A Visiting Professor Jogging Down the Naviglio

Milan for teaching, Venice for running. Thanks to Tomer Broude, 40, a Visiting Professor from Hebrew University in Jerusalem, last semester students in the second year of Law at Bocconi participated in the first compulsory class held entirely in English: a course in International Law. Broude took advantage of his time away from home to train along the Naviglio Grande and participated in one of the most difficult Italian marathons, held in Venice, on 25 October.

Professor Broude

Tomer as a runner

One of the subjects Broude is most interested in is the WTO (the World Trade Organization), where Giorgio Sacerdoti, Full Professor in International Law at Bocconi, served as European justice for eight years, until November 2009. That's why it was natural for Broude to think about Bocconi for the last semester of his year and a half sabbatical leave, part of which was spent at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

"At first the students seemed a little intimidated, maybe because of the new experience of having to interact in English, or maybe because they were used to classes that are more traditional than mine," explains Broude, thinking about his experience in Milan. "After awhile, however, they loosened up and, thanks in part to their excellent English skills, they proved to be very good students. They were also very competitive, which is certainly positive on one hand, but which also poses the risk losing sight of the real goal of study, which is not a grade but knowledge." The experience was especially interesting for the professor and students when a Moot court, a simulation of a trail in front of an international court and based on a hypothetical case, was held during class.

According to Broude, a marathon can be an antidote to short-term planning. "Both in training, which has to follow a schedule, and in running, where you have to follow predetermined rhythms, marathons have only long-term goals."

Broude started running again a few years ago after a long break. "I started running when I was a kid and during my military service," he says, "and for me it became a lifestyle, something that your body starts to need, and that helps you stay in shape and stay healthy. A marathon, with its 42.195 kilometers, however, was a non-professional challenge, which I wanted to take on after awhile. I chose the one in Venice because I thought it would be amazing, so I started training in Toronto, Canada and I didn't stop even when I moved to the United States and Finland."

Over the semester, Broude ran two half-marathons in Monza and Sanremo, and he discovered a running world that was different from the one he experienced in Israel or the United States. "In Italy," he says, "I saw lots of groups with their social uniforms and people who would run in groups, while running abroad is much more of an individual sport." The opposite is true, however, for university life. "In the United States and Israel, structured activities that involve the entire faculty of an academic subject are more frequent, and can act as social gatherings."