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The Year in Reflection - 2018
- 1. The Year inReflection – 2018 Dubrovnik, December 2018 Dear all, With some spare time in Dubrovnik over the past few days, I have had the opportunity to reflect on the many, many things that I did and experiethe yearnced in 2018. From the first day of 2018, the year has been marked with numerous highlights and unexpected events. January 2018 started with Davy Lalor, Nathan Van Wees, Amelie Brofeldt, Simon Becker, Laurens Deforce and I ringing in the new year in the Danish way – we jumped into the new year by jumping off a table in a bar in Skerries, Ireland. Thanks to Davy for hosting all of us. A few days later, I toured Northern Ireland with Amelie and Simon on a 4 day road trip, visiting a bunch of really scenic places like the Giant’s Causeway, Dark Hedges, Belfast and the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge. The road trip could not have run any smoother. We returned to Oxford in mid-January for the beginning of Hilary term and of course, the first week “BOPs” (big open parties) at St Cross and Balliol. February The true grind of Hilary term started in February with tutorials. The never-ending reading lists and my cluelessness in seminars and tutorials left me deflated. The cold weather did not help either, though much to my excitement, the Beast from the East in late February did bring another bout of snow. Maybe, this is what people mean when they talk about the “Hilary term blues”. Not all was bad. In early February, I moved to Carfax Quarter in the centre of Oxford, which was probably the best decision I made all year. No joke. Many endured my daily complaints about my previous accommodation. I had a few
- 2. 2 people over fora housewarming party much to the irritation of one of my flat mates. He would turn out to be irritated with me on several occasions for the several (not so noisy) parties I had in the kitchen. I think that the number of socials I attended peaked in February. To name a few: the black tie dinners, birthdays, several nights out that ended up at Hank’s (such good times), post- Arbitration dinners at my place drinking Christ Church wine which we smuggled out of the arbitration seminars, BOPs and general MCR parties at Keble. But the crown jewel of social events in February was the white tie Oxford Polo Ball at the Tower of London and the subsequent cruise along the Thames. Despite missing the private champagne reception and tour of the Crown Jewels (yes, the pun was intended) due to an incompetent bus driver, the Oxford Polo Ball was truly extraordinary. Never have I ever dressed in white tie attire and it will likely be my last time! March My spirits lifted in March, in part because Hilary term finished in mid-March and most of the substantive content was “taught” by then. But I do stress that at that time, I knew very little and there were still very significant volumes of self-teaching and reading to do! The BCL/MJur cohort celebrated the end of the term at House Bar, which ended up at Hank’s. Such a fun night. Thanks to Flick Fox for always organising these great events! I also celebrated the end of Hilary term with some Prosecco at a small gathering at my new digs. I had 2 hours sleep that night and woke up in the early hours of the morning with only 10 minutes to get myself ready and catch the Heathrow bus with Amelie and Simon to catch our flight to the Canary Islands (Lanzarote and Fuerteventura). The trip was much needed – chilling, sleeping, swimming, having the warm sun on our skin after weeks of Vitamin D deprivation, tapas and good seafood.
- 3. 3 After a week’srejuvenation, I returned to Oxford with good intentions: to do some serious study. In reality, though, time escaped me. I lazed around, went to London to watch the Oxford/Cambridge (rowing) race and drank to my birthday at the Varsity Club, which unsurprisingly ended up at Hank’s again. April Before I knew it, Easter came around. In March, I spontaneously booked a skip trip to St Moritz for Easter. I had lugged my skis, ski boots and all my ski equipment from Australia to Europe – I needed an excuse to use them! Coincidentally, Alison Chamberlain and her brother, David, were also going to ski there at the same time. The 4 days of spring skiing was fantastic. The weather and snow conditions were perfect. So too were the views, even on the train to the St Moritz. I also caught up with Benjamin Schumacher over lunch in his hometown, Zürich. I was so impressed with Switzerland that I flirted with the idea of retiring there. On my last night in Switzerland, I could not stop thinking about all the work that I had to do and the looming four 100% exams in June. I dreaded returning to Oxford as it would signal the beginning of Trinity term and a long period of studying hard – really really hard. Post-Easter to June Between Easter and late June, my life was pretty monotonous. Most of my days were timetabled to essentially facilitate full-time study from early in the morning to late in the evening (or the early hours of the morning). Reading the volume of material, understanding it and trying to piece concepts and ideas together was laborious. It was never-ending. I constantly felt like I was going two steps forward and one step back. Meanwhile, the days were becoming warmer and warmer, and the sun was coming out more often. So many days I longed to simply bask in the sun, rather than be holed up in the library.
- 4. 4 I tried tospice things up by varying my days with different scenery – that is, different libraries: the Law Library, the Radcliffe Camera, Codrington Library at All Souls, and the Christ Church, Corpus Christi and St Hildas’ libraries. My coffee intake increased during this period, accompanied with a decline in my sleep periods and quality. In the end, I interspersed my studies with some occasional fun. I went out for runs, formal dinners at different colleges and even a dinner organised by Andy Hanna with Chief Justice French in London, a black tie ball at Lincoln College, poker nights, and the Summer VIIIs rowing regatta (and saw Timothy Chen and Björn Brauer win blades!). I even played Polo with Malala! Mid/Late June For me, exams started in mid June. They were spread over two weeks. Sitting Oxford exams was an experience in itself – madly writing papers against the backdrop of the old grand halls, and entering and leaving Examination Schools in sub fusc; that is, white shirt, bow tie, and suit with academic gown. Fortunately, we could strip down whilst writing the exams themselves! I was so relieved when I finished my exams in late June. Pinning on the red carnation (flower) to my academic gown felt so good. Carnations are an Oxford tradition: you wear a white carnation for your first exam, a pink carnation for your middle exams signifying you bleeding, and a red carnation on the last exam signifying that you have bled out. Immediately after finishing exams, in true Oxford tradition, I got trashed. By this, I mean I had silly string, shaving cream, glitter and paint thrown on me. I also jumped into the ISIS River in sub fusc with course mates who finished exams on the same day. I felt that a huge weight was lifted off me. Finally, I could enjoy the Oxford summer, but not
- 5. 5 after some muchneeded rest. I was so exhausted. I remember it being such a challenge to stay awake that night at the final term black tie St Cross dinner. The next few days at Oxford saw me chilling in the sun, having a few drinks, watching the World Cup, playing croquet, punting, picnicking, dinner-ing, coffee-ing, and partying it up at the end of term BCL/MJur party at Be at One. July The days began to blur together in July. In early July, I pegged tents with Amelie, Simon and David Baker in order to score some Wimbledon tickets. We ended up with really good Court 1 tickets that were in Row 4 in the middle of the court. We were so close to getting Centre Court tickets (if we only tented an hour earlier or so)! In the end, we were able to watch good players like Serena Williams and Zverev…under the unrelenting sweltering heat! Who knew that England could get so hot?! Later that month, I went to my final Oxford ball at St Cross and the black tie Law Feast at Sommerville College. The BCL/MJur experience was coming to an end and it was time to bid farewell to the friends I had made over the past 10 months! It was a bit of a difficult time form that perspective. After Law Feast, I did a solo trip for a few days in Vienna and Bratislava, before spending a week in Sardinia with Nathan, Luciana Morón, Alison, Géza Orbán and Laurens Deforce. It was a much welcome break. The trip proved to be very relaxing, with sleeps on the beach, heaps and heaps of seafood (insane amounts of mussels and clams), swimming and tanning. There was no longer any undercurrent feeling of needing to study and the associated guilt of not studying.
- 6. 6 After a weekof lazing around, I flew back to Heathrow to meet my immediate family, my aunt, uncle and cousin who had come to visit me from Sydney. We explored London and headed to Oxford for my graduation! The graduation was, at least for me, a once in a lifetime event. No word is more apt to describe the graduation than it being very “Oxford” – the whole ceremony was in Latin. I was the very first up. The BCL/MJur graduands go up even before the DPhil (PhD) students. I was nervous because I did not know what to do. I did not know the Latin reply to the Vice-Chancellor and the proctors, did not know when to bow, did not know where to move and stop etc. It all somehow managed to work out in the end. It was so satisfying to finally graduate and be able to don the Oxford gown…and drink fully gowned at Turf Tavern. August I left Oxford with my family on the first of August. I had such a great year in Oxford and it was sad to leave. We travelled to Paris, Heidelberg and Marburg, all very beautiful cities. The heat, however, had a soporific effect. Following these travels, I moved to Frankfurt to begin my unexpected 5 month stint at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. It was unexpected because I had intended to return to Sydney in August/September. I was slightly anxious with moving to Germany – I didn’t know German, had few contacts in Frankfurt, and was starting a new job in a completely new and different environment. However, much to my surprise, the move went more smoothly than expected. I settled in my apartment in Westend. The work at Freshfields was very interesting (I got to apply so much knowledge from the BCL!) and the team was very welcoming. In the first 10 days, I attended the Freshfields Summer Party at the Panther, had drinks with colleagues at the Wine Festival and went to a dinner party at a colleague’s place. Many of my colleagues are good friends (to name a few, Stuti Gadodia, Sebastian Coulon Bauer, Cristina Rosales von Prado, Jyostna Chowdhury,
- 7. 7 Roopa Matthews, OlgaSendetska and Carsten Wendler). Freshfields provided me with private German tutoring lessons (2 hours a week). Learning a new language and culture was very enjoyable and I intend to continue learning German back in Sydney! In late August, I flew to Berlin. Björn and Eloise Fulmer kindly hosted me, showing me around Berlin and bringing me to their friend’s house party on the night I arrived (I made them sleep deprived with the early wake ups). Their inflatable mattress was so comfortable – it was the first time in a long time that I slept continuously without interruption for more than 5 or so hours! September My travels started to ramp up in September. The first weekend, I visited Holger Jacobs and Carina Anirac in Mainz. We hiked through the wineries in the Rhinegau. The scenery was breathtaking and I was so tempted to harvest the grapes for myself. The second weekend, my friends from Sydney now working in London, Ishani Jayaweera and Ruwan Goonetilleke, visited me in Frankfurt for a day. It was so good being able to catch up. The third weekend, I flew to Athens to meet up with Elisa D’Ambra from Sydney. It was a great weekend trip. We spontaneously booked concert tickets to the Odeon, visited the Acropolis, dipped into Lake Vouliagmeni and tried – unsuccessfully – to find a bar with good music on a Sunday night! The day after I got back from Athens I was back in Mainz for a conference.
- 8. 8 On the fourthweekend, I was so excited to make an appearance at the Käfer tent in Oktoberfest. Through Cristina and Bas Ti von Prado, we were VIPs and secured the first table in Käfer. Oktoberfest was so much fun. I enjoyed being able to freely frequent the upper floor without any interference from any security or bouncer. We also visited Füssen and visited Schloss Neuschwanstein, which was very Instagrammable. October I returned to Oxford in early October to see several friends graduate. It was great to be back and to catch up with so many people (thanks to Sebastian Lewis for letting me crash at his place!). It was also fun to be able to celebrate Davy Lalor’s graduation with dinner at the exclusive Oxford Blues Club! I also caught up with David Watson and Sophia Haq in London, both of whom had just got off their own flight from Angora, as well as Timothy Chen (whose really nice place I got to crash at). I also visited and worked in the London office and met up with fellow MJur classmate and Freshfields colleague, Katrin Harter. I was back in Frankfurt for no more than 24 hours before flying out to Milan to take advantage of the public holiday on 3 October. I was disappointed to miss seeing Michelangelo’s “The Last Supper”, but the food, shopping and the Duomo were amazing. I also visited Genova and Cinque Terre. I was lost for words at the picturesque vista of Cinque Terre. It is a truly unique part of the world. The walk between Corniglia to Monterosso showed off Cinque Terre’s beauty. October also meant that there were far fewer crowds and that temperatures were comfortable; in the mid-20s. Later in October, I flew to Barcelona – such a vibrant city with such good food. The Sagrada Familia, Gothic Quarter and Montjuïc were brilliant. I also attended a 2 day arbitration conference in Stockholm. Whilst I did not have much time to explore Stockholm, I did walk through the old town and visited the harbour and it was
- 9. 9 really pretty. Ialso managed to meet up with a friend from Sydney, Bryce Williams, over lunch, and dined in the Royal Palace! After the conference, I rushed to catch my flight to London to watch Les Misérables with Alison, Géza, David and Amelie. The musical was top notch. I’m so glad that it converted Géza from being a musical hater to a musical lover! Thanks to Alison for letting me stay at hers for several nights. November In November, I met up with Ishani and Ruwan in Kraków. My flight to Kraków was diverted to Katowice due to fog, a fact that I did not know of until after we landed at Katowice Airport and found it strange to see no other planes at the airport. I waited for the Lufthansa-organised bus transfer to Kraków Airport. It did not come after waiting for 45 minutes. Given how late it was (11.45pm) and that I needed to be awake really early the next morning for the tour to Auschwitz, I forked out 85 euros for a 1.5 hour Uber ride straight to my hotel in Kraków – fortunately, Lufthansa reimbursed this trip (cheers to being a frequent flyer with Lufthansa and its partners!). Krakow was an interesting city – relatively small but with its own charm and nice buildings. Auschwitz and Birkenau were confronting and moving. I was only in Frankfurt for three days before going to Amsterdam for a 2.5 day conference attended by all Freshfields lawyers in the Continental European offices – there were more than 1,000 lawyers! This was by far the best conference I’ve attended! The content, the speakers and the events (such as the cocktail drinks and the Great Gatsby ball) were really good. I also sat in a Tesla for the first time in Amsterdam. I stayed an extra night in Amsterdam at Géza’s place. It was fun brunching and ice skating outside the Rijsmuseum with him and Alison. I also went full Dutch by riding a bike along the roads, something that I’ve never done before!
- 10. 10 I was backin Frankfurt, once again, for no more than 24 hours before heading to New York via Zürich. I worked from the New York office and spent the next few days dining and shopping, taking advantage (generally) of the Black Friday Sales. My credit cards had a good workout. I had lost track of my purchases, calling up to dispute a charge I thought was fraudulent but which I subsequently discovered was one made by me. December December was a whirlwind month – it came by so quickly and so much happened. Amelie and I flew to Berlin to visit Simon. We explored Berlin and mulled over mulled wine at different Christmas markets. Björn and Eloise so kindly invited us and two other BCL/MJur classmates (Philipp Hülse and Matthias Schindlbeck) to their Thanksgiving dinner slash Eloise’s birthday. They catered so well for over 25 people! Being the coolest kids in the block, Amelie, Simon and I were the last to leave the party ☺ I also took the opportunity to work in the Berlin office. My health started to take a turn for the worst on the Monday night that I returned to Frankfurt. I started with some stomach discomfort which morphed into general abdominal discomfort the next morning. I did not think very much of this and thought I could sleep it out. I still enjoyed several glasses of wine on the Tuesday evening at Westlage for my farewell drinks, courtesy of Freshfields. However, over the course of Wednesday, I began to have increasingly painful sharper pain localised in the lower right side of my abdomen. I saw a doctor who prescribed me an antacid and asked me to come in 2 days later for an ultrasound and blood test (he in fact had no availability until 5 weeks later). Thankfully, I did not heed his advice. That evening, with the pain getting worse, I decided to visit the hospital. My blood results showed an infection and a CT scan showed inflammation of the small intestines surrounding the appendix, but neither the CT scan nor the ultrasound clearly showed inflammation of the appendix. Nonetheless, I was immediately admitted for observation on suspicion of acute appendicitis and IV antibiotics. The next morning, the surgeons strongly advised surgery to remove the appendix.
- 11. 11 That evening, Ihad a laparoscopic appendectomy performed by the Head of Surgery. I was in very good hands and the surgery was carried out without any complications. The histological results of my appendix confirmed appendicitis. I was very fortunate to have such a generous German private health insurance that seamlessly took care of all the administration and payment of all my medical expenses. In total, I was in hospital for 5 nights. After being discharged, I stayed in a hotel taking advantage of room service and housekeeping given my limited ability to move. I am extremely grateful to all my colleagues during this period, some of whom brought me personal belongings to the hospital, visited me and organised some of my work and personal affairs. Fortunately, my recovery was speedier than expected. I was on my feet the day after surgery (albeit very slow) and was walking quite a bit by the fifth day or so after surgery. The surgery, however, still meant that I missed my last week of work at Freshfields, though I did manage to attend the Freshfields Christmas party at the Palais Frankfurt. My parents arrived in Frankfurt on the same day. I was concerned that I would be unable to ski. My parents had booked a ski trip weeks before my appendicitis, and it was to start 10 days after my surgery! In the end, we did go to Zermatt, Switzerland. I did not ski the first 2 days, instead resting and doing some light hiking. I hopped on my skis on the third day and ended up skiing for several days. Whilst I was a bit rusty on the first day – not being sure of how my body would cope – I began to feel comfortable on my skis from the second day of skiing. The skiing was really amazing. The ski area is huge and the scenery, particularly the Italian Alps and the Matterhorn, were breathtaking. The scenery is completely different to that North America. My time in Zermatt confirmed my intentions of retiring in Switzerland ☺
- 12. 12 We flew backto Frankfurt for one night and then travelled to Strasbourg for Christmas. The Christmas markets were cosy and the city itself was very pretty. We returned to Frankfurt again for another night before flying to Dubrovnik. Dubrovnik is also a beautiful city. The city and sea views from the walls around the Old Town are amazing. We took a day trip to Kotor and Budva in Montenegro. I would highly recommend Montenegro, having previously not appreciated how beautiful the country was. We also took a day trip to Bosnia/Herzegovina, visiting Medjgorje, Pocitlj and Mostar. Influenced by the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian empires, Mostar is really interesting from a historical, architectural and cultural perspective. We celebrated New Years in Dubrovnik. The atmosphere and fireworks were exciting but I have to admit, nothing compares to the Sydney fireworks. Looking forward We fly back to Frankfurt on New Years Day. On 3 January 2019, I return to Sydney via London and Singapore to start a judge’s associateship position with a Federal Court judge. I am very excited for 2019. I am sure that it will entail a less eclectic travel schedule!