This picture is from a nautical themed costume party in Den Haag. I was a captain and made my crew do the most fun thing I could think of- human pyramid.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Recent Happenings
I spent a day wandering around Rotterdam with some new friends. Had a delicious lunch at an organic, seasonal restaurant that gives cooking lessons and then went to a museum with a very long name. It had a fantastic collection of traditional and modern art. The city itself is unlike the other cities I've visited here because it was almost completely destroyed by the Nazi Luftwaffe one night in 1940. The result is a much more modern feeling city, and in many ways similar to the feel of American cities. Rotterdam used to be the biggest port in the world until it was superseded by Shanghai in 1994.
This picture is from a nautical themed costume party in Den Haag. I was a captain and made my crew do the most fun thing I could think of- human pyramid.
This picture is from a nautical themed costume party in Den Haag. I was a captain and made my crew do the most fun thing I could think of- human pyramid.
Cultural Differences Thursday: A Trip to the Gym
The longer I'm here, the more I lose my 'eye' for what is different in the Netherlands but every so often I have a day where I'm reminded that we aren't in Kansas anymore. For instance, a trip to the gym. The sports center kind of like a big YMCA with unfancy locker rooms and a big gymnasium. On a recent visit, the following occurred:
- picked up a pamphlet for a 'pole fitness' class,
(http://www.services-facilities.leiden.edu/sport/sports/pole-fitness.html)
- walked by the university tanning booth,
- ran on the treadmill while no less than 4 different girls hopped on the treadmil next to me for about eight strenuous minutes, most of them wearing black reebok sneaks that do not look much like running shoes. This means that I am by far the sweatiest person in the gym,
- did not wait in line for the stationary bicycles, of which there are about 40, (how can the dutch need MORE bike riding?)
- thought about grabbing a beer at the gym's bar,
- nearly ran into a wily rooster, wandering about right outside the doors,
- got a nose full of the pot as I rode by a coffee shop on the way home.
Also, the recently installed an art exhibit in the halls of the law school. Theme: female nudes.
My bike
- picked up a pamphlet for a 'pole fitness' class,
(http://www.services-facilities.leiden.edu/sport/sports/pole-fitness.html)
- walked by the university tanning booth,
- ran on the treadmill while no less than 4 different girls hopped on the treadmil next to me for about eight strenuous minutes, most of them wearing black reebok sneaks that do not look much like running shoes. This means that I am by far the sweatiest person in the gym,
- did not wait in line for the stationary bicycles, of which there are about 40, (how can the dutch need MORE bike riding?)
- thought about grabbing a beer at the gym's bar,
- nearly ran into a wily rooster, wandering about right outside the doors,
- got a nose full of the pot as I rode by a coffee shop on the way home.
Also, the recently installed an art exhibit in the halls of the law school. Theme: female nudes.
My bikeThursday, October 22, 2009
Rio or bust!
Last week I went on the annual 'Rio Trip' sponsored by the European Law LLM program at the University to Strasbourg, Luxembourg, and Brussels. It was a total school field trip complete with buses, hostels, and constant counting of people, but it was a really great experience. The trip was led by a Leiden professor who had excellent contacts at all of the seats of European government and got us in to all of the institutions and to meet with judges, diplomats, and high ranking officials.
Our first day in Strasbourg began with a visit to a concentration camp outside the city. It was my first visit to a concentration camp and I was quite overwhelmed. It's one thing to read about it, to see the pictures, but a very different thing to actually be there, to touch things, to look at the same woods, sky, ect. It was a cold, grey, and rainy morning and I ended up in the bunkers at the far end of the camp by myself, at the bottom of a big hill with no one even within shouting distance. I saw the crematoria, the rooms for 'medical experiments', the autopsy chamber, the solitary confinement cages, and the torture chambers with floors tilted so the blood could drain more quickly. There was something about being there alone that took away what little 'museum effect' cushioned the experience and I was very shaken.
We got on the bus and headed out of the mountains and back into the city. As we did, the rain stopped, the clouds lifted and it was suddenly a very symbolically nice day. We went straight to the European Court of Human Rights, a direct outgrowth of the World War II and the Holocaust. We saw the inside of the courtroom, spoke with a judge and two lawyers who work as clerks for the court (though the system is different). We walked over to the Council of Europe and heard a bit about the political manuvering that goes on behind the scenes and then ended the day with a reception at the residence of the Permanent Dutch Representative to the Council of Europe.
On Tuesday I got up and visited a French court of first instance for a little bit, then we all went to the European Ombudsman office (boring name, interesting job), then to a european television station, then on to Luxembourg!
On Wednesday we went straight to the European Court of Justice where we watched of first instance trial about ompetition law and state aid in Slovakia. Luxembourg is beautiful but strangely situated city- it's spread on either side of a steep ravine. We walked up to old city for dinner and saw that the original protected fortress was actually situated very well for defense.
On Thursday we started in Brussels and visted the European Parliament, Commission, and Council of Ministers over the next two days. We also had some really interesting presentations on the Lisbon Treaty, the application of Turkey for EU membership, and EC policies toward immigration and asylum.
While the trip was great, getting back to our lovely little apartment with bedrooms with doors, large, private bathrooms and a squishy couch was a definite highlight.
Strasbourg, or the German part of Disneyland?
Natzweiler-Struthof Concentration Camp
Inside of the European Court of Human Rights, designed by the same architect who did the Pompidou Center in Paris. The concept was that justice should be transparent, just like the structure of the building.
At the European Court of Human Rights
ECHR Member State Flags
European Court of Justice, Luxembourg
Our first day in Strasbourg began with a visit to a concentration camp outside the city. It was my first visit to a concentration camp and I was quite overwhelmed. It's one thing to read about it, to see the pictures, but a very different thing to actually be there, to touch things, to look at the same woods, sky, ect. It was a cold, grey, and rainy morning and I ended up in the bunkers at the far end of the camp by myself, at the bottom of a big hill with no one even within shouting distance. I saw the crematoria, the rooms for 'medical experiments', the autopsy chamber, the solitary confinement cages, and the torture chambers with floors tilted so the blood could drain more quickly. There was something about being there alone that took away what little 'museum effect' cushioned the experience and I was very shaken.
We got on the bus and headed out of the mountains and back into the city. As we did, the rain stopped, the clouds lifted and it was suddenly a very symbolically nice day. We went straight to the European Court of Human Rights, a direct outgrowth of the World War II and the Holocaust. We saw the inside of the courtroom, spoke with a judge and two lawyers who work as clerks for the court (though the system is different). We walked over to the Council of Europe and heard a bit about the political manuvering that goes on behind the scenes and then ended the day with a reception at the residence of the Permanent Dutch Representative to the Council of Europe.
On Tuesday I got up and visited a French court of first instance for a little bit, then we all went to the European Ombudsman office (boring name, interesting job), then to a european television station, then on to Luxembourg!
On Wednesday we went straight to the European Court of Justice where we watched of first instance trial about ompetition law and state aid in Slovakia. Luxembourg is beautiful but strangely situated city- it's spread on either side of a steep ravine. We walked up to old city for dinner and saw that the original protected fortress was actually situated very well for defense.
On Thursday we started in Brussels and visted the European Parliament, Commission, and Council of Ministers over the next two days. We also had some really interesting presentations on the Lisbon Treaty, the application of Turkey for EU membership, and EC policies toward immigration and asylum.
While the trip was great, getting back to our lovely little apartment with bedrooms with doors, large, private bathrooms and a squishy couch was a definite highlight.
Strasbourg, or the German part of Disneyland?
Natzweiler-Struthof Concentration Camp
Inside of the European Court of Human Rights, designed by the same architect who did the Pompidou Center in Paris. The concept was that justice should be transparent, just like the structure of the building.
At the European Court of Human Rights
ECHR Member State Flags
European Court of Justice, Luxembourg
Beautiful Brussels
The beach!
I took a ride to the nearby beach a couple weeks ago and it was stunning. The dunes rival those in Provincetown (and you know how much I love those). We stopped for some tea and apple cake too. Not a bad day.
The country that is low.
This picture does not do justice to the beautiful dunes, but taking pictures while riding is advanced bikeriding and I am only in intermediate.
The country that is low.1574 Siege of Leiden as interpreted through electronic music
The weekend of October celebrates the city of Leiden's defeat over Spanish invaders. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Leiden) The city was preparing all week with an enormous carnival (Big E size), huge tents for outdoor performances and beer gardens, and lots of balloons! On Friday night the streets were absolutely packed with people at the carnival, overflowing from the bars, dancing to djs in the street. On Saturday morning, this usually pristine city seemed a little hungover with bottles, cans, bursted balloons and garbage in ther streets. The highlight of the weekend was the parade which, as previously mentioned, was themed 'American Dreams.' It was very funny/weird to see what non-Americans see as the essence of America. There were Pilgrims (who originated in Leiden), immigrants and a Statute of Liberty, Presidents Clinton and Obama (and Bush who had to sit inside the car and not wave), a Mississippi steamboat, Indians and cowboys, AMISH, Hollywood, movies, and Titanic (?), paperboys on bikes, a gospel choir, school bus and Ronald McDonald, High School Musical, a basketball team and scantily clad cheerleaders, and a Vegas scene. Some of the people around us realized we were american and turned to see our reaction at each new float. I suppose if we insist on dressing the dutch in wooden shoes it's only fair that we are associated with the Amish, steamboats, and Ronald McDonald.
Boats with their party lights on
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