I have probably talked about this before, but it´s becoming an all consuming thought in my life - I have so much to learn! I need to relearn everything I ever learned in pre-university schooling, particularly history. I swear I learned nothing about history in school. And when I did, I learned it in a way that allowed me to forget it easily. It made no impression on me. History is generally taught in such an abstract "on this date so and so did this" blah blah blah that it makes little to no impact on the way people think or understand things. At least for me and many people I have talked to it hasn´t. I think relearning history was one of the main things that changed my course of thinking in college. Had I not learned about this untold history of US involvement in Central America, I might have stuck with psychology...But anyway. I just feel like I should be reading constantly because I don´t know so much. I need to learn about geography and languages and history and the World Wars and international law and domestic law and social change and so many other things. And economics. Bleh. Ugh. Ok, enough of that rambling. I fly out in less than a week. Holy crap!

Another whirlwind couple of days. I went to Den Haag two days ago and then Brussels yesterday. I barely had any time in either city which was a bummer. I tried to go to the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia and the International Court of Justice. I knew that neither of them were in session. Of course they had to take a vacation right when I am coming. I was upset. But I figured that I would at least be able to see the courts themselves and have some context for understanding these bodies. But I wasn't able to see either of them! I was so upset. The International Court of Justice and the Peace Palace that it is housed in (which was donated by Andrew Carnegie strangely enough...need to know more about this...) was only open for tours and the next tour was going to be at three and I had a train to catch, so...Disappointing. And then the ICTY was just totally not open to the public. I guess I should have expected that given the hoops you have to go through to get accreditation at the UN, but I was hoping...So, yeah. I stayed at a very nice and clean hostel, saw some crazy ducks and baby ducks, one of which almost attacked me, and met a cool girl from Canada studying poli sci and interested in much of the same things I am. Oh and got stuck in the rain. The Netherlands. I've really been lucky with the weather so far, though, so I can't complain. Too much, anyway...Brussels: I checked into the hostel, which was a little ghetto, but oh well...Had dinner in the cafe in the hostel, which was not that great, but cheap and convenient. Walked around a bit, but then it looked like it was going to downpore, so I didn't want to get stuck in the rain twice in one day...I went to the botanical gardens and saw a beautiful church at the end of the street where I was staying. Then drank some Belgium beer, sent some emails and went to bed. This morning I thought I would have more time, but I misunderstood where my train to Frankfurt was leaving from. I really wanted to go into the center of Brussels (described by Victor Hugo as the most beautiful square in the world), but I was really nervous about missing my train to Frankfurt. I walked around near the train station though and saw a beautiful building and had SO MANY MEN cat calling me. It was so ridiculous and I really felt like screaming at them. Some of them were quite persistent and I was like, dude I don't speak French and I am so not interested. I was so angsty and pissed by the time I got done that I wanted to scream. Ugh! I mean honestly, do you think I care that you think I'm goodlooking? Keep your damn opinion to yourself! It doesn't make me feel good - it makes me feel like a piece of meat frankly. Ok, enough of that. I'm in Frankfurt now, got here this evening, so I will be checking out more of the city in coming days...It's very tall compared to the other European cities that I have been too. Many glass buildings and whatnot. The business world. It will help prepare me for NYC! Ok, time is running out!