JEF Belgium

Ouch, the nightlife of Berlin can hurt too, certainly in the morning. Since most clubs stay open until the early hours, at the Berkheim for example there was still a big line at six, I didn’t had a lot of sleep. That is however not a very big problem, since almost everybody seemed to suffer from the same condition. Luckily there wasn’t much work to do on Sunday. In the morning we just finished up the last bits of our workshop work, and after that we headed back to the Commission building that’s at the Brandenburg. In our lazy seats we got a nice introduction of what everybody did in their workshops. Some did a little play, some did a little bit of street action in the room and some just gave a short presentation about their work. To end, JEF Germany gave us a nice sandwich lunch before saying bye.

Saying bye is always a difficult thing to do. Especially when everybody has food in his or her mouth. We got to know a lot of new people, learned new skills and fell in love with Berlin. A city so diverse and creative, a place where everybody can find something to fall in love with. I never planned to write a lot about this last day so I’ll stop here. I hope you enjoyed this blog and maybe you’re interested in going on a JEF seminar yourself. If this is the case you should definitely contact a local section or somebody on the board of JEF Belgium.

To end I would like to thank JEF Germany for this great opportunity they offered. It was a nice seminar and a warm and fun stay. Hope to see these our German JEF friends again somewhere in Europe.

With love, from Berlin

Gaute

Saturday was workshops and the seminar party in the evening. The Berlin Seminar offered no less than six different workshops from which participants could choose. Topics such as the financial crisis, foreign policy, social media 2.0, street art, campaigning or debating were on the table. Whatever you chose it wasn’t just to listen and learn, it was also doing it yourself. Since I was already writing this blog I chose the social media 2.0 workshop.

In the morning we got a introduction into social media such as facebook, twitter, bloggingportal.eu and so on, to show us the great potential of these digital tools to connect to others and spread the word of JEF. The purpose of the workshop was of course to write our own blog, something our trainers, Thomas, Martin and Miriam, assured us was not that difficult. Our topic was going to be the new EU 2020 strategy, the follow up of the Lisbon Strategy, about which we as Jeffers had some serious doubts. After lunch we’ve hit it hard and fast. We started with some research, gathered online sources and wrote our piece. With the help of our trainers we put it on the JEF site, The new federalist. This and more in less than 3 hours.

In the evening we returned to the hostel, to enjoy some free time before dinner. Since the pintjes in the hostel were outrageously expensive (2 EUR!!!) me and Peter hit the Netto supermarket and

got our own stash. Always a smart thing to do when you’re on a seminar: look for local budget solutions. A nice shower, some very nice pasta and a train ride later we we’re standing outside the venue JEF arranged for us, Fritzclub. This club was all about young people, catering to different tastes in more than four different music style rooms. More than enough to ensure that everybody in our group of Jeffers could have a great time.

The only thing we missed was the traditional Tequila sharing moment which Mandi (aka Manja) arranged. A longstanding tradition that goes all the way back to Ventotene. Off course it wouldn’t be the same without Angel, but we simply had to do it, since this was a ‘party on a seminarie’. After some deliberation we went back to the hostel to get the tequila and dive even further in the rich nightlife that Berlin has to offer with the help of my local guide, Martin.

Gaute