Swiss Ambassador and St. Gallen, Switzerland

Last night we held a reception at the Villa/Casa Maderni for the Swiss Ambassador to the U.S. Urs Ziswiler. We had a "garden party" in place of dinner; heavy hors d'oeuvres were served and a variety of wines were available to try. The Ambassador, the Mayor of Riva San Vitale, the Dean of the School of Architecture at Virginia Tech, Lucy Ferrari, and some of the students from Virginia tech studying at the Acadamia College in Mendrisio joined all of the students, teachers and staff that study and/or live here in Riva. We were all, of course, dressed for the occasion as well.

After we ate, we all went into the Villa for an address by the Ambassador and a presentation of gifts to him. I really enjoyed listening to him speak, though we were all unfortunately very tired from lack of sleep from studies and assignments as well as the food and wine.

He made some really interesting points about United States and Switzerland relationship and had a few key things he wanted to bring up that he felt were very important to mention. He spoke about the many similarities both countries have as well as the great relationship the Swiss have with the U.S.; the ability of the two countries to agree to disagree on some points (namely Iraq) is a sign of the strong relationship. He brought up the "anti-American" view/feeling many European countries have that he hoped could be altered as people maybe see America doesn't equal Bush which also doesn't equal Iraq. I think he is hopeful about the election coming up, in that it might help to change this view. Immigration was also mentioned, as that is something Switzerland and America share; he believes that as long as work pays $8 a day on one side of a border and $8 an hour on the other side, people will find a way to come into the country despite walls, laws, guards, what have you and said that he thought it was the wrong policy to continue to make sanctions against it. As the country is made up of so many little groups of people and has four national languages, he also believes it is important for the majority to provide the minorities with more rights to maintain the country; if they have everything they want and need in Switzerland, there would be nothing to make them leave, and the country, already very rich, would stay rich. I think the last key point he brought up was that at any time, it is completely inappropriate for one country to attempt to instill their own government policies on another country. A country may be used as an example to help another, but it must grow in maturity and allow the culture and religion and so forth to develop before even that would be possible. (Obviously a reference to the situation in Iraq.) While he wouldn't say who he would vote for if he were able to, I think I have and idea of who that would be.

He was presented with a Virginia Tech book, a very, very nice bottle of wine, and a toy designed by Olivio Ferrari that is really a symbolic gesture. Overall it was a very nice evening and I think we all enjoyed hearing what he had to say in terms of his own policies.

Tomorrow I will leave to spend the weekend in St. Gallen, Switzerland! I will not be taking my computer with me, but I'm sure I will put up a few photos and provide a little information about the trip when I get back!

The photos below show the table of food and wine; people standing around with Frank Weiner (my professor) speaking with the Ambassador in the center of the photo; Frank Weiner, Lucy Ferrari, the Dean of the College of Architecture and Urban Studies and Lindsey another student at a table having a discussion; and Megan and Kristina (both other students here) having some dessert.