The Canals of Amsterdam...

Boat season is underway and I was lucky enough to cruise the canals with some of my Rotaract friends yesterday, it was a holiday here in Amsterdam (They still celebrate or at least get vacation for the Ascension). I feel like the past couple of months have been filled with holidays, Easter, Queen's Day, Liberation Day...

I have been trying to balance all these fun exciting adventures with my time in the Openbare Bibliotheek Amsterdam. Ah yes, the beginning of summer also means the end of school and I am slaving away at my thesis which will hopefully be wrapped up in the next couple of weeks.

I will be so happy to be done and to finally take a real vacation. The sad thing is that the closer we get to July the closer my time here in A'dam is coming to an end.

I am going to remember all the interesting things I learned at VU and with my LPIS classmates my Rotary adventures and most of all the great times I had with great friends. This year just makes me realize more and more the doors that Rotary has opened for me and for young people around the world.

Bring on the summer of relaxation, beach times on Lake Superior, family, friends and preparation for my return to Ottawa, the hometown of my heart :)

Hopefully the next time I write I will be able to sign my name:

Laura Morrison (LLM)

On the Prinsengracht near the Westerkerk.

Rotaract Club of Amstelveen :)

The World's Largest Flower Garden!

Greetings from another lovely Sunday afternoon in Amsterdam. It is becoming harder and harder to settle down into thesis work when the sun is shining outside. Yesterday a friend and I biked to Haarlem, which is quite close to Amsterdam, where we went shopping and walked around the city. It was a great day and only a small bike ride compared to the previous weekend's 75km treck to and from the "Keukenhof". Directly translated it means 'kitchen garden' and it is the world's largest flower garden. Over 7 million bulbs are planted annually.

Having studied in Ottawa, I definitely feel a connection to tulips and the story connecting The Netherlands and Canada after the Second World War, as we hosted part of their Royal Family and their present Queen, Beatrix. It certainly was enjoyable to relax in the tulip garden and to take in all the pretty colours.

After all the biking I also put in more sporting effort, when I participated in the Annual Beach Volleyball Tournament organised by Amstelveen Rotary. There was a team put together of Amsteleveen Rotaractors and we definitely had a good time, while managing to squeeze out a couple of wins. Though it was held in side, playing volleyball in the sand had me wishing for summer and beach weather to arrive.

In other sporting news, I am also closely following the NHL Playoffs, as close as I can. Especially with the Annual Morrison Pool underway, too bad about the 6 hour time difference though.

More fun events/holidays are on their way: it will be a relaxing Easter weekend, with a possible visit from Belgium and then Queen's Day on April 30th, the craziest of the Dutch holidays! The beginning of May will bring Remembrance Day on the 4th, in commemoration of all fallen Dutch soldiers and then Liberation Day on the 5th.

Looking forward to enjoying all these events, let's just hope that along the way I also find the time to finish my thesis :)

Cheers once again and hope that wherever you are, you are also enjoying spring weather.

Laura

Die Schweizermacher!

What a wonderful time of year! Spring has sprung, tulips are blooming and it's sunny in Amsterdam. Spring fever had me spending all day Sunday outside and I even got a slight sun burn to prove it. I will have to start applying the SPF 30.

Well a great start to my Spring season was my trip to Switzerland! Though the weather was a mixed bag, I had a great time all around. Just spending time with my friend Michele is always fun and it was nice to also meet up with her family and friends. We had a typical Swiss brunch of Rosti with her family and made two nice Italian style meals and reminisced about our Roman adventures.

It was great being able to use my German again and everyone was kind enough to adapt to the 'Hochdeutsch' standard. One place where this wasn't possible however was during a Musical we went to see in Zurich, called "Die Schweizermacher". It is based on a 1978 film that has Federal Police investigating immigration to Switzerland. I could understand the main aspects of the story and was really intrigued to see how Swiss culture was portrayed through this very popular medium. Die Schweizermacher means quite literally the Swiss maker and the love story in the end tied all the details together to make for a very Swiss story.

Another great part of my trip was the day we spent in the mountains. Though we did not strap on any skis we still made the trip up to 3500m with 2 gondolas and a Mountain Metro. The view was needless to say breathtaking. There were some avalanche warnings so even the skiing was limited, but in Saas-Fee they can ski all year round because of the glaciers, which sadly to say are receding quite quickly based on observations.

So after a wonderful trip full of good times, laughter, cheese and chocolate :) I took the overnight train back to Amsterdam to finish the last assignment of my course work here in The Netherlands. Hopefully if everything goes well I will have just my thesis left to work on. To add some inspiration to the mix after I handed in the take-home exam on Friday I took a trip to The Hague.

First, I was able to visit the Canadian Embassy to pick up my forms to vote in the upcoming federal election. Excited to see how the campaign plays out over the next few weeks. Second some classmates and I attended a Master Class given by Luis Moreno-Ocampo. It was a very thought provoking session as students were able to ask the Prosecutor of the ICC questions about his mandate, decisions on cases to prosecute and the politics of the court. It was a great follow-up, hearing from the man himself, after having watched the documentary film "The Prosecutor" and also having visited the ICC this past fall. What is sure is that the next year and three months of Ocampo's mandate will be interesting to watch, especially as current events unfold around North Africa and the Middle East.

Now enough law and politics it's time to get my vitamin D intake while I still can.

Cheers to all :)

Laura

In the Swiss Federal Palace.

More than four 'Laura's' in a House of Mirrors in the Glacier Garden in Lucerne.

Yummy Swiss Fondue in Saas Fee with Michele and her parents.

In the beautiful Swiss Bergen. Saw the highest peak in the Swiss Alps, Dom.

So gorgeous and literally at 3500m it takes your breath away.

Michele and I on the top of the world.

A beautiful day in Zurich.

With Luis Moreno-Ocampo, Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court last Friday in the Hague.

Mardi Gras!

It's been awhile since I have updated my blog and it can be due to the deceiving thing about the month of February, as the shortest month, you blink and it's gone.

I have been keeping busy with school and work and also enjoying this lovely city as Spring slowly but surely arrives. This past weekend marked the Carnival festivities here in the Netherlands and around Europe. In Canada we would call yesterday Mardi Gras or Shrove Tuesday and to celebrate last night I invited some classmates over to eat some traditional Canadian pancakes, topped with authentic Maple Syrup. It was great to share this small bit of Canadian tradition with my friends and to mix it with Dutch traditions as some of us even dressed up in costume :)

In an attempt to take advantage of all the little time I have left in Amsterdam, a friend and I have compiled a list of things we really want to do before leaving. Unfortunately each week brings new exciting events and our list just keeps getting longer. This weekend I will get the opportunity to visit the Dutch Royal Palace here at Dam Square, as I will be guided around with friends.

More exciting news is that I will be taking a vacation next week, leaving for a long weekend in Switzerland. My friend Michele came to visit me here in Amsterdam in November and now I am reciprocating. It will be nice to explore the country with a true native and to enjoy the Swiss scenery, people, culture and of course food :) I hope I can practice my German, though I am not sure what they will think of my Hochdeutsch.

After Switzerland it will be a reality check as I return to Amsterdam to a take-home exam, a final thesis and the Amsterdam Law Forum Conference coming up in May. The end of the year is getting closer and closer and this brings about lots of interesting conversations around the Uni as everyone in my program is trying to figure out what comes next. It's the disadvantage of a 1-year Masters Program where just as you start to get comfortable with everything it's time to move to the nest step.

That is all for now, but next time I hope to have some great pictures to share with you from my Swiss adventure.

Laura

P.S. Happy Belated International Women's Day to all the Ladies around the world!

Ownership v.s. Donorship

It is a beautiful day here in Amsterdam, about 10 degrees and nice and sunny, which is a nice change after a weekend of 50 km/h winds that almost blew me off my bike and into the city's canals.

Yesterday evening I was fortunate to catch Paul Collier, the Oxford economist speak at my University on external interventions in Africa. Collier is the author of "Wars, Guns and Votes" and "The Bottom Billion" and he had some interesting and perhaps even controversial ideas concerning the so-called "forgotten continent". As a student of international law and politics it was particularly interesting to hear his views on common sense solutions to political corruption. The balance between the urgent needs of the struggling nations of the earth need to be balanced with the concept that aid finds its way into the right hands.

It was an interesting challenge to many in the crowd when Collier claimed that many Southern countries need to do away with the idea that the West still has a "colonial agenda". What is clear is that Collier is passionate about making a difference with a hands on perspective and he challenged the youth in the room to make these problems their own and to contribute to the flow of knowledge he deemed so important to helping economic growth.

Collier's speech marked the end to a busy weekend. I caught the premier of "Black Swan" in Amsterdam on Friday night and felt the movie really makes an impact with the audience, especially the performance by Natalie Portman. I had goose-bumps for the rest of the night.

Saturday I celebrated Chinese New Year with some friends and received the interesting fortune: "Things come and go like lightning, Wheel of transmigration rolls like drifting clouds. Where is the time to discuss right or wrong? Quite cryptic I know.

And like any self-respecting North American, Sunday night I found myself in a pub in Amsterdam catching the big game. I was cheering for the Packers and was really happy to see them pull through with the win.

Now I am off to bike to the VU and take advantage of this gorgeous day :)

I survived!!

The month of January is finally coming to a close!

I received inspiration for this week's Blog from the Rotary Club of Amstelveen where I spoke this past Tuesday. It was a lovely meeting, where I spoke in front of 35 Rotarians, who had interesting and thought provoking questions. They were happy to tell me I survived the Amstelveen Rotary Club, something that was a great feat ;)

In fact, I am not only happy to have survived the Rotary meeting but also the entire month of January.

After 10 000 words and one 3 hour exam, I am more than half way done my Masters Program in Amsterdam.

I have been relaxing over the past couple of days, relishing the fact that I didn't need to go to the library or the University. Tomorrow I start one new course but my work load will be substantially lighter and the coming months will bring thesis preparation and of course enjoying Amsterdam and the Netherlands.

It has been quite chilly over the past couple of days but dry and sunny, which is a nice change.

Friday night I went skating at an outdoor oval in Amsterdam called the Jaap Eden Baan with some Rotaract friends. The Dutch were out in force on their speed skates but I stuck to the traditional hockey skates.

Also, yesterday a couple friends and I ventured to Den Haag, where we did some touristy things. We went to see the Knights Hall, where the Queen gives the Speech from the Throne every year, of course I was interested to learn more about the Dutch political capital! We also visited Het Paleis, an old Royal Palace that was turned into a Museum and now houses an Escher exhibition. Quite amazing modern work on the differences of reality and perceptions. We finished off the day with a trip to Scheveningen, the beach town near The Hague, where I couldn't resist dipping my toes in the ice cold North Sea. Being so close to the sea we had a nice dinner of fish before returning to Amsterdam exhausted from the day of site-seeing.

Now it is time to start fresh in February and as I mentioned I am excited to celebrate Chinese New Year next week in Amsterdam. Lots of exciting things planned, first off to finish off my weekend, some flatmates and I are going to check out some Sunday afternoon Jazz.

Wishing everybody a nice and lazy Sunday.

Until next time!

Laura

Time to Hit the Books!

The first week of 2011 has passed. The further we get into January the busier I will get and I think this is a sign of things to come for the year. I have been told by Dutch students that January is the worst month of the year and I am starting to believe them.

I had an amazing vacation at home and a great New Year's in Amsterdam, but this past week has seen the return of the school work that I left behind before the holidays. Not the best start to a New Year. This year I think the Chinese New Year would be more appropriate, can't wait until February 3rd to start the year of the Rabbit!

Outside the school work, it is nice to be back in Amsterdam, to see all my friends, to ride my bike around the city, to enjoy the great things this city has to offer. I took a study break on Friday night to go for Ethiopian food with a group of friends, which was an amazing experience. We had the real authentic flavour and even ate with our hands. Such great tasting food!

No New Year's Resolutions for me this year, I just want to be able to enjoy the coming months in Amsterdam. I am sure it will all go by so quick and then comes the next step in a path which is still a little unclear. This is what makes life interesting though and the more options available the more exciting life is!

If anyone is looking for me during the next few weeks I will be at the library ;)

Tot zo!