Summer - Part 2: NY

Besides my trip to London, I also had a lot of fun in the United States this summer.

Early in the summer, my friends Tym and Tristan came to visit me. Sam came up from D.C. that same weekend, so we all got to explore the city together. The first evening they were in town, Tym, Tristan and I (since Sam hadn't arrived yet) went downtown and saw the World Trade Center site and the New York Stock Exchange. It was a bit warm, and we all felt like stopping for a drink. Luckily, we happened upon Stone Street, which I'd never heard of or seen before. I felt like I was back in Belgium. The entire street was filled with cafe tables full of people drinking beer, smoking and laughing. Though these were mostly investment bankers instead of the students I was used to in Belgium, it was a nice reminder of the fun times I had not so long ago.
After stopping for a beer, we went down to Battery Park for some beautiful views of the Statue of Liberty. Then we headed back toward the village, stopping in Soho at my favorite Cuban place on the way. Sam got in kind of late, not a surprise since he took the Chinatown bus. We all stayed up late chatting, but tried to get up early the next day anyway.

Still a little bleary eyed, we went to breakfast at Grey Dog before heading uptown to Central Park and the Metropolitan museum of Art. In case you haven't picked it up by now, I'm really an art lover. The Met, along with the Louvre in Paris and the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg, is certainly one of the greatest museums in the world. It's really too big to see in one day, but it didn't stop me from trying. Sam can't stomach hours upon hours at a museum, and Tym and Tristan wanted to spend some of their time doing other things, so I got to spend less time there than I would have liked. I had been before and knew I was going later in the summer though, so I didn't worry too much about it.

The museum does have one sculpture by Canova, Perseus with the Head of Medusa. The statue, pictured below, really amazes me. That Canova could get the arm to extend so far out from the support of the body without breaking the marble is incredible. He had to hollow out Medusa's head to make it light enough not to break, and the cape, which looks like it's pulling the arm down, is actually acting as a support for the weight.

My favorite American sculptor also has a lot of work on display. I think the Angel of Death and the Sculptor is the best work of his I have seen. The statue was a commission from another American sculptor in honor of his brother, who died while carving a funeral monument. The contrast between the almost two-dimensional sphinx and the very three-dimensional Death stopping the sculptors hand always seemed very powerful to me, as though the sculptor's work is suddenly part of a different world.

After a quick visit to Grand Central Station and Times Square, we headed back home for a much needed rest. Sam and my mandatory Times Square shot is below.

For dinner, we went to John's Pizzeria, which is allegedly the best in the city. Then we went to a comedy night that a friend of Sam's hosts. Unfortunately, including the four of us, there were only six people in the audience. Two of them bailed out before the show was half over, leaving Sam, Tym, Tristan and I to try and laugh hard enough to not offend the comedians. When the room is that empty, they can tell who's laughing. By the end, the last comedian was asking only half joking, if he could pay us to leave. The sad part was that the comedy was, for the most part, quite good. The lack of an audience wasn't very conducive to big laughs though.

The next morning Tym and Tristan had to head to the airport, and that afternoon Sam took the bus back to Washington, D.C.. It was nice having everyone come visit, though I think I was cleaning the apartment for the next three days. Four people make a lot more messes than me alone.

Unfortunately, I've got to get to bed, so it looks like I'll have to post the next part of the Summer series later. Next time: my trips to Washington D.C.

Summer - Part 1

I spent most of the summer in New York. I was working at a big international law firm near Rockefeller Center. Sam, unfortunately, was working in Washington D.C. So after four months in Belgium, we still weren't living together. Besides that one big downside, my summer was pretty great.

I don't want this to seem like I'm bragging, but a job as a summer associate is just about the coziest job a person can have. I was taken out to lunch every day by different attorneys to some of the nicest restaurants in Manhattan. I was frequently invited to events around the city, everything from a Broadway show and a cooking class to a karaoke night and a Yankees game. Almost every evening event was followed by free drinks at some bar. I was paid very well, and honestly didn't have to work that hard. They asked that we spend 7.5 hours a day doing firm-stuff, and this included the long lunches and events. To top it all off, the firm flew all their summer associates to London for a long weekend.

This firm in particular was nice to work at because, though located in New York, it has a non-New York atmosphere in the office. By that I mean that the lawyers don't take themselves too seriously, work a few less hours than the lawyers at other firms and are exceedingly friendly. I shared an office with a friend of mine from law school. We were actually in the same 20 person lawyering group for out entire first year, so that added to my comfort at the firm.

The trip to London was definitely the highlight of the summer. Since I got back from Belgium just three weeks before the trip, I wasn't thrilled to be enduring the lengthy flight back across the Atlantic. Seeing London on a law firm's budget didn't disappoint though. The firm put us up at the Waldorf Hilton near Covent Garden. The rooms and service were incredibly nice, and the beds were miraculous. I'm sure part of it was jet-lag, but these beds felt like the most comfortable I've ever had the pleasure to lay on.


The summer associates went out drinking every night and I acquired a taste for expensive single malt Scotch. We saw a musical there called Blood Brothers. It's been running in London since 1982 but for the life of me, I can't figure out why. It was, by a long shot, the worst musical I've ever seen in my life. This includes some pretty awful high school fare. The best event was a private dinner at Madame Tussauds. We got to have cocktails while touring the museum, then we had a fairly good dinner. Here's a pic of me with not one, but two handsome princes.


During our free time, I checked resist checking out a couple of the museums I had missed when I was in London in February. The Victoria and Albert Museum, London's museum of decorative arts (think fashion, furniture, home appliances, gates and sculpture), was a bit of a let down. There were parts that were interesting, they even have a beautiful statue by Canova, but for the most part the museum seemed like a jumbled collection of things the other museums didn't want. Mostly this meant small groupings of similar work; there was a fashion room and a gate room. Occasionally, this came together well, like in the sculpture room (picture below), most of the time it just looked like a jumble though.


I also visited the National Gallery, which was incredible. No sculpture really, but a fantastic collection of paintings by Da Vinci, Monet, Carravagio, Van Gogh and many others. Unfortunately, no photographs allowed. You'll just have to go see it for yourself.

The rest of the summer went by quickly, and I made a few good friends at the firm. I suppose that's what the firm is going for, since having a social circle at the firm makes us more likely to come back after we graduate. I do feel like I got a good picture of what big firm life is like, though not through first hand experience. I made enough associate friends to realize there is a reason they pay their lawyers so much. The work is very mentally challenging and the hours are extremely long (one of the associates I know stayed at the office all night twice in one week to finish a document he was working on and coming in on both Saturday and Sunday was not uncommon). As a summer associate though, I, thankfully, had my weekends off.

It's getting late, so I'm going to call it a night. I'll try to do part 2 of my summer in the next post. So if you're interested in my trips to D.C. to visit Sam or my trip out to Seattle to find a job, check back soon.

An Overdue Conclusion

Well folks, it's time for a long overdue ending to my Leuven story. I got back to the States on June 1st, but haven't found the time to write.

I spent my last few weeks focused on successfully passing my finals. Having completed my last final three days before I was to leave, I made a last minute decision to spend my last two days in Europe in Paris. My friend Analyse from Norway accompanied me.

Paris is a quick train ride from Brussels. The trip takes only about one and a half hours on the Thalys high speed train. Analyse and I picked a budget hotel between the train station and Notre Dam. It was definitely "budget", with paint peeling off the ceiling and poor service (when I arrived I had to wait an hour for the manager to return so I could be let into my room). But it was a safe and convenient place to store our stuff and sleep.

Analyse had taken an earlier train, so we met up in front of Notre Dame.

After touring the Cathedral we wandered through the narrow streets of the Latin Quarter. I bought a small but delicious quiche from a bakery to eat as we walked past the light stone houses. We stumbled upon the stunningly beautiful Jardin du Luxembourg, one of the most popular parks in Paris. The park itself is very large. The beautiful landscaping incorporates a few large fountains, some statues and the Palais du Luxembourg, which houses the French Senate.

We walked the few blocks to the Pantheon (below), a former cathedral converted during the French Revolution to a temple to the great men and women of France. Among the most famous buried in the crypt beneath the marble floor are Victor Hugo, Jean Monnet, and Marie and Pierre Curie.


We were both pretty tired at this point, so we took an expensive coffee break on a pretty little square we found nearby. It rained a little while we were drinking our coffee, but by the time we headed back towards the hotel the weather had become more agreeable. We crossed one of the beautiful bridges along the Seine, stopping for a quick picture in front of Notre Dam. After taking a quick break at the hotel, we took the subway to Montmartre, home of the Moulin Rouge, for dinner. We didn't go to the Moulin Rouge or any of the other cabaret's because they were too expensive. We did take in the free and beautiful views of the cathedral of Sacre-coeur (below) and the city available at the top of Montmartre.


We found a place for dinner. The food was pretty bad (honestly the worst french onion soup I've ever had), but we split a bottle of wine that was quite good. Then we wandered back down the steep hill, stopping to snap some pictures of the Eiffel tower on the way, and called it an early night.


The next day was even more inense. We got up early, bought some croissants from a street vendor and then I dragged Analyse to the Rodin museum. He's one of my favorite sculptors, and though I had been before, I enjoyed returning to the museum. Then we made the obligatory visits to the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe. It was a cloudy day though, so we decided not to go to the top of either. We grabbed lunch at (oh the shame!) McDonald's on the Champs-Elysées, one of ritziest streets in Paris. The tree lined avenue is home to some of the finest (or at least the most expensive) restaurants and shops in the city and streches from the Arc de Triomphe to the Tuileries, the gardens in front of the Louvre. On the Louvre end, the street is lined on either side by two parks, the Jardins des Champs-Elysées. Analyse had to shop and I had to visit the Louvre, so I headed up the street towards the Tuilieries while she spent an hour in Sephora.

I can't speak highly enough of the Louvre. It is a bit expensive, but it's worth every penny. The building itself, a former royal palace coverted to the world's largest art museum after the French revolution, is both impressive and beautiful. The collection itself, unmatched (in size if not splendour), is incredible. The Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo, the Virgin on the Rocks, Winged Victory of Samothrace, a few statues by Canova, and a sizeable Delacroix collection would be enough to make the Louvre one of the top art museums in the world, but these are just the highlights to a well rounded collection of pre-1900's art.

Some of my pictures are below, but if you are ever in Paris, please go. They are much more beautiful in person.

Canova's Cupid and Psyche is my favorite sculpture by my favorite sculptor. The marble is cut so thin on his wings that light glows through them and the posing is miraculous. Poised forever on the verge of a kiss, Canova captures the moment of highest potential energy between the two lovers. Here's two pictures because I couldn't just pick one.



Chaudet's cupid is a bit crueler. He's kneeling down pulling off the wings of a butterfly, which according to all the books is supposed to symbolise cupid's torture of man's soul. A bit gruesome, but a beautiful sculpture all the same.


After several hours in the Louvre, Analyse and I met up near the Mona Lisa. We got our stuff from the hotel and caught our train back to Brussels. When I got back to Leuven, I just had time to drop off my things and get to my going-away-get-together at one of the first bars I went to in Leuven, Den@. Most of my friends were able to make it out for at least a drink, despite the proximity to finals. It was hard to say goodbye to all the friends I had made, but I know I'll see many of them again when they visit the States or I travel to their cities. It's nice to have friends all over Europe.

It was a good thing the evening wound down early. By the time I finished packing and cleaning, I only got to have about 40 minutes of sleep before I needed to get up to leave for the airport. There was plenty of time to sleep on the long flight back though.

Living in Leuven was a wonderful experience. I got exposed to both Belgian and European culture. I met a number of interesting and fun people from all over Europe, and I learned more about myself. I think more than anything else, that is what I value about my time there. I came to Leuven to see what life is like in another country, but what it showed me is what I am like, what I value and what is just part of my culture. I still have a lot to learn of course. So it's a good thing that there are a lot more places in the world for me to visit.