On the 26thy of this January, 12 students from 1 batx went to Belgium and stayed in a castle called Alden Biesen to participate in the “Young and European” project. I was lucky enough to be one of those 12 students. Three schools participated, one from The Netherlands, Candea College, and one from Finland, Etelä-Tapiolan Lukio. Each school brought a topic, which we then presented to the others as well as presenting proposals our country’s government would or has implemented for these subjects. This was because on the last day we would do a council of ministers and vote on these proposals. We, the Spanish team, chose the topic of illegal immigration since it is quite big here. The Netherlands talked about women’s rights and Finland chose EU defence policy.
We arrived on Sunday in Brussels at around 11 in the morning, we had some time to walk around and explore a bit, we didn’t see nearly enough of the city but we did go back a few days later when we properly explored the beautiful city. We later had to meet back at the station to catch the train to Alden Biesen. While we were on our way, the Finnish teachers happened to be on the same train as us and came to greet us. We then went to talk to the Finnish group where we made some small talk (which we later learnt they aren’t particularly big fans of…) When we finally arrived at the castle we met the Dutch team, which were all girls. We were given our room keys and name tags and then had some time to settle into our rooms. We were then given a presentation on the Teutonic Order which was followed up by our school presentation. We explained how our education system worked as well as our school.At around 21:00, we did a tasting of local specialties where each school brought traditional food. This was where we first started to get to know each other and talked with people from other groups.
On Monday morning, we were divided into groups of 3 Finnish people,3 Spanish people and then 2 Dutch girls. These groups were referred to as discussion groups. In these discussions we would ask questions on our topic to the others to see their point of view and one of the other countries would take notes to later give a report. During the afternoon we visited Maastricht which is famous for being the city where The Maastricht Treaty was signed. Nowadays it is a cozy university town. We came back in time for dinner then answered the question of the other countries on our proposals as well as asked questions of our own.
On Wednesday we spent the whole day in Brussels. We took a guided tour where we learned history facts as well as some interesting quirks, for example, the history of their statue of Manneken Pis, which is a very renowned statue of a little boy peeing. At around 15:00, we went to the European Parliament. Once there, a woman explained to us the history of the UE and its purpose. We were even lucky enough to take a look at the Hemicycle. On our way back to Alden Biesen, we made a stop in Leuven where we had dinner at a university cafeteria.
Thursday was our last day in Alden Biesen and in my opinion the best day. We spent from 9:00 until 13:00 recreating the council of ministers. We were divided in 6 delegations which were: Spain & Hungary, Finland & Poland and finally The Netherlands & Sweden. Each delegation presented their updated version of their proposals. The Spanish delegation only had one proposal approved sadly. After all the proposals were presented and voted we were given certificates that confirmed that we’d participated in the project. In the evening we had a sort of party, our cozy gathering was extended until 1:00. I personally had lots of fun and would say that it was the best cozy gathering we had, even though I was very upset about leaving the next day.
The cozy gathering was a sort of meeting set from 21:30 to 23:30 in a room in the castle called the Oranjerie. Where we would hang out there and get to know each other. It was mainly the Finnish and Spanish, although some of the Dutch girls would occasionally show up.
In summary, the 5 nights we stayed there were lovely. It was lots of fun and we learned loads, not only on the topics discussed but also on the cultural side. As well as knowledge, we also gained friendships. Some people in the group are even in contact with some people from the other countries, including myself. I personally, really enjoyed talking to the Finnish delegation, who were always around for the cozy gathering. I would love to repeat the experience but it wouldn’t be the same without the same people.
