As can be seen from our map, LUC alumni can be found all over the world. Today’s post was written by Caspar Plomp, Global Justice Major, Class of 2013.
As the cold has definitely found its way to Geneva and the snow has descended from faraway mountains, I find that my first of four semesters at the Graduate Institute in Geneva is, likewise, progressing quickly. It’s hardly conceivable that it’s been five months already since the graduation ceremony in the city hall of The Hague, and that the first exams for the master in international law are around the corner.
In some respects, where I am now is not so different from where I was before. Both the Graduate Institute and LUC take pride in their small, diverse bodies of students studying global challenges in their respective new and fancy buildings – which, in the case of the Graduate Institute, is situated within a few hundred meters of the UN Office in Geneva, the UNHCR headquarters and many other international organisations, national missions and NGOs.
And so, I’ve entered into a new life with daily walks along the Lake on my way to university, the occasional Swiss cheese and chocolate, new friendships, a French course, moot court preparations, and a rather unhealthy amount of book chapters, articles, court decisions and UN resolutions (such quantities of work being, of course, rather familiar to the battered LUC veteran).
Still, I’ve also come to realise that, in many ways, LUC is a special place – but not only in the spatial sense (although repeating a swim in the pond in front of Stamkartstraat or throwing hard little sweets at the UWV premises in the middle of the night is quite difficult here). I’ve taken with me to Geneva many, many good memories of my three years at LUC, shared with great friends. So while I’ll be here in Geneva for quite a bit in the next two years, I’m also looking forward to making more such memories whenever back in The Hague.
Switzerland