Budapest - Day 1 (2/11/12)

We are here in Budapest. We are alive. Landed at 2:15 pm or so. It is cold. Didn't think I would have to travel to Eastern Europe to find snow this winter. Ice floating down the Danube River. Beautiful Place. Reminiscent of Prague, but possibly better.

Szechenyi Ianchid (bridge) - with Budapest Castle in background

Budapest Castle

Szechenyi Ianchid (bridge) - with Hungarian National Hallery ("Magyar Nemzeti Galeria") in background

St. Stephen's Basilica - from the back

St. Stephen's Basilica - interior

St. Stephen's Basilica - front view

Paris - Updated!

These are our travels for the day. It was awesome. So tired though. I feel like Dory from "Finding Nemo"... just keep walking, just keep walking, just keep walking...

Louvre

Self-Evident

Paris is trying to copy Buffalo, NY - Niagara Square

Arc de Triomph

Notre Dame



Another View - Notre Dame


Notre Dame - Inside



Frozen Pond at the Bottom of Eiffel Tower



Eiffel Tower



Some Bridge (very technical, I know)



Crepes on the Street Corner - so good




"Gosh, I'm so tired. Quit taking pictures"

I have arrived!

Kyle here: So after a 2 hour delay leaving Newark due to ice on the plane (long line to de-ice), I arrived into London 2 hours late, thus missing my Eurostar train to Paris. Add to that the fact my phone was set to "block international roaming" and was nonetheless out of batteries, and I couldn't get WiFi signal anywhere for my computer. It was interesting... but I finally made it to Paris late, without a phone and no internet, and no Kristen. I wandered around for a couple hours before my "man-sense" (i.e. sixth sense, aka common sense) kicked in, and I found an internet cafe. Finally met up with Kristen and the Brits (Louise and Sam). After about 18 hours of travel I made it, and we weren't going to waste any time. Paris for 6 hours = Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomph and dinner:

More to come I'm sure. Tomorrow, the Louvre and whatever else we can find.

Early End

So...today was the last and fourth round of the preliminary competitions. Steve and Arli had this round, and they KICKED ASS. After the 85 minute round, both Jason and I were like- HOLY CRAP. That was FANTASTIC. They were SOOO good. It was ridiculous. They went against Peking University, who were really aggressive, but they held their own and TOTALLY won the round. The session just went so well, and I was blown away. Everyone in that room were- judges, mediator, coaches, observers, etc.

Steve and Arli as Team Awesome.

Prepping for the session.

With the Chinese team and a really fantastic mediator.

The four of us came back and totally passed out for a bit before venturing out again. We wanted to go to the Musee D'Orsay, but ...it was CLOSED. Monday = CLOSING TIME. No bueno. So we walked around, and by this time, we are extremely comfortable in the part of Paris that encompasses the Louvre-Arc du Triomphe-Eiffel Tower-Champs Elysees area. So instead, we walked from Musee D'Orsay back through Champs Elysee and stopped by a France in Relief museum. It is the COOLEST museum ever, especially for topography/map lovers. These reliefs of all of France were done in the 1800s-now, and they are exact miniatures of these small French towns/cities. It was really neat. We did take some really cool pictures:

The four of us are the ones in the mirror. This is to give a scale of just how big these reliefs are.

They had this photo booth thing...that we couldn't figure out...

We thought they were silhouettes

Until some guy showed us it WASN'T...

I swear we're smart enough for law school...

We went back to our hotel afterwards, and got ready for the reception at Jones Day for the competitors. Um....Jones Day is in a freakin MUSEUM. Not kidding. Will post more pics as I get them from my teammates, but they had this 18th century style French bed, and every single room in there looked like we were walking through the Versailles. Service was impeccable, and wine/champagne/hors d'oeuvres. ....at last, the winners were announced....

Jones Day. One of the rooms. It was just absolutely ridiculous.

So...American has always had a really good showing at this competition, and we even won one year. The competition has evolved a lot in the past couple years, and this year there were 68 schools entered. Only 16 schools advance to the next round. They also give out 'special awards' at this reception, and there are a handful- best mediation plan, best opening, best overall performance, best advocacy, and best improvement. Well, I am proud to say that we won Best Teamwork! We did not advance to the semi-finals rounds, but I am proud we got this special recognition. Our teamwork dynamic is the best in the competition, that's pretty big, and saying something. The 16 schools who advanced were excellent and well-prepared, and we do wish them the best.

Since we weren't part of the 16 teams who had to wake up at 7am the next morning to compete, we stayed at the Jones Day reception and went out to the competition bar afterwards with the rest of the mediators and judges. many were surprised to see that we did not advance, but it is what it is. We all had a great time hanging out with the people from the competition. Meeting all these people from around the world really is something.

Day 2 Competition

Day two of competition today! Location: DLA Piper. Time: 2:15pm. Team: Jason and Kristen.

Jason and I were in charge of the third round today, against Singapore University. They were INTENSE. It was a little unnerving, but I think overall Jason and I held our ground and had our best mediation thus far. It was a little frustrating in the process and the feedback, but otherwise pretty ok. Our tactics and strategies changed, but Jason and I remained civil, diplomatic, and steadfast in our interests. Who knew mediation could be this adversarial!

Second round @ DLA Piper.

It's Tebow-time. Only appropriate in front of room 3.16.

After the mediation, I jetted off to meet up with Duane and DeVere at their hotel. Having family in the same foreign city (especially one like Paris!) is sooo cool. DeVere wasn't feeling well at ALL :( so Duane and I went out according to original plans that DeVere had set out. We had drinks at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, which was really nice :), then headed over back to Champs Elysees area for a set-course dinner and a bottle of wine. Afterwards, we totally walked along the street with all the designer houses. The House of Dior stretched almost a block and was AWESOME. I drooled past Chanel...you know. The goods. Duane and I got a little lost and walked around the entire Arc du Triomphe trying to find my hotel. Such good times :)

Some ridiculously good desserts.

Game Face ON

The competition rounds finally came to fruition yesterday (Friday)! For the preliminary rounds, Jason and I have problems 1 + 3, and Steven and Arli have problems 2 + 4. Jason and I were first, and our round started at 8:15am. Let me tell you, that is EARLY. We got to Clifford Chance, who was hosting this, and the law firm is BEAUTIFUL. Across from the Louvre, it's a good spot. Our first round was against Cardozo, and we did well! It was a good round, very very good indeed. Jason and I were EXHAUSTED afterwards. These rounds are 85 minutes each, with time before and after allotted for judges and mediators. We came back, had lunch, and passed out. At 5:00pm, Arli and Steve had their round against a Belgian school, and it went really well too!

Four of us!

Team Mandeep!

Team Bartolino!

Post-competition celebrations. Liter of Guiness Let's go!

We're in PAREEE!

We made it! My team and I have been in Paris since Thursday morning. We took an overnight flight from Washington Dulles on Wednesday night. I passed out the entire 7 hours, which kind of put me on schedule already without too much bad jet lag. We got into Paris at 1:30pm, a couple hours later than we were supposed to. Customs was a breeze, and I have my first stamp in my new passport. I'm still bummed that I had to give up my last passport since it was about to expire.

We checked into our hotel- and it is AWESOME. There are four of us- Arli, Jason, and Steve, and we have this great two-bedroom suite that has its own bathrooms and doors, a living area (common area), a dining room table, and a kitchen complete with dishwasher and laundry machines! It's a pretty sweet deal, and extremely roomy. Right outside our door, oddly enough, is the Eiffel Tower. I mean, you can see it. This is what I mean:

Our hotel is Hotel Elysees Union. That's how close the Eiffel Tower is! Splendid!

It was really weird. We didn't notice the Eiffel Tower at all when the cab dropped us off initially. When we left the hotel the first time, we were like, oh...look...Eiffel Tower! Weird.

We walked around the first night. We are right off the Arc du Triomphe, and less than a mile walk from the Eiffel Tower. Pretty close! I'm just giving out a warning now- there are going to be PLENTY of pictures of the Eiffel Tower just because we happen to be around it all the time. We had an awesome first team picture:

Team Paris!

Gorgeous!!! This is sooo close to us!

So we pretty much did some exploring with our coach, had some food, and went back to the hotel to pass out. Next day, I got to see Duane and DeVere :) Here they are over breakfast:

Parisian breakfast

Good thing is I'll see them again Sunday night for dinner. After breakfast, I met back with my team and we went to the International Chamber of Commerce.

In front of the ICC!!

Eiffel tower lit up at night is so pretty!