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Published: October 12th 2009
EU Council
Sweden has the presidency until January. It rotates every 6 months. Spain has it next. See - I learned something!They warned us that the long study tour would be exhausting, and they weren't kidding. All the academic visits that we did are like a blur, so I'll just highlight the parts of the trip that I like best/remember best.
Day 1 is nothing but driving. Really. I wake up at the crack of dawn and a bus full of my classmates departs Copenhagen at 0845. We drive south, cross to Germany on a ferry, turn west, stop in the Netherlands for dinner, and arrive in Brussels at 2300. Our hotel is called Maison du Dragon ("dragon house") and it is located in the red light district (this particular district was mild compared to the one I would see later in the week).
We visited a plethora of institutions during our stay in Brussels, sometimes two or three a day. These include the Council, Commission, and Parliament of the European Union; the Danish Permanent Representative to the EU; and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Truth be told, I can't tell any of the EU visits apart. We got the same information from different angles. That's it. Sure, the buildings were cool (one of them looked like a spaceship), but
Planet Chocolat
I learned how to make chocolate! And got free samples! since I have no real desire to work at this level of politics or to be a politician, these visits were purely informational and did not inspire me to develop a serious political goal in life. We did get to meet some interesting people and ask them serious intellectual questions, which is always a good opportunity. At NATO I asked the US Ambassador to NATO (I forget his exact title - either way he was arrogant and smug and I did not care for him much at all) to justify the hypocrisy behind preventing countries from Iran and N. Korea from developing nuclear energy and weapons while the USA and Israel and their allies are allowed to amass stockpiles (and even if they get rid of some, they replace them with newer, high-tech weapons). His answer? 'Because a group of people got together and decided they were the bad guys' (not a direct quote, but almost).
My biggest qualm with this tour was that we didn't have very much free time outside of our political and intellectual stimulation, and when we did have free time, the weather was shit. I know Brussels and DIS can't do anything about the
Manneken Pis
A little anti-climatic, no? He's so small. Sometimes people break it/steal it/dress it up. weather, but whatevs. Given this, the best thing I did in Brussels was to bike around with a tour guide and a small group of students through the cobblestone streets in the rain. We saw much more of the city than I otherwise would have, including Manneken Pis, the famous fountain that I didn't know about until I got to Brussels. It's a small naked boy peeing. Manneken Pis is Flemish for "little boy peeing." Various Belgians have tried to capitalize on Manneken Pis's fame by creating "Little Girl Pissing" and "Little Dog Pissing." I managed to see all three. It was also on this bike tour that I finally learned the origin of French fries: Belgium. The New York Times rated the fries from Maison Antoine in Brussels the best fries in the world, and I have to agree. They are delicious when accompanied by beer at the cafe next door. I had a Kwak; it was also delicious. I ate three waffles one day. Don't judge. You would have done the same if you had been in Belgium. It's totally worth it, I promise. I don't regret a single calorie.
Final Verdict: I would spend more time
Protest on wheels
The price of milk has dropped by 40%, but only by 1-2% in stores, so farmers are upset. They protested outside the EU's meeting about milk and agriculture and drove their tractors through the streets (and lawns) of Brussels! in Brussels.
Brussels = beer + fries/chips + waffles + EU After visiting NATO on Thursday morning (the security was tight - you can tell the USA is involved; no European country would use the barbed wire and metal detectors...twice) we traveled to The Hague/Den Haag. My absolute favorite academic bit of the whole week occurred in Den Haag Friday morning when we visited the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. A young lawyer from Texas briefed us on the history of the Balkan fighting. Then we got to watch LIVE the trial of General Gotovina. I even made eye-contact with him once! It was really intense. Granted, I still don't want to be a lawyer or anything, but I would have watched the trial all day long, if they'd have let me.
Friday afternoon we (the whole class) lunched in Amsterdam, then they turned us loose to explore the city until nightfall when we would once again board a bus, this time bound for Copenhagen. We (me and six of my pals) went straight to the Anne Frank House. The exhibition leads you through the house into the secret annex - I walked through the same
Elisabeth
I had to buy chocolate here. Obviously. entrance they would have used, behind a bookshelf. If you are ever in Amsterdam, the House is a must-see. I can't quite explain it, but needless to say it made me very sad. We also visited the HomoMonument, located nearby, which is a memorial for all the men and women who have ever been persecuted because of their sexuality. After that we wandered around, over canals and past coffeshops (NOTE: coffeehouse = coffee; coffeeshop = weed), through the Red Light District and back again. As if the Anne Frank House wasn't a downer enough, I walked past women on display behind glass looking bored as hell but having to sell their bodies to the horny passers-by. It was so depressing. Worst part of the trip. It felt like a zoo, like they were some display in a store window - which essentially they are; these women are treated as products, commodities to be bought and sold, not as human beings. Seeing that, I have mixed feelings about legal prostitution. I prefer Denmark's approach over others: while it's not legal, per say, the prostitute does not get in trouble; rather, the "john" or purchaser of services gets in trouble. This seems
Jeanneke Pis
Little Girl Pissing. Hidden in an alley and not nearly as famous, but cute nonetheless. to protect the women who are forced into the business (through trafficking, etc) while not necessarily encouraging it. I mean, if a prostitute (women mostly, but some men, I realize) has to have the body used, s/he deserves to keep all the money that comes out of the situation. And let's here it for gender equality, eh? No men were being sold in shop windows in Amsterdam.
But anyways. Beyond that, I really liked Amsterdam. It's mostly pretty old buildings next to pretty water. How can anyone possibly resist its charm?
On the bus ride home, which starts at 2100, is interrupted by a ferry crossing at 0430, and ends in Copenhagen at 0730, I knit a hat.
That's the end of the long study tour. Props to my program for encouraging/facilitating such travel.
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