The Netherlands - June 20 - June 27, 2010

The Hague

I took a train from the central train station in Amsterdam to the Hague - it's about 30 minutes away. By chance, I ran into 3 other girls in my program in the station, so we all took the train to the Hague together. From that station, we took a tram and arrived at our hotel without too many more adventures.

The hotel was great in almost every way. I know I'm rather spoiled, but I was so very happy to sleep in a comfortable bed that is larger than dorm beds, to have easy access to a private shower, and to not have random people walking in and out of the room at all hours. I'm sharing a room with a friend from DU - Anne - for the duration of the program. One person is so much easier to share with than 5 or 7. =) The only complaint I have about the hotel is breakfast. We were segregated! We had the lower class breakfast and the rest of the hotel had the nice breakfast. We could pay extra money (of course) - but I resorted to sneaking and stealing. I was slightly bitter and wanted better food. We paid A LOT of money; we deserved it.


The Hague is a beautiful city. There are trees everywhere and everyone rides bikes. There is a great tram system. Along every street, there are places for cars, for trams, for bikes and for people. I was slightly confused every time I crossed the street, but managed to avoid being hit. It was an easy walk from our hotel to the beach - the North Sea. There was a great boardwalk with restaurants along the beach - many of them gave out blankets to keep warm, but of course we managed to choose ones that did not.


We had pretty good food at an Italian place with a waiter who looked like he had fallen out of General Hospital. We found a grocery store with cheap food - and ended up spending about 20 euro there for 2 people for 4 lunches and a dinner. The little fridge in the room was a godsend.

Support for World Cup teams is prevalent in all European countries - here there are orange accents everywhere.

Did anyone read the Lupine Lady?
Oh, and we had classes too.

Really, they are pretty interesting. We have some really good - renowned - professors. My favorite is Nanda, which is helpful because he teaches at my school. What really makes the experience so remarkable, though, are the courts that we are able to visit and the people who have talked to us at those courts.

On Tuesday, we went to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. We had a presentation from one of the head prosecutors - he worked on the Milosevic trial. He gave a very interesting and informative talk about some of the history of the region and a few of the specific cases. Without going into too much detail, it is really quite an experience to try people for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. It's hard to figure out how to put those things into the normal context of "crime" and "trial."

The court rooms - both in the ITCY and the ICC (see below) - are very interesting. The simultaneous translation is fascinating. The people in the court room all wear headphones, as do all observers. Everyone speaks his or her own, native language and translators translate it into all other languages needed. In the case we heard, the protected witness (who was hidden from the audience) and the accused spoke Serbian, the judges spoke English and some of the attorneys spoke French. So the witness heard Serbian through his earphones whenever anyone other than the accused spoke, the judges heard English and the French attorneys heard French. There is also a channel on the earphones that allows you to hear exactly what is happening in the courtroom - all languages. Really fascinating. And I really wish I was fluent in more languages.

Wednesday we went to the International Criminal Court. The President of the Court came and spoke to us for nearly an hour. We also had speakers from the Office of the Prosecutor and another office. All interesting conversations. We were only able to listen to a case very briefly there - which was unfortunate because it was very interesting and we understood much more about the case when we went in. In that case, the defense attorney was cross-examining a witness. The witness was also protected, so we could not see him, but he was a young man (teenager) from the Congo. He had seen and been subject to unspeakable violence and joined a group of some people who fought back at times. He had been testifying for over a month. He wanted to go home. I simply can't imagine being in his situation...any piece of his situation.

Thursday was the Court of Justice at the Peace Palace. The building is beautiful. Inside, there are gifts from all over the world. It was built to house the Permanent Court of Arbitration. In 1903, Andrew Carnegie donated $1.5 million to build the palace. The Permanent Court of International Justice, created by the League of Nations, was housed there until it was replaced by the International Court of Justice of the UN in 1946. Outside, there are beautiful gardens and a Peace Flame encouraging all nations to join in movement for peace. On Wednesday evening, a few of us walked past the Palace on the way back from dinner and found one of the bushes outside smoking. We never quite figured out what was going on, but we eventually got the smoke to go out. We decided we saved the Palace from fire and thus saved international peace.

Friday was a nice day because we had classes in the morning and the afternoon free. I went with one friend to a market further away from our hotel and the "lawyer center." It was fun - cheap food and goods. I really like markets like that - they are fun. I acquired a few pairs of earrings and a few scarfs. I considered getting a rolling suitcase or duffel bag...I'm not sure what the best option is - so I have maintained my indecisiveness a bit longer. We had a good dinner that night and it was very nice to have a bit of a break.

Amsterdam

Saturday, the plan was to spend the day in Amsterdam. Anne and I headed out around 11 or so and were unable to get to any train station in the City because it was Veterans Day. A parade route was set up and there was no getting around it. We talked to a few nice cops who said that there was actually still time to get through, but we should stay and watch the parade anyway. So we went and had lunch at an outdoor cafe and watched the parade. We tried to leave a bit early, but then found that there literally wasn't a way through the parade route. So we watched the people walk by yet again. There were people from WWII and other conflicts the Netherlands has been involved in - many from the New Guinea Campaign. There were also representatives of, what we assume were all branches of current Netherland's military. The most interesting thing was how many people came out to watch the parade. The people lined the streets...

We eventually made it to Amsterdam around 3:30pm or so.

...more to come