Nigeria, March 1 -- I joined the Florence School of Transnational Governance at the European University Institute (EUI) because I saw people like Professor Alex Stubb on the university faculty. Stubb was once the prime minister of Finland. The EUI also has a former Greek finance minister and the president of the European Commission, amongst other notable figures, on its faculty. I thought it was an excellent crowd to associate with, an opportunity to learn from those who have been in the trenches and a chance to step away from the idealism of the ivory tower to the pragmatism of everydayness.

Since joining the EUI, apart from a one-off encounter with overt racism at a bank in downtown Florence, I have not been disappointed. Instead, I ha...