Our day began very early with our final departure from our host families. The night before I had packed all my things, had my last meal with the family, and said my goodbyes. In the morning I had breakfast with my host dad and Pedro before we were driven to Brussels Central Station. From this point we all boarded the train towards The Hague, Netherlands. I had previously been to the Netherlands, but I had never been able to travel to The Hague prior to this trip. Immediately upon our arrival we hit the ground running as we barely caught the tram to take us to our first sight visit, the International Criminal Court (ICC). The ICC is a permanent court that is focused on taking individuals to court who have committed serious crimes against to humanity such as genocide, war crimes and persecution. We were given an overview of the organization’s history as well as information on cases currently underway at the court. There are 23 cases presently in front of the court with 14 arrests and 13 suspects still at large. There are currently 6 persons being detained at the detention facility for court proceedings, two of whom we were able to see at a public session of their trial. Laurent Gbagbo was the former President of the Ivory Coast who abused his power and incited violence in the country after he lost the 2010 presidential election. He and his Minister of Defense, Charles Blé Goudé, were eventually captured and are now facing trial. Even though we only were able to be present for a few short moments of the trial, it was crazy to see a former head of state being tried for terrible crimes. It was a pleasant reminder that in the end, no person is above the law and cannot avoid justice forever. At one point I caught the glare of Mr. Blé Goudé and I had this pang of fear in my heart. Even though there was absolutely nothing he could to nor would he have any reason to do so, looking into the eyes of a man responsible for such terrible things really chills your soul. I don’t think I’ll ever forget the look in his anger filled eyes reminiscent of a caged animal biding its time until it could break out and take revenge on its captors. I wish this were my attempt at simple literary enhancement, but at this moment I truly felt my stomach drop and felt a genuine sense of fear.

To the drastic contrast of the previous segment, after our visit to the ICC we went by tram to the coast in order to have a meal of traditional Dutch pancakes! A savory pancake topped with meats, vegetables, and spices was followed by a sweet pancake topped with warm cherries, whipped cream, and ice cream. What better way to recover from an early morning start and a staring contest with a war criminal than delicious comfort food? I even had time to pull off my dress shoes and socks, roll up my pant legs, and go for a quick stroll down the beach to the water! After dusting myself off, we left to tour the Hall of Knights and have a quick stop in the Dutch parliament. Our tour guide gave us a brief overview of the area and the history of the Hall of Knights. This hall is famously known for the yearly address given by the Dutch King and the royal procession beforehand. Despite being renovated and restored numerous times, it still held that appearance of being old and worn in the best possible way.

This blog post is my final post for the semester! Up to this point, I’ve experienced so much and made so many connections both professional and private that I simply would not have without this program. Even though at this point there are only about two weeks left in the program, there is still so much left to see in Berlin and Krakow. I can truly say that doing this program was one of the best choices I’ve made for not only my personal enjoyment, but also my future professional career as well. Despite being an engineering major, this program has given me both the experience and the desire to broaden my horizons and to pursue other ventures in my future. Until next time Europe!

Today was our last day in Brussels! It’s incredible how so much time can pass without realizing it. We’ve spent roughly six weeks here, learning the ins and outs of this incredible city. It’s been a pleasure to learn so much about Belgian life through our host families and our many interactions with citizens. It’s bittersweet to think of all the hours spent in our favorite restaurants and bars and the countless trips to Maison Antoine that will end today. There are many lasting memories that we made and lots of times we’ll wish we could go back to. With one day left, there remained one final site visit in Brussels.

Today was one of our last days in Brussels before we head out to The Hague on Thursday, and it certainly was an interesting one. We started off the day with a couple hours of lecture from Dr. Fabry, and today we discussed the International Criminal Court, which we’ll visit on Thursday upon arriving in the Hague. We held a class wide discussion about our opinions regarding the effectiveness of the ICC, and it was interesting to hear everyone’s thoughts on the subject.

After lecture, we all had a quick lunch break, then headed over to the Horta Museum in Saint-Gilles. The Horta House was built in the late 1890s / early 1900s and was designed by the architect Victor Horta, and he lived there as well. The house is a prime example of the concept of “art nouveau,” which was developed in Brussels around that time period. Our guide told us about not only art nouveau in general, but also about Horta himself and about what inspired his architectural decisions.

The Horta Museum from the outside – we were not allowed to take photos inside.

Some interesting facts our guide told us about architecture during this period included using paint and mirrors to create depth, using a sloping method at the bottom of each house’s structure to have an organic effect, and using windows and natural light to instigate an open and airy feeling throughout the house.

An example of the curved structure at the bottom of an art nouveau house. Its purpose is to create an organic and seamless effect.

Learning about the art and architecture in Brussels was extremely interesting, and it was strange to think that we only have a few days left in this amazing city, and I am just now getting to know the buildings here on a personal level.

After we explored the Horta museum, our guide took us on a short walk around the area and pointed out several architectural phenomena in our surroundings. He also drew our attention to the change from art nouveau to art deco architecture, which came about after WWI. Something interesting we saw was the transition from openness in art nouveau to a more closed and protectiveness in art deco, which our guide said most likely came from people being more afraid and reserved after the negative effects of the war.

The transition from art nouveau to art deco – a more closed and protected structure

It’s interesting to see how politics can affect every aspect of our lives, even art and architecture. The effect that politics and international relations can have is wide and the scope is large; I think this shows the gravity of the subject that we’re studying and how important it is to keep this all in mind holistically even when not implicitly studying the subject.

Something else our guide said really stuck with me – he said, “If you can, everyday, you should take a different route to your destination, and look at the buildings and architecture around you, because Brussels has so much to see.”

Hearing that made me think about how often I am on my phone while I am walking around the city, trying to navigate my way around town on Google Maps instead of just looking up and around me at the fascinating architecture and history that surrounds me. It makes me wonder how many times I’ve missed something interesting or beautiful because I’ve been preoccupied with not getting lost, or with a text someone sent me, or a Facebook notification.

Although staying plugged in is important in a sense, I think this visit to the Horta museum really reinforced in me the idea that it’s not at all the most important thing – in fact, it’s far from it. Especially in terms of studying abroad and experiencing new surroundings and cultures, I think it’s a lot more effective and important to simply soak in what’s around us and let it have an effect on us, whether positive or negative.

Tonight was also the last night that my host family and I will all be together, so we had a final goodbye dinner. We reflected on the past two months, and talked about how far we’ve come from when I first arrived to their house in May.

Although I’m beyond excited to take on the last leg of our trip in The Hague, Berlin, and Krakow, I’m struck with the feeling that I’ll miss Brussels the most, as it’s truly begun to feel like home to me. My time in Brussels is something that I don’t think I’ll ever forget, and I’m immensely grateful for the experiences I’ve had whilst living here.

On July 4^th we had the amazing opportunity to visit Human Rights Watch in which we were given a talk by Andrew Stroehlein, the European Media Director at Human Rights Watch, and briefed on major human rights issues today as well as how the NGO works. Stroehlein began by explaining that HRW does three main things: investigate human rights abuses, expose these abuses and push for change in the areas they are committed.

With this in mind, we began simply by asking questions and received some surprising answers. For instance, we all were taken aback when the UK left the EU on June 23, but we mostly thought of Brexit as an economic and political disaster, not one that would spur human rights abuses. Stroehlein informed us, however, that with Brexit there had been a rise in xenophobic attacks. As one of the reasons the UK left the EU was so that they could control their refugee intake, it makes sense that there is xenophobia in the state. Andrew explained that refugees and such a rise in xenophobia are the two primary issues being dealt with at this point.

As I was interested in how NGO’s can affect change, I asked about the advantages and disadvantages of not having the power a government does as I thought this would make it more difficult to effectively stop human rights violations. The resounding answer was that they have independence and that they don’t have to worry about being reelected. “NGO’s are far more able to speak out. We have the freedom to speak the truth,” Stroehlein said. At first I thought of ceasing human rights abuses as threatening economic strain on a country, but HRW is a large and loud enough organization that when they publish an article detailing the abuses that take place in various countries, the media listens and so the world listens.

The two most interesting topics covered in my opinion were the Czech Republic and the US. In the Czech Republic, refugees were being taken off of trains, had numbers written on their arms and then thrown in jail. This was only a year ago, but nobody was paying any attention for some time. HRW then published an article detailing these abuses and received so much media attention that the policies were dropped within 48 hours. This is fascinating to think about the fact that the organization can affect such huge change in such a short span of time. Stroehlein explained that this was one of the more recent instances in which they saw an instantaneous reaction following an investigation and report.

As for the US, Andrew said many interesting things. Firstly, he spoke of how it’s worrying that US politicians openly endorse torture and carpet bombing as both of these are recognized as human rights abuses and are illegal under international treaties. There is some xenophobia in the US, and so some politicians have appealed to this group. Though they most likely won’t actually carpet bomb an area, it is scary to think that this notion is popular enough to be used in any political rhetoric.

I also asked which country has the most investigative funding going into it, and the answer was that the US has the most articles published on its human rights abuses annually. Stroehlein gave two reasons for this. Firstly, as HRW is a US NGO they are more easily able to look within their own country and identify when individuals’ rights are not being recognized. It was also explained that the human rights abuses in the US are not systematic as they might be in other countries and may be less severe, though HRW doesn’t rank abuses as they are all bad. Most investigation in the US is about domestic issues, but there are still a good number of issues that arise out of how the US projects its power in the international arena.

It is impressive their power to affect change, especially given that they are a staff of 450 covering 100 countries. When asked how they got to be so widely known Stroehlein responded “be big and be loud.” HRW is very good at directing attention towards such abuses, and so they are very effective. This site visit was one of my favorites so far as we learned a great deal, it was a good introduction to our human rights course and Stroehlein was a very interesting speaker.