The next two weeks were spent locked in my room, the library or any other quiet study room either studying for midterms, writing papers or trying to get out the majority of my law school applications, so there isn’t really anything interesting to report about the first 2 weeks of October.
October 15th - October 19th
Midterms behind us, our 3 week travel break had officially started. The first week of it was spent with DIS for our long study tour in our European Politics and Society groups.
So, early Sun
day morning, we all showed up to Frue Plads (a square by DIS where all the tour buses pick us and other tourists up) and boarded the bus to make the long 12 hour trip to Brussels, Belgium, the capital of the EU. The majority of this trip was spent visiting EU institutions, so that’s why we are all dressed up in all the pictures. The bus trip on the Autoban was pretty uneventful, except that I will never again forget to appreciate a bed, because dear goodness is it uncomfortable to sleep upright for hours. (LEFT: Whitney and me on the bus while cruising the Autoban)
Anyways, our first day in Brussels started off with a briefing by an Economic/Trade Officer, Tamera Bowcutt, at the US Mission to the EU. Especially since 9/11, the US has realized the necessity in its relationship with the EU, so they work pretty hard at developing and implementing policy in this institution.
The talk was given by a US foreign officer who had been sent to Brussels on her first assignment, which is pretty rare. Her job was pretty interesting; she works to negotiate between parties concerning issues ranging from agriculture policies, the packing industry, to chemical levels in products. She said that a foreign officer is a generalist by nature and that “policy is being made my people who don’t know what they’re talking about.” That was rea
lly comforting. But in all reality, she works at the communication between parties, such as the military, the FAA, or scientists, so field knowledge isn’t really that necessary. (LEFT: Me, Emily and Whitney outside the US Mission to the EU building with the chocolate gift for our speaker)
After the briefing, we went to the Atomium, which is probably best just
shown in the pictures. It was built for the International Exhibition of Brussels in 1958. It was then used for the Brussels World’s Fair, which was the first major world exposition after the war, so it is touted as one of the most representative international events of the 50’s. Now, I suppose it’s just a national landmark. We ate lunch a
t the restaurant in one of the top balls (Restarant De L’Atomium), which gave us a pretty impressive view of Brussels. We also went on a guided tour of it after lunch, which consisted mainly of seeing how it was built and the cultural period of the 50’s. (RIGHT TOP: The Atomium / LEFT: Me, Kevin and Laura waiting in line all dressed up :) / RIGHT BOTTOM: my lunch; it was a lot more appetizing than it looks)
After the Atomium, we then went onto the European Policy Centre and listened to a talk by Policy Analyst Guillaume Durand on the European Constitution. Recently, the EU Constitution was rejected by the member states, but to keep from boring you on more academic talks, basically, the Constitution’s text was unclear, the common person knows little about the EU, each county is having a national identity/sovereignty crisis, and overall there is negative view on European politics. Basically, the EU is in a period of reflection and with the upcoming French and German elections, political change might make the situation easier.
The rest of the evening, was spent wandering around Brussels on our own looking for food and
sightseeing. After visiting many chocolate shops (Belgium chocolates!) we went around looking for food and stumbled on this street that was lined with restaurants. Yet, restaurants were not the only thing that it was lined with…every restaurant was only about the si
ze of a hole in the wall, but each one had someone standing outside of it yelling, coaxing, bargaining and convincing anything that moved to eat at their restaurant. To be honest, I wasn’t sure if I was bothered or completely 
amused the whole time, but after having sized up many different offers, we decided to stop and eat at the restaurant that offered us 8 euro meals, free champagne and a husband for any single girls among us (haha). (TOP RIGHT: chocolate, chocolate everywhere! / TOP LEFT: Restaurant street with all the hagglers / BOTTOM RIGHT: made a deal, found our restaurant, gained one husband for Emily :) / BOTTOM LEFT: our 'free' champaign!)
After our meal, which was delicious, we went wandering around looking for
the Gran
d Place. We were told that the Grand Place was one of the most beautiful squares in the world. Obviously curious, with map in hand, we were determined to find it. After getting lost, we thought we had found it and we were severely disappointed. It seemed like it was just a cross of a few busy streets and some shops. Obviously, the Belgians’ definition of ‘beautiful’ was very different than ours. So, we walked ar
ound some more, visiting more chocolate shops, when we turned the corner and all of a sudden stumbled upon the real Grand Place. Apparently, we hadn’t found it before and now, we all stopped in awe…now, I haven’t visited all the squares in the world, but this one was beautiful. To experience its gravity…it was just amazing. We eventually just sat down in the middle of it and stared up for about an hour. Breathtaking. (LEFT: Beautiful Grand Place at night / RIGHT TOP: hard to see, but Whitney and 
Emily sitting on the ground in awe / RIGHT BOTTOM: Grand Place by day)
The next day, we went on a guided tour of Brussels, which
turned out to be quite a beautiful city. It’s a little disorganized, especially with the implementation of new EU buildings in the middle of such an old city. We also spent a lot of time sampling Belgium’s trademark foods. Belgium has 2 national languages: French + Flemish a
nd they for the most part speak English pretty well. I tried out my French at some of the restaurants, but most of them just responded to my attempts in English. :( (TOP RIGHT & LEFT: Random shots of Brussels / LEFT MIDDLE: Belgian Waffles! / RIGHT BOTTOM: Mussels in Brussels!) 
Our group was also split into groups of about 4-5, where
we interviewed EU political actors. We interviewed a Save the Children lobbyist organization, which works for child advocacy rights across Europe. For such a noble organization, its office was small, understaffed and underfunded, but the people worked hard fighting for children’s rights. It was an inspirational look at a socially conscience political organization. (LEFT: European Commission Building)
Sorry, this is getting really long…so, I will wrap up here. The rest of our
time in Brussels was spent visiting the European Parliament, meeting with Dan Jørgensen, a Socialist Group Member in the European Parliament from Denmark and listening to a talk by the Danish Ambassador who works as the Permanent Representation of Denmark to the EU. Overall, a great practical look at the EU that we had been learning about in class. (RIGHT: European Parliament / LEFT: Me inside the European Parliament)
Love and Blessings,
Christine
October 15th - October 19th
Midterms behind us, our 3 week travel break had officially started. The first week of it was spent with DIS for our long study tour in our European Politics and Society groups.
So, early Sun
day morning, we all showed up to Frue Plads (a square by DIS where all the tour buses pick us and other tourists up) and boarded the bus to make the long 12 hour trip to Brussels, Belgium, the capital of the EU. The majority of this trip was spent visiting EU institutions, so that’s why we are all dressed up in all the pictures. The bus trip on the Autoban was pretty uneventful, except that I will never again forget to appreciate a bed, because dear goodness is it uncomfortable to sleep upright for hours. (LEFT: Whitney and me on the bus while cruising the Autoban)Anyways, our first day in Brussels started off with a briefing by an Economic/Trade Officer, Tamera Bowcutt, at the US Mission to the EU. Especially since 9/11, the US has realized the necessity in its relationship with the EU, so they work pretty hard at developing and implementing policy in this institution.
The talk was given by a US foreign officer who had been sent to Brussels on her first assignment, which is pretty rare. Her job was pretty interesting; she works to negotiate between parties concerning issues ranging from agriculture policies, the packing industry, to chemical levels in products. She said that a foreign officer is a generalist by nature and that “policy is being made my people who don’t know what they’re talking about.” That was rea
lly comforting. But in all reality, she works at the communication between parties, such as the military, the FAA, or scientists, so field knowledge isn’t really that necessary. (LEFT: Me, Emily and Whitney outside the US Mission to the EU building with the chocolate gift for our speaker)After the briefing, we went to the Atomium, which is probably best just
shown in the pictures. It was built for the International Exhibition of Brussels in 1958. It was then used for the Brussels World’s Fair, which was the first major world exposition after the war, so it is touted as one of the most representative international events of the 50’s. Now, I suppose it’s just a national landmark. We ate lunch a
t the restaurant in one of the top balls (Restarant De L’Atomium), which gave us a pretty impressive view of Brussels. We also went on a guided tour of it after lunch, which consisted mainly of seeing how it was built and the cultural period of the 50’s. (RIGHT TOP: The Atomium / LEFT: Me, Kevin and Laura waiting in line all dressed up :) / RIGHT BOTTOM: my lunch; it was a lot more appetizing than it looks)After the Atomium, we then went onto the European Policy Centre and listened to a talk by Policy Analyst Guillaume Durand on the European Constitution. Recently, the EU Constitution was rejected by the member states, but to keep from boring you on more academic talks, basically, the Constitution’s text was unclear, the common person knows little about the EU, each county is having a national identity/sovereignty crisis, and overall there is negative view on European politics. Basically, the EU is in a period of reflection and with the upcoming French and German elections, political change might make the situation easier.
The rest of the evening, was spent wandering around Brussels on our own looking for food and
sightseeing. After visiting many chocolate shops (Belgium chocolates!) we went around looking for food and stumbled on this street that was lined with restaurants. Yet, restaurants were not the only thing that it was lined with…every restaurant was only about the si
ze of a hole in the wall, but each one had someone standing outside of it yelling, coaxing, bargaining and convincing anything that moved to eat at their restaurant. To be honest, I wasn’t sure if I was bothered or completely 
amused the whole time, but after having sized up many different offers, we decided to stop and eat at the restaurant that offered us 8 euro meals, free champagne and a husband for any single girls among us (haha). (TOP RIGHT: chocolate, chocolate everywhere! / TOP LEFT: Restaurant street with all the hagglers / BOTTOM RIGHT: made a deal, found our restaurant, gained one husband for Emily :) / BOTTOM LEFT: our 'free' champaign!)After our meal, which was delicious, we went wandering around looking for
the Gran
d Place. We were told that the Grand Place was one of the most beautiful squares in the world. Obviously curious, with map in hand, we were determined to find it. After getting lost, we thought we had found it and we were severely disappointed. It seemed like it was just a cross of a few busy streets and some shops. Obviously, the Belgians’ definition of ‘beautiful’ was very different than ours. So, we walked ar
ound some more, visiting more chocolate shops, when we turned the corner and all of a sudden stumbled upon the real Grand Place. Apparently, we hadn’t found it before and now, we all stopped in awe…now, I haven’t visited all the squares in the world, but this one was beautiful. To experience its gravity…it was just amazing. We eventually just sat down in the middle of it and stared up for about an hour. Breathtaking. (LEFT: Beautiful Grand Place at night / RIGHT TOP: hard to see, but Whitney and 
Emily sitting on the ground in awe / RIGHT BOTTOM: Grand Place by day)The next day, we went on a guided tour of Brussels, which
turned out to be quite a beautiful city. It’s a little disorganized, especially with the implementation of new EU buildings in the middle of such an old city. We also spent a lot of time sampling Belgium’s trademark foods. Belgium has 2 national languages: French + Flemish a
nd they for the most part speak English pretty well. I tried out my French at some of the restaurants, but most of them just responded to my attempts in English. :( (TOP RIGHT & LEFT: Random shots of Brussels / LEFT MIDDLE: Belgian Waffles! / RIGHT BOTTOM: Mussels in Brussels!) 
Our group was also split into groups of about 4-5, where
we interviewed EU political actors. We interviewed a Save the Children lobbyist organization, which works for child advocacy rights across Europe. For such a noble organization, its office was small, understaffed and underfunded, but the people worked hard fighting for children’s rights. It was an inspirational look at a socially conscience political organization. (LEFT: European Commission Building)
Sorry, this is getting really long…so, I will wrap up here. The rest of our
time in Brussels was spent visiting the European Parliament, meeting with Dan Jørgensen, a Socialist Group Member in the European Parliament from Denmark and listening to a talk by the Danish Ambassador who works as the Permanent Representation of Denmark to the EU. Overall, a great practical look at the EU that we had been learning about in class. (RIGHT: European Parliament / LEFT: Me inside the European Parliament)Love and Blessings,
Christine
(If you look closely, the 'cooler ranch' Doritos actually say 'Cool American'...found in gas station in Germany on the way to Brussels. A good description of its owner. :) )
