Model EU

So when I last updated you, I was heading off to the first model EU event on Thursday afternoon. Let's pick it up from there. We all got dressed up in our fancy clothes and such, and we started off with a mock debate during class time (16.30-18.00). It was on the issue of Turkish accession to the EU, and it was mostly just to get us familiar with parliamentary procedure. So that was OK. And then we had the official opening statements and such from each country. Not too exciting. Just each country saying their main positions on the main issues. And I was representing Slovakia. Not to be confused with Slovenia. They have similar names, but otherwise are very different. Anyway, we got done around 19.30 or so. Then most of us went home and changed clothes. We ended up going out to Agar, which is a club downtown. It was kind of a bust though. There were only like 30 people there. Not the most happening club. So Drew and I left kind of early.

On Friday, we began the official debate and such in Model EU at 10.00. I only spoke a few times the whole day, because Slovakia doesn't have that much influence and has a lot of moderate positions. Plus Slovakia was in agreement with most of the proposals we were debating. So I didn't have much to disagree with. We didn't finish until 18.00. So kind of a long day. We got four proposals passed though. Which is fairly productive for one day. The general topic of the day was climate change and energy security. On Friday night, I went to a shots bar with some people from my program, and then we went to a bar and hung out for a while.

We started model EU again on Saturday at 10.00. The topic of Saturday was enlargement and neighborhood policy. So fairly interesting. I actually took a pretty intense stance on the issue of enlargement in the Western Balkans, as Slovakia does not recognize the independence of Kosovo, and therefore I was staunchly opposed to a proposal that meant to begin pre-accession processes in the Western Balkans. Other than that, we debated Turkish accession for along time, which Slovakia does not have a very strong stance on. So that was kind of boring for me. But we ended up passing a really complicated compromise on that issue just before the end of the day. And then in the last five minute of the day we passed a proposal for the EU to apply to become the 51st state of the United States within the next year, just as a joke for us and for the staff. It was pretty hilarious actually. We are complete nerds.

Model EU was not as bad as I thought it was going to be. It was interesting and kept my attention most of the time. And it was just cool to experience the whole negotiation process, which includes a lot of things that happen outside of formal floor debate. I feel like maybe it was a little longer than necessary, but I got through it, and I think I'm better for it. Such is life.

Last night, I went out with people again. We went to this Irish pub first, and then we went back to the shots bar from the night before. It's a very interesting shots bar. Some of the shots you have to complete a task in order to get. Kind of strange and funny. Then today I've mostly just been doing homework and such. I started to clean up my room a little bit actually. I now have a foot-high stack of papers that I need to recycle. It's amazing how much paper a person can collect over one semester.

Less than two weeks until I come home. I feel as though I will definitely be ready to go home when the time comes. I'm not really looking forward to the long trip (I think it will take at least 20 hours total to get from Freiburg to Blaine), but I am looking forward to seeing everyone and being home again.

I am not looking forward to finals. But I doubt that anyone ever looks forward to finals. As far as classes go, my last class is on Thursday. And that is only German. All my other classes end on Tuesday or Wednesday. So the semester is definitely winding down.

I think I would like to come back to Freiburg again one day. It's a great city, and I feel like it would be really cool to come back in 10 or 15 years and visit the city that I studied abroad in. See what has changed and what has stayed the same. See if my favorite Döner shop is still around. Stuff like that.

There's one thing that I'm still kind of thinking about. Which is, what if someone isn't ready to go home when the time comes. What if they feel like they should stay longer? It kind of stinks that they are basically forced to leave. I mean, the semester will be over, we will no longer have housing, and our residence permits are only good for so long. So it is kind of strange that we have to work toward being ready to go home. We can't just let it naturally happen, and then one day say that we feel like going back home. It's more like "I know when I'm going home, so I have to prepare myself for that," rather than "I'll go home when I'm ready to go home." Having said that, I feel like I will be ready to go home when the time comes. Although I have met some awesome people over here that I will probably never see again. I feel like it would be more interesting to just travel with no timeframe in mind. That would be the life, huh?