Note: I wrote this post this morning but am only now getting a chance to post it.
After spending approximately 17 hours in a plane (24 hours if you count the time 9 hour time difference from Portland) I made it to The Netherlands. The flights were fairly uneventful except for some US Airways customer service problems. In Portland I was in boarding zone 5 which meant that I was one of the last people to board the plane. Because other passengers had brought so many carry on bags there was no space and I was forced to gate check my bag. The plane was at maximum weight capacity, and the ground crew in Portland ended up over-fueling the plane by about 100 lbs. so we sat on the tarmac for 20 minutes with the engines running in order to burn off the excess jet fuel. Over-fueling seems like quite an expensive mistake to make in terms of cost, environmental impact, and time loss. The delay on the Portland tarmac caused the plane to land in Phoenix at the exact time my connecting flight was beginning to board so I got in some cardio by having to sprint from one terminal to the next. Luckily I made it to the plane and the flight to Philadephia arrived on time and did not require sprinting.
I arrived in Amsterdam Schipol, made my way through passport control and customs and headed for the trains. Schipol is only about 35 minutes from The Hague by train. That is, of course, if you get on the correct train. There are multiple trains routes that run through The Hague and multiple train stops in The Hague, but not all of the routes stop at the Central Station. When looking at the train schedule I had just looked for The Hague and assumed that the train would stop at the Central Station. This was a big mistake. Luckily I figured the mistake out while I was at the last stop in The Hague (and only 3 minutes away from the Central Station) instead of when I had arrived in Rotterdam or some other city.
At the train station, Gerbrand, a friend and neighbor of my landlords (who are currently vacationing in Spain), picked me up and drove me to my new apartment. Gerbrand is a very nice older man who works in the library at the Peace Palace (where the International Court of Justice and the International Court of Arbitration are located – I’m hoping to arrange a tour through him as the building is closed to visitors). He also hosts a few interns in his apartment, which is located in the same apartment building where I’m living and we will all (the three other interns I live with, the two interns that live with Gerbrand) be getting together for coffee sometime in the next week.
My new apartment is quite small but it is cozy and in an ideal location. The building is located in the international section of The Hague (which is where all the embassies and international courts are located) across from the Peace Palace and the main police station. I believe I am only about a 30 minute walk or 10 minute tram ride away from where I will be working.
The apartment has 4 bedrooms, each of which is occupied by a law student from a different country. It also has a shared kitchen, living room, and bathroom. Two of my roommates are also interning at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). Anna Clara (from Brazil) is in the Office of the Prosecutor and I’m not sure which section Marion (from France) is in, as she has not yet arrived. Lynnette, my third roommate (from Kenya / the U.K.) has actually already graduated law school and currently works at the International Criminal Court.
There is a supermarket close by the apartment and I was thrilled to learn that it is open 7 days a week and on Monday – Saturday it is open until 10 p.m.! While we are used to grocery stores being open 7 days a week and long hours of operation in the US, I was preparing for operating hours that were similar to those I experienced in Germany. In Germany the supermarkets were only open Monday – Friday and on Saturday until about noon. If a holiday backed up to a weekend, the supermarket would be closed for days (I learned this the hard way when I lived in Germany and returned from my EU seminar late the Thursday before Good Friday and had no food in my cupboards or refrigerator). Since the supermarket would be open on Sunday, I was able to purchase just what I would need for Wednesday night dinner and Thursday breakfast and lunch.
After the quick trip to the grocery store I took a short nap and went to work unpacking. It didn’t take too long to unpack and it felt nice to be situated. Anna Clara’s mother is currently visiting and she cooked a delicious dinner of bruschetta, seasoned beef, and potatoes for Anna Clara, Lynette and I. It was so nice of her to cook dinner for us and I have a feeling that we will be spoiled during the next two weeks she is here because she has already informed us she will be cooking a Brazilian rice and beans meal. Lynette has also offered to cook a Kenyan/British fusion dish at some point in the next two weeks. I would love to cook something as well, but need to figure out what a good “American food” dish would be. Suggestions for something to cook are more than welcome in the comments below.
Dinner was a nice way to spend the evening getting to know my roommates. I look forward to spending the next two months with them (Anna Clara is only in The Hague until the beginning of March and Lynnette will have to change to another apartment at the end of February). After dinner and some more chatting, I retired to my room to sleep.
Thursday morning I packed some clothes into a carry on bag and headed for the train station to catch a train to Cologne, Germany. I will be in Cologne visiting my German family until Saturday evening. It was a bit surreal being on the train and passing through Duisburg (where I lived in 2007 – 2008). It almost feels as though I never left. There is snow / ice on the ground here (from the big snowstorm a few weeks ago and the current rain) which is an unusual sight to behold. Romy, my “German mother,” told me that Thursday (yesterday) was the first day she was able to drive in over 3 weeks!
It’s time to bring this first post to a close and enjoy some German breakfast (which I’ve been looking forward to for days!). In Germany, for breakfast there are always brötchen (rolls) which can be topped with cheese or meat or nutella (tons of options) and lots of coffee. Breakfast is a truly relaxed and enjoyable experience – which is probably why they have a verb in German which means “breakfasting” (Frühstucken). So I’m off to breakfast.
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