EUIJ WASEDA

Spring Intensive EU Workshop 2011

              This workshop was organized by EUIJ Kansai and originally held for students at Osaka University, Kwansei Gakuin University and Kobe University. However, in order to build a strong tie with EUIJ Waseda, they invited EUIJ Waseda to participate. At the end, because of the earthquake, only I was able to go there but it was a very interesting and meaningful experience and hopefully they will continue to invite people from Waseda University.

              The workshop lasted three days and there were more than 40 participants from those three universities. There were three topics which the workshop focused on; Economic Partnership Agreement between Japan and the EU, financial support for Greece and labor movement within the EU. Because we were having a debate between groups on each topic on the final day, first, every participant chose one topic. Then, there were two opposite positions regarding each topic so we had to take one position. For example, I chose 'financial support for Greece' and took the position of the Greek government, which argued that to support Greece financially means to protect the euro. On the final day, our group had a debate against a group of the German government, which believed that Greece did not deserve financial support from the EU.

              On the first and the second day, in total, we had five lectures given by professors from Kobe University, Kwansei Gakuin University, Nagoya Gakuin University and Hitotsubashi University about the three topics. It was interesting to learn not only about the topic I chose but also other topics. In addition, on the second day, two people from the delegation of the EU to Japan came to give a brief introduction of the EU. At the end of the presentation, many students asked questions concerning Europe and they answered all the questions in earnest. It was a great opportunity to talk to people who represent the EU in Japan. From the first day, we started to prepare for the debate. Each group had around eight people and since we spent a lot of time together in groups, we came to communicate with each other well. I enjoyed exchanging opinions with students in my group and also talking to the professors, who were very kind and friendly.

              On the final day, some other professors joined the workshop to decide which group was the best. It was my first time to have a debate in front of judges and also to debate between groups but I found it very interesting. Besides, listening to other groups' debates taught me many things. For example, it was impressive to know how much information they managed to gather and which sources they used. At the workshop, I learnt a lot about the EU by listening to the lectures. In addition, I came to enjoy a debate between groups. Moreover, most importantly, it was a great occasion to meet students from different universities and work with them.