One day down, 13 weeks to go...

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I survived my first day of European law school! Hooray! Despite my mental breakdown last night that I didn't feel prepared for class, in the end, everything turned out fine. (Me? Overreact? NEVER!) haha.

My first class this morning was European Criminal Law. The professor is Andre Klip (who wrote our textbook). My group has 14 students in it, but I think I'm the only exchange student. That may work out in my favor since everyone else has to speak English instead of Dutch so at least I don't have a problem with the language. I know that there was a lot of translation issues for them that I never would have thought about. Today was just an introduction of the general concepts, but so far I definitely understand the material. The only issue is going to be knowing the structure of the European Union legislative & judicial systems, & how they interact with each other & the other Member States. I need to get a book that has all of the major EU treaties in it so that I can keep everything straight. I've already relegated myself to the fact that I'm going to have to spend some extra study time that the others won't need in order to fully understand the systems. Oh well. The professor is so nice, & he said that if I run into problems to go see him. I like the fact that the class is so small because it's way less intimidating that way!

My second class was International & European Environmental Law. The professor is Marjan Peeters, & she's really nice. My group has probably 15 students in it so it's pretty small, too. Most of the people in my class are international students so that makes it interesting because the dynamic is so different compared to my morning class. When I introduced myself, the professor asked what part of the US I'm from. When I told her Pennsylvania, she was like, "Oh! What part?!" & I said western PA. She then told us that we're having a guest lecturer from Widener University Law School in Harrisburg. When I said that's about 20 minutes away from where I study, everyone in the room was absolutely shocked. It was hilarious! Then, after class, a Spanish kid named Jeorge came up to me & was like "so you're not at the main campus, then?" & I was so confused how he even knew that. Apparently, he applied to Dickinson Law as an exchange for next semester! He'll find out next week which campus he'll be going to. What the heck are the chances of that?! Even though I'm so far from home, it really didn't feel like it! CRAZY!

The good news is that I'm interested in the material for both of the classes so that should make the extra study time go a lot smoother. I can't imagine trying to put in extra effort in a class that I couldn't stand (ah hem CONTRACTS ah hem). Regardless, I just have to pass. haha.

It was a long day. Each class was 2 hours long, & I only had a half an hour lunch break in between. Needless to say, after my 2 weeks of sheer laziness, it was difficult to get back into the swing of things, but at least now I'll be back in a routine.

I have to go sign my VISA/residence permit papers tonight so I can legally stay in the country until June so I think I'm going to take a quick rest before I have to go.

Sorry there are no "original" pictures for today, but I think my classmates would have thought I was crazy for taking photos of them on the first day. Plus, there's no way I could get a good enough picture of the whole building as nice as this one.

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Comments

[Alice B.]

Small world!
I love all the small world coincidences that keep happening to you! haha! Both sound like rpetty cool classes, but I can imagine how different the systems must be, you'll get it! Also, love the Contracts reference. FML