The story must go on.
The next day, I get to see other places in Brussels, which is good. Luckily I find someone else who is going to the same seminar, and we go together. Lesson 1: it’s easier to find a way together. It’s just so much easier. Maybe you can’t take a photo whenever you want, because the others are going too fast, but at least you are going to the right direction.
Well, at least I’ve been to the Grande Place, even if it was by night, as most of the time we spent in the seminar venue that day. Well, it’s of course interesting to discuss about the role of blogging in politics, and is it of any use when we think of these elections? I think it is.
But you guys must be wondering, why I’m blogging? Why am I participating in this competition, if not just to get a free trip to Brussels?
On Tuesday we visited the European parliament. We heard MEPs discussing.
“To blog or not to blog is not a question anymore in 2009”, According to Christopher Fjellner (EPP). He says he doesn’t have a choice. “Those who voted me need to know what I’m doing and then reading by my collegues blogs I get to know what is happening in EP”, he explains.
He’s right, we don’t have a choice.
Why is blogging important? Because it seems that for example the Finnish people know the least about the European elections of all Europeans! We have the national media to blame! Well I guess when politicians talk about EU, it is those who don’t want to be in it. Or maybe they do, they just want to be noticed and the best way is to be uncooperative.
But there’s so much more to discuss about. I’m happy that Finland is a member of EU, if we weren’t, for example in this kind of seminar I would feel a little bit excluded. Well, I guess we always feel a little bit excluded, maybe it’s the language or something, I don’t know. But I think we shouldn’t feel like that, because there are the Estonians who speak a lot similar language, so this language-issue is actually just a question of perspective. From whose point of view are we seeing other people and ourselves? But now we’re in it. I’m in it. So let’s just make the most of it and be positive about it.
Of course it’s good to question some things, like does this European project have a future and what kind of future it will be? Well, this is the question number one of these elections. We can do many things to contribute to this project, for example vote in June.
But it’s not all. We could be interested in other cultures, in learning other languages. I’m surprised how much people actually know about Finland. Actually the motivation in learning languages comes from interest in other people.
In Brussels I met someone from Latvia with whom I had been writing e-mails before because we both were members of AEGEE. (I hope you all know what AEGEE is, but if you don’t, have a look). But I didn’t really know her before, just surprised how small the world is!
And she was so passionate about Finland. She was a member of AEGEE and so am I. Or at least I was. Because now it seems that there are not enough members to continue AEGEE-Tampere. This is the news I heard while I was in Brussels. And I’m so sad.
Don’t we have this interest in other people in my hometown? Some call it Europe – We call it home, this is AEGEE all about. Now I guess in Tampere we only call it Europe.
The fact that AEGEE is going down in Tampere must be a symptom of something. I could have done more to save it, and I will do all I can. But sometimes it feels, this is not enough.
I’m happy that there are some kind of initiatives and campaigns in Finland about these elections. I will follow those while blogging. And we’ll see what the Finnish people are going to do in June: go to the beach or go voting?
When in Brussels I said to someone, that I was from Finland, he said, that in that case I’m from “probably the most wonderful place in the world”. But is this true? And where does this idea come from? What is behind it? He must have meant Europe.
Well, I love Finland of course, but not everything is OK in here, I can tell. It’s a love-hate relationship as most of our relationships. Some other things are not OK in other European countries. Some things are not OK in Europe. But we’re all in this same boat. And I hope we acknowledge this before it is too late.
OK, OK, you say. We have nothing against EU. But you’re already asking the next question:
What could be interesting about these elections?
Keep reading the blog to find out.
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I found I didn’t get to take enough pictures either!