User Profile

So I'm a student - and I have been for a while now - it's a long story. I´ve graduated in History (BA. 2005, MA. 2006) at the University of Amsterdam - during the process of writing my MA. thesis I became very interested in transitional justice issues. Therefore, feeling that I hadn't studied what I really felt passionate about, I decided to go on studying at the Political Science department, where I studied International Relations (MSc. 2008). However, I soon found out IR was interesting but WAY too theoretical, and too much 'thinking-in-boxes' for me. Being halfway, I decided to take on International Law as a second major and for a year I combined IR with Law - thinking I would probably drop one of the two, however, I passed all courses, and I received my MSc. in IR. Currently I am in my LLM. year of International Public Law focusing on International Criminal Law. So that's the story about my 3 majors (fortunately, in the Netherlands, there is such a thing as a prepatory program for students who already hold a Bachelor and want to pursue a Master in another major - which means that you follow courses for 1 year in that major, and after that you can enter the master of that same major - which I did twice and so I only spent 6 years so far studying 3 majors). One day I would also like to work towards a PhD - but that may be in like 10 years haha.

Enough about studying. I also work at a law firm as a receptionist 2 days a week, where I pick up the phone and get to study when its not ringing - which is of course a great deal for a student - yay! Next to that, I work as a researcher for the American Studies department of the UvA on a project for the Ministery of Defense. I'm excited about this last project since we're going to publish a book in which my article about my part of the research will appear - yay!

Next to that, I love to go out and hang with friends, listen to music, go see movies, go to the beach, and things like that. I also read quite a lot, I´m trying to catch up on the classics: I´m secretly addicted to Penguin Classics... But most of all I love to travel and see something of the world. Ive been to parts of Europe, last year I've been to Bosnia-Hercegovina, which I loved - it is such a beautiful part of the world. I also went to Poland, Krakow last year with 2 of my IR friends - actually to visit Auschwitz - which was obviously very impressive. Last summer my friend and me rented a car in the US and drove from the east to the westside in 6 weeks - visiting cities like NYC, Philadelphia, Baltimore, D.C., Chicago, LA, San Francisco, national parks like Shenandoah and the Grand Canyon - it was amazing. I'm probably going back there soon to see something more of the South and probably the Midwest/Northwest. Countries that I would love to visit soon are: Japan, South-Africa, Ghana, Kenya, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Nepal, India, Canada and Australia/New Sealand. I also love citytrips within Europe. London is probably my favorite city in the world.

I Love ♥

I love books, literature, reading, writing, doing research and everything that has to do with language... I love water, to drink it, to swim in it, it's not a coincidence I'm Pisces ;) I love the diversity of the world, all the different cultures, languages, people... I love the beach, I love music, especially jazz, blues and soul; Janis Joplin, Aretha Franklin, Billie Holiday, Aretha Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, Roberta Flack, Amy Winehouse, Room Eleven, The Stones, The Beatles, Joss Stone, Jill Scott, The Kooks, Coldplay, and more - anything that's good really. I love summer festivals, jazz festivals, the eighties, Vincent van Gogh, Marc Chagall and more. I love good tv series like The Sopranos, also Prison Break (even the not so good seasons - it's an addiction), Carnivale, Lost - and I am STILL addicted to SATC and GG. My fave movies are: Forrest Gump, Una Giornata Particolare, La Meglio Gioventu, The Godfather, Goodfellas, Un Long Dimanche de Fiancailles, Amelie, Big Fish, The Dark Knight, The Departed, El Laberinto del Fauno. I also like watching good documentaries like Pizza in Auschwitz, The Death of Yugoslavia etc etc.

Fave Books

To Kill a Mockingbird (Lee), The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald), Crime and Punishment (Dostoyevsky), The Sun Also Rises (Hemingway), The Catcher in the Rye (Salinger), Less than Zero (Ellis), Dracula (Stoker), Their Eyes were Watching God (Hurston), Death of a Salesman (Miller), Night (Wiesel), If This Is a Man (Levi), Beloved (Morrison), Breakfast at Tiffany's (Capote), The Lost Continent (Bryson), A People's History of the United States (Zinn), several plays by Chekhov, The Greatcoat (Gogol). I love reading the classics, so this is just a short list. I especially like existential literature - if that wasn't clear from this list yet. ;) I <3 Russian literature, especially Dostoyevsky and Gogol.

I Don't like X

Radio (b/c of all the commercials and the smalltalk no one wants to hear), I dispise ignorant discrimination, but then, which clearthinking human being doesnt, I don't like the ending of Lord of the Rings, it's a masterpiece but Tolkien should've rewritten the ending, it sucks - sorry y'all - I mean, Frodo should have died (yes people think I'm weird when I argue this point). I don't like populism, especially in politics - yes, it has a negative connotation bc IT IS. I don't like people who cannot feel the slightest compassion or even understanding for other people. People who are trying to be something they are not, and think I'll buy into that image. Persons whose answers to questions are always sarcastical, and think they are hip by acting like that. People in my classes who can seriously only talk about internships, getting into the ICTY, ICC, etc and taking themselves wayyyy too serious.