Last few days in Luxembourg

Thursday we visited the European Court of Justice, which is the highest Court for the EU. They gave us a star treatment. We even got lunch and little visitors' packets. The Court is incredibly well funded, the building is amazing and you can tell there is a ton of financial weight behind the scenes. The translation teams are crazy as well. The EU has 27 states, but some 22 or 23 languages, all of which can be used at any one time. Although the official language of the Court is French, everyone has the right to use their own language. The court accepts complaints from anyone and evaluates them, so they are backlogged some 100k. When we returned I wasn’t feeling well so I stayed at the hotel and watched some X-Files episodes that another student had brought on DVD. Then I had a nice meal of lasagna from the hotel restaurant, along with a beer of course (it’s the most cost-efficient drink). I still ended up going to bed rather late after getting my reading done. The late setting of the sun is deceptive, every night it appears to be around 6pm but will usually be closer to 10, so that throws off my attempts at planning.

Friday we had our last Human Rights class (with this professor) outside under the trees, with a view of the ravine and beautiful homes across the way. It was a great way to end the session. We had started in the basement of The Hague hotel and the professor had said it was apropos for the study of Human Rights, because abuses tend to happen in dingy basements that appear normal from the outside. After class we walked to some caves under a small section of the city. Apparently they were used for defense in the 16th century. Although, they were very touristy, with lights and signs everywhere. Then we watched the Netherlands and Brazil soccer game at the local Hostel because a few of our group members were staying there. Afterwards we went to dinner at an awesome little Italian restaurant that our professor had recommended (he’s legit Italian). While walking back to the hotel we stopped and peaked in on the soccer game with Ghana and Uruguay. I eventually made it back to the hotel and got to bed, I hadn’t been feeling well and the inexpensive and prevalent beer and constant activity was wearing me down.

This brings me up to today, long day. We had the bus ride in the morning, which was nice because I had the back row and just slept the whole way. But here in Strasbourg it is blazing hot, around 90, and NONE of the places have a/c. Also, I am staying at an apartment-hotel with three other guys because it is very cheap and has a kitchen. So we had to walk a little with our baggage, next Europe trip I am going to bring less. Anyway, this afternoon we wandered around, which was hot and somewhat nauseating, because we were unable to check-in, just leave the luggage. We are in the Jewish section of town so everything was closed for the Sabbath. We eventually found a nice restaurant and had crepes on the terrace. We ate at the base of a huge cathedral (you’ll see it in the postcards), it was amazing. Half way through the meal a choir of children started singing in French. We might try to barbeque tomorrow at the group hotel for Independents Day, they have a swimming pool. Tonight should be a nice slow evening; I’ll once again try to get to bed early.