Sorry for the wait - Mainz / Frankfurt / Hamburg

We have learnt many more insightful things about germany during our time in Mainz.

The first of these is that there is a hamster society in Germany that deals specifically with the maltreatment of hamsters. Until my time in Mainz I didn't realize there was such a serious problem with hamster maltreatment. Nigel and I are now considering forming such a society in New Zealand.

Lucius Malfoy

There are elections coming up in 3 states in Germany at the moment. In the state of Rheinland-pfalz there is one candidate who looks identical to Lucius Malfoy. It is quite disturbing to see their (gender uncertain) face plastered over the city.
The Piracy Party which I initially thought was the a pro-pirate party (as opposed to an anti-intellectual property party) has a particularly interesting poster of Angela merkel with three eyes.

There are state law exams graded out of 18; if you get four you pass but if you don't get nine or higher, no good law firm will ever hire you. Ever.

Being in Germany hasn't really improved our German but it has definitely made our English worse.

The view from the window of our flat in Mainz

The mooting has been incredible. Our understanding of the problem has evolved drastically in a week. All the German teams are very good. They are all very impressed by Nigel's convincing trustworthy manner of presenting not that I would ever trust Nige in real life...

After Mainz we trained to Frankfurt and partook in the Baker McKenzie Pre-Moot. This was very liberating for Nigel and I. While the other law students there were trying to make their best impressions in front of the partners at Baker McKenzie; Nigel and I were comfortable with the knowledge that we would not be asking them for an internship any time soon, being somewhat lacking in our knowledge of German law.

The Pre-Moot at Baker McKenzie went very well but the highlight had to be when they gave Nigel and I the entire dining room of food and the drinks cabinet to ourselves to gorge ourselves before we caught the train to Hamburg, before the evening event actually started. We are definitley Baker McKenzie fans now. The only strange aspect was the soundtrack in the dining room that projected the sound of a woman breathing very heavily at intermittent intervals.

Ourselves and the very welcoming team of Bucerius

We then took the train that night to Hamburg and arrived at midnight to Bucerius students who had already been imbibing before our arrival. They were the most incredibly lovely people but a very crazy night of Hamburg partying ensued. We timed our arrival with the end of term law school party held in the botanic gardens. Some looked like typical New Zealand law students but Bucerius is the only private law school in Germany and there were definitely quite a lot of Chuck Bass lookalikes. Hamburg to be continued.

Side note: This was supposed to be posted a number of days ago but had internet trouble.

Photos of our time in Mainz and Frankfurt are here

Alex Sinclair