GUEST BLOG FROM JESSIE HALPERN!
Guest blogger Jessie rides her noble steed, Johnny Mac.
Tuesday: This morning was a stark improvement, at least for the girls in room one who, yesterday, dealt with lack of blow dryers, flat irons, and (due to Lauren's flat iron short circuiting the whole room) no light for makeup application. After a hearty breakfast consisting mostly of the Dutch treat chocolate sprinkles on toast, everyone excitedly trudged over to our make-shift classroom (aka: empty bike shop across the street) to take part in a psychological analysis of military acts, as told by Andrew. Next, our obnoxiously large group huddled together on a skinny sidewalk and took a tram over to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the Peace Palace. We shortly figured out that "palace" was in fact a fitting title for the massive structure that reminded some of The Princess Diaries.
While we stood for a while taking various pictures in front of numerous plants and structures, Patricia and Dave arranged for our massive group to be given a special lecture by a Monsieur Hein. While some of us, obviously still jet lagged, slumped into a deep sleep while sitting around a conference table, others enjoyed listening to the proud Frenchman explain how the ICJ worked (and repeatedly list cases in which the U.S. lost). After our thrilling lecture, we enjoyed a special lunch still on the ICJ premises. Walking down toward the cafeteria, I distinctly smelled retirement home food, and, to my surprise, found the front of the cafeteria filled with lovely elders. Fortunately, there was a separate (and very un-elderly) buffet set up especially for us, so we filled our plates high. While some students' anti-meat lifestyles were accidentally crushed when we found "meaty surprises" in supposed vegetarian dishes, the meal was overall quite good. After our filling lunch, we listened to yet another lecture by the head librarian of the ICJ whose name sounded something like Jerome Flyaway. (Frakt Note -- Jeroen Vervliet - the name Vervliet means something like flyaway) Though we anticipated more slumping slumbers during this lecture, Jerome's mad-hatter like appearance and interesting Dutch accent (he insisted upon adding an "sh" sound into every single word at least twice) kept us all wide awake. So, after three lectures thus far, we traveled to the NGO building for (GASP!!!) MORE LECTURES. While Jessica laid out an assortment of coffee, tea, and cakes to try and keep us all awake, we diligently paid attention and learned how Non-Governmental organizations work. After three power point presentations (that's right, I said three), we split into groups and made an action plan to save the world, or at least one affliction in it. My group, consisting of: myself (Jessie), John, Brooke, Jeff, Kelsey, Maria, Marissa, and Jessica, chose to combat the exploitation of labor. However, having three red heads in the group, we also planned to prevent "Ginger-cide." Next, the group was given an hour of free time. With only 40 minutes until 6 p.m. (closing time for EVERYTHING in The Hague), we anxiously awaited the arrival of our tram. When we actually arrived at our street, we ran to stores with only 15 minutes left searching for last minute objects of our desiring. After a filling dinner of scrumptious green thai curry chicken, about half of the group embarked on a lengthy hike during which Jeff, John, and I (Jessie) linked arms and ättacked" the link created by Talia, Kelsey, Eric, and others. To pass the times in between our link wars, my "chain"decided to sing loudly all the songs we thought we knew ("thought" being the operative word). During the hike, Eric's shoe came off and he spent a long while interrogating my chain for its location before I finally revealed to him that it was hidden in my jacket. On the way back to the hostel, we walked along the beach and took some awesome pictures. We ALL linked arms and got photographed while jumping in the air - the beach and sunset glowing behind us. On the hour long hike back, some of us got worn out from trudging through the thick sand, so to pass the time, Kelsey filmed Eric and I "freaking out" to the song "My Girl" - sung live, of course. During this "freak out" we brought back such dance moves as the shopping cart and invented a few of our own. It made for a very embarrassing video which all participants already treasure. As the night ended with three of us getting blue slushies, we enjoyed each others company and walked back to our new home - Jorplace (pronounced your place). While I know we all miss home, I think I speak for everyone when I say that we are dreading the ever-closer Sunday departure. Though bonding was slightly slow for the first few days of this whole experience, it is clearly obvious that we are now all the best of friends. After communal naps on the floor, late night dorm chatting, 10 hours of flying time, fun meals, and interesting tram rides (I say "interesting" because we usually have to stand, and some of us - meaning of course myself - sometimes have trouble finding a metal bar to hold onto when the tram moves), all awkwardness has faded and we now just be kooky and entirely un-self-conscious. If you ever get to see the video, you'll know what I mean! :-)
GUEST BLOG FROM JEFF SCHWARTZ AND CELINA STEWART (aka "
Nameless Girl" - hint, it begins with a C, or maybe a K)
We started off our newest adventure in the international center of peace and justice with our usual 8:15 wakeup call from Celina. After Ben arrived at 9:05, we gathered around the street not only in antipication of the tran and our latest adventure, but for an impassioned, yet essential, lecture by Patricia. She reminded us that this trip, like all things in life, comes with responsibilities and rules that must be upheld for the good of the group. Needless to say, girls in boys rooms, boys in girls rooms, wandering outside the boundaries, wandering with the opposite gender, thinking about wandering with the opposite gender, or just general disregard for the safety of yourself and others is strictly prohibited. I would like to take a moment to add a personal note: without such rules, however tedious they may be, society and democracy as we know it would cease to exist and chaos would erupt in the Hague (Patricia we thank you from the bottom of our hearts). (Professor Frakt believes he detects a note of sarcasm). After boarding the tram we arrived at our destination: the US Embassy. After various photos and various poses (epitomized by Jess’s incredibly muscular physique), we entered the embassy undergoing a series of security checks.
Group photo outside the US Embassy
We were greeted by a very well respected intelligent attorney for the United States State Department who began to lecture about international law and world courts. Unfortunately, five minutes into it, questions began and the entire thing unraveled at that point. Dave began to very politely and gently (like the true defense lawyer he is) probe further into her thoughts and beliefs, which soon led to a debate nearly as passionate as Patricia’s lecture. While we greatly respected the lawyer’s viewpoints, as a group, we came to a consensus that her argument, while widely accepted, had several factual deficits that negated its merit. After Patricia once again saved the day with the subtle change in topic to internships, the lecture resumed a normal tone and the group moved on to various other subjects (except for Dave, he’s still upset).
Shortly after leaving the embassy, we heard the trumpeting of a march celebrating Canada Day, and saluted our Canadian member, since today we learned Canada was a country, Talia. We resumed walking through the gorgeous streets of the Hague and found ourselves at the Mauritshuis. We embraced the opportunity to tune out international law. While viewing the famous Vermeer. Rubens, and Rembrandt paintings, the students were comforted by the sounds of automated voices describing revered art pieces, such as Girl With the Pearl Earring, and Cow. After hanging out and wandering into the museum gift shop to stock up on printed napkins and magnets, we once again found ourselves on the streets of the Netherlands.
We walked for a while, admiring the Dutch architecture we have gotten so fond of, and headed to the shopping district where we would eat lunch, discussing (like the smart kids we are) presidents and their various attributes over hamburgers. After trying to pass off his plate as someone else’s lunch, Ben finally realized it resembled what he had ordered and settled into the discussion. Slightly after finishing meals, the group spread apart and being rule-followers, the boys went off alone to go shopping while the girls headed to the department store to try and find some cute European clothes that cost less than 500 euro (didn’t happen). When we finally met up again, almost everyone was empty handed but happy t hat all the rules had been followed.
Then, we got on the tram again to head to the library, and were comforted by the fact that we were joined by the entire population of the Hague, who weren’t too pumped to ride with thirty random high school students. However, after Jeff groped an old lady (Professor Frakt notes that this is hyperbole) to smooth over the relations, the ride got slightly more enjoyable, slightly more intimate, and very hot. Because Patricia neglected to notice our close male-female proximity, we failed to notice our stop and missed it, instead seeing Jessie’s horrified face reminding us that we hadn’t made it off in time. As smart, innovative kids, we decided to get off at the next stop, and simply walk to the library. (Shout out to Andrew for running next to the tram and walking with us.) We did research for our debates and essays, and enjoyed head massages, then headed back to the hotel for some free time.
We walked down to the beach and boardwalk and enjoyed blueberry slushies, and realized Ben had standards when it comes to women, and made sand boy. Ben also tested the aquarium, and felt that it was not up to par.
We had dinner, walked down to the beach for evening session, had two debates, both equally fascinating and great in merit (it was declared that Dave was the winner although he wasn’t a registered participant), made sandcastles, and had a soccer game. We now thank Patricia for reminding us to sleep, (she’s always thinking ahead!), and are going to conclude here, hoping for a great day tomorrow.
PS: We’d like to thank Patricia and Philip for filling in on such short notice, we love them very much. Seriously.
Guest bloggers Jeffrey and Celina!
The Great Debaters
Birthday girl Haley celebrates her 17th with her buddies on the beach!
The birthday girl's belly makes a great pillow for best friend Marisa after three pieces of delicious chocolate birthday cake thoughtfully provided by Patricia!