Den Haag

On July 2nd we left Paris for two weeks on the road to visit the European institutions we had studied during coursework. Our first stop: the Hague in the Netherlands.

I was shocked by how much I really liked the Hague. Beautiful Dutch architecture, tons of English from the Dutch, and great site visits. When we arrived, we checked into a very nice Ibis hotel and walked around the downtown area. There was tons of shopping, cool bars, and laid back people. While in Paris, you're bombarded with wanna-be supermodels--Parisians always dress nicely, and you never see tennis shoes. In the Hague, people wear jeans, T-shirts, shorts...normal people clothes. It was pretty refreshing. We also stopped at a bar located in the back of a church to eat the local bar specialty: bitter balls. They're meat, potatoes, and gravy--deep-fried. Awesome.

After dinner in the hotel, we went out as a group to a bar nearby. Alcohol is a million times cheaper in the Netherlands. It was a nice night out.

The next day was our first site visit. We were at the International Criminal Court while they heard postponement arguments from former dictator Charles Taylor. We had a briefing from people in the pre-trial and judicial assessment divisions. I found it fantastic, particularly since the briefing supported some of the research I've been doing lately. After lunch on the bus, we went to a briefing at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. It was extremely informative, and we had a chance to sit in on the trial of two alleged war criminals. The defense was attempting to discredit the report of Human Rights Watch. It was really nice.

We found out that typical Dutch food is bar food, and that the best food to eat in the Netherlands is Indonesian food. Drs. D and H went out for Indonesian food with D, C and I. It was so delicious! Afterward the students all went to the beach to a piano bar while I stayed in to grade papers. I thought at the time it was a smart idea, but afterward I regretted it.

The next day, we took a tour of the beautiful Peace Palace. This is where the International Court of Justice is housed. We weren't able to have a briefing or observe a trial, but the building sure was beautiful. After a lunch of even more bitterballen, some of us went to the Mauritshuis. This museum houses some of the most beautiful Dutch art in the world, including several Rembrandts and Van Rijns. The highlights, though, were three Vermeers. There only exist 35, and three of the most famous were there. I stood in the presence of the Girl with a Pearl Earring. Amazing.

Finally, that afternoon we paid a visit to the Dutch parliament for a meeting with a parliamentarian. She spoke to us about immigration issues in the Netherlands, as well as being a woman and a black person in politics. It was really marvelous!

We then headed to Brussells.