Category: Monthly Reports

La semaine dernière, Paris a hébergé le Sommet AI Action. Le Grand Palais – un espace d’exposition proche des Champs-Élysée – a accueilli des chefs du monde, y compris Keir Starmer et JD Vance. Le but de l’événement était de trouver un accord sur la sécurité et l’utilisation économique de l’IA. Mais les États-Unis (et le Royaume-Uni) ont refusé de signer l’accord principal : une déclaration sur « l’IA inclusive et soutenable ». Ce n’est peut-être pas surprenant. La semaine avant, la publication du modèle chinois « DeepSeek » avait fait paniquer beaucoup des entreprises américaines de technologie. Pour les États-Unis, la régulation de l’IA est moins importante que la géopolitique.

Last week, Paris hosted the AI Action Summit. The Grand Palais – an exhibition space off the Champs Élysée – welcomed world leaders, including Keir Starmer and JD Vance. The point of the event was to reach agreement on AI safety and economic use. But the United States (and UK) refused to sign the flagship agreement: a declaration on “inclusive and sustainable AI”. This is maybe not surprising. The week before, the release of the Chinese “DeepSeek” AI model had made many American tech companies panic. For the US, AI regulation is less important than geopolitics.

L’IA est pertinent pour mon propre travail. Un de mes cours à Sciences Po s’appelle « Gouvernement Ouvert et IA », qui regarde comment la technologie peut être utilisée pour faire les démocraties marcher mieux. À l’OCDE, je travaille sur la participation citoyenne – un domaine où il y a beaucoup des applications intéressantes pour l’IA. Un événement parallèle du sommet était le « symposium sur la pratique et la recherche de l’IA participative », qui a eu lieu à Sciences Po. C’était bien de rencontrer plus des gens qui travaillent dans mon domaine.

AI is relevant to my own work. One of my courses at Sciences Po is called “Open Government and AI”, which looks at how the technology can be used to make democracies work better. At the OECD I work on citizen participation – an area where there are many exciting applications for AI. One side event of the summit was the “participatory AI practice and research symposium”, which was held at Sciences Po. It was good to meet more people working in my field.

Le dernier jour du sommet, j’ai assisté à une fête organisée par OpenAI et Hugging Face, une entreprise française de l’IA. J’ai demandé à quelques ingénieurs comment le domaine a changé récemment. Il y a quelques années, l’IA était une industrie niche. Certains des développements technologiques que nous avons vu depuis étaient inconcevables à l’époque. Maintenant, c’est un centre du pouvoir mondial, une priorité pour les gouvernements et industries du monde entier.

On the last day of the summit, I attended a party organised by OpenAI and Hugging Face, a French AI company. I asked some of the engineers how the field has changed recently. A few years ago, AI was a niche industry. Some of the technological developments we have seen since then were inconceivable at the time. Now, it’s a centre of world power, a priority for governments and industries around the world.

Bonjour ! On est en mi-février et j’ai déjà fait 6 semaines de mon stage. Ça se passe très bien, j’ai une portée sur plusieurs projets et je me sens de plus en plus à l’aise avec mes collègues. Bien sûr il y a parfois des petites incompréhensions et ou des moments difficiles, mais récemment ce sont à cause d’un manque de connaissance du métier plutôt que mon niveau de français. 

Une discussion que j’ai eu plusieurs fois et un sujet auquel j’ai beaucoup réfléchi, c’est quels facteurs impactent la progression de carrière des femmes en France et comment ils comparent avec d’autres pays. J’ai conclu que c’est principalement la garde des enfants, la durée de la journée scolaire, et la période d’intégration après le congé maternité qui varient l’impact sur la carriere de la femme. Faut prendre en compte que c’est ma première expérience dans une boîte aussi grande, et d’être entouré par  autant des gens de cette tranche d’âge, mais j’étais choqué quand ma responsable a raconté son parcours professionnel (très admirable) et qu’elle avait 4 enfants. Après je me suis sentie un peu coupable de ma réaction vu que c’est évidemment très normalisé maintenant pour les femmes de ne pas devoir choisir entre ‘vie familiale’ et ‘vie pro’ – on peut avoir les deux. En réfléchissant, le modèle auquel j’étais entouré en grandissant était que les mères de la majorité de mes camarades travaillaient à temps partiel, pour pouvoir chercher les enfants à la fin de la journée scolaire – vers 15h. De plus, ma mère a connu de nombreux changements de carrière quand j’étais petite. Donc, même si je savais en théorie que les femmes peuvent avoir des enfants sans que cela n’impacte leur carrière, j’ai toujours eu tendance à penser qu’il fallait choisir. Parler avec ma responsable me donne une vision optimiste de la vie d’une femme travaillante en ce moment, cependant elle avoue que de s’integrer apres le congé maternité n’était pas facile. Et elle n’est pas toute seule: 74% des mères interrogées par l’Apec considèrent que le congé mat ralentit la progression hiérarchique des femmes pendant plusieurs années. 

Au bureau, ce sujet revient souvent et j’ai entendu plusieurs avis de mes collègues, y compris des comparaisons avec d’autres pays. En Allemagne c’est très mal vu de laisser ses enfants chez une periscolaire ou une nounou les soirs, donc c’est très commun pour les femmes de travailler à temps partiel pour s’ adapter. Je dirais que c’est similaire en Angleterre, et en général la garde des enfants coûte très cher alors ce n’est pas une option pour tout le monde. Evidemment ces facteurs ont un impact sur la salaire moyenne des femmes, et leur progression de carrière. En revanche, en France, 99 % de mes collègues féminines travaillent jusqu’à 18h ou 18h30, car le périscolaire est abordable ou bien elles ont une nounou — un phénomène bien plus répandu qu’ailleurs (comparé au Royaume-Uni, l’Allemagne, et la Scandinavie). De plus, la journée scolaire en France se termine vers 16h/16h30, ce qui ajoute 2 heures à la journée scolaire anglaise dans certains cas. Ce facteur tout seul impacte beaucoup la capacité de travailler des parents, à mon avis. Selon une étude de l’Insee de 2020, en France 27 % des femmes occupent un emploi à temps contre 8 % des hommes. Par contre, le taux est plus élevé chez les deux sexes au Royaume-Uni : 38 % des femmes travaillent à temps partiel, contre 14 % des hommes. J’estime que le système de la garde des enfants est un facteur important dans cette tendance vers davantage de travail à temps partiel. 

Il est normalisé autant dans mon bureau d’avoir quelques enfants à l’âge de 35, que tu paraissait anormale si t’en avait pas. En Angleterre, je trouve que quand les gens sortent de l’université, ils sont pressés de commencer leur carrière, et de bosser quand un fou jusqu’à au moins 30 ans. Est-ce que c’est d’une manière à cause de ce système de garde des enfants qui ne marche pas ? Quand t’es une femme et tu sais que d’avoir des enfants signifie souvent un retrait dans ta vie professionelle, evidemment tu serais pressé de réussir dans ton travail. En général,  les gens prennent plus leur temps en faisant leurs études en France, et les françaises ne semblent pas avoir la même pression temporelle d’établir une carrière solide que les anglaises, à cause des facteurs que j’ai mentionnés.

English version

Hello! We’re halfway through February and I have already spent 6 weeks at my internship. It’s going really well: I have a handle on numerous projects and I feel more and more at ease with my colleagues. Of course there are still some little misunderstandings or difficult moments, but recently they have been due to me lacking in knowledge of the field and not due to my french level. 

A discussion that I have had multiple times and a subject that I have reflected on a lot, is which factors impact women’s career progression in France and how they compare with other countries. I have concluded that it is mainly childcare, the length of the school day, and the integration period after maternity leave that affect the impact on the woman’s career. You must keep in mind that this is my first time in a company so big and to be surrounded by so many people of this age range, but I was shocked when my line manager told me about her professional journey (very impressive) and then that she had 4 kids. Afterwards, I felt a bit guilty about my reaction seeing as it’s obviously very common now for women to not have to choose between ‘family life’ and ‘work life’, we can have both. 

After some reflection, I realised that when I was growing up the vast majority of my classmates’ mums worked part time so that they could pick their kids up after school – around 3 o’clock. What’s more, my mum had a lot of career changes when I was younger. Therefore, even if I knew in theory that women can have kids without it impacting their career, I actually always thought that you’d have to choose between the two. Speaking with my line manager gives me an optimistic view of the life of a working woman right now, however she admits that returning from maternity leave was not easy. And she isn’t alone: 74% of mothers interviewed by Apec consider that maternity leave slows down the  hierarchical progression of women by several years. 

At work, this subject comes up a lot and I’ve heard many of my colleagues’ opinions on the matter, including comparisons with other European countries. In Germany it’s fairly frowned upon to leave your kids at an after school club or with a nanny in the evenings, therefore women very commonly work part time to accommodate. I would say that it’s similar in England, and that in general childcare is really expensive and is therefore not an option for everyone. Evidently these factors have an impact on the average salary of women, and their career progression. However, in France 99% of my female colleagues work until 6 or 6:30, since after school clubs don’t cost too much or they have a nanny – a way more common occurrence than in other countries (such as the UK, Germany, or Scandinavia). In addition, in France the school day ends around 4/4:30, which adds around 2 hours to the English school day in some cases. This factor alone really impacts the parents ability to work, in my opinion. According to a 2020 Insee study, 27% of women in France are in a part time job compared to 8% of men. However, the rate is higher amongst both sexes in the UK: 35% of women work part time, versus 14% of men. I believe that the childcare system is an important factor in this trend towards higher levels of part time work. 

It is normalised so much at my work to have multiple kids by the age of 35, that you seem abnormal if you don’t. In England, I find that when people leave university, they are in a real rush to start their career, and to work like crazy until they’re at least 30. Is this in some way a result of this childcare system that doesn’t work? When you’re a woman and you know that to have children often means a step back in your work life, obviously you are going to be in a rush to succeed in your job. In general, people in France take more time to do their studies and French women don’t seem to have the same time pressure to establish a solid career that English women do, as a result of the reasons I have mentioned. 

The rest of January passed by quite slowly, I had exams up until the day before the beginning of the next semester so between juggling revising and preparing my modules for the week after, I was feeling a little overwhelmed. Thank god when I got my results back I had passed all of my modules, it was definitely hard learning and writing my exams completely in Spanish with the same conditions as native students but it pushed me to persevere and also it was a learning experience because classes are taught a lot differently here. I had no idea that the Madrileños did quite a lot of celebrations for Lunar New Year, which I usually celebrate with my family back in the UK but I found that everyone here is a big community, especially in the Chinese barrio of Usera, where much of the celebrations and festivities took place. I attended the fireworks with a large group of students from my university at Parque de Pradolongo which were mesmerising, and then headed to a DJ set that brought everyone together through music and remixes of Asian hits with classic Spanish songs.

The day after, the celebrations continued in the neighbourhood and I attended the big parade with some of my friends and it was super crowded. We had no choice but to find another spot along the route to watch it from and it included performances, dragon dance and floats of people going past in traditional clothing. I feel very lucky to have created a home away from home with my support system here and also going to places where I feel like I belong and being able to share my culture and experiences with my Spanish friends also. We then headed to an Asian restaurant to eat and learn more about each other’s cultures, I particularly love how open everyone is to trying new things and being respectful of the different beliefs we all hold.

For Valentine’s Day, my flatmates and I decided to do a Galentine’s Day picnic in Retiro Park, which proved to be a very popular spot on that day as many Spaniards wanted to enjoy the much warmer weather, at the beginning of the month there was quite a bit of rain which is no news to me being from the UK but when it rains here, everything pauses and gets cancelled. The weather here was in the double digits so it was perfect to spend some time outside after a full day of classes.

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El resto de enero pasó bastante lento. Tuve exámenes hasta el día antes del comienzo del próximo semestre, así que entre estudiar y preparar mis clases para la semana siguiente, me sentía un poco abrumada. Menos mal cuando recibí mis resultados, había aprobado todos mis módulos. Definitivamente fue difícil aprender y hacer mis exámenes completamente en español bajo las mismas condiciones que los estudiantes nativos, pero me impulsó a perseverar y también fue una experiencia, ya que las clases aquí se imparten de manera muy diferente.

No tenía idea de que los madrileños celebraban tanto el Año Nuevo Lunar, que normalmente celebro con mi familia en el Reino Unido, pero descubrí que aquí todos forman una gran comunidad, especialmente en el barrio chino de Usera, donde tuvieron lugar muchas de las celebraciones y festividades. Asistí a los fuegos artificiales con un gran grupo de estudiantes de mi universidad en el Parque de Pradolongo, los cuales fueron hipnotizantes. Luego fuimos a una sesión de DJ que unió a todos a través de la música y mezclas de éxitos asiáticos con canciones clásicas españolas.

Al día siguiente, las celebraciones continuaron en el barrio y fui al gran desfile con algunos amigos. Estaba super concurrido, así que no tuvimos más opción que buscar otro lugar a lo largo del recorrido para verlo. Incluía actuaciones, la danza del dragón y carrozas con personas desfilando en trajes tradicionales. Me siento muy afortunada de haber creado un hogar lejos de casa con mi círculo de apoyo aquí, y también de poder ir a lugares donde siento que pertenezco, compartiendo mi cultura y experiencias con mis amigos españoles. Luego fuimos a un restaurante asiático a comer y aprender más sobre nuestras culturas. Me encanta lo abiertos que son todos a probar cosas nuevas y el respeto que tienen por las diferentes creencias que cada uno sostiene.

Para el Día de San Valentín, mis compañeras de piso y yo decidimos hacer un picnic de “Galentine’s Day” en el Parque del Retiro, que resultó ser un lugar muy popular ese día, ya que muchos españoles querían disfrutar del clima mucho más cálido. A principios de mes hubo bastante lluvia, lo cual no es ninguna novedad para mí siendo del Reino Unido, pero aquí cuando llueve, todo se detiene. La temperatura estaba en dos dígitos, así que era perfecto para pasar un rato al aire libre después de un día completo de clases.

 

Con la llegada del nuevo año, tenía la firme intención de aprovecharme de cada momento de tiempo libre que tengo a mi disposición en Barcelona. Los meses anteriores ya volaron, y me encontraba con pocas ganas de irme arrepentido. Además, todavía no había podido visitar los lugares de interés más famosos de la ciudad por estar agobiado de faena en el lab.

Dicho esto, empecé bien en 2025 con una visita a Monserrat, una aldea rural en las montañas que

se ha convertido en un paraiso turístico con vistas estupendas por toda la ciudad. A mi amiga chilena del piso le doy todo el crédito, porque fue ella quien me propuso la idea, y como un buen amigo, obviamente me apunté (o como se dice en Chile, apañarse – “me apañé”). Nos fuimos yo, ella, y otra amiga mexicana vestidos en ropa normal, solo para acabar caminando unos 7,25km con un ascenso de 1.419 pies para echar una mirada desde los cielos a nuestra querida ciudad. Caminamos lento para aprovechar la carencia de ruido y contaminantes en el aire, que abundan en el centro de Barcelona… saqué un MONTÓN de fotos. A mí me gusta llevar al límite la cámara de un iPhone y editar en Lightroom, ¡entonces os dejo juzgar las fotos adjuntas! Asimismo, la caminata pequeña me convino perfectamente como una práctica pequeña para mi caminata benéfica de Kilimanjaro, que realizo en agosto de este año. Esa caminata sirve para apoyar a una organización, quien facilita proyectos de sanidad en Bomet, Kenya. La caminata dura unos 6 días, así que me toca prepararme bien. Tendré muchas más oportunidades de entrenamiento, ¡confía en mí!

A parte de esta caminata de Monserrat, también llegué a ver un partido brutal de fútbol – Barcelona vs Valencia – que acabó con un resultado histórico. Elaboramos un plan yo y un amigo durante la Navidad para que vinieran él y su amigo desconocido para pasar un finde en Barcelona. Por suerte, me llevé muy bien con su amigo, ya que ¡los tres compartíamos mi habitación! El sábado salimos a bailar y el domingo nos pasamos por Montjuic para el atardecer, antes de entrar al Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys como “culeres” o “blaugranas” (catalán, o *“azulgranas”* en español) para el partido. Salió toda la fuerza de Barça en un derrote brutal de Valencia, con un montruoso 7 goles; terminó 7-1.

Por otro lado, en el laboratorio todo sigue a máxima intensidad, como cultivo 2 generaciones de 3 líneas de organoides cerebrales para mi proyecto. Es decir, el cultivo es una hazaña exigente, ya que para el primer mes hace falta alimentar y cuidar a las placas meticulosamente cada día (e incluso los sábados y domingos), con factores de crecimiento diferentes, lo que bien absorbe el tiempo laboral y libre. Los organoides que cultivamos proceden de células madre que crecemos antes de empezar el proceso, y porque estas células son reconocidos por su naturaleza entretenida, ha sido imposible empezar cada linea y generación de organoides todo a la vez. Como resultado, tenemos varios organoides con fechas de inicio diferentes, que nos exige mucha organización cada día para llevar a cabo diferentes fases de crecimiento. Los dos findes que tenía para Monserrat y el partido serán mis últimos tan libres para el resto de febrero.

Barcelona sigue sorprendiéndome en cada experiencia, ya sea en el laboratorio o en las montañas, ¡A ver qué más trae este 2025!

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English:

As the new year rolled in, I was determined to make the most of every moment of free time I had in Barcelona. The previous months had flown by, and I had no desire to leave with regrets. Plus, I still hadn’t visited the city’s most famous landmarks, having been swamped with work in the lab.

That said, I started 2025 off strong with a visit to Montserrat, a rural village in the mountains that’s a well known tourist paradise with stunning views over the entire city. I give all the credit to my Chilean flatmate because she was the one who suggested the idea, and as a good friend, I obviously joined in (or as they say in Chile, *apañarse*—so, *me apañé*). It was me, her, and another Mexican friend, all dressed in regular clothes, only to end up walking about 7.25 km with an ascent of 1,419 feet to take in a breathtaking view of our beloved city from above. We walked slowly to fully enjoy the absence of noise and pollution in the air – things that are abundant in central Barcelona… I took a TON of photos. I love pushing the limits of an iPhone camera and editing in Lightroom, so I’ll let you be the judge of the photos I’ve attached!

Likewise, this short hike was a perfect bit of training for my upcoming charity trek up Kilimanjaro, which I’ll be doing this August. That trek supports an organization that funds sanitation projects in Bomet, Kenya. The climb takes about six days, so I need to prepare well. There will be plenty more training opportunities, trust me!

Aside from the Montserrat hike, I also got to experience an insane football match – Barcelona vs. Valencia – which ended in a historic result. A friend and I had planned over Christmas for him and his (then unknown to me) friend to visit Barcelona for the weekend. Luckily, I got along really well with his friend because the three of us were all sharing my room! On Saturday, we went out for the “fiesta”, and on Sunday, we headed to Montjuïc for the sunset before entering the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys as *culers* or *blaugranas* (Catalan for *azulgranas* in Spanish) for the match. Barça unleashed their full force in a brutal thrashing of Valencia, scoring a monstrous 7 goals; the game ended 7-1.

On another note, things in the lab are as intense as ever, as I’m cultivating two generations of three lines of cerebral organoids for my project. Culturing them is a demanding task since, for the first month, the plates need to be meticulously fed and maintained every single day (including Saturdays and Sundays), with different growth factors, which takes up both work and free time. The organoids we cultivate come from stem cells that we grow beforehand, and since these cells are notorious for being difficult to work with, it has been impossible to start all the lines and generations of organoids at the same time. As a result, we have several organoids with different start dates, which requires careful organization every day to manage the different growth phases. The two weekends I had for Montserrat and the football match will be my last *truly* free ones for the rest of February.

Barcelona continues to suprise me, whether in the lab or the mountains… Let’s see what more 2025 brings!

Prošlog vikenda, putovao sam do Bosne i Hercegovine s prijateljima posjetiti Sarajevo i Mostar. Sarajevo je glavni grad Bosne i Mostar je glavni grad Hercegovine ali oba se nalaze u istoj državi: Bosni i Hercegovini. U ovoj reportaži, opisat ću kako mi je bilo u Sarajevu, kako mi je bilo u Mostaru i što sam naučio o jezicima kroz ovi putovanje.

Sarajevo je divan grad, pun kulture. Vrlo zanimljiva stvar u vezi sa Sarajevom je da se centar sastoji od dva dijela: jedan dio sa istočnim utjecajima, a drugi sa zapadnim. Išli smo u šetnju starim gradom i otkrili da  ima dva djelova jer u jednom periodu, Bosna i Hercegovina je bila pod Osmanskim Carstvom a u narednom periodu, pod Austro-Ugarskom. Zbog toga postoji različite vrste arhitekture po gradom, fakat mi je zanimljivo.

Također, prije devetdesetih, Bosna i Hercegovina je bila dio Jugoslavije. U Jugoslaviji postajali su šest republike: Hrvatska, Slovenija, Srbija, Bosna i Hercegovina, Macedonija i Crna Gora. Nažalost, bilo je rat i ova država je raspala. Što me stvarno zanima je kako svaka zemlja koja je ila dio Jugoslavije prikazaje svoju povijest. U Sarajevo, otvoreni su o ratu i što se sve deselo.

Posjetili smo muzej se zove Galerija 11/07/95, u tome smo učili o genocidu u Srebrenici tijekom rata. Bilo mi je jako teško i tužno naučiti o tome ali mislim da je baš bitno da ne zaboravimo kako izgleda genocida – svi znamo da Oni koji ne pamte prošlost osuđeni su da je ponavljaju.

U svjetlijoj noti, Sarajevo ima prekrasan zalazak sunca. Išli smo gledati sa žute tvrđave, ako se ikad nađete u Sarajevu, podsjećam da gledate zalazak sunca!

Nakon dva dana u Sarajevu, išli smo autobusom do Mostara samo dva i pol sata putovanja. Mostar je također divan grad, manje je od Sarajeva ali ima svoj čar. Samo smo bili jedan dan u Mostaru ali se šetali smo starim gradom s vodićem koji je nas dao odlične priče o Mostaru.

Nisam znao da stari grad je takav novi, vodič nam je rekao da je stari grad star samo 20 godina jer je obnovljen nakon rata, UNESCO je platio za sve i što je fakat zanimljivo je da izvan starog grada, postoje stare, napuštene zgrade iz rata koje nisu obnovljene jer nisu dio UNESCO zone.

Mislim da je najpoznatija ikona mostara stari most. Vodič nam je rekao da predstavlja jedinstvo Bosne i Hercegovine u multietničkom smislu, to mi je jako drago.

Što se tiče jezik, bosanski jezik je stvarno sličan hrvatskom. Zapravo, većina ljuda koje smo upoznali su zvali jezik ‘naš jezik’ umjesto ‘bosanski’ ili ‘hrvatski’. Razlog tome je jer da tijekom vremena jugoslavije, svi su pričali isti jezik se zove sprskohrvatski i sad nakon rata, svaka država koja je bila dio jugoslavije ima svoj jezik iako su srpski, bosanski, crnogorski i hrvatski jako slični. Zbog toga, nitko ne zna u kojim jezik ljudi govore pa zovu ‘naš jezik’.

Dakle, baš sam sretan da sam posjetio Bosnu i Hercegovinu jer sam otkrio koliko su jezici u balkanskoj regiji slični. Mislim da razlika izmedu amerikanskog engleskog i britanskog engleskog je dobar primjer opisati razlika izmedu bosanskog i hrvatskog.

Last weekend, I traveled to Bosnia and Herzegovina with my friends to visit Sarajevo and Mostar. Sarajevo is the capital of Bosnia, and Mostar is the main city of Herzegovina, but both are part of the same country—Bosnia and Herzegovina. In this report, I will describe my experience in Sarajevo, my experience in Mostar, and what I learned about languages through this trip.

Sarajevo is a wonderful city, full of culture. A very interesting thing about Sarajevo is that its center consists of two parts: one with Eastern influences and the other with Western influences. We walked through the old town and discovered that it has two sections because, at one point, Bosnia and Herzegovina was under the Ottoman Empire, and later, under the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Because of this, there are different types of architecture throughout the city, which I found fascinating.

Also, before the 1990s, Bosnia and Herzegovina was part of Yugoslavia. In Yugoslavia, there were six republics: Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, and Montenegro. Unfortunately, there was a war, and the country fell apart. What really interests me is how each country that was once part of Yugoslavia presents its history. In Sarajevo, people are open about the war and what happened.

We visited a museum called Gallery 11/07/95, where we learned about the genocide in Srebrenica during the war. It was very difficult and heartbreaking to learn about, but I think it is extremely important not to forget what genocide looks like—we all know that those who learn from the past are doomed to repeat it.

On a brighter note, Sarajevo has a stunning sunset. We went to watch it from the Yellow Fortress. If you ever find yourself in Sarajevo, I highly recommend watching the sunset from there!

After two days in Sarajevo, we took a bus to Mostar, which was only a two-and-a-half-hour journey. Mostar is also a beautiful city—smaller than Sarajevo but with its own charm. We only spent one day in Mostar, but we walked around the old town with a guide who told us amazing stories about the city.

I didn’t know that the old town was so new—our guide told us that it is only about 20 years old because it was rebuilt after the war. UNESCO funded the reconstruction, and what is really interesting is that outside the old town, there are still abandoned buildings from the war that have not been rebuilt because they are not part of the UNESCO zone.

I think the most famous symbol of Mostar is the Stari Most (Old Bridge). Our guide told us that it represents the unity of Bosnia and Herzegovina in a multiethnic sense, which I found very moving.

When it comes to language, the Bosnian language is very similar to Croatian. In fact, most people we met referred to the language as “our language” instead of “Bosnian” or “Croatian.” The reason for this is that during the time of Yugoslavia, everyone spoke the same language, called Serbo-Croatian. Now, after the war, each country that was part of Yugoslavia has its own official language, even though Serbian, Bosnian, Montenegrin, and Croatian are very similar. Because of this, no one knows exactly which language people are speaking, so they simply call it “our language.”

I’m really happy that I visited Bosnia and Herzegovina because I discovered how similar the languages of the Balkan region are. I think the difference between American and British English is a good example to describe the difference between Bosnian and Croatian.

태국에서 서울까지: 겨울 여행

저는 태국에서 두 주 동안 따뜻한 날씨를 즐기고 한국에 돌아왔어요. 한국에 돌아왔을 때, 북극에서 불어온 차가운 바람이 한반도를 덮치고 있었어요. 서울의 거리, 카페, 건물들이 하얀 눈으로 덮였고, 기온은 -14°C까지 떨어졌어요. 태국에서 망고와 파인애플, 수박을 먹고 있었던 저는, 서울에서 하얀 눈에 덮인 차가운 도시에서 초콜릿을 마시고 여러 겹의 옷을 입으며 추위를 버티는 일이 너무 달랐어요. 그 순간, 태국과 서울의 날씨 차이가 정말 크게 느껴졌어요.

 그때 제 영국에서 온 사촌이 한국에 처음으로 방문했어요. 그녀는 저를 만나고, 한국을 보고 싶어 했어요. 한국에 익숙한 저는 사촌에게 한국의 궁궐도 보여주고, 한국 음식을 함께 먹으며 서울 거리를 걷는 것을 도와주었어요. 그녀는 처음 보는 한국의 아름다움에 매우 감동했어요. 우리는 서울에서 유명한 장소들을 많이 방문하며 즐거운 시간을 보냈어요.

첫날 저녁, 저는 사촌을 고급 소고기 BBQ 레스토랑에 데려갔어요. 고기와 사이드 디시를 고르는 방법, 고기를 굽는 방법, 그리고 고기를 자를 때 가위를 사용하는 법을 가르쳐줬어요. 사촌은 처음에는 조금 어려워했지만, 결국 고기를 상추에 싸서 먹는 방법을 익혔어요. 그녀는 정말 맛있다고 하면서 기뻐했어요. 배부르게 먹은 후에는, N서울타워로 가서 케이블카를 타고 눈 덮인 산을 올라갔어요. 정상에서 서울의 전경을 바라볼 수 있었고, 특히 많은 눈 덕분에 서울이 마치 얼음처럼 아름답게 보였어요.

다음 날, 우리는 국립중앙박물관에 가서 동남아시아의 역사에 대해 배웠어요. 박물관은 정말 크고 인상적이었고, 도자기, 그림, 조각상, 책, 도구 등 많은 중요한 유물들이 전시되어 있었어요. 우리는 하루 종일 박물관을 돌아다니며 다양한 유물들을 보았지만, 너무 많아서 모든 것을 볼 수 없었어요. 제가 가장 좋아한 부분은 기증된 유물들이었어요. 각 유물에는 기증자와 기증한 이유, 그리고 그 유물에 담긴 역사적 의미에 관한 이야기가 담겨 있었어요. 유물들을 보며, 사람들이 역사에 대해 얼마나 깊은 관심을 가지고, 그 지식을 다른 사람들과 나누고 싶어 하는지 느낄 수 있었어요.

 

마지막 날, 우리는 한국의 궁궐을 방문했어요. 궁궐은 정말 아름다웠고, 마치 역사적인 K드라마의 한 장면 같았어요. 궁궐의 지붕에 하얀 눈이 덮여 있었고, 처마에 고드름이 매달려 있었어요. 바람이 불 때마다 눈이 공중에서 춤추듯 날아가며 궁궐의 뜰과 정원을 덮었어요. 제 사촌은 한국의 고풍스러운 아름다움에 정말 놀랐어요.

이번 달 날씨는 매우 추워졌어요. 한국의 많은 지역에 기상 경고가 발령되었고, 밤새 많은 눈이 내렸어요. 아이들은 눈사람을 만들며 겨울을 즐겼어요. 서울의 겨울은 정말 아름다웠지만, 그만큼 추워서 힘들기도 했어요. 그러나 그 추위 속에서 친구들이랑 따뜻한 음료를 마시며 이야기를 나누는 시간이 정말 소중했어요.

한국의 역사, 문화, 자연의 아름다움은 저와 제 사촌에게 정말 특별한 경험을 선사했어요. 태국의 따뜻한 날씨와 서울의 눈 덮인 겨울 풍경은 너무 다르지만, 둘 다 정말 기억에 남는 경험이었어요. 이 여행을 통해 한국에 대한 사랑과 자부심을 느꼈고, 제 사촌도 한국을 사랑하게 되었어요.

다음 달에 뵙겠습니다, 안녕히 가세요!

From Tropical Thailand to Snowy Seoul: A Winter Trip

I spent two weeks enjoying the warm weather in Thailand and returned to Korea. When I came back, cold winds from the Arctic were sweeping across the peninsula. The streets, cafes, and buildings in Seoul were covered in white snow, and the temperature dropped to -14°C. The warm climate in Thailand, where I had been eating mangoes, pineapples, and watermelons, felt so different from the cold city of Seoul, where I drank hot chocolate and wore many layers of clothing to endure the cold. The sudden change in temperature felt so dramatic, as if I had travelled between two completely different worlds.

During this sudden cold snap, my cousin from England visited Korea for the first time. She wanted to visit me and see this fascinating East Asian country. While I was already familiar with Korea, it was her first time seeing a Korean palace, trying Korean food, and walking the streets of Seoul. She was really impressed by the beauty of Korea, and we visited many famous places in the city, spending a great time together.

On the first evening, I invited my cousin to a high-quality beef BBQ restaurant. I taught her how to choose meat and side dishes, how to grill the meat, and how to use scissors to cut it. At first, she found it a little difficult, but she eventually learned how to wrap the meat in lettuce. She said it was really delicious and was excited to try everything. After eating our fill, we went to N Seoul Tower and took the cable car up the snowy mountain. From the top, we had an amazing view of Seoul. The city looked especially beautiful because of the snow, as if it was wrapped in ice.

The next day, we went to the National Museum of Korea to learn about the history of Southeast Asia. The museum was huge and impressive, and it displayed many important artifacts, including pottery, paintings, sculptures, books, and tools. We spent the entire day exploring the museum, but there were still so many things we didn’t have time to see. My favorite part was the donated artifacts. Each artifact had a story about its donor, how it was donated, and its historical significance. It was inspiring to see how passionate people were about history and how they wanted others, even foreigners like me, to learn from these objects.

On the last day, we visited the Korean palaces. The palaces were incredibly beautiful, almost like a scene from a historical K-drama. The roofs were covered in white snow, and icicles hung from the eaves. Whenever the wind blew, the powdery snow would swirl through the courtyards and gardens, creating a magical scene. My cousin was amazed by the old-fashioned beauty of Korea.

This month, the weather became very cold. A weather warning was issued for most areas of Korea, and heavy snow fell overnight. Children made snowmen and enjoyed the winter weather. The winter in Seoul was truly beautiful, but it was also so cold that it was tough to endure. However, the time spent with friends, drinking warm drinks and chatting, was really precious.

The history, culture, and natural beauty of Korea gave both my cousin and me a truly special experience. The warm weather of Thailand and the snowy winter landscape of Seoul were so different, but both were an unforgettable experiences. Through this trip, I felt a greater love and pride for Korea, and my cousin also came to love it.

Until next month, goodbye!