The end of the academic program at Utrecht University is rapidly approaching. It occurs to me that, with all the stories about weekend trips and wonderful get aways, I haven’t yet described the program at the University that I have been participating in. After all, that was the actual reason (or perhaps excuse) that I came over here for.
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| The "Akademie Gebouw"- Admin offices for the Law School |
This has been a wonderful academic break for me- a chance to immerse myself in study and research and learning a new area of the law. As I mentioned before, Utrecht University is one of the leading universities in both Holland and Europe, with an enrollment of around 30,000. It has a number of renown graduate programs across a variety of disciplines, including a law school with an enrollment of about 4500, a good size even by American standards. The law school has a number of small one year post-doctoral international programs for law graduates specializing in certain areas of international law, such as International Business Law and Globalisation, International Public Law, and International Human Rights and Criminal Justice. All are conducted in English. I was in the latter, International Human Rights and Criminal Justice.
The international programs tend to be rather small; ours had 23 students. Most students tend to be recent grads- I was the exception, along with a 38 year old prosecutor from Iowa. Our group was distinctly global. We had 7 Americans, one Canadian, 2 Germans, 3 Australians, 4 Dutch, 4 South Americans, 1 Japanese, and 1 from Indonesia.
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| University Law Library |
Our classes covered a variety of topics, including crimes against humanity and war crimes cases at the international criminal tribunals, human rights violations in various countries, laws relating to combat, (such as the Geneva and Hague conventions) comparisons of the differences in European and American criminal justice systems, and cases decided by the European Court of Human Rights. The class sessions varied from informal far ranging discussions to formal presentations. We wrote papers and prepared briefs, many of which were submitted to international institutions or other European courts for consideration.
The setting for the programs was very conducive for this type of undertaking as well. The main University campus is on the outskirts of Utrecht. Because space is at a premium in Holland, it is not the rambling expansive green type of campus that is typical of American colleges. Rather, it is compacted into a 5 or 6 block area of modern high rise buildings. However, the law school and the international programs are still downtown, dispersed throughout a number of old historical buildings in the old town section. One gets a real sense of history attending sessions in buildings that go back to the 1600’s.
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| Downtown "campus" classroom buildings |
We had originally planned on staying in Utrecht until July so I could finish the final paper required to complete the degree. However, the arrival of 2 new grandchildren and the engagement of one of our daughters caused us to start thinking about returning a little earlier. The University was very accommodating, since the final session was solely devoted to individual research and writing of the final paper, which I could do just as well at a law library back in the US. So at the end of April, we liquidated our estate (our Dutch bikes and all the European appliances we had acquired there), had a final drink and hug with all our neighbors, bid a found farewell to our 2nd floor flat on Admiraal van Gentstraat, and hopped on our flight out of Schipool Airport back to the US via Reykjavik, Iceland. Our European adventure had come to its conclusion.
Within a week, we were immersed in a thousand details. For starters, we had to find a place to live, since our house was still rented out. We had left a number of affairs on auto pilot while we were gone; some had fared pretty well, while others had gone completely off the rails and required a great deal of attention to get them straightened out. Veronica and I began working again almost immediately. The hospital where Veronica had worked held her job for her, and I began traveling for the Judicial Council once again, going from court to court up and down highway 99, the spine of California. If that wasn’t enough, I came home to find a notice to appear for jury duty waiting for me. I did not end up being selected for the 6 week jury trial, but I did have a pleasant surprise reunion with all my old compatriots at the courthouse in the midst of everything else. Our wonderful Dutch experience began fading into past memory. But best of all, we had time to enjoy spending lots of time babysitting our new grandkids.
So what did we miss most about our overseas experience? It would be impossible to chose one thing above all the others. It is nice being settled down again into our own place among all our friends, relatives, children and grandchildren. However, we do miss the pleasant walks in the evening over to the local Italian gelato shop, where all the neighbors line up to get the best ice cream in Utrecht; the hustle and bustle at the shops downtown lining the main canal; the neighborhood street fairs and the sense of community where we lived; the old world charm and new world conveniences; the convenient train and bus connections and the extensive bike trails; the wonderful restaurants and sidewalk cafés; the list goes on. We have so many pleasant memories and wonderful friends. Who knows, maybe we will be back again sometime.
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| Among the things we will miss: Student cafés |
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| The Cheese Market at the Saturday Framer's Market was always a favorite |
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| Love those Appel Flappens! |
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| The Downtown shopping mall was always busy |
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| Who could forget the ubiquitous flower man? |
