I suppose this is because it is hard to write about work in a blog, especially when it is so much more fun to get my mind off of work and to write about adventures throughout the city. However, work is a different adventure every day. Waking up around 6:45 and then getting home at 6; long and tiring days. Sometimes I go to work knowing exactly what to expect. I have been working on several projects while I am here, and some days I know that I will be working specifically on those. Other days I wait for feedback on my projects, thus I end up doing other work that needs to be taken care of while being slightly nervous to get the response on my work.


The projects deal with the loans, grants, and accounting of all the different projects in my division, Eastern and Southern Africa. I’ve learned so much finance and accounting wise as well as about the workings of the UN. I also have been able to learn more about projects and what is going on in the countries. Finance is the backbone of all the projects and it is beneficial for me to be learning that side of things. Sometimes people want to neglect the details of it, but it’s going to come up in every part of the work for the country projects.

Aside from the actual work I do, I also have access to so much information on the IFAD intranet. It’s a fantastic opportunity to read up on different things when I get the chance. I love reading about the agricultural projects taking place that all the work here goes into. IFAD really is enabling poor rural people to overcome poverty. The president sometimes blogs as well; he just wrote an entry that I think everyone should read too. It’s short, sweet, I love it, and you can find it here.
After being here for more than two months, it is amazing how much I have learned, how much I have become comfortable with the work, and how homey the place has become. I feel like I have been here for ages. I have even gotten comfy in my clothes. A couple of weeks ago I decided to invest in comfortable shoes to walk to work in. I resisted the temptation to buy THEM the whole time, but once I tried them on I knew I had to get them for the benefit of my hurting feet…Birkenstocks. EVERYONE in the city wears them. It is unbelievable. With the arrival of the heat I started to see people not only wearing them to work, but wearing them at work. After my investment into the world of Birkenstock, it started out with me just walking my mile to the metro in them, and then it slowly became me never changing out of them. Black pencil skirt with Birkenstocks? Yes please.

Work as also gotten comfortable with not only how much I have learned with the projects and wearing comfy clothes, but also because of the people I have met. I came into this thinking I might meet some interesting co-workers; never did I think I would be making close friends. It sounds cheesy when I write that, but it is true. They are from so many different places around the world. Recently I realized that I hardly speak with Americans. It was funny to actually get together with Gina (from L.A.) and talk about “our home” even though our homes are so far apart in the states.

Here I spend time with my closest friend who is Italian/ Swiss, and also hang out with a friend from Holland, others from Italy, Africa, England, Jordan, Kuwait, Germany, and a bunch of different places. Lately I have spent time saying goodbye to them. I didn’t know how blue this would make me feel. After becoming close friends in and outside of work and then having to say goodbye is difficult. They have been apart one of my biggest adventures and have been an essential part of my time here.

So lately that is what I have been thinking about. I LOVE it here and have a good amount of time left so I am excited. It’s just weird to say goodbye even before I leave.

Enough sentimentalism; time to think about all the work and fun that is yet to come! More work adventures to take place, more out of work surprises along the way. Ciao ciao!