The Time of My Life
by Margarita E. F. Victorino (2009 Academy participant from Philippines)
There is no such thing as a coincidence. I had initially intended to attend the 45th Academy but my application was not seasonably sent. Thus, I was informed that my application will be considered for the next batch of the following year. Upon realization, I wanted to withdraw my application but decided otherwise a few days later. A year after, as I was leaving the empty halls of the Summerfield Suites, my residence for six weeks, I realized that truly things happen for a reason. There was a reason why I had to attend the 46th Academy of the American and International Law. If I had gone to the 45th Academy, I would have lived the life of my time in Dallas but with the 46th, I had the time of my life.
It was late Saturday evening when I arrived in Dallas. As a pleasant surprise, I was met at the door of Room 1773 by a friendly Italian who introduced herself as Ada Esposito. Ada immediately invited me to dinner but after 24 hours of travel, I reluctantly refused. Later that evening as I was about to sleep, the door to my room was quietly opened by another beautiful Italian, Ginevra Orsini. It took just five minutes of conversation with her for me to realize that I was going to be spending the next six weeks with two equally attractive and generous women from my favorite city, Rome.
The following morning, Gine and I went to the lobby of the Summerfield to have breakfast with the rest of the 47 scholars from 28 countries. I was intimidated to step into the hall but I was ushered in by another scholar who opened the door for me. His name was Daniele Sotgiu. Little did I know that this Italian lawyer from Rome would introduce me to true espresso, teach me how to prepare bruschetta and challenge me to think beyond the four walls of my practice in Manila.
Over breakfast, Gine and I met Monica Represa, the lovely Spanish scholar who would later share my amazement with the various food choices in Wal-Mart. At that same time, I also had a first glance of a group of stylish women who looked like they just stepped out of a French fashion magazine even before 8:00 in the morning! I did not know then that these women who later introduced themselves as Patricia Lyra Roza, Vivianne Magalhaes and Michelle Abagge Tanaka were from Brazil and that they will be one of the reasons why Dallas will always have a special place in my heart.
That afternoon, our group convened for the first time at the Center to meet our remarkable President, General Mike Marchand, our warm and considerate Dean, Mark Smith and Sandra Ritzmann whom we knew and loved even before we had the chance to meet her. It was our first time to enter the impressive building of the Academy. As our coach stopped at the entrance, I could not help but think how privileged I was in attending a prestigious and well respected center for learning. As we stepped out of the bus, we were ushered into the Hall of Flags where I immediately looked for the Philippine flag. Not long thereafter, our efficient facilitator Elyssa Winters requested us to proceed to the Hearing Room where we would be spending at least six hours of lectures a day for the next six weeks.
Before the afternoon ended, we were all made to realize that the Academy will require serious work from each and every one of us. Not only were we required to successfully hurdle 5 out of 6 written examinations to receive a Fellowship Certificate, we also had to defend a Memorandum to a Senior Dallas Law Partner on a case which required us to review a number of multilateral treaties and agreements on international trade. In this activity, I had the chance to learn from seven diligent lawyers namely Jane Wang, Yasu Yamazaki, Oscar Arias, Marcel De Melo Santos, Giovanni Meschia and Pedro De La Fuente from Taiwan, Japan, Mexico, Brazil, Italy and Argentina, respectively. To my great delight, our group never encountered any conflict in preparing our recommendation. At the end of our presentation, I realized that there was truth to what Mr. Pat Murphy had told us, “The right answer to the wrong question is always wrong.”
Understanding the concept of common law when one comes from a predominantly civil law jurisdiction can be very tricky. This was my realization after listening for a few minutes to Dean Susan Karamanian of the George Washington University. The thought of taking a written examination on this very new concept immediately after completing almost 12 hours of lecture was nerve wracking but my colleagues and I pushed on. We then created a study group of sorts in our room. Soon, the Academy was no longer solely a place of academic growth. It became a birthing place of new friendships. Through these study sessions, I met Luca Spagna who would later miss lunch hours to help me translate correspondence I had to send to Italy. Moreover, Luca taught me that a friend is someone who is there for you when he would rather be somewhere else.
A few weeks into the Academy, I received disturbing news from family members in Europe. It was at that moment when my colleagues turned into dear friends. I remember Lucia Ottati, Iva Miteva and Mona Mukherjee constantly assuring me that things will be alright and Marcel De Melo Santos tirelessly reminding me not to worry. My groupmate Giovanni Meschia likewise went as far as calling a colleague of his in Italy to be prepared to render immediate legal assistance should I require one. I knew then that these friends were the ones worth keeping.
While our days were spent in serious consideration of American laws and jurisprudence, our nights and weekends were used to relax. We enjoyed gathering together by the pool with Malcolm Deane and Diego Alvarez from Argentina cooking for us and even patiently teaching us to dance the raggaton.
Common activities sponsored by the Academy also allowed us to know more about the cultures of the other scholars in the group. Sometime near the end of our stay in Dallas, we had the International Food Festival where we had to prepare a dish from our native country. I was at a complete loss until Giacomo Gitti, another scholar from Milan offered to help me cook adobo, a Filipino dish of chicken and pork simmered in soy sauce, vinegar and garlic. I could not believe my luck! Imagine an Italian cooking a Filipino delicacy which he had never even seen or tasted! It was too bad that I did not find the soy sauce we needed at the Asian store so I had to be content with preparing a dessert. But even then, Giacomo stayed and helped me prepare halo-halo. He probably knew that I had no cooking skill at all.
Much later into the program, our group elected our officers to the Alumni Organization and our spokesperson. Taka Ozawa from Japan was elected our Deputy Secretary General and Joachim Herrn from Germany was voted our spokesperson. We could not have had a better set of representatives.
As I end this article, I could not help but feel a tinge of sadness. Then, I recall Sandra Ritzmann’s voice saying, “Don’t cry because it is over. Smile because it happened.” Indeed, Dallas brings so many beautiful memories to mind. To my dear friends, my life in Dallas is summed up in little parts of all of you.