Here are recent emails from TJSL 3L Jovana Ostojic, who is interning at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) at The Hague, Netherlands: 
April 23, 2008
And graduation nears, I'm sending you my last email from The Hague.
The weather is also getting so much nicer here. Everything is green and blooming. There are flowers everywhere, and sunshine when I get up in the morning and when I walk home at night.
I can't believe that I've been here since January, and here we are, almost to May. Its been such a fantastic experience, and I've made so many interesting new friends. But its also been really hard to say goodbye as each of them starts to leave. My friend, Kevin, is now in Russia with his girlfriend. They will be moving to Connecticut for the summer, and then Sweden to study for their LL.Ms. And Connie, my good friend from Ohio, is with her mother in Paris (her mom lives there). Its so quiet and empty here without them. Coffee breaks are no longer fun... and they would have enjoyed the coffee break I was on yesterday when I spilled my entire cup of coffee all over my pants! It was so embarrassing!
On the work front, I'm doing really well. My "secret" case is going incredibly well, and today I am starting to write the new indictment. I truly hope I do a good job because the better my writing is, the more likely it will be that it ends up in the actual public indictment. And I would be so proud to see my work up there, as a part of history. I'll make sure to let you know how it ends.
Two weeks ago, 7 of us interns went to Prague. Kevin (or, SuperKevin as we call him!) planned and organized everything from our departure from The Hague, to our arrival to the hotel in Prague to where we were having breakfasts and beers! He did such a great job, and our trip was amazing. Dana and I decided to sight see for one day instead of both so we could get in some shopping! You see, the Euro is sooo strong compared to the US dollar, but they use Czech Crowns in Prague. We were able to get things for a lot less in Prague than in Holland. And that's where we found our GRADUATION DRESSES!!!
Tomorrow Dana and I are going to Grenoble to visit my aunt and cousin one last time before we go. The following weekend, we're going to Germany. And then its all over :(
I have some really big news to share with you all. Originally, I had planned to come back to the ICTY after graduation and work here for a while. But now, another opportunity has come up and I am moving once again. This time to.... Sierra Leone, West Africa. I'll be working either in the Special Court for Sierra Leone or an NGO (I haven't decided which one yet). If you don't know what happened in Sierra Leone, I'm pretty sure you will have heard the term "Blood Diamond." Or perhaps you have heard of Former Liberian President Charles Taylor.
Wikipedia explains the conflict: Civil war broke out, mainly due to government corruption and mismanagement of diamond resources. With the breakdown of state structures and the effective suppression of civilian opposition, wide corridors were opened for trafficking of arms, ammunition and drugs, all of which eroded national and regional security and facilitated crime in the country and with Liberia and Guinea.
Besides the internal ripeness, the brutal civil war going on in neighbouring Liberia played an undeniable role for the outbreak of fighting in Sierra Leone. Charles Taylor - then leader of the National Patriotic Front of Liberia - reportedly helped form the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) under the command of former Sierra Leone army corporal Foday Sankoh. In return, Taylor received diamonds from Sierra Leone. The RUF, led by Foday Sankoh and backed by Taylor, launched its first attack in villages in Kailahun District in the diamond-rich Eastern Province of Sierra Leone on March 23, 1991. The government of Sierra Leone, overwhelmed by a crumbling economy and corruption, was unable to put up significant resistance. Within a month of entering Sierra Leone from Liberia, the RUF controlled much of the Eastern Province. Forced recruitment of child soldiers was also an early feature of the rebel strategy.
Additionally, Sierra Leone is the lowest ranked country on the Human Development Index and seventh lowest on the Human Poverty Index,[11] suffering from endemic corruption,[12] suppression of the press[13] and the HIV/AIDS pandemic.[14]
I feel the need to go to Sierra Leone so that I may "wake up" from my Western lifestyle, and see how other people live. I hope that after 6 months of living there, working with child soldiers, women, and people missing limbs (another feature of the conflict) will make me a better person, perhaps less concerned with myself and a much more passionate human rights lawyer.
Alex is there now. He says that it was quite a shock for him when he first got there, but he's slowly getting accustomed to living there. We will be living in a house with armed guards, so don't worry about my safety! Between Alex and the bodyguards, I think I'll be fine! He is working so hard over there, for the Chamber. And he's off to such a fantastic start - his work is in one of the judgements already! I'm so proud of him. And for those of you coming to graduation, you'll get to meet him!
The only thing is, no homes in SL have internet. The only place that I'll be able to write from is work. And I know that I'm not very good at keeping in touch individually with each of you, and the internet situation in SL is not going to make communicating any easier. However, I find that text messaging or gchat is the easiest way to keep in touch with Alex. If you have a gmail account please add me. And I'll know my SL phone number as soon as Alex gets my SIM card this week. I'll make sure to let you know what my phone number is.
So my last few weeks in Holland will be very busy, as you can see. I have to get my vaccines tomorrow as well as my visa for SL. If you have any special requests of things you'd like me to bring back with me, please let me know and I'll do my best to get it to you!
Thanks again for all your emails and encouragement.
Love Always,
--
Jovana Ostojic
Den Haag
The Netherlands
(+)31-61-913-8782
March 22, 2008
Hi Everyone!
I hope that this email finds you well. Thanks to everyone who remembered my birthday and sent such kind messages. It was lovely to hear from you. So many things have happened since the last email I sent, and I have been anxious to share it all with you.
First, my parents came to visit for a week. I was so proud to have them here - they met all my new friends, saw my apartment and I really felt happy to 
show them my new life. Perhaps its because this is the first time in my life that I am truly, completely happy and they could sense that. We had such a great time going to Brussels and Amsterdam on day trips. My dad was so cute ordering "Belgian Beer" wherever we went. And even though it was quite an active trip for them (compared to laying on the beach in Mexico), I think they were really relaxed and enjoyed themselves. I have a really nice group of friends here and my parents kept commenting on how we all support each other, as opposed to competing. This environment is completely different from law school, because we all feel like we are a team, and we know that we have to do the best job possible otherwise an accused may go free.
Its interesting to put yourself in second place, because the trial is the most important thing. We know that we don't get "grades" here, there is no "curve," just doing everything we can to make sure we put 100% into everything we do. That's such a cool feeling, and I hope that all of my jobs have such a supportive, fulfilling environment.
I'm attaching a picture of my family to this email: we were at Grand Place in Brussels. There was so much to see, from all sides that this picture perfectly captures how we were feeling at the time.
During their visit, something extraordinary happened. On the second day of their stay I was called into my superior's office. She asked me to shut the door because she wanted to talk to me in private. As I sat down, she told me that she was going to ask me something that she shouldn't but was going to anyway: would I accept to work on a second case? She is responsible for a lower level perpetrator's case, one that no money is being channeled into, and she wanted to look at some evidence with me to determine if the accused committed more crimes than the ones he has been charged with. She handed me a stack of witness statements (in Serbian) and she wanted me to have a report done on them by the next day. Because I am very passionate about the (still confidential crime) that she asked me to look into, I stayed up all night reading each statement, writing a summary, etc. so that I could present her with it the next day. From then on, I was part of a secret team within the tribunal looking into the horrible crimes that the accused committed and determining if we can charge him with something that has never been charged at the ICTY. I took work home every night that week, plus I was working on my official case during the day. In the evenings I had dinner with my parents - that's it. It was so hard telling them that I couldn't spend time with them because I was working. It really made me feel like I had to make the decision between work and family, which is a decision I have been dreading since coming to law school. But I believe so much in this second case, that it was basically a no- brainer. Things have since slowed down, and it is no longer a secret that I am on this other case. Its something so exciting, and I look forward to being able to share with you whats been going on.
Shortly after my parents visit, I came back to the US for a few days!
One of my best friends, Mila, was getting married and I was a bridesmaid in her wedding. It was also my 25th birthday while I was in the US, and it was so fun to get to spend it with my family and closest friends. Ema, Tijana and others were there and they made the short trip to Vegas so amazing. Even Leon came to Vegas to help me celebrate! The wedding was really fun but Mila and her husband made my day so special when at midnight they asked the band to sing me "Happy Birthday." I'm attaching a picture of my parents and me at the Wynn hotel on my birthday; a picture of me in my bridesmaid's dress; and a picture of my mom all dressed up for the wedding.
Another reason for my immense happiness is my boyfriend, Alex. He used 
to be an intern at the ICTY but has since moved on to the ICC. He is the one who texted me that very nice message after I didn't get Fulbright. We were friends for a while and then it slowly turned romantic. He is Spanish. I've never met anyone so motivated, determined and hardworking. Alex started his human rights career by challenging immigration detention in the UK. He worked with asylum seekers and migrants, in removal centers and prisons, to secure their release from detention. From there, he moved into the field and worked in Kosovo. After 6 months in Kosovo, Alex was awarded a national scholarship by the King of Spain. The scholarship allowed him to study for a year in the US, and he went to Georgetown to get his LL.M.
Following his LL.M, Alex moved to Cambodia and worked in the Defense Support Section of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (Khmer Rouge Trials). Alex then came to the ICTY for 5 months and moved on to the ICC. His newest adventure will take him to Sierra Leone from April until November. Alex is only 27 years old. For my birthday, Alex took me to Paris. I'm attaching a photo of us at a great wine tasting.
Sterling also came to visit us for two weeks from San Diego! He's never been out of the country, so Dana and I have made it our mission to take him to as many different countries as possible. So far, he has been to Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium, and The Netherlands.
After all the excitement of the past month, it feels so good to just be back at home and settling back down. I've been a bit sick (as is everyone else at The Hague). Tomorrow (Easter) Dana and I are having an Easter Party for everyone who is here without their family. We're making lamb and a whole bunch of other dishes. I hope that you are able to celebrate with the ones you love, and that you enjoy your time off. I look forward to hearing from you soon!
Love Always,
Jovana
--
Jovana Ostojic
Den Haag
The Netherlands
(+)31-61-913-8782
February 13, 2008
Hello Everyone!
Happy Valentine's Day! This is by far my favorite holiday of the year – a whole day dedicated to everyone you love…what more could you ask for? I just want to take this opportunity and let you know that I am so grateful that you are in my life. Each of you is such a positive influence and a great role model. Thank you for contributing to my growth – both personal and professional.
I have a few things to report!
On Monday evening I went to the First Nelson Mandela Lecture in The Hague. On Monday, 11 February 2008, 18 years after his historical release from prison, The Hague was reminded of the moral leadership of this important statesman in The Hague City Hall. The speakers at the lecture included Brigitte Mbandla, Minister of Justice in South Africa, and Ernst Hirsch Ballin, Minister van Justice in the Netherlands. The City Hall is a beautiful, modern building near the center of town. Other than speakers, there was a person named "D.N.A."
who wrote a rap song about Mandela and his contribution to the world.
Similarly, there was another performer – a singer and her guitar player – whose music was some of the most wonderful music I have heard in a long, long time. The singer took poems that she liked, wrote music for them, and then performed for us. Everyone who attended was just mesmerized by her voice, and I wish that she had a CD that I could buy and share with you. I learned so much about Mandela and am so glad that I attended the lecture.
Secondly, today was a very exciting day for me: My team had a presentation for Mr. Serge Brammertz, the Chief Prosecutor for the ICTY. We were presenting to him the legal theory of our case, relevant facts, strong evidence, as well as some other things. Unfortunately, I have to keep everything confidential, but the presentation made the case so much clearer to me. Because we have such a big team, everyone deals with just a small piece of the case. The presentation put everything in context, and now I definitely have a better understanding of what I am doing here! The dress code is quite relaxed at the ICTY, but today everyone on the team had their best suits on, and looked so nice! It was a momentous occasion! Mr. Brammertz is actually very nice and approachable – he even eats in the cafeteria with everyone else. However, this was the most contact I was able to have with him. It was very exciting.
Lastly, I have a funny story to tell you – I can't believe I left it out of the first email. The first weekend I spent in The Hague the owners of the house Dana and I live in went out of town. Dutch door locks are very strange. Each door has three locks, and each has a very differently shaped key. Some are long and thin, while others look like the regular US keys. Anyway, neither Dana nor I were familiar with how all the keys work, so we were only locking the US-looking lock. So we made our first dinner, and then decided to go for a walk. As we got to the door, we unlocked the lock and were surprised to find that we were stuck in our house! We tried all of our keys, but nothing seemed to work! At that point we understood that someone else had come home (namely, the owners sister who came to feed the cats) and had locked us in from the outside. We just figured that we were locked in until the house owners came home – as we didn't have phones or any way of contacting anyone to help us. That was, until I realized that we have huge kitchen windows that open onto the street. Dana stayed near the door, and I ran upstairs to our kitchen and started yelling "HELP!!"
This went on for a few minutes until a nice gentleman came running, looking for whoever was yelling for help. I got his attention and explained that we were locked in. I tossed him my keys from the third floor and he was kind enough to open our door for us. We felt really silly after that – although I am proud to let you know that we figured out the key system and have not been locked in since.
As far as jobs go, I have made friends with some of the Defence team (yes, this is how its spelled in UK English). They have agreed to be my references when I apply to the Defence team myself, since Defence does not have a 6 month post-internship waiting period like the Prosecution does. Also my friend Alex from Spain (the one who writes great text messages) showed me a great website for lawyers looking for work in the EU. So I am slowly getting all of my things together and am starting to apply for jobs. Hopefully something will come from all of this.
Once again, Happy Valentine's Day! I can't wait to hear from you.
Love,
Jovana
--
Jovana Ostojic
Den Haag
The Netherlands
(+)31-61-912-8782
February 4, 2008
Hi Everyone!
I just wanted to send pictures from Brussels and Antwerp - where I went this weekend :-) I had a fantastic time, and Belgium is incredibly beautiful. I am writing you this email as I get ready for work, so I can't write much but enjoy the photos! In them are my friends Kevin, Tuck and Isaac. 
Keep the great emails coming! Love Always,
Jovana
--
Jovana Ostojic
Den Haag
The Netherlands
(+)31-61-912-8782
February 1, 2008:
Hi Everyone,
thank you so much for all the wonderful emails :-)
i just wanted to let you know that I did not get through to the next round of Fulbright. I thought I would be extremely disappointed, but somehow I'm not. Life has a strange way of getting you to exactly where you need to go, and I have faith that something else is around the corner. My friend Alex, from Spain sent me a text message last night that said:
"Sometimes life gives you a "no" just to give you a bigger "yes". Keep the spirit Jovana 'cause with yours you can only win."
Now I have a chance to focus on getting a job that I really like somewhere in Europe, and finally settling down. If you hear of any opportunities in the human rights or international criminal law field, please pass it on!
Anyway, I just wanted to update you, as promised! Please keep the emails coming, I love them so much!
Have a wonderful weekend,
Love,
--
Jovana Ostojic
Den Haag
The Netherlands
(+)31-61-912-8782
January 30, 2008:
Hello Everyone!
First of all, Happy New Year!!! I am so sorry that it has taken me so long to write - 2008 is proving to be an exceptionally busy year. Here's whats been going on:
Arrival to the Hague:
The most memorable thing about coming to the Hague was meeting a friend, Shirley, on the plane. We met in Phoenix and flew together all the way to Amsterdam. She is Dutch, and a dance teacher near the Hague. We've kept in touch since early January and even had dinner tonight. Life can be so funny - imagine meeting a good friend on an airplane! She is going to show Dana Heitz (my roommate, also a student from TJSL) and myself around. Oh and, her parents own a wine shop!!! Which will come in very handy...
Our apartment is very cute. We live in a 3 story house, and the top floor is our apartment. While it could not be any cuter, it could also not be any smaller. When you sit on our toilet, your knees are in the shower! There isn't even room for a sink in there! Dana has the bigger bedroom, but I don't have to brush my teeth in the kitchen - since I have the sink in my room! We also realize how much we miss having a garbage disposal! I only spent two days in The Hague before I went to Belgrade to visit grandma.
Belgrade:
As usual, arriving to Belgrade felt like coming home. The airport has a characteristic smell and every time I step off the plane memories of my childhood flood my brain. Seeing Grandma was a shocking experience. Although she looks the same (minus 10 or so pounds) she moves so much slower, is unable to bend down, and is generally so weak. But she is such a strong woman and refuses to show her struggles. Watching her broke my heart - it made me think about life and death in a way that I haven't thought about since my dad died. She and I would go for walks in the park and I could just see her frustration with herself. Her mind and body aren't in tune anymore, and she is unable to make her body parts do what she wants. It was so hard to be there and watch her. As awful as this sounds, I was really excited when my 5 days in Belgrade was up, just so I didn't have to watch her that way anymore.
France:
After Belgrade, I went to visit my aunt and cousin in France. I was totally ignored by my 18 year old cousin except the one time I took her out! She is in love for the first time, and was also in her first round of university exams. Cousin Jovana was nowhere on her radar! At least I got to spend some real quality time with my aunt, who reminds me a lot of my mom. We shopped, went to Lyon and generally had a great time. Then, it was time to head back and start the internship at the ICTY.
The Hague, Part 2:
Starting at the ICTY was nerve wracking. I had no idea what to expect - what the people would be like, what the work would be like, would I be accepted by the attorneys, etc. However, just minutes after arriving and sitting down into the orientation I realized that almost everyone is like me - a last semester 3L student, looking to learn and have a great time. Our group of 12 new Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) interns bonded immediately.
All in all, there are about 40 OTP interns, and 40 Chambers interns. OTP's work with attorneys on cases and the Chambers interns work for the judges. Dana works in Chambers, so together we have managed to bring both groups together and just have a really big group of friends who hang out, go out and get along. The interns are from all over, and everyone is so unique and different, that its been really amazing getting to know everyone. One person I really admire is a guy named Anthony, from London, who at 28 gave up his million dollar a year firm job in order to come and do an unpaid internship at the ICTY just because he thought it would make him happier.
My case is the Stanisic/Simatovic case. It is really interesting because the two accused didn't actually physically commit the crimes, they just funded them. Our team is trying to link the money to the accused, so I'm definitely learning a lot. We have 1 Senior Trial Attorney, 3 Trial Attorneys, 4 Legal Officers and 3 Assistant Legal Officers on the team. Plus, 3 interns. It seems like the trail attorneys really want the interns to learn and they have already given me so much responsibility and big projects. One of the attorneys even wants me to make a presentation to the team at our weekly meeting. And what a small world it is, one of the Assistant Legal Officers was a student in Professor Slomanson's Summer Class in Pristina! Imagine our surprise when we learned that we had him in common!
I have also accepted a new position in the intern group - social coordinator! This means that I plan events such as "Tuesday Night Drinks" which is a long-standing ritual at the ICTY. We also have "Thursday Night Drinks" and then, of course, we have the weekends. I love that this is how I am spending my last semester of law school!
I should find out by the 31st if I have passed the first round of Fulbright. Please send your good thoughts - I'll make sure to let you know what comes of it.
My address and phone number are at the bottom of this email. Feel free to call or send a card anytime. I really want to know whats going on with you, how everything is. I apologize if it takes a while to write back, but I have never been busier - or happier- in my life.
I miss you all so much - love,
--
Jovana Ostojic
Den Haag
The Netherlands
(+)31-61-912-8782 or from the US 011-31-619-12-8782