I’ve now been here in Den Haag for seven whole days. I feel much more at home than I did on Sunday even though I still haven’t quite settled in or figured everything out. Part of this is because I have some really awesome fellow interns who are struggling through the same stuff and are as fun-loving as my fellow LawHoos!

Thursday after work a group of us went to a bar near my house for an outdoor happy hour that ended up lasting about seven hours (for some of us). I introduced We Will Rock You (shout-out to World at Play!), and we tried a number of different kinds of beer. I even went on the darker end of the spectrum, which is NOT normally my thing! See pics below:

One thing I’ve learned is that as hard as it often is for law students not to talk about law, it’s even harder for ICTY employees not to talk about work. This is partially because we interns bombard them with questions; there is just so much that we want/need to understand about how the tribunal works, where things are with the various cases we’re working on, and about the Balkans more generally. (I think so far I am the most knowledgeable intern when it comes to what happened during the 90’s and what it’s like now, but there is still a TON that I don’t know.) My case has of course prompted a lot of conversation this week thanks first to the significance of the opening statements and second to the decision to postpone indefinitely while the disclosure stuff is sorted out. It’s all very interesting, but at some point it’s also important for someone to cut off the work talk! (I did that once or twice, but I think we only managed to stay off-topic for a few minutes each time.)

Here’s a picture of the seemingly ever-present bitte ballen (bitter balls), the mysterious “meatballs” with an unidentifiable, liquidy meat-based substance inside. They are the ultimate Dutch bar food:

Anyway, yesterday several of us had the first of a series of computer program trainings, and this one was slated to take all day. We ended up with a bit over an hour for lunch, so we headed over to the Fred (the street that’s actually called Frederik Hendriklaan and home to lots of shops) in search of a deli we’d heard could make excellent sandwiches. We found it and felt quite overwhelmed: aside from being a full-service deli, they had several display cases full of lots of different foods. I ended up getting a pepper stuff with a gigantic veal meatball and some stir fried vegetables. After about 15 minutes, we all had our food and headed out to a park across the street to picnic. The sun was out, and the air was warmer than it had been the rest of the week, so it was a really nice thing to do in the middle of the day.

Our training ended up only lasting until about 1:45, and since we weren’t expected back at work (my supervisor at least had dismissed us until Monday, and we knew we didn’t have any work to do), several of us picked up a bottle of prosecco and went back to the park for a little mid-afternoon refresher. Sitting there in the grass and the sun while watching two little Dutch kids attempt to play tennis with their grandfather was just the most relaxing way to spend a Friday afternoon!

When the weather started turning colder and cloudier, we headed back to my apartment and hung out there for a few more hours. On the way, we stopped into one of the cheese shops on the Fred. If you’ve ever been to Spain and seen the shops with a hundred legs of ham hanging from the ceiling, this was kind of like that, except with huge wheels of cheese. We sampled a few, including a truffle oil cheese that was absolutely heavenly but cost 30 euros per kilo! (our little sample slices must have been worth at least 50 cents!) We ended up buying a basic Dutch cheese (I don’t know the name) that was very mild and paired well with some crackers and wine that we also brought home.

Around 6:45 we walked a few blocks over to the cafe where I’d eaten lunch with Rachel and Linda on Sunday. Once a month, a local Expat organization puts on something called Friday Expat Drinks (FED) at a different venue and offers free drinks and finger food if you arrive before a certain time. We didn’t see anyone we knew and weren’t particularly impressed with the drinks, but it was an interesting event to check out. Most of the people there actually seemed to be something other than American, which just goes to show how diverse the Hague is.

Next weekend the plan is for a bunch of us to go to Oslo. We have a three-day weekend (Monday the 28th is a holiday) and spent some time yesterday just looking to see what was the cheapest flight we could find. Oslo won out by about $70. We have decided that we will try to plan our travel like this for the rest of the summer – wherever the price blows us! We’re all quite excited.

I’m heading to bed now after a long day at work (yes, it’s Saturday). We’re working through some of the stuff related to the trial delay. It’s not how I envisioned spending my first Saturday here, but it’s interesting to continue getting a very detailed, inside look at how a huge trial like this actually works. The sheer amount of documentation and information involved is nothing short of incredible.

Hopefully the nice weather will continue tomorrow – I’m looking forward to a leisurely day!

Today was obviously a pretty important day here in the Hague.

I arrived at the ICTY around 8:30 (earlier than usual) and, as directed, used the back entrance so as not to be part of the managed chaos at the front entrance. As I approached the gate, I realized that the police had stopped traffic on the street, and I could hear the sound of approaching sirens. Just as I was walking through the gate, two cars pulled through: one police car with the siren and lights on, and a black van. After consulting with others, we’ve concluded there is a good chance that this was Mladić arriving. Talk about timing!

A few of us went down to the second floor terrace to get a closer look at the various tv crews and protesters in front of the building.

It wasn’t possible for us to watch the trial in the actual courtroom (seating is limited for regular trials, let alone for a big one like this, and priority goes to victims and others who have a personal connection to the case). Fortunately, we were able to watch via live stream and joined a few other people from OTP in a conference room.

It wasn’t immediately apparent to us which one Mladić was – I had missed the very beginning of the proceedings, and none of the various people the cameras showed made me think of someone capable of so much hatred and murder. (I also had just seen a picture of Mladić from shortly after his capture, and no one matched that picture.) It turns out that Mladić was someone they’d shown several times before I asked about him. As the pictures show, he was wearing a gray suit – and I swear, he could have been a law professor. There were times when he’d take off his glasses and hold them with a pensive look on his face exactly like a typical academic. I wish we could have watched a split screen with both him and the prosecutor so that we could have watched his reactions more closely. In general, he looked pretty calm and confident… perhaps a bit TOO confident.

The lucky (?) timing I might have had in terms of seeing him arrive did not continue long enough to let me catch the first few minutes of the trial, so I missed the threatening gesture he apparently made towards some members of the public audience. I did, however, see Judge Orie remark on it when court resumed after the first break; he said there had been inappropriate interaction between Mladić and the audience (he did not place blame on who initiated) and that if it continued he would have to do something about it. I saw nothing else happen.

I did see Mladić smile at one point. I don’t remember what the prosecutor was talking about at that moment, but it was enough that I gasped out loud at the impropriety of that action. It was a very “yes, I killed all those people, and I’m proud of it” kind of look.

Court recessed around 1:30 and resumes again tomorrow at 9. Tomorrow the rest of the opening statement concerns Srebrenica, so it should be a particularly memorable couple of hours.

Finally, these people were protesting outside the Tribunal today:

They were holding various signs with country flags on them and the words “also guilty” – I think I saw Germany, the UK, and the Netherlands. (We were wondering why the US was not among them.) Not entirely sure what that’s all about.

More tomorrow!

Well honestly I don’t know how a first day of work could possibly go much better. And let’s not forget: I’ve wanted to work for the UN for a solid decade now. (Kofi Annan himself knows that!)

I slept well on my first night in Den Haag and woke up at 7:30 to another bright morning. I arrived at the ICTY at 8:55 but had a brief adventure upon being told that the interns were due to report to the ICTY Administration building, which was about a block away. I walked in just as the intern coordinator arrived to move us to a cafeteria for some briefing. Amazingly, almost everyone in this week’s group is American or Canadian – apparently that’s something to do with our summer schedules. I think about 25 of us started today, and I know another group starts next Monday as well.

By 11:00 I had made some new friends, found a fellow W&M alumna, and acquired my ICTY ID badge. The picture on it is literally me in front of the UN flag. How surreal!

We trooped back over to the main building and had some fun learning how to “beep” our ID cards. (The sign actually says “please beep your card”.) To get from the outside of the building up to my office requires three beeps: one at the front gate, one in the lobby, and one at the entrance to our hallway of offices. Talk about secure!

Anyway, it was while we were waiting in the lobby that we had our celebrity sighting. A girl next to me pointed to a group of men in black suits standing several feet away from us and whispered, “did anyone else here watch ER? Is that one of the doctors?” I looked over, and sure enough, there was Goran Visnjic, aka Luka Kovac! Now, my mom and I have always been big, big fans of his – I mean, he’s Croatian! (He’s even led Matt Lauer through Dubronik on one of his international trips.) I tried to effect a casual attitude as I whipped out my iPhone and strode over a few feet for a better picture vantage point. Unfortunately, he moved his hand just as I snapped the photo, so the one from my phone only shows the top half of his face. I wasn’t willing to try again, but I was willing to stand there and stare to the extent possible given that I was still in a conversation with some people.

Next on our introductory tour was the health wing of the basement. The ICTY has its own doctor and nurse as well as a host of interesting health documents, like a pamphlet about ways to exercise if you’re lazy (one suggestion: march in place while brushing your teeth), a brochure on tips for dealing with burnout, and a briefing on office ergonomics (they told us to take it seriously and gave all of us a copy).

Speaking of exercise, the Office of the Prosecutor is on the third (Americans, read fourth) floor of the building, so as we climbed the stairs we all decided there was no need to join a gym. Once we arrived at the top, we went into a small conference room and got our Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) briefing, which was pretty simple: confidentiality is supremely important (which means I can’t really tell you anything except which case I’m on), particularly this week because the BBC is here filming footage to make a fly-on-the-wall documentary about the ICTY.

Once briefed, we were sorted into our groups and went off to meet our supervisors. I was thrilled – thrilled – to be put on the Mladic case. Now, some of you might at least recognize that name. Mladic is the one who was only caught recently and was responsible for Srebrenica, among other things. As one of our supervisors said: this case is one of the four biggest in the world right now. (Karadzic’s trial is ending; Charles Taylor’s just ended; and the ICTR is about to try its last defendant.) Look him up: Ratko Mladic. His trial is scheduled to start on Wednesday, so we have truly perfect timing.

We settled into one of the intern work rooms, where about 15 of us have desks. In contrast to our group, none of the veteran interns is from North America. Most are European, including several who were speaking BCS (the official term for the language spoken in the former Yugoslavia – Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian). I have to say BCS here because I’m not sure which country they’re from. I sat there chuckling to myself as they spoke to each other in BCS; at one point I heard the word “rakija” several times, which suggests to me they were talking about weekend activities. J I also smiled when I heard “hajde”, the word I have tattooed on my wrist!

There are two other new interns on the Mladic case with me (along with some older interns), and we spent the afternoon getting acquainted with the case. We got copies of the indictment, prosecution brief, and defense brief – all of which are pretty long, so we didn’t finish reading everything. We got an actual assignment right at 5:30 and spent another 45 minutes or so combing through a few documents looking for things (that’s all I can say – it sounds boring but wasn’t!).

I got to see Goran Visnjic one more time on my way out. He was in the lobby again, with a lot more people around him and some photographers. Since this time he was clearly dealing with some press, I felt no shame in getting out my camera and taking his picture. (This one is blurry because I turned off my flash – I didn’t want to draw attention to myself.) He smiled at me at one point while I stood there, and I swear I felt weak at the knees. Move over, Johnny Depp – Goran Visnjic just displaced you at the top of my list.

I’m now back in my apartment enjoying schwarma and a beer after going on a little exploration around my neighborhood. Day #2 in the Hague/Day #1 at the ICTY = epic win. This is going to be an awesome summer!