midnight blues

Dear friends,

I guess I am honouring my blog by making you hungry for news, six weeks after my first entry... But then again, those who know me, will know that I try to get most out of everything I am passionate about - that's what I've been doing! 

Probably a short chronological overview of the past few weeks won't harm.. The first big event after my last entry was COIMUN XIV - the fourteenth edition of the Cambridge University International Model United Nations. I thought it would be fun, having done the Model ASEM, to try a Model UN. There is this Model UN Society at Warwick, so I joined them and at my first session there were still seats available for the Cambridge MUN - and off I went! 

To be honest, it wasn't much of a blast, but I'm partly to blame. The

re are a lot of rules involved in this MUN, and as I didn't have much time to prepare the topics of the DISEC Committee (disarmament and international security, one of the six subcommittees of the UN General Assembly) I was on, I preferred to pick an 'easy' country which wouldn't involve too much work - Yemen it was! 

We tried to make some resolutions on piracy (on the high seas, not on the internet) and reform of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT), which we managed to do, but only with modest help of the delegate from Yemen. I mean, as such the whole event was interesting to watch, but you really need to prepare yourself, and be in the position to talk (like the Germany, the UK, China, ...) in order to enjoy this UN simulation to the fullest. I did contribute preventing, for example, that nuclear weapons countries would spread nuclear technology even to states not party to the NPT - as that was a slip of the pen of the resolution writers...

Anyhow, it was nice to have been again in Cambridge, lovely city to wa

lk around in and have some drinks!

Next stop: Brussels! Yes, you read that correctly. Brussels, as in the capital of Belgium and the heart of Europe. There were two conferences going on there, one on EU-Japan relations, and the other on EU-East Asia politics. The main reason for me to go there was to network with the special UN Rapporteur on Human Rights in North Korea - as I plan to write my dissertation on human rights in North Korea, I'd thought he might be an interesting chap to talk to! Predictably he cancelled the day before the conference, but I networked with some other nice people - such as a very sympathetic man from the European Council of Ministers, who was very charmed by the presence of some 'fresh minds' and said - joking unfortunately -  he would employ me right away. 

On the whole, it was just nice to have been home for some days, back in (snowy - I couldn't believe my eyes!) Belgium and relax a bit from all the stress of reading and catching up with all the work waiting for me.

Spoken of which - I was supposed to meet my programme director on leave the Monday after I returned from Belgium, the day before she would leave for Washington, DC, not to come back again to Warwick Uni. There were several issues I wanted to talk about h

er, there have been some problems with the programme, etc., and Monday morning we receive an e-mail saying she is ill and will not make it today to the uni! That was quite a surprise, but anyway, I guess that's just life. Now I am meeting her tomorrow, hopefully we'll get through everything I want to talk to her about...

Some rather unpleasant news as well - one of my classmates from the School of Law had died suddenly three weeks ago. It was obviously devastating news which got onto our minds for some time. Fortunately the class really sticked together, we gathered every day to be together, talk a bit about whatever we wanted to, just we were there for each other. 

Especially for the parents it must have been a terrible week to have to come from India to the UK for your daughter's death... just awful... They were really kind though towards us, they invited us for the cremation, and the uni had chartered a bus to get us there. And the day after we had our own commemoration ceremony, with her friends telling their remembrance about her. At first it was unsure whether the parents would want to attend it or not, but in the end they did. I think they very much appreciated us telling the many nice stories and memories we had about her. In the new year we will be planting a tree in her memory, as a positive way to remember her...

The first term has come to a close two weeks ago already - time just flies incredibly fast, it is unbelievable! But it also means that a lot of people are returning home for Christmas, so we had some nice goodbye dinner-parties over the past two weeks! First of all the

re was the 'official' Christmas dinner offered by our department - but it wasn't that much of a deal, as we only got some rice with curry or stew, and we had to pay for our drinks ourselves... It was nice, though, to see everyone again all together, and meeting new people - remember, I am the only one in my programme?! 

Then we had a very nice English dinner, prepared by Saki, one of my Japanese class mates from politics! It was delicious - two big roasted chicken, vegetables, mashed potatoes, Christmas crackers, ... mmmm! There was a lot of atmosphere, among other thanks to some distilled inspiration... :-)

Last weekend we had some more international dinners.. The first one was at Serena's place, we made our own pizza's! Mamma mia, very nice!! It was a lot of fun, but hard work as well, making the dough and having it pizza-ready... It was worth it, and we all ate at least half a pizza too much!!

The other one was with my law friends - Ipshita made us an Indian dinner. We had been two weeks earlier for her birthday to an Indian restaurant, but this was muuuch better!! Don't ask me what we all ate, but it was delicious!

This Friday I'll be heading back home myself for a short Christmas break - one week Poland with the family... Hopefully it will be a nice holiday, relaxing a bit and getting much energy for the next year!

I wish you all a very nice Christmas, hope you can spend some nice moments with the ones you care most about! 

Merry Christmas and write you in the New Year!!

A historical day

Today history is being written! And please interpret this very literally, as you are witness of my first blog entry, giving you some impressions - promised a long time ago, I know - of the past few weeks. My dear friends in the States know what it is like, the Anglo-Saxon university system... For those who don't: read your ass off, make some presentations and for a change, write a timed-essay (a wonderful concept where you get one weekend time to write an essay on a given topic)!

However, my deep felt apologies for the lack of information you might have experienced lately.

Fact is, I haven't made life easy for myself either by arriving straight from Beijing on the start of the year here... Right, Beijing! I have spent four (!) days in the Chinese capital successfully representing the Union of Myanmar at the Model ASEM 2008. Have a look at their website to find out more about the event and get some visual impressions... Basically we spent two days and a half in a nice hotel, negotiation and being diplomats. Of course we explored the Beijing night life as well, in various bars and clubs, and not to forget, karaoke bars! On the last day we had cultural programme - we rushed through the Forbidden City in an hour and a half, we saw the Olympic stadia from outside, and I jumped off the bus, as I was not really in the mood to attend some kind of sports/chinese culture video at the Tsinghua University. Instead, I headed for the Great Wall. Due to a tremendous lack of time I was constrained to go to the most touristic part of the Wall, but I was still impressed (and not only because of the gigantic Olympics sign next to the wall...)!

Completely exhausted I arrived in the UK on Sunday, because that's when my induction session was planned. A big surprise awaited me - I am the only one enrolled in my programme (Humanitarianism and Security)! Quite a strange feeling, I have to admit. But my classes are with more people - fortunately. And that is how I started of at Warwick Uni (which is in Coventry!)... 

This week is reading week, which explains why I found time to set this blog up and start writing. So far, my general impressions are fairly positive. Yes, we have tremendous amounts of reading to do (to give you an impression - on my book shelve I have some thirty books, and I have another fifteen on my 'to read' list, apart from our reading materials (some 150 pages per module, and I'm taking four of them) we have to cover each week). But it is all incredibly interesting - yes, I have chosen to do this - and therefore I just wish I could stop time to read more in less time... With some works I fortunately manage to 'speed read', covering some three hundred pages in six hours, for example!

The modules I have at the moment are Humanitarianism and Security, New Security Challenges, International Humanitarian Law and Armed Conflict, and Theories and Histories of Human Rights. TBF: Contemporary Problems in Human Rights, and International and Regional Human Rights Regimes. Generally, all courses are interesting - that is, I make them as interesting as I want by reading as much interesting stuff as I want, of course. The Politics courses are somewhat easy, or I should say, the do not challenge me as much as the Law modules, which are moreover taught by incredible teachers...

The atmosphere on campus is great, and I really have the impression of being on Erasmus, but then without the partying and traveling. It is just amazing to study with so many nationalities together. To name but a few: Jamaica, France, Japan, Italy, Germany, South Africa, Russia, Taiwan, China (do not feel offended by my division), Pakistan, India, Singapore, Mexico, Brazil, Canada, Ireland, Sweden, ... A hell of a mix!

Though I spend most of my time on campus, I do not live there. I got a nice and spacious room in Earlsdon, a community just outside the city centre of Coventry, where most students reside. It is a nice house I share with three other guys, one from Sri Lanka, one from India and the third one from Mauritius. Again, what a mix! There is enough space to host some people, so whenever you want to come over, just let me know!

Hmm, I guess that's it for now. There are of course numerous other things to tell, like the amazing spec-ta-cu-lar party at the beginning of the year by Ministry of Sound deejays - man, one of the best parties ever! But now that this blog has been set up, I might hopefully write more regularly on it, so I can feed you later on with some more news and insights... Otherwise, the best way is just to write me - I tend to reply, if not always within a week... Just send me an email, a message on Facebook, a call or text message (00447503658954), or for the old-fashioned among you, my address here is 111, Hearsall Lane, Earlsdon, Coventry, CV5 6HG, UK.

And now, back to more serious stuff going on across the ocean!