europe trip/human rights boot camp june 7-13

Take a bus filled with 50 young, robust enthusiastic mature young adults, place them with an equally fun bus driver and drive them through 5 countries in 7 days and what do you get? yes a road trip.

But this was not just any type of road trip, it was an academic tour for masters students studying LLM and MA in International Human rights law who were eager to see what they read in books and heard from lecturers. So the plan was to visit human rights institutions and NGO's in France, Netherlands and Switzerland over a 7 day period, rubbing shoulders with esteemed practitioners, advocates and judges grasping whatever knowledge and tips that will guide as along our career path. But without going into details of the 7 day adventure as this would take up more blog space than imaginable. I will highlight a few lessons learnt from this trip while highlighting some fun times. They are not in any particular order

1. Coach filled 50 persons +euro-tunnel=fun fun fun

2. Sitting for 15 hours will cause your feet to swell like an elephant's

3. Allowing persons to bunk in a room will either cause them to hate each other's guts or cement and create friendships. I haven't heard of the former happening on the euro tour.

4. Having to wake up from 4:30am, leave one country [and traverse the countryside of Germany] to another (i.e Switzerland) and have sessions with esteemed practitioners with little time for a break is on the verge of a boot camp

5. Don't let the word hotel fool you, apparently, the designers omitted the 's'. Also if there are two beds in a room, it means it is for 3 persons not two. Also if you wish not to share a bed with a man, say that it is against your religion (inside joke)

6. Geneva is a beautiful city, if you have heard it being said, it is true. It is equally expensive Mont Blanc pen for CFS3000? u must be crazy

7. The Netherlands is a very progressive country..............progressive if you think regularising weed and prostitution is progressive. I would like to see if a study has been done on the effectiveness of such a move. Has it affected human trafficking issues? health issues (both the weed and the prostitution) Imagine my 'shock' when i passed through the red light district

8. When you request a tour of the Palais de nation, please ensure that no other conferences are taking place or you will get a half of a tour.

9. being apart of the Essex mafia is a great thing. if you thinking of a uni to do masters in human rights, University of Essex is the place to do it.