ABOUT THE COMMITTEE The Nexus Magazine Editorial Team independently obtained and organized the content of this magazine, and is responsible for the publication of the Nexus Magazine. The opinions and ideas expressed by authors of articles in this magazine are solely the opinions and ideas of those authors and do not necessarily represent the opinions and ideas of this magazine or its editors publishers.
Contact Us: MagazineCommitee.Nexus@Gmail.com / Nexus@rug.nl
KONRAD - UK & USA -
Chair of the Magazine Committee is currently in the second year of his LLB International and European Law at the University of Groningen.
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF KONRAD TURNBULL
COMMITTEE MEMBERS CHARLOTTE HENDRICKX SILAN CELEBI DECLAN BISWAS-HUGHES
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
THE NEXUS MAGAZINE IS LOOKING FOR CONTRIBUTORS:
JOCHELLE GREAVES SIEW
Please send articles to: MagazineCommitee.Nexus@Gmail.com Nexus@rug.nl
TATENDA MADONDO SARAH GIBLIN WOODMAN DICKINSON KONRAD TURNBULL
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LET TER FROM THE EDITOR
Dear Readers, The Nexus Magazine has been focused on highlighting topical issues to the University of Groningen’s students since its insurrection. From space to digital data, I hope that you’ve found a topic that has sparked your interest. However, after discussing our own experiences as law students at Groningen, we thought that a “student” issue would be fitting. Therefore, we’ve created this issue to hopefully give readers an indication of the Groningen student experience, from preparing to study abroad to features on some of the talented law faculty of Groningen. I recall originally applying for the International and European Law LLB, with a touch of romanticized visions of working for the United Nations or an International Criminal Court. However, once arriving in Groningen, the reality sets in. Thus, questions such as “how do I achieve these goals?” or “what can I actually do with this degree upon graduation?” arise. Whilst there may be hundreds of possible answers and variables to these questions, one important element is communication with fellow students. Talking to students that have been through the study abroad process or students that are about to graduate can give tremendous insight into identifying one’s own goals and aspirations. In fact my legal “plan” has shifted multiple times since beginning the LLB program, but now I feel that, thanks to communicating with staff and my peers, I know the best direction for my career. Thus, please dive into this issue where hopefully you have your entire legal career planned out - OK, that may be a leap - but, we do hope that you enjoy. Please feel free to reach out to us with any thoughts, feelings or suggestions about other topics or pertanent topics we should focus on.
Cheers, Konrad Turnbull Editor-in-Chief – The Nexus Magazine
THE NEXUS BOARD 3
A Brief Introduction to the Nexus Board Members POST GRADUATION
24 Life After Groningen: An Interview with 3 Law Graduates
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FACULTY FEATURES 4 Dr. Mando Rachovitsa: Lecturer of the Year 8 Sofia Ranchordás: Groningen’s Fresh Face 11 Matthijs van Wolferen: Accidental Academic 15 Professir Dimitry Kochenov: RUG’s EU Citizenship Expert
STUDY ABROAD 19 Guide to Studying Abroad
MEET THE 2018/19 NEXUS BOARD ISABELLE
MADELINA
PRESIDENT
INTERNAL
ABOUT ME : I’m excited to be the new President. I am from Australia. GOAL: To make Nexus an even bigger and better association where everyone knows each other well and are proud to be a part of Nexus.
AFFAIRS
ABOUT ME : I have two first names (I guess this is what my parents think a compromise looks like). I am from the Republic of Moldova. GOAL: I aim to enrich the social and academic life of Law students.
FEDERICA
KAMIL
EXTERNAL
TREASURER
AFFAIRS
ABOUT ME : I was born and raised in Italy.
ABOUT ME : I’m from Poland – just Poland; that’s boring I know.
GOAL: To continue making Nexus a big family where people can get together for both social and academic events.
GOAL: Improving the Dutch Support Committee, notes sales and cooperation with other associations.
CAROLINA SECRETARY ABOUT ME : I am the Secretary for this year’s Board. I am half Polish and half English. GOAL: Improve communication between everyone involved in Nexus and make the most out of the year!
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FACULTY FEATURES
PROFESSOR MANDO RACHOVITSA MAYBE YOU WERE FASCINATED BY HER FOCUSON CYBERSPACE IN INTERNATIONAL LAW, BY HER UNIQUE TEACHING PERSONA OR PERHAPS YOU HAVE NOT YET HEARD ABOUT DR. RACHOVITSA EITHER WAY, THIS LECTURER OF THE YEAR IS ONE TO KNOW Where are you from and what made you decide to go into law? I’ll probably disappoint you a little bit. I’m from Greece. I didn’t really have a dream to become a lawyer; I think I went into law because it was one of the most difficult things to do when you were studying in high school, at least at my organization. I think I was remotely interested, mostly into Criminology, and I knew there were some courses for Criminology at that law school, so I was like “Ok, let’s give it a go.” Where did you study? I completed my LL.B. in Komotini, Greece – there are basically three law schools: One is in Athens, one is in Thessaloniki, and one in Komotini. My LL.M. was International Law at the School of Law of Thessaloniki. And for my Ph.D., later on, I went to England - the University of Nottingham, for another three years. 4
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After finishing my LL.B., I had to decide whether I would qualify as a lawyer to practice. While I was finishing my LL.B. I was already quite passionate about international law, and I wanted to go straight into an LL.M. My parents didn’t agree with that; I recall my father’s reaction: “What are you talking about; what is this international law?!” They didn’t approve at all, thought I should calm down, qualify as a lawyer (1.5-year internship + exams), and see whether I would like it and could do it, and then I could do the LL.M. later on if I still wanted to. Which I did. To continue the interesting story, most of my friends and family were against me doing a Ph.D. in international law. My parents said “Ok, so you have the LL.M. now; you’re happy, so you can practice now. You can have a career.” I was practicing most areas of law, but mostly criminal law – it gives you a thrill that you cannot get anywhere else. I was good, I liked it, I could have a career, and my friends and family
ARTICLE were like “You can have a career; you can have money; are you crazy – what is this Ph.D. in international law – what are you going to do later on?” On top of that, I had many people whom I had asked for advice – colleagues, professors – who insisted that it would be impossible for me to get accepted at a very good UK university with having both my LL.B. and my LL.M. from Greek universities. It was even difficult to get a scholarship, and I couldn’t go without one because I didn’t have the money. To make the long story short, I went despite my parents’ advice (It took them ten years to realize that it was a good choice!), and I managed to get into a very good university – the University of Nottingham is one of the best to study international law. I was very lucky - it’s also a matter of circumstances and luck – to get a scholarship. Brief conclusions from this story: You need to take into account everyone’s opinion and what is good for you, but in the end, you need to decide, and not everybody will be happy with your decisions. If you really want something, you need to insist, regardless of whether you will fail or succeed; it’s about trying. Even if you have very qualified professors telling you it’s impossible; don’t give up, try. For my application, to give you an indication, I think I applied for a Ph.D. at 15 different universities, which is a lot! I was applying anywhere that I thought was a good choice and where I could get a scholarship. I got many no’s back until I got two yes’s back. Why did you go into academia? I don’t know; what do you think? What’s the perspective from outside of staff; why do you think people go into academia? You must be really into your research, I suppose. Yeah, when you do a Ph.D. there’s a presumption that you’re really into research, that specific area, and into writing. I did enjoy what I was doing a lot, but I while I was finishing, I wasn’t quite convinced; I just knew academia was an option. I applied for many things; one of them was a position, almost unpaid – they would cover your expenses – and it was funded by a project by the bar association in London, to go to Nigeria to do legal work in the field/on the ground regarding
witchcraft. In Nigeria, they have a serious problem with witchcraft. If you have any physical or mental illness or any behavior that is not part of the norm, they name you a witch very easily. They may expel you from the community or even go as far as burning your life. But does providing legal aid help those people at all? Obviously, it’s a socio-legal issue, but what you could do is – there are lawyers working on these specific cases, and my job would be to give them a perspective from international human rights law and how they can use international human rights law in their claims before the court. Now the extent to which I would be involved hands-on, we’ll never know; I would have probably gotten involved somehow even in non-legal ways. I went to the interview and got the job – to my great surprise. Unfortunately, I never made it there because they were expecting money from a grant to fund my position but did not receive it, so I was not able to go. If I had made it there, I would have probably had a completely different life path. Then I started applying for some academic positions, and a colleague/friend told me “There is a position advertised, and they’re looking for an international lawyer with a good background in human rights law in Qatar.” And I started laughing and said, “I’m not going to Qatar; are you crazy?” And she kind of insisted and said, “Why not; you have nothing to lose; just send them your CV”, and so I sent in my CV. They offered me the job, and I took it, and that’s how I ended up in academia. What is the most important thing you learned in Qatar? Well, first things first, in those four years in Qatar, I learned more things than I offered. The most important thing… that’s a difficult one. Ok, one of the really important things, and it might seem obvious in theory, is that I learned to listen. Trying i M A Gto E understand CREDIT: people and their point of view, and that’s DFID (UK) a really tough thing to do. My students taught me that, how to listen and how to look at things in a completely different way. Even if I don’t understand, to be open to it, and that’s really, really difficult. 2019
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ARTICLE A second thing, and I think that’s the most important thing – it was like a slap: I went to Qatar with an idealistic perception that I was coming to teach, to “show you how things should be done”, a very colonialist approach, even if well-intended, very condescending. The following thing happened – it was quite early, during the first month of my stay in Doha –a friend of a friend was there and said, “let’s go out, show you around the city”. We went to the market, and there were these very old people, in Arabic we call them hamal, people who carry your trolleys while you shop, mostly of rich Qatari people. These guys were great to take a photo of; I really liked them. On the way out from the market, there were three of them, and they didn’t speak English, and I didn’t speak Arabic. With my gestures, I asked them if it’s ok and pointed at my camera. Two of the guys nodded. And the third guy approached me and gestured that he wanted money for it. I thought this was ridiculous and was like “No, I won’t give you money”, and he understood, and he came closer, and with some very poor English he managed to convey the following: He looked me in the eye, x-rayed me, so he knew who I was, and he said: “Doctora,” that’s what they call it in Arabic when you have a Ph.D., “I am 70 years of age, and until my life ends, I will never make the money that you make in Doha in one year. And you won’t give me money for one photo?!” And that was the slap. Because I felt really, really ashamed. And I realized the striking inequalities on a global basis; you realize how small you are, how condescending you can be, and how a grandpa, who probably never finished primary school, teaches you a life lesson. Have you encountered issues that made you doubtful about international law in general or about your research while working? Yes, of course. If you care, it’s impossible, and this is my view, not to wake up some days of the year and to think that international law is a complete failure. If you take a look at Syria, if you take a look right now at Yemen, the system didn’t work. There are failures, we them. It’s a “It w a sneed d o to p eadmit “ good thing to admit a system has failures - legally speaking, politically speaking, and - Athe r y sintersection. t a n J a z i n /Now, L L B is1this a reason to 6
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give up on the whole system, to say we don’t need international law, international law is useless? No, of course not. We need to have some good criticism on international law; we need to admit failures and problems and try to find creative ways to address and mitigate them somehow. What’s something more specific that you think needs to be resolved in international law? What I’m about to say is probably a banalité, but it’s true. International law is very Eurocentric and very Western-centric. Now, we use the term “Westerner” or Westerncentric easily. We need to ask ourselves what this means today. I used to play this game in Doha, because many times, the students had a very critical outlook and would say “You have a Western outlook; there is a Western bias, and the whole system of international law is Western-based, and you’re not taking into account our own views, those of the Middle East and the rest of the world.”, so I was like “Ok, hold on, what do you mean by West?” and gave them an example that would paralyze them: Have you ever been to Dubai? No.
ARTICLE It’s a very Western country. I asked them: If you are in Dubai, do you feel more Western in Dubai or in Athens, Greece? Because, personally, I feel more Western when I am in Dubai.” And I can give many other examples. So, my students thought about it and realized something was a bit off. Sometimes we use terms that used to have a certain meaning, but their meaning and relation to reality is a different one nowadays – there is a disconnect there. So first we need to redefine what we mean by “West”. It’s not just a region of the planet; it’s something much broader. That said, international law is still very Western-centric, which is something we need to change. We need more international lawyers, and good international lawyers, coming from other parts of the world, and we don’t have that yet. Good international lawyers in other parts of the world have usually been educated in the West and adopt this outlook, and that’s the biggest irony of it all! That’s a big issue, and, secondly, we, of course, also need to start thinking differently, which is also really difficult. Why did you choose Groningen…or how did you end up here? *laughs* Those are two completely different questions, how you phrased them. When you say “end up”, it’s not really a choice. Well, I don’t know if it was a choice. I was in my third year in Doha, Qatar, and at some point, I realized that what I was doing was the end of the circle. For personal and for professional reasons I needed to leave. So, I applied for some things in the UK; I had two interviews and they didn’t go well – because we also need to mention the failures, it’s not all about successes – not everyone says yes to you and it’s wonderful; there are many failures, they’re part of the process, part of the game. I want to mention this: You shouldn’t be afraid of failure; failure is good. It will happen inevitably at some point to everybody, so the sooner it happens, the better. All of us learn by failures, and we shouldn’t be afraid of failing because failing means we’re trying something – we’re taking risks. Don’t be afraid of failing, be afraid of not trying! This is really important. Students today are really stressed out; they’re really afraid of failure. Failure is fine! You apply for things, you don’t care about the thousand no’s; you “ Icare t wabout a s d the o p two e “ or the one yes’. Anyway, it didn’t go too well, among other things I also had a terrible flu those days - A–r y*laughs* s t a n Jexcuses. a z i n / L LAnd B 1at some point, I
saw a job advertisement for the University of Groningen and thought ‘ooh, that’s interesting’ – Netherlands, Groningen. I knew the university and that they had a very good academic reputation, especially in the department of international law, so I applied. I had an interview via Skype – apparently, it went well, and they offered me a job. I was all over the moon, to be honest. I was really happy to return to Europe and come to the Netherlands, and I was really, really happy to come to Groningen and to join the department of international law here. So far, so good. I’ve been here for a bit less than 1.5 years. So it was a choice. I’m really happy. I think you might have already answered this, but do you have any advice for current students or future lawyers? I guess the big one is what you said about failures? Yes. One would be: Fail. Failure is good; learn from failure. It will happen, inevitably. Second: Travel. Take a backpack and just go, take off. You know, not just for the purposes of having fun, just traveling. Try to understand the world. There is no way we can understand the world if we read books. No way. If we’re not there to experience and to grasp things…. Travel – to weird, bizarre places. Just travel. …Hm, do I have any other piece of advice? Obviously, study. *laughs* I was having a conversation yesterday with one of the guys who makes coffee at Black&Bloom, and he gave a good piece of advice, and it took me some time to realize: Don’t take yourself too seriously. That’s what I’m trying to do myself – don’t take yourself so seriously but take worthwhile things and worthwhile issues seriously. Those are two completely different things. convey the following: He looked me in the eye, x-rayed me, so he knew who I was, and he said: “Doctora,” that’s what they call it in Arabic when you have a Ph.D., “I am 70 years of age, and until my life ends, I will never make the money that you make in Doha in one year. And you won’t give me money for one photo?!” And that was the slap. Because I felt really, really ashamed. And I realized the striking inequalities on a global basis; you realize how small you are, how condescending you can be, and how a grandpa, who probably never finished primary school, teaches you a life lesson.
INTERVIEW BY JESSICA APPELMANN 2019
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GRONINGEN’S FRESH FACE – PROFESSOR SOFIA RANCHORDÁS FROM HER LOVE OF INDIAN FOOD TO HER APPRECIATION OF LITERATURE, WE DISCOVER ALL THE REASONS WHY GRONINGEN’S ACCOMPLISHED NEWCOMER IS SO RELATABLE AND WHAT’S KEEPING HER HERE.
What made you decide to leave Portugal? Well, I always wanted to study and work abroad. It was a childhood dream. At some point, I found this LLM in Law and Economics in the Netherlands and it sounded very appealing. I always wanted to be an academic actually and here I had the chance to. I was hired for a PhD position at Tilburg University while I was still doing my LLM so I stayed. Then, from there, when I was finishing my Ph.D., I got accepted to do a fellowship in the U.S. at Yale where I stayed for about two years. I returned to the Netherlands in 2016 after receiving a tenure-track offer from Leiden University. 8
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Were you always interested in public law from the beginning? I wouldn’t say from the beginning, but I must say that I always had better grades in public law than private law. So, at some point during my LLB, it became clear that my preference was going into Public Law. However, I was always more interested in Economic Law, so that’s how I started studying Public Law. I really love European Competition Law. It was sort of my first love and why I started working as an antitrust lawyer after graduating. I still like it a lot, but when I was hired to do my Ph.D., it concerned more regulation. So, now I don’t do as much European Competition
Law as I would like to. How did you end up co-founding the Law and Tech Network? I actually did it with a good friend of mine who is also an academic. There was a professor of mine that told me that if you want to shape a field, you have to know the people that inhabit it. Then, I just realized there was no network for law and technology. For example, in Public law, you have this large association with a couple of journals called I.CON where you can present at the annual conference and engage with your peers. In law and technology, scholars attend different conferences and publish in a wide variety of journals so it’s very difficult to keep track of who is doing what. The European Law & Tech network provides information on new scholarships, conferences, and vacancies. I would like to believe that we are starting to create a community. Why did you choose to come to Groningen? I saw this vacancy for a Rosalind Franklin Fellowship at the University of Groningen and I had decided to apply for it. I knew it would be very competitive but I didn’t have much to lose. I visited Groningen for the first time in February 2017 before I had heard that I was selected for the interview and I just had a very strong feeling that I
would come back to this charming city. And I did. How does your experience here compare to that in Leiden? I really liked teaching at Leiden as you get to work with ambitious students that aspire to become partners of law firms in Amsterdam. However, teaching at Groningen has also been thus far an excellent experience. The international LLB students are amazing and I always have the feeling that they can teach me more than I can teach them. I only just started teaching two courses to Dutch students so I can’t say much about them for now, but so far it has been great. Would you say you prefer practice or lecturing? I also enjoyed working as a lawyer but I prefer doing research. I also enjoy lecturing and engaging with students very much. After having been a visiting scholar at George Washington Law School and a fellow at Yale, have you noticed large scale differences between the approaches of academics in the U.S. in comparison to those in Europe? Absolutely, but I would say that the differences can also be explained by broader 2019
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differences in culture and mentality and the fact that US scholars at law schools do not experience any pressure to obtain research grants to carry out their research. What advice do you have for anyone who isn’t sure whether to take a path to academia or practice? I’d suggest applying for internships at both law firms and as a researcher. It is important to also ask yourself what you value the most in life. You’ll never become very wealthy from academic research but you do have some flexibility and that is, at least to me, priceless. You mentioned that you would have studied Literature if it were feasible, so what’s your favourite book? That’s difficult. I would say that right now it’s American Pastoral by Philip Roth. It’s about a Jewish family that appears to be the perfect family. At the end of the day, they weren’t one happy American family like everyone thought. The daughter of this couple becomes a terrorist during the Vietnam war, against the war, and the marriage begins to fall apart. You can see the struggle of the father trying to keep the family together, along with the struggle of the daughter. It won the Pulitzer Prize many years ago and I think it’s the perfect example of the Pulitzer Prize, which should be given to a book that is about the American way of life. That’s the definition of the award criteria. I think this book is really about this, the American way of life, and how superficial people actually are when they want to comply with this American way. I noticed on the European Law and Tech Network website that you’re from Portugal, but you also have Indian roots? My family from my father’s side is orthern Indian (Gujarat). My grandparent migrated to Mozambique (a former Portuguese colony), which is where my father was born. So, you have a really international family. Yes *laughs* a very international family. I have family in the US, UK, Portugal…and my sister is currently living in Paris. Do you like Bollywood movies? Most 10 N E X U S M A G A Z I N E
people when I ask either hate them or love them. I really love them. I watch them sometimes, especially those with Priyanka Chopra. Every time I ask this, I always get the response, ‘I don’t go on vacations’… I definitely go on vacation. Great! So, where has been your favorite spot and where would you like to visit that you haven’t? I was recently in Indonesia last year and I really loved it. I was in three different islands. I was in Bali, of course, like most people… Bali, Flores and Java. Flores was amazing. I went to see the Komodo Dragons. *laughs* It was an amazing part of the trip. You could take pictures behind them, but I thought that wasn’t very respectful. I took pictures of them but at some point, we accidentally left the track and got chased by one. So, that was not very pleasant but definitely exciting. But it’s a story to tell. Yeah, you get a story to tell. They’re very efficient animals. They always bite once, so they will bite the slowest person in the group. It was a very nice trip. Where I would like to go…. In October I am going on vacation to Nepal and Chengdu in China. My next short trip is to NYC for a few days but I have a number of business trips planned for the next months (Hong Kong, Japan, Valencia, Lausanne…) The place that I’d love to visit the most and which ranks the highest on “my bucket list” would be Easter Island. I don’t know when but one day I would like to visit it. Do you have anything to add before we end, like an interesting fact? I don’t know what students would be interested in… My favorite Netflix series is The Bridge which is a Scandinavian thriller about a murder that’s committed at the border between Denmark and Sweden. The Bridge is the border between the two countries. Last year, my partner and I even went to the bridge and some parts of Copenhagen and Malmo where the series was filmed. I think that’s my “geeky” side.
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THE ACCIDENTAL ACADEMIC MATTHIJS VAN WOLFEREN, LLM PH.D. RESEARCHER ON JUDICIAL PROTECTION, LECTURER IN EUROPEAN LAW, PART-TIME COMEDIAN (OR SO HE THINKS) AND THE REASON WE PASSED EU LAW.
INTERVIEW BY SARAH GIBLIN
What made you choose to study law in Groningen?
So I thought no, I don’t want to do that and I listened to that myth that “You can always do a year in law!” and that’s what I did.
Well, once you have your propedeuse you can switch to something more interesting. So, when I was in the first year, I didn’t do anything, which meant that I didn’t know that I actually basically hated law. So, then I thought ‘okay, this is easy’, I got my propedeuse without actually doing anything. I just sat around and didn’t take the time to look into other degrees, to see what degrees I would actually like, as I didn’t know where to start. I completely hated doing law, especially the Dutch law approach. All the first year and second year subjects are so formalistic. So, I did everything else…I joined the University Board, I rowed etc. And at a certain point in time, things become inevitable.
And your plan was to just drop out?
So you thought “Now I’m stuck here
I actually studied sciences in high school, but I didn’t really know what science degree I wanted to do in university. So, I got stuck studying law. If you go to one of those Open University days for maths or physics or to one of the engineering schools, it’s so depressing. I wanted to do something amazing and change the world, whereas all these people do is spend time in labs.
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so I should probably just stay here and make the best of it”? Yes, which is exactly what happened. And for my Masters, I fell in love with Environmental law. It gave me the idea that I could actually do something that changes the world. So, it’s the nerdy side of the science degree and it’s nice to be one of the few lawyers in the room who knows what the geek is talking about when he’s talking about the climate and environmental mitigation. And it’s the silent hope that somewhere along the way I can do something for the world. All my friends are now lawyers at corporate firms and I just can’t see myself in corporate law. You’re fairly optimistic that with Environmental law you will change something? Well, in general, we can say that it actually works. The technical aspect of it and the way in which we interweave science with the law is actually fairly nice. None of the Member States do that; it’s only because of EU law that there is actually a scientific approach to law. And so in my Master’s Degree, Laurence (Professor Gormley) picked me up and said: “Look, you’re actually quite clever. Although your undergrad grades don’t prove it, your Master’s grades surely do”. I hated exams; I still hate exams, I’m still crap at them. Now, on the other hand, every essay I wrote got high marks, so I got the chance to start teaching here. So, then they liked me and they said: “Why don’t you stick around here and do a Ph.D.?” And, well, that’s the story actually. But then you decided to do your Ph.D. on judicial standing, so that’s not really environmental law? Yes, but it is though. It is really difficult for public interest litigants and environmental NGO’s to bring complaints to the Court of Justice. And I never understood why they interpreted this notion of ‘individual concern’ in such a strict way and I thought that they should do it differently. I wanted to know why the Court interpreted it in this way and wanted a reason for it. So, I wanted to address that and now there is the kind of a system in which you can say, well there’s just no competence. This is where the system
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fails. It’s not going to change; I’m not positive in that sense, but it is interesting. If you want to kick against something to make a change, it’s good to know against which part of this enormous lumbering beast you need to kick. So, would you say you prefer research or teaching more? I would actually say that I like teaching a lot better. Why? Okay, I don’t know, it’s difficult. On the one hand, when I’ve actually found something that interests me, I enjoy the creativity you can use in doing actual research and when you publish something interesting that’s really a kick and a rush. Especially when you’re excited about the idea and you know that people are actually reading this! And one of the things that I like best about research is that you get to meet so many interesting people. I now have a friend in Edinburgh who does UK environmental law from an EU perspective and it’s really nice if I’m in Edinburgh to ring him and say “Hey, are you up for a pint?”. So, this is one of the aspects that I really like about research. However, I love teaching because it’s nice to have this concrete sense of the fact that you can do something, especially when you see the realisation in certain peoples’ eyes... that they actually understand and are thinking of their own questions. I like to get people to see my points. I don’t want to be like certain colleagues I know, with meta points and rants against the church. It’s the small things such as when I get people to take an interest or when Sally completely analysed the case on the OV Jaarkaart. The payoff is different. There is so much more of a kick. I am way more nervous about teaching and preparing for teaching and actual interactions with students than for presenting research to peers. You went to the Harvard World MUN in Scotland and China. Would you ever like to work for the United Nations or work in International law? Hell no! When I did those MUNs. that was a period where I wanted to do anything else but study law. MUNs are fun; it’s a really nice international community. I’d recommend it to anyone. I met a lot of people, especially international people.
It’s nice to get drunk on a Chinese Bullet train, from Beijing to Shanghai, and sing native songs. Especially when you can get the Germans to drink and have fun. But if it taught me anything, it’s that the whole UN system is totally defective and I wouldn’t say that it doesn’t have any relevance, but I have no idea what those people actually think they’re doing. It just doesn’t make enough of a difference. And I like to debate, but it’s the same thing actually with that. I used to love debate, but more and more now I’m just in this mode of I would rather just do something, I would rather teach and have the hope that some idiot actually changes his opinion than enter into a debate where it is all about winning; it’s just so useless. It was a nice experience and I met a lot of cool people, many of whom I still speak to, but I would never go again and I wouldn’t work in International law. What is the most interesting thing you know about EU law? Oh, Jesus. Well, the Bird’s Directive. The Bird’s Directive is the first piece of real environmental legislation they undertook in 1979. It’s pretty old and it came quickly after the declarations on environmental law. However, this is why I actually applied to BirdLife International; I wanted to know a little bit more about this, such as why this is the first part
of environmental legislation and why is everyone so upset about birds of all things? It’s 1979, the world’s burning and there’s a Cold War and birds are the most important thing? The answer is rich people with too much time on their hands. Bird protection societies are the oldest environmental protection societies in the world because these rich, old idiots love bird watching! And it is the most amazing thing. It is still one of the strongest pieces of environmental legislation; there is such a strict regime on the protection of birds. I like how these stupid situations have such an effect on history. Is there anything that you haven’t done that you still want to do, what are you going to do after your Ph.D.? Oh, yeah. Thanks for Bringing that up, Sarah (said with an immense level of sarcasm). I have no idea. Sometimes I get this idea that I’m not doing enough. So the book/ Ph.D. is almost finished and it’s like 300 pages of bullshit in print-form that no-one is ever going to read except for my reading committee and a couple of my students who think I will be impressed if they can cite me on the exam. So, sometimes I think I should leave Academia and do something for an NGO. I mean, I like academia, but one of the things that keeps on bothering me is that this works for now but when am I going to be like an old creepy kid who tries to keep up with
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the youth and is losing it? Other than that…I have a really good friend who is a children’s book illustrator, Chuck. He does really wonderful work and, if it’s allowed, he is going to illustrate the cover of my Ph.D. I would love to write a children’s book with Chuck. The idea is that children aren’t anything special; they are just younger people. But you can still get away with a lot of crap because children just accept it. What is your favourite thing to do in Groningen? So, over the years I’ve gotten to know way too many people in the hospitality sector. My personal saying is “Home is where you don’t need to have a wallet to get a drink”. Most of my normal places will stand me a drink and know that I’m good for it somewhere along the line. The thing I like most is, well I’m a coeliac, and Ariola on the Folkingestraat every Wednesday makes Risotto and over the years they have become my Italian mothers, and they really mother me. So every Wednesday I go there during lunch and I have a risotto and for me, they put it on a proper plate and give me proper cutlery. And that is just one of the things that I really love and the fact that it’s a really welcoming town. It’s very easy to connect with these people and to integrate yourself. Must-read book…if you can think of one that’s not a law book? Solomon Gursky was Here. I’ve read it so often. It is a book by a Canadian author called Mordecai Richler. For some reason during high school I fell into Judaica, so the Jewish style of writing in America. And then I stumbled into Mordecai Richler because he wrote children’s books as well. He has very uplifting children’s books and his adult literature is so dark and bleak and nice. It’s about a reporter who gets obsessed with one the history behind one of the brothers of a prohibition years’ alcohol running family, a bootlegging family, and now they’re a legit company and they try to bury the history of one of the brothers because they don’t want to put too much emphasis on the fact they had this illegal thing going on. It’s not a true story but it does have all these elements of truth in it. It’s 14 N E X U S M A G A Z I N E
so weird and wonderful and filled with alcoholism and yeah it’s amazing. And it has just the right amount of fantasy and rawness in it. Favourite place to go on holidays? I haven’t been on a holiday for five years now. What I miss the most is real nature. I hate the fact that in the Netherlands we don’t have nature. I’d like to go to the Ancient Forests in Poland and Belarus, because I love history as well. I’d have to just say somewhere remote, without cell phone coverage, in nature. There’s an absolute necessity for no cell phone coverage. Favourite quote? I don’t really do quotes. I’ve never seen the use of quotes, it’s just a quip by someone. I mean there are so many people that just have wonderful once-offs and wonderful lines. Have you ever heard of Dorothy Parker? She was just amazingly fast and she had amazingly wonderful responses. And of course there are some quotes that are inspirational, but I don’t do inspirational texts. I think most quotes are completely idiotic out of context and I just don’t have time for them. It’s not that I don’t think that people don’t come up with wonderful things, but I don’t see why we should idealize or give further meaning to quotes. Advice for future academics or lawyers? I always hate it when people say “Do what you love” because that’s too easy because you can learn to love anything. Even when you finish your degree, you’re like 21-23 years. So much stuff happens that you haven’t seen yet and you don’t know if you’re going to love it or not. I think my advice would be to step out of your bubble; you don’t realise that you’re on a one-way track until it is way too late and then you need to make an enormous effort to change. Everybody is interesting A r tyou i c l talk e by and when you meet people and to them you realise that there is so much interesting stuff there. Put yourself J o c hout elle there and meet interesting people. G r e a v e sThat’s Siew the best way to learn what you actually /LLB 2 want to do with yourself. You can always change what you want to do. So, that would be my advice.
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RUG’S EU CITIZENSHIP EXPERT: PROFESSOR DIMITRY KOCHENOV
A MAN OF MANY TALENTS: CHAIR IN EU CONSTITUTIONAL LAW, CO-FOUNDER OF THE INVESTMENT MIGRATION COUNCIL, AND A BELOVED EU LAW LECTURER. Why did you choose to come to Groningen? It’s actually because of Laurence Gormley. When I was studying at the Central European University for my master’s degree, the standard textbook that was used in EU law was Kapteyn and VerLoren van Themaat, an old classical work. The English version was written by Laurence. I think it’s still the most detailed book, a splendid encyclopaedia of EU law still overwhelmingly relevant today. Its footnotes are an absolute delight. They even contain references to parliamentary questions in the European Parliament that can shed light on the Commission’s understanding and cover some particular features of EU law which are not covered in research. So, like many others around the world, I knew Laurence’s name, John Griffiths’ name, but I had never heard of Groningen. My friend at the time made
me apply. I already had an invitation from CEU to stay on at the graduate programme. When you’re already at the university you love and someone tells you to apply to somewhere you don’t know, you become hesitant, but the book I spent many months studying was too good not to trust Laurence’s name.
I expressed surprise at the reason. A: Well, law has changed since then; the faculty has changed since then – and I am proud to have contributed to this change as much as I could. The university has acquired a growing international profile and reputation. The irony is that I was not at all a novice to the Netherlands as a student: I did my Erasmus at UvA in Amsterdam as an exchange student under Professor Eijsbouts and have never heard the word ‘Groningen’ even then among my friends who were coming from all kinds of
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countries, but not this one. Now it is different of course – plenty of brilliant colleagues are making this possible. Q: How did your initial experience in Groningen compare to your experience in Hungary? A: Well, CEU is a very good university. I actually came here to do my own work, so my experience was radically different from what I experienced in the past. That’s exactly why I left CEU and never applied to a U.S. school. I didn’t want to do any courses, and the majority of PhD programs in the world, especially in the U.S., make you sit through a number of exams before you can actually write. I agree with Brodsky – the only real study is self-study. This is what made the Netherlands overwhelmingly attractive. Here, my initial idea was to work on my research, nothing else. So, ironically, I think it’s precisely the lack of courses that was the main added value of a Dutch university for me. I know now it’s changing around from university to university but for me it’s not a positive change because the value of selfdiscipline, simply leaving people alone in library, is somehow underestimated. It shouldn’t be. What led you to academia in particular, rather than becoming a lawyer? A: I never wanted to practice law. My father is a habilitated doctor teaching Medicine at the University alongside his surgery practice and my mother is a practicing doctor too. I had never doubted that I would become a doctor myself. The only question was what field I would enter. In Russia, where I come from, the entrance exams were very strict at the time. However, during the year when I graduated from high school, law was the most competitive faculty, not medicine, so I applied for law. I couldn’t explain it to my parents. They saw it as a whimsical, strange, disruptive decision. They genuinely couldn’t understand it. I actually studied at two faculties at the same time. I studied French history alongside law. French history and French Culture was much more interesting. I kind of cheated because in the law, as it stood at that moment, you were entitled to a free degree if you passed exams and qualified as a student within the top percentage. Since there was such poor 16 N E X U S M A G A Z I N E
“There is no neutral body that can connect all the players in the investment migration industry and the IMC tries to do precisely that.” communication between the government and the universities, they, in fact, paid for my two degrees. Both universities helped, of course, there was a kind of cooperation between the two. Now I can confess because I think the statutory limitation is up. The Russian law degree was so revoltingly bad, not to say absurd, that I don’t regret combining it with something else. Besides a year at CEU, I consider myself a self-educated person. CEU was different: this is where I realized how much I have lost by going to a Russian law faculty at all. Virtually all my ‘law’ term papers in Russia were in fact in other disciplines from sociology and African family structures, to Japanese history – all taught by brilliant professors coming from other faculties and only affiliated part time with the law school. Studying law in Russia was not even funny: from what they called legal theory to the history of law – the atmosphere was of intellectually sterile selfcontent hypocrisy. The only escape were the plentiful subjects on the curriculum whom the professors of law there deemed irrelevant: so many jewels amongst them! The Professor of Japanese History, for
instance, was from a different faculty and, to him, Japanese law was only an asterisk to the general subject. In terms of studying Soviet law, you can laugh at a lot of things and it is useful: it teaches healthy skepticism about law as such, which I cherish a lot. Self-irony helps a great deal when dealing with EU law too, of course. Q: Would you say you prefer research or actually lecturing? A: The two are connected. If you don’t do research in the subject in which you lecture then I think you cannot truly, in all honesty, call yourself a professor. In such a case, you are a tutor, coach or whatever: replaceable by a robot, unnecessary. Teaching and pushing people to think a little bit is impossible without thinking about the subject matter yourself. And you do not really start thinking by reading other people’s work. It is indispensable to contribute to the literature. So, I’m always puzzled by all these staff members appointed by some universities in the UK only to teach. I find it utterly absurd. It means that, by definition, they will fail to give students the proper academic experience. The value of retelling a textbook is nil. Q: Do you have any advice for anyone who wants to enter academia? A: Just make sure you like this idea because
if you don’t, you will find yourself in hell. If you consider it a life choice that will feed your family, good luck with that because you will be much poorer than the majority of your peers practicing law and have a much more hectic schedule. It requires a lot of travel to ensure that your ideas are taking root and spreading. Of course, there are introverted academics who live in the library and that’s it, but it is becoming more difficult to live a life like that unfortunately, as the general prestige of academic knowledge is in steep decline in contemporary world. Q: How did you get involved in the Investment Migration Council? A: I co-founded it. It’s not about involvement, it’s about starting. I advised the Maltese government on their citizenship law reform and that’s when I started discussing it with other colleagues involved practicing lawyers, government officials and academics. There is no neutral body that can connect all the players in the investment migration industry and the IMC tries to do precisely that. My key task at the IMC is the academic side of the organization: we have a strong record for such a young body. Several top-notch papers are available for free at www.investmentmigration. org/academic and the list is growing. We would publish more, but numerous submissions do not pass peer review and we do
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“I don’t go on vacation. Why would you go on vacation? I find it so bizarre.” not publish anything the reviewers are negative about. The idea is to disseminate topquality research. This is one of my hobbies, ultimately, just like the Quality of Nationality Index, which I release annually together with Henley & Partners and compile together with colleagues and friends, especially Justin Lindeboom, who is at our faculty. Q: What’s your inspiration that keeps you going? A: I love what I do. This is also what Einstein advised to people. In order to have a worthy life, just try to find something that you enjoy. This is exactly what I enjoy – legal writing and finding the lacunae in the proper functioning of the law. If there are holes, you outline those and fill them in and help every user of the law. Of course, instructing students is another overwhelming and delightful area of exchange. When there is a big lecture, especially when I particularly love the subject, for instance EU Citizenship, I open my eyes in the morning and I really look forward to it. I don’t care about the weather or whatever else is going on. Or, when I’m writing a book, sometimes I regret that I need to go to sleep because I simply love putting the text on the page. I want to continue. It’s not only words. Law has feelings. It’s its own world. To try to describe it and understand it is very fascinating. Q: Is there anything that you haven’t done that you would like to do, like a bucket list? A: Well, I don’t do lists. I believe that our desires and aspirations change. What you might find absolutely unattractive today
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might suddenly become the purpose of your life tomorrow. I never thought I would write a popular book or non-academic book to present legal notions using popular language for a lay audience. Now I’m writing precisely that day and night. Only corpses don’t change their mind. Bucket lists are only useful if you plan to keep them and look back at yourself a couple of years later to smile at your own naïveté. Otherwise, it’s ill advised to keep those things. I try not to do what I don’t consider worthwhile and then maybe someone manages to make me change my mind. For instance, with the popular book when the press approached me I said I don’t do popular books. They sent me many samples and I decided it’s not a terrible idea and to be open to it. Q: What is a must-read book that you can recommend? A: A couple of hundred come to mind. There are plenty since you keep on reading and fascinations change. I very much like Adorno on the culture industry. It’s an old series of essays but it’s as acute now as when he wrote it. Q: What’s your favourite genre? A: I read a lot of poetry but buy all kind of books. Every time I return from a trip, the post box is usually so full that books spill on my desk. I moved here from Russia with one book of poetry and now I have thousands lying around everywhere. This is what gives me a sense of peace and place. Q: What has been your favourite vacation spot? A: I don’t go on vacation. Why would you go on vacation? I find it so bizarre. I have plenty of favourite destinations I’ve been to. However, vacation is a concept that you use if you hate your work or have a sense that you sell your time in a way that doesn’t give you a sense of accomplishment to such a degree that you want to interrupt your work. It is a sign that you are not satisfied with what you put your efforts to. Vacation is only an added value for those who do what they don’t like. Otherwise it is an interruption in the activity you find rewarding, so it would not be a good idea. Imagine a painter on vacation or Derek Walcott sitting on the beach on St Lucia trying hard not to write a poem. This is simply absurd.
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GUIDE TO PREPARING FOR STUDY ABROAD We all study abroad, but sometimes it can feel like you’re all alone in this adventure.So, we want to make sure that you know all the vital things concerning preparation for study abroad, both before and after you have applied to your university of choice! 1. Choosing Your Options! Don’t be afraid to apply to where you really want to go! Natalie: I had many practical reasons to apply to countries within Europe in order to get a feel of university life there and think about where to get my Master’s. Instead, I applied to Australia because I knew if I didn’t go now, the opportunity might not present itself again. Plus, I hear it’s pretty sunny down under. Jochelle: While visiting Edinburgh with my parents years ago, I fell in love with the city. As soon as I saw it as an exchange option, I desperately wanted to apply, but I was initially discouraged by the fact there’s only one official spot. I still took my chance and put it as my first choice, since there’s literally nothing to lose by merely applying. I was lucky enough to get in, along with my boyfriend and two other classmates! N.B. The lesson of the day: don’t be discouraged if you don’t think your GPA is good enough or if there aren’t multiple ‘official’ exchange places. RuG has the discretion to nominate you regardless. A Year Abroad or No? Bhavna: At first, I found it very difficult to decide whether it was the right choice to go abroad for one year. The reason being that I would not be able to graduate with most of my friends and extending my studies almost felt intimidating. However, I know now that it was the right choice because the university I will be attending, Durham University, is very prestigious worldwide and in the UK, especially its Law School. In this university, I will be able to immerse in courses I may be keen on pursuing in the future and meet some fantastic academics (Barend van Leeuwen and Robert Schütze!!!).
As much as I love our cute little city, I am also ready for a change of scene and I do not think a mere semester exchange would give any justice to the places offered. With the year abroad, I will be able to explore so much of the UK, make friendships with a whole bunch of new people and have more time to travel to the various exchange destinations of my friends around the world. Finally, I do not think I would be able to do such a year exchange on my own so I am extremely glad I get to experience it with one of my best pals, Alex! European v. Global Adventure Natalie: Applying for outside of Europe is both exciting and intimidating. Once you start thinking about everything that needs to be done (plane tickets, university application, accommodation applications, visa applications, scholarship applications… actually your whole life will turn into one big application), it can be very daunting. Nevertheless, it’s rare to have so much support throughout the process on both sides of the globe, so if going outside of Europe is appealing to you, now is the time to do it. Jochelle: I totally agree with Natalie! Exchange is your chance to explore and live outside Europe in a more affordable way than usual (I think). Also, having the support of two universities throughout the process is pretty calming, even when applying within Europe. The reason I chose to remain within Europe is that I’ve spent my whole life living and traveling outside of Europe. So, I saw exchange as the chance to live in a city I really love and continue taking advantage of cheap travel within the continent. N.B. In order to decide, just think about your priorities and what you really want 2019
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to gain from this experience. There’s no wrong or right decision. Getting Feedback Jochelle: The best thing you can do to prepare yourself is to talk to students who previously went to your preferred destination. Do this both before you apply and after you’ve been accepted into the university of your choice. I reached out to a couple students who went to both my first and second options in order to get a feel of whether or not I’d actually enjoy the learning environment and courses. That was my major concern. While I believe one person’s experience is not another’s, I think it is still important to ask about things like courses, exams and finding accommodation. Also, make sure to read the reports on IESE! They’re actually very insightful and helped me narrow down my initial list of options when I was uncertain! 2. Choosing Courses Once you get accepted, the next challenge is usually picking the courses you’d like to take. Natalie: This can be tricky since the courses you see online do not necessarily represent the courses you will actually take. For example, the University of Western Australia limits the courses exchange students can take. I was very excited about taking really interestingsounding courses like ‘Social Media and the Law’ or ‘Birth, Life, Death and the Law’ but it turns out I’ll actually be taking Company Law and Torts. That being said, if you have a specific field of law you want
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to go into in the future and you know there is a university that has a great reputation for it, that should definitely be a consideration when choosing where to apply. Jochelle: It’s important to keep in mind what Natalie said - usually, the course list would not have yet been updated for your intake year by the time you apply. However, for Edinburgh, you can apply for any of the ones you see on their list for the first semester and they’ll contact you to let you know whether or not they are actually available and then you can adjust your choices. I would like to assume that most universities would do this since it seems most logical. I was really lucky, again, to get most of the courses I want to do, except for one which they moved to the second semester. I also have to wait until during summer to know whether or not I can register for my chosen honours class since spots are limited. It can be a bit unnerving trying to ensure that your courses add up to the 30 ECTS, especially if the credit system at the host university is different. So, make sure and do all the math! Overall, go for the courses you’re really interested in and you know that RuG doesn’t offer. I opted for two business law courses amongst the others I’ll be studying since that’s the field that interests me most and we really don’t encounter it during our LLB. This is your chance to expand your horizons and get a feel for what really interests you.
3. Language Courses Maybe you want to go to Spain or France, but you aren’t confident in your language skills. Don’t let this deter you! You have months prior to actually going on study abroad during which you can take language courses. The extra work will be worth it if you truly want to spend time in a country or city where the university may not teach in English! Sarah: Why Spain? Surprisingly I don’t really get asked this question too often. As most people know, Spain is home to sunny weather, yummy food and goodlooking guys, so it’s no wonder that I’ve chosen to call it home for the duration of my Erasmus. However, there are a few other reasons as to why Spain made it to the top of my list. Firstly, I spent 6 years studying Spanish in high school and quite honestly fell in love with both the language and the culture. Secondly, my future plans involve working for the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs and having fluency in another language is a major plus when you want to be an Ambassador. Thirdly, I need a change of scene and I know that life in Spain is quite the contrast to life here in the Netherlands. And finally, I’m clearly insane because I have signed up for six months of essentially not hearing the English language. As I mentioned, I spent 6 years studying Spanish in high school, but despite
getting the highest grade in the Leaving Cert (which is roughly equivalent to a B1/B2 on the CEFR scale), I knew that this was not going to be enough. Since November 2017, I have been taking Spanish classes every week here in Groningen. My teacher Lucy is an absolutely lovely lady from Peru and has been helping me with everything from grammar to writing formal emails. Aside from that, I am ever so slightly addicted to Spanish T.V. series on Netflix, my favourites including Velvet, Las Chicas del Cable and El Gran Hotel. Watching series is a great way to pick up commonly used phrases and it’s a more enjoyable way of studying (unless grammar tables give you an adrenaline rush). Other than that, when I have free time (which is not very often gracias a mi LLB) I like to watch Disney movies for kids in Spanish…partially because they’re easier to understand, but also because I’m a child at heart. I think it’s also relevant that I’m going to move to Spain on the 1st of August, 6 weeks before my law courses actually begin, just to make sure I have the language down before having legal vocab thrown my way. I’m a little bit terrified if I’m being perfectly honest. However, that said, I know that the Spanish people are exceptionally friendly and helpful and probably won’t mind giving me a hand when I need it. All in all, I’m really happy that I chose Salamanca as my first option because otherwise, I would have spent the rest of my life wondering what if and not knowing my own capabilities. There 2019
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ARTICLE is nothing wrong with sticking to your comfort zone, but it’ll never kill you to step out of it. 4. Completing Documents Natalie: Documents scare me. Seriously, I may have a phobia. If I see a form with a lot of blank spaces to fill out and an official stamp on it, I get anxious. I was really dreading the slew of documents that awaited me for this exchange (read: applications). I was especially overwhelmed by all the different deadlines coming from both sides of the world. After avoiding my problem for as long as I could, I finally sat down and made a check-list of all the documents I needed to fill out and hand in along with the deadlines. This really helped get an idea of what I needed to do and when I needed to do it. Also, once you have everything written down in one place I promise your mind will feel (slightly) less scattered and you’ll be better able to tackle all the forms. The most important thing is to know the deadlines. Jochelle: I pretty much agree with everything Natalie has said. Making a checklist and knowing your deadlines are the most important things to get you through the bureaucracy. If you are unsure about any of the paperwork, don’t hesitate to contact the exchange office. They’re extremely helpful and usually don’t take too long to respond. All in all, the Erasmus documents don’t take more than 20 minutes to fill out once you have your information accessible. 5. Finding Accommodation Natalie: Finding accommodation is different for everyone. Some universities offer great accommodation options for exchange students, others expect you to be more self-reliant. My university (UWA) offers different accommodations on-campus as well as a database to find private accommodation off-campus. I opted to live on-campus at one of the university accommodations. The process was pretty painless and they actually give priority to exchange students because they know it can be difficult to find your own place from halfway across the world. I also heard from previous exchange students that living in an on-campus university accommodation with other students 22 N E X U S M A G A Z I N E
can really help with integration. Jochelle: Edinburgh actually does not guarantee university accommodations for single semester exchange students, though you can still try your luck and apply. I’m not really the type of person to take chances when it comes to my living situation, so I just searched online via real estate websites for affordable private apartments. I’m very fortunate to be going on exchange with my boyfriend, so we got a nice, large apartment to ourselves and we’ll be splitting the rent. I definitely recommend that if you’re going to the same university with a significant other or even good friend, consider finding a private accommodation and split the costs! 6. Visa Applications Natalie: As I said, I have a fear of documents, so the prospect of applying for a visa for my very first time gave me stress dreams (not a joke). I don’t know why but I had this idea of a visa application being this long process that would at some point involve a criminallike interrogation in a small room with a bright light overhead. In reality, the visa application process could not have been easier. The application is all online and mostly involves answering slightly ridiculous questions like ‘have you ever been convicted of war crimes or crimes against humanity?’ The only thing about Australia is that they are very paranoid about people applying for a student visa and then staying forever, so you’ll have to give a small life story explaining why you’re so eager to come back to Europe after your stay. All in all, the visa application took me about 1.5 hours to complete (including scanning the relevant documentation), cost me half of my monthly stipend and was back with an approval within a week. Jochelle: If you’re European and staying within Europe, you’re both a lucky and smart bastard! You easily evade half the stress of study abroad. I’m very fortunate that I actually don’t need to go through the painstaking visa application process since I’m American and I don’t need to apply for a visa before entering the UK, even if I’m going for
short-term study purposes. My only additional advice is double check if you actually need a visa. Your nationality might provide some loopholes of which you weren’t aware! 7. Packing How Much? Jochelle: So, I used to be a chronic overpacker. I moved to Groningen with 6 large suitcases and 3 hand luggage (I had my parents with me). Why? I thought I needed to bring half of my closet and all my favourite shoes and bags. Why? Anyone that knows me will tell you how much I love colour coordination. Anyway, my point is that I learnt my lesson. No one needs that much. Just moving apartments was a big pain in the butt. So, I couldn’t imagine doing it again, crosscontinent, all on my own. This time, I’m moving with one large suitcase and a hand luggage. It’s only for 4 months after all, for most of us. That’s the most important thing to remember here. So, What Goes In? Jochelle: The answer to this depends on where you’re going. If you’re going to Indonesia, for instance, you’ll definitely want to pack sundresses, shorts and swimsuits! I, on the other hand, need to make sure I have my winter jacket, boots, sweaters… well, you get the picture. Pack according to the climate, that’s all. Also, only pack the necessities. You can buy toiletries wherever you’re going. Things like shampoo and body wash are inexpensive to buy once you’re abroad, plus they’re heavy and take up lots of room in your luggage. Keep in mind that it’s better to under pack than overpack, as airlines have weight restrictions on luggage and there’s a good chance you’ll be returning home with souvenirs that take up some extra room. Aside from clothes, make sure to pack an adapter. 8. Inform Your Bank Jochelle: I think this is self-explanatory. Inform your bank of your new address
“Remember, this is just another chance to grow as a person and experience another corner of the globe!” and for how long you’ll be abroad. You don’t want to be at the grocery and all of a sudden your card is declined! Also, double check whether or not the country you’ll be going to accepts the type of card you have. When I first moved to Groningen, I thought Visa and AmEx were universal. Apparently not. You’ll also want to visit your bank so you can exchange currency if needed. Most airports in foreign countries have a booth for currency exchange, but you’ll get the best rate by using a bank most of the time. 9. Plane Ticket Jochelle: If you’re going outside of Europe, definitely buy your ticket as early as possible. I would advise 3 months prior to your departure. I always get a heart attack when my mum sends me the price of the plane tickets for me to go home for holiday. Even if you’re staying in Europe, definitely get them at least a month in advance. Why wait for no reason and then pay double the price? Well, looks like we’ve made to the end. Again, we hope this truly gives you an idea of the various ways you can prepare yourself for your study abroad adventure. Remember, this is just another chance to grow as a person and experience another corner of the globe! There’s nothing to be scared of and everything to be excited about! 2019
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LIFE AFTER GRONINGEN BY WOODMAN DICKINSON
As graduation for the third years approaches, lots of questions pop up regarding what their plans are postgraduation. Woody has asked a few of this year’s graduating class to tell us what they plan to do after completing their time in Groningen. BOB DUTCH. 22 YEARS OLD. STUDIED ABROAD IN DURHAM. What did you do during that semester off after returning from Durhman? I started off doing the Dutch civil effect courses, as I want to be able to qualify as a lawyer, whilst working as a research and teaching assistant. In the second block, I was offered the chance to move to Brussels for a five-month traineeship at a boutique public affairs firm, which I combined with teaching European law to Dutch students in Groningen once a week. Although the word ‘lobbying’ often seems to have negative connotations, personally I found the work very engaging and the fact that it was a boutique firm meant that we didn’t end up representing clients that we might have disagreed with on a personal level. What’s next for you, where did you apply and why did you decide on the university you did? I applied to LSE, UCL and Oxford and decided to head to LSE in the end. I’ll be doing an LLM in European Law, though will probably be doing other courses as well – that was one of the reasons I chose to do an LLM in the UK, you can really design your own study programme there, and LSE in particular has a huge range of choice. Of course, LSE’s reputation and the excellent quality of teaching also played a part, as did the fact that in terms of what I’m interested in, it really is the place to be. The university aims to bridge the fields of law, politics and economics, which means that besides law, I will get the opportunity to study international economics. Of course, the network helps too. What do you plan to do after your LLM? I’m narrowing down the scope of what I want to do and would like to try out a few different types of internship in order to fully make up my mind. I enjoyed my time doing public affairs in Brussels, but I’d like to explore the routes of legal practice, academia and the public sector too. The idea of working for the Commission or another EU institution is interesting to me as well. Do you have any tips for current and future LLBers? I think the most important thing when making decisions is having a healthy balance between a good dose of ambition and being realistic and open to options. Don’t be afraid to change your mind, you never know what is going to turn up. To be honest, a lot of people have a very limited view of what is out there, and ambition might result in a bit of tunnel vision, so definitely keep an open mind. I’d definitely recommend enjoying the process of exploring itself! And of course, doing what you’re passionate about makes all the difference – after all, you’ll be spending a LOT of time working.
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MARIA ITALIAN. 21 YEARS OLD. STUDIED ABROAD IN TAIWAN. How did you realise what it was you wanted to do? In the first two years of the LLB, although I had found some courses more interesting than others, I had yet to find my calling. When I arrived at NTU, I had the opportunity to choose commercial and business law courses. As I have always had an interest in business and trade issues, I had to take those classes! I found myself really engaged in the courses and deeply inspired by the topics discussed during the lectures. Professors from the RuG and NTU also gave me exemplary guidance and valuable career advice which helped confirm my choice. Looking back to 2015, when I was still deciding on my undergraduate path, my LLM choice makes full sense. Back then, my options were either international law or international business. Now, for my postgraduate education, I am going to study International Commercial Law! What’s next for you, where did you apply and which university did you decide on? My first destination after graduation is a summer internship in the legal department of Ferrero, the Italian chocolate company (does Nutella ring a bell?). In September, I will start my LLM in International Commercial Law at University College London. During the application process, it came down to choosing between UCL and Leiden University (EIBL LLM). I knew and felt that UCL was personally a better fit for me – while both are extraordinary schools, the modules offered at UCL match my interests and future goals better and I have a gut feeling that I will thrive at UCL university and in London. What do you plan to do after your LLM? I wouldn’t want to jinx it, but my ambition is to work in an international law firm in London. For anyone who aims to follow this path, it is important to know that – after our LLB – it is necessary to take the Graduate Diploma in Law and the Legal Practice Course. These will enable you to start training as a solicitor in England and Wales. It is best to start applying for a training contract two years in advance, so make sure to plan ahead! Do you have any tips for current and future LLBers? I’d say to take your studies seriously but don’t lose your head in them. Go to extra lectures, attend conferences, read books that aren’t assigned reading, and explore fields outside of what is covered in your courses. But do not neglect your personal and social life – enjoy yourself, stay healthy, get involved in extra-curricular activities! You want to come out of the LLB as a well-rounded individual – you want to know your niche but also how to connect with people and work well with others.
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ANNA FINNISH. 21 YEARS OLD. STUDIED ABROAD IN BUDAPEST.
How did you realise what it was you wanted to do? To be honest, that’s changed a lot. When I came to Groningen I was very confident I would end up doing something related to public international law or international criminal law. Soon afterward, I decided I wanted to specialise in the legal ramifications of the use of nuclear weapons and the like. During the second year of my LLB, I fell in love with EU law and was sure I wanted to work in that field, and more specifically in the field of EU home affairs – that was one of the reasons I went to Budapest. Then while, in Budapest, I met a friend who is a lawyer and does commercial and contract stuff for music festivals. Through conversations with him, I started to think twice about my choices – I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do EU law or something else. After a minor existential crisis, I decided to switch to IP law, and in particular copyright law. What’s next for you? I’ll be doing an LLM in IP law at Queen Mary University of London. I was encouraged by a professor to explore options outside of the Netherlands and applied to Edinburgh and QMUL. I was accepted to both, but the course options at QMUL speak to me much more than those at Edinburgh, so I chose QMUL. Do you have any tips for current and future LLB students? I’d say to keep your options open. There are a lot of opportunities in different fields of law that could be interesting. It’s OK to change your mind if you suddenly explore a new field of law that would be of an interest to you. It’s important to be enthusiastic about what you do. I’d recommend using your exchange and the flexibility you have with regard to choosing your own courses to explore other options. The exchange courses tend to be focusing on specific areas of law, which can help with deciding what you want to do.
GABRIELE LITHUANIAN. 21 YEARS OLD. STUDIED ABROAD IN LJUBLJANA.
What are you doing next and how did you realise what it was you wanted to do? Since I was in a little bit of a dilemma as to what I should choose for my LLM, I decided to connect with current LLM students and explore my options. I knew I wanted to stay in Groningen, so I spoke to a former LLB student about LLM and career options and she told me about the LLM in Energy and Climate Law that she was doing. I am myself quite an environmentally concerned person and so this option seemed like something I would really enjoy studying. She also said the programme was very intellectually rewarding and very relevant in terms of career prospects, which are another aspects that are important to me, so I decided to stay on in Groningen for a year. What do you plan to do after your LLM? My eventual goal is to end up in working in Brussels in either a legal or policy function. I’ll be applying for jobs in both Brussels and Amsterdam during my LLM. Do you have any tips for current and future LLBers? If you don’t like it, stop doing it. You need to be passionate about what you study and what you do for a living. It’s important to care about it, so if you don’t, find something that does make you passionate. Find your ‘thing’ and then dedicate yourself to it. At the same time, it’s important to have a balanced life and stay in good shape both physically and mentally because being a student doesn’t mean being in the library all day – you need to be active. Take care of yourself in all aspects.
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FINALLY, WE WOULD LIKE TO THANK ALL WRITERS AND READERS FOR MAKING THE COMPLETION OF THIS MAGAZINE POSSIBLE. WE MAKE THIS MAGAZINE FOR YOU, THEREFORE WE RELY ON YOUR FEEDBACK, COLLABORATION, INPUT AND COMMENTS IN ORDER TO KEEP PRODUCING MAGAZINES THAT YOU WANT TO READ. SO, PLEASE BE IN TOUCH!
- The Nexus Magazine Editorial Team
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