Brussels and Basketball

So I returned last night from a pretty incredible weekend in Luxembourg and Brussels with my European Policy Seminar class. We left Strasbourg Wednesday afternoon with Professor Kjell Torbiorn. (Google/YouTube this man! He works at the Council of Europe in the Secretary General’s Office and also had a brief a run as a professional singer). We affectionately refer to him as Grandpa because he’s just the sweetest guy you’ll ever meet…and Swedish nevertheless.

Arrived in Luxembourg, had dinner at our hostel before heading out for the night. Thursday was an early morning. We visited the European Court of Justice to watch a court case. Actually pretty boring…I spent most of my time entertaining myself by watching the interpreters and playing with the different language translations. I decided Flemmish was the most fun. Even poor old Kjell fell asleep! I decided it was more a matter of actually being in the ECJ that was actually meaningful…I really could care less if the Belgian government wants to make keeping legal documents on file mandatory for Portuguese workers building ships in their country.

We had a lecture from Judge O’Higgins of Ireland, one of the 27 Member State judges who serves on the court. It was a pretty interesting visit, but I’d much rather spend my time at the Public Defender’s Office in Providence. Drug dealers and prostitutes are much more entertaining!

We got back on the bus to drive to Brussels staying at “Hôtel Van Belle,” which as you can imagine was not so belle. I’ve decided after this experience and that in Rome that it’s probably best to stay away from hostels with “beautiful,” “belle,” or any other form of the word in their name. Just say no.

We had dinner at a great restaurant on the Grande Place, one of the most famous squares in the world where Martin Westlake, the Secretary General of the European Union’s Economic and Social Committee gave a lecture. I think we all decided after this point that Kjell has some pretty ridiculous connections…this man was the godfather of his children after all.

Friday was an early wake-up. We had a visit to the NATO headquarters and several lectures throughout the day there. It was about midway through our second hour-long lecture by some diplomat at NATO that I started to realize how ridiculous all of this was. Each of our three speakers spent most of their time talking about “talking, negotiating, dialogues and discussions” as a means to facilitate “positive change.” I thought to myself, “Yes, but what are you actually DOING?” It wasn’t until later in the afternoon at a briefing at the US Mission to the European Union that I finally grew some balls and asked our speaker, “You seem to be doing a lot of talking and holding panels and constructive dialogues, but do you actually have any evidence that what you’re doing is accomplishing anything or making a difference? Where’s the practical application?”

I got a few smiles from fellow Policy Studies majors in the room who were thinking the exact same thing. Coplin had taught us well. As I’d expected, I received a flowery, vague response with no real meaning. In any case, I made a firm decision at that point that I was not cut out for a career in diplomacy or in any international organization for that matter. I mean, I’d figured it out about a year ago, but this just made it that much clearer. Out of respect for Doug, I’ll refrain from going on a rant about how useless IR as a major is. You’re welcome in advance.

Anyway, finished up an afternoon at the US Mission before heading back to the hotel. My mom had emailed me earlier in the week telling me about some extended family we had that lived in Brussels. Two cousins of my grandfather and their parents lived in Brussels. My grandfather had hoped that I would meet up with them. Awkward, but I decided it would be pretty cool. Joel, my second/third cousin/twice removed/great uncle of sorts sent me a text message asking if I wanted to meet up. I sat in the hotel lobby awkwardly waiting for him and his wife Monika. I’d never seen a picture of either of them, but somehow I knew immediately when they walked in that it was them.

We went out for some real Belgian beer and a tour of the city. Both are Polish and speak Polish, French, English, Italian, and German fluently. Yeah, my relatives are pretty freaking awesome.

Headed back to the hotel around 10 before going out for our last night with everyone. Pretty epic. I’ll summarize it with this…falling down the metal stairs at the bar and waking up to a pretty decent sized bruise on my butt. And no, I will NOT be posting pictures.

Saturday we had a quick stop at a modern art museum before getting on the bus for our 6+ hour ride home. Got back to Strasbourg and headed to Au Dauphin—where we’re now regulars—for some tarte flambée with Mika, Sue and Lex.

I promised myself that I would find a way to watch the Syracuse – Nova game…even if it wasn’t on until 3AM my time. 34,616 fans in the Carrier Dome at 9PM—the largest ever—and 3 of us in Strasbourg at 3AM stayed up to watch the game. I Skyped into the game with Andrea and Emily who propped the laptop in front of their TV on the coffee table so I could watch while I kept refreshing the play-by-play updates on the athletics website. Pretty resourceful, right? Em and Andrea skyped in Paul who’s in Madrid for the semester at the same time and sat his laptop next to me.

Finally went to bed around 6AM my time. I’m exhausted but it was totally worth it. The entire time I sat looking at my poster of the SU campus pinned up on my wall at the other end of my bed and just smiled to the point that I was almost in tears. It’s moments like that that I know I would never be happier anywhere else. I live and breathe Orange and I wouldn’t have it any other way.