How the West was Conquered

Well fortunately I didn't have to lug my semi broken computer all over western Europe this past week, unfortunately I now have to remember over a weeks worth of corky adventures and semi boring lectures.

We left the Cite early Sunday morning to go to Strausberg, and while this city sort of straddles the Franco-German border (and if you ask Professor Shain he says they have their own language) but really they are a bit more French than German-especially in language (don't tell the Germans I said that). We arrived Sunday afternoon and checked into our hotel, no I did not forget the middle "s" it's hotels all week! Then we went out to explore Strausberg a little bit. We saw a church (SURPRISE!) with an astronomical clock of some sort. It was freezing cold outside so we went inside for a hot drink. For dinner we went to le petit France and I tried Escargot (yeah adventurous eating!!)! It was actually pretty good. Then we went back to the hotel to get some sleep.

The next day we had to wake up early (but it was slightly better due to the "free" breakfast of bread, cereal, chocolate cereal, and coffee. I don't think the french got the memo about breakfast being the most important meal of the day... Then we took off to visit the European Court of Human Rights where we had the pleasure of watching an introductory video and having a question and answer session with one of the staff. After that we had a short lunch break (fast food pasta so gourmet) then went to visit the Council of Europe-not to be at all confused with the European Council part of the European Union this is in fact a separate entity. There we had a short lecture and question and answer period. Immediately following we had a visit to the European Parliament. Here our lecture was given by a Colgate Grad (2002) Geneva Study Group Veteran and Lithuanian citizen. He was quite entertaining as he understood exactly (more or less) we were all coming from. About half way through his presentation an older gentleman poked his head in. He was then introduced as the Vice President of the European Parliament. This man was a boss (for those of you not hip to the lingo this means very super cool). Apparently he was recently exiled from his party in Great Britain (stick it to the MAN!!). After our exciting guest appearance was over we left to pick up our bags from the hotel and grab a quick dinner before getting on the train. A couple of us decided to get Kebabs. And while the Kebab man was incredibly nice he first wrote down all of our orders, then slowly prepared all of our buns, then shaved the meat, then one at a time re asked what we all got on our kebab. However as this all transpired the time of our train's departure got closer resulting in us leaving the last Kebab (more Melissa's fallen soldier...) and sprinted-bags in tow-to the train station with time to spare. Arriving in Luxembourg a couple hours later. A couple of us decided to try to "experience Luxembourg nightlife" as suggested by Professor Shain on our itinerary but apparently on Mondays everything is closed (although Shain informed us the next morning all the strip joints were open... questionable). We ended up finding a bar called Urban and had a very relaxed couple of beers in a very crowded bar before heading back.

The breakfast in Luxembourg was great. Oatmeal, eggs, fruit, yogurt all kinds of wonderful breakfast spreads. We headed straight over to the European Court of Justice. Here we got the opportunity to witness part of a hearing about Kurdish refugees in Germany Interesting? NO. Lots of detailed legal mumbo jumbo. Then we got a lecture from one of the lawyers. Thankfully the visit eventually ended and we were able to grab a quick lunch before our freezing cold walking tour of Luxembourg. This involved us walking around the small city of Luxembourg with a fairly nutty tour guide. He was an old man against nuclear plants, and very pro Canada not to mention the United States. He ended the tour with his own rendition of the Star Spangled Banner. After the incredibly cold tour was over we went to collect our bags and catch a train to Den Haag and got some sleep.

The next morning we visited the International Criminal Court for a couple brief presentations and we watched part of the Thomas Lumbago (or a name similar to that) trial. This was far more interesting than the ECJ. There was a witness testifying who basically had drunk dialed an "emergency" line (although their words were more elaborate than mine were.) Than we visited the Special Court for Sierra Leone where we saw Charles Taylor-while this is a separate court it really just meant we changed court rooms. After another brief presentation Melissa and I got lunch at a small very very cute cafe where the waitress was so nice. She sat down with us and explained all the dutch. After lunch we went to visit the International Court of Justice at the Peace Palace. The building was a bit more interesting than the actual presentation on the ICJ. After the ICJ the whole group took a train into Amsterdam for the night where we got Indonesian food and went to a couple of bars.

After we all safely made it back to Den Haag we had one more appointment at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. This involved another fairly interesting court room viewing session. And afterward we got our bags and headed for the train station... again. This time we made our way to Brussels. We checked into the hotel and went to get some dinner. We went to a place that somebody on the groups friend's friend suggested (I probably wont trust them again...) but I was able to get mussels (IN BRUSSELS) and then we called it an early night in order to conserve our energy.

The next day in Brussels we visited NATO one of the better visits we had. Our presentations were by a couple different people in NATO. Afterwards we had a meeting at the European Commission with a very funny Sicilian and a very dry lawyer. We went down the street in Belgium where they are very aggressive about trying to get people into their restaurants. One was so aggressive he linked arms with me proposed then kissed me on the neck. Needless to say we didn't eat there. That night a bunch of us went out to a couple of bars that I had visited the last time I was in Belgium including Celtica (1-2 euro beers) and Delirium (over 2000 kinds of beers) and Delirium was quite the find.

The next morning we had free so we went to visit Mannekin Pis and the Comic Book Museum and the little peeing girl, of course stopping for waffles and french fries along the way. Then we hopped on our train to Paris. We checked into our hotel and went to a creperie in the Latin Quarter before catching up on some sleep from Brussels.

We got to do a bike tour the next day of Paris which despite the freezing cold weather was really cool, even though I managed to embarrassingly fist pump USA at one point. Afterward we strolled down the Champs Elysees and then saw Notre Dame. Then we headed toward dinner which was a fondue restaurant near Montmarte and Sacre Couer. This restaurant had communal tables-which if you were sitting on the wall side you had to climb over the tables. Additionally the wine was served in baby bottles and there weren't any real menus you just got what they brought out and the choice of cheese or meat fondue. We of course picked cheese. After dinner we headed to the Eiffel Tower. Climbing the Eiffel was one of the most breathtaking experiences of the trip so far. Then we called it a night.

The next morning we went to visit the OECD (or some similar acronym)-this was a fairly dry presentation based on economics. Afterward I got to meet up with Kristen for lunch. We were near the eiffel tower (But far enough away) and were pointed toward this restaurant by some random coffee house man, and the recommendation turned out to be really good. Then I had another group trip to UNESCO, mostly an explanation of the artworks in the building. Following this fairly uninformative visit we gathered our things and got on the train on the way back to Geneva.

The trip was a lot of fun. It was nice to be with the whole group. And I learned some very important things:

1. I don't want to be a lawyer
2. European Organizations are very confusing
3. Be careful around 2 e beers...