GatewayAbroad

My name is Michael Puglisi and I'm a UR law student studying in the Spring 2010 semester at the Universiteit Leiden in the Netherlands. I've long been interested in international affairs. I have a master's degree in diplomacy and international commerce from the University of Kentucky, I spent a Fulbright year in Germany, and I later studied last summer in Cambridge, England, with UR's law program there. Of course, when I saw that I could gain more foreign experience as a law student, I jumped at the chance. So here I am in Leiden! //paragraph// I'll also have to preface my blog entry by saying that I've already spent quite a bit of time in the Netherlands, so I'm experiencing very little culture shock at this point. I am, however, really enjoying being in the Leiden (be sure not to pronounce the "n!" It's more like "Leid-uh" rather than "Leid-en."). It's such a cool country with such a diverse mix of people and architectural styles (yeah, I enjoy that sort of thing!). It's really unfortunate that most Americans only know this place as the land of decriminalized marijuana (still illegal, mind you!), prostitution, and Heineken (also pronounced without the n!). I was on a flight packed full of Dutch people, and I couldn't help but think that they saw me and thought I was just another young American going to their fair land to get trashed. That's pretty unfortunate. //paragraph// My trip started out badly, however. I had the misfortune to be at Newark's Liberty Airport on 3 January at about 5:30 p.m. when someone stepped under the security barrier at a screening checkpoint. After sitting in the plane for nearly two hours at the gate, they made us deplane and go back through security, which took another six hours or so. We finally got underway at about the same time as I was supposed to be landing at Amsterdam Schipol. It was a huge relief to finally arrive, even if eight hours late! //paragraph// Before I close, I'll tell a bit about my living arrangements. I found an apartment, which was being vacated by a Dutch law student coming to study at the University of Florida, in a house with 26 other Leiden students. It's a great place, right in the city center, in an old building located on one of the city's many canals. I'm about a 10 minute walk from the law building. It turns out, though, that I'm in the house of one of Leiden's fraternities. I never joined a fraternity as an undergrad, so this is my opportunity to catch up, I suppose. So far it's been pretty fun. They include me in some activities, such as harassing the new students at 4:30 in the morning, and also in some of their games and events. I'm really glad that I found a place with so many Dutch people because one of the best ways to learn about a country is at a table over a biertje with the locals. Should be a great six months!