A New One!
Hello!
Well this week was full of excitement! Lessons have become fully intense and the work load - wow - not going to think about that for a moment. Friday, however, was a historic day. On 29 October, 2004 EU heads of states and/or governments plus lots of other people met in Rome to sign the constitutional treaty of the EU. They did this in the same room that the original treaty of Rome was signed by the six founding member. Very exciting - but not as set as you would think. Even though the constitution has been signed each member-states has to ratify it by parliamentary vote OR public referendum - that's 25 countries. Fortunately, Denmark and the UK, the two countries that are most likely to not pass the constitution have their referenda last (in about 2006) hoping that either that A) someone else will fail to pass it so it doesn't look like it is their fault or B) if everyone else passes it, the public may be swayed to vote the same. If you want to read about it or the almost United States of Europe :) go to http://www.europa.eu.int (don't forget to select English as your language!)
So in honor of this monumental occasion, the University of Exeter Centre for European Studies and the Centre for European Legal Studies put on a workshop. We had lecturers from our school but also from all over Europe. We even got a free lunch in the new Xfi building (Exeter finance and investment). In the afternoon, we had these small group discussions covering differing topics - I went to one about the historical perspectives leading to the drafting of a European constitution. My friend and I were volunteered as the spokespersons for our group when we joined everyone else - but I worked my way out of it and let him do it alone. It wasn't necessary to have to speakers. After all this however, I came home and was completely exhausted! I was ready to go to bed.
But in the end, I found a little energy and went to the International student party held every Friday night in the postgraduate centre. It is called The Souk. Mostly it is a mix of Turkish, Greek, Arabic, etc music with a little French and English thrown in. It was really great. Everyone from my department was there - I even learned a Greek and Turkish dance.
As I was writing this, I watched the clock change from 1:59AM to 1:00AM because of the clock change. It was a very strange feeling! (My computer is still set to US time - it is actually 9AM here.)
Well, today I must work on a presentation for Diplomacy. It is about non state actors in Diplomacy and I am doing a case study of the Red Cross. It is proving to be quite difficult but hopefully something will show up! I might also be heading to the beach - trying again - today for a few hours. Hopefully the weather will co-operate.
I miss you all lots and lots! Send me and email or something - I would love to hear what everyone is up to! xxx
Well this week was full of excitement! Lessons have become fully intense and the work load - wow - not going to think about that for a moment. Friday, however, was a historic day. On 29 October, 2004 EU heads of states and/or governments plus lots of other people met in Rome to sign the constitutional treaty of the EU. They did this in the same room that the original treaty of Rome was signed by the six founding member. Very exciting - but not as set as you would think. Even though the constitution has been signed each member-states has to ratify it by parliamentary vote OR public referendum - that's 25 countries. Fortunately, Denmark and the UK, the two countries that are most likely to not pass the constitution have their referenda last (in about 2006) hoping that either that A) someone else will fail to pass it so it doesn't look like it is their fault or B) if everyone else passes it, the public may be swayed to vote the same. If you want to read about it or the almost United States of Europe :) go to http://www.europa.eu.int (don't forget to select English as your language!)
So in honor of this monumental occasion, the University of Exeter Centre for European Studies and the Centre for European Legal Studies put on a workshop. We had lecturers from our school but also from all over Europe. We even got a free lunch in the new Xfi building (Exeter finance and investment). In the afternoon, we had these small group discussions covering differing topics - I went to one about the historical perspectives leading to the drafting of a European constitution. My friend and I were volunteered as the spokespersons for our group when we joined everyone else - but I worked my way out of it and let him do it alone. It wasn't necessary to have to speakers. After all this however, I came home and was completely exhausted! I was ready to go to bed.
But in the end, I found a little energy and went to the International student party held every Friday night in the postgraduate centre. It is called The Souk. Mostly it is a mix of Turkish, Greek, Arabic, etc music with a little French and English thrown in. It was really great. Everyone from my department was there - I even learned a Greek and Turkish dance.
As I was writing this, I watched the clock change from 1:59AM to 1:00AM because of the clock change. It was a very strange feeling! (My computer is still set to US time - it is actually 9AM here.)
Well, today I must work on a presentation for Diplomacy. It is about non state actors in Diplomacy and I am doing a case study of the Red Cross. It is proving to be quite difficult but hopefully something will show up! I might also be heading to the beach - trying again - today for a few hours. Hopefully the weather will co-operate.
I miss you all lots and lots! Send me and email or something - I would love to hear what everyone is up to! xxx
posted by Becca at
10:15 am
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