NSC Wiesbaden 2017 | Farewell Issue

FAREWELL ISSUE SEE YOU SOON!

WIESBADEN2017

THE 27TH NATIONAL SELECTION CONFERENCE OF EYP GERMANY

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TABLE OF CONTENTS THE SO-CALLED POST-EYP DEPRESSSION

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AN INTERVIEW WITH DAVID CORISH

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THE BENEFITS OF EYP

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AN INTERVIEW WITH ANTHONY MCKEE

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ORGANISERS

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AN INTERVIEW WITH DANA KRISTIÄ€NA SKRUPSKA

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BEING AN OFFICIAL

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AN INTERVIEW WITH YOU (THE DELEGATES)

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WHERE DOES EVERYONE COME FROM?

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THE SO-CALLED POST-EYP-DEPRESISON Just like when you return from an especially nice holiday, coming home from an EYP session isn’t exactly the greatest feeling. Your life suddenly may seem empty, devoid from all the amazing people, great banter and heated discussions you found at Wie’17. But worry not! There’s a lot of ways to make sure that you’ll feel all right back home, and most of them involve more EYP. First off all: stay in touch with everyone you’ve met! You might’ve encountered this concept called ‘digitalisation’ this week, which makes it incredibly easy to contact anyone you’d want to. There are no better opportunities to meet new people than EYP, so make use of it!

If you want to relive the experience or try your hand at becoming an official, you should read up on the possibilities you have in EYP. You’ll find a description of the different EYP roles both in this issue and in a separate booklet that was given to you. If you decided on what kind of official you’d want to be, just visit the magical ‘Sessions!’ page on Facebook and apply somewhere! There’s more sessions than days in a year, so there should be something that fits your taste.

The final way we recommend to resolve your PED is a little bit different from the others; as it doesn’t involve doing more EYP. Instead, it’s about taking some of the positivity and good vibes that you will find at EYP sessions and bringing it into your daily life. One of the things you’ll hear most often from delegates is that they find talking to strangers far easier when at sessions. If you carry over this attitude into your daily life, you will have a little bit of EYP wherever you go. And wouldn’t that be amazing?

Good luck!

As the organisers already told you in the daily digital update, looking at the Media Teams of EYP Germany page on Facebook is a very potent cure as well!

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Give us a small recap of your entire EYP career.

I have been in EYP for about six years now and done about thirty sessions. I have done everything from being a Delegate, a Journo, Editor, an Organiser, to being a Chair, VP and President. The only thing I have yet to do is headorganise.

What is the best advice you can give the delegates when they do go abroad for EYP? I think just be yourself and try to enjoy yourself, have fun. EYP sessions are always a special thing and I think everyone should try to take as much from it as possible.

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AN INTERVIEW

President of th What is next for delegates after their regionals and their nationals? (e.g. a forum, being an official etc. etc.)

I’d advise them to stay involved, stay active, keep in touch with the new friends they made, apply to sessions and to keep an eye on how they can continue in EYP as long as they want to.

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David Corish

he RSC in Herzogenaurach

What do you think is the added value of EYP to your life?

It has given me a lot more friends, it let me travel all across Europe and hang out with cool people in cool cities. EYP also allowed me to miss a lot of University time for something that is effectively holidays.

What is your favourite part or aspect about EYP? I thinks its the people you meet and the friends you make. I often joked that I think the friends you make in EYP are there for life and it’s just a really nice way of meeting likeminded people in a good environment.

Is there something you would like to say to the delegates?

Just always be yourself in EYP and everyone is slightly odd, but that’s what makes us cool and unique.

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THE BENEFITS OF EYP

It’s not only sessions!

EYP is one of the most successful European projects, and managed to achieve an irreplaceable position in lives of thousands of young, motivated people. EYP sessions give many of us a unique chance to further enhance our vision of this world.

While some join to learn more about politics and pressing issues faced by the EU, others do so to test themselves in an environment, different from that what they are used to, full of people from across Europe. The EYP experience allows the enhancement of a number of skills, such as public speaking, teamwork and leadership. For many successful EYPers, the key motivation to take part in EYP is to challenge themselves, and through this, achieve further development. Regardless of the reasons for joining, participants always leave their EYP sessions with much more than what they have arrived with.

VALUABLE SKILLSETS

Taking part in an EYP session, participant get a chance to develop valuable skills that can be used to great extent during your education, your career, and in everyday life. You’ll have a chance to practice discussing ideas in English, strengthening your confidence, forming your opinions and ability to express them more clearly and strongly. You’ll gain skill in teamwork and cooperation, as you have to find common ground during discussions, and agree to a solution to presented issues together as a team.

You’ll learn how to structure speeches and deliver ideas and opinions during debates, improving your public speaking and debating skills. Throughout the session, you will gain a lot of knowledge about the EU, the issues faced today, and decision-making processes on national and international levels.

Taken at the First Power Shifts Forum in Lyon, 2015.

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BROADENING YOUR HORIZON

Spread across Europe, EYP incorporates people from many cultures and with various backgrounds.

By becoming a part of EYP, you will meet people from all over Europe and learn how their cultures are similar to or different from your own. Through this interactions you are presented with a chance to learn in a great detail about the European society and identity from a first hand experience, while being able to also scrutinise your own. You’ll get to understand what matters in Europe and what issues the EU is facing, and why member states don’t always agree with each other, be it by debating whale-hunting with Norwegians or over-fishing with delegates from Spain. Ultimately, you’ll be able to explain complicated matters within the EU, using the first hand experience from people who have had a chance to actually witness those issues and experience them personally.

FRIENDS FOR LIFE

Furthermore, by interacting with so many delegates from across Europe, you have an unparalleled chance to get to know to many different people and cultures in greater detail. You can try their food, learn new words from a different language, but most importantly, make lifelong friends across the continent. What EYP is best at is bringing likeminded people together, people that you will spend days and weeks with, creating bonds stronger than imaginable in such short periods of time. Attending my first EYP session in 2012, I have met hundreds of new people over the past five years, and made hundreds of new friends in all corners of Europe, friends that I value greatly and will undoubtedly have by my side for years to come.

EYP is a rare opportunity to enrich your life in ways that will fundamentally impact your future, and open doors to new opportunities, opportunities that you may have not even imagined to be there before.

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Give us a small recap of your entire EYP career.

I started EYP in 2011 in Belfast, in a small oneday session. I didn’t really have an interest in what we were doing, but we ended up getting selected for a national session anyway. After that, I just loved EYP and kept involved. Six years down the line, I’ve attended 18 to 20 sessions and I’m on the governing body, and I’ve enjoyed every second of it so far.

What is the best advice you can give the delegates when they do go abroad for EYP? I think the best advice I can give you is to learn a bit about the country you’re going abroad to. You’ll get to know the place a lot better then when you would be a delegate, so it’s a unique opportunity to learn about it.

Also, document your trip as much as you can, take a lot of photos, and try and form as many friendships possible. It sounds cliché, but I have a sofa to crash on in every part of Europe right now, thanks to the friends I made through EYP.

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AN INTERVIEW

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Pres What is next for delegates after their regionals and their nationals? (e.g. a forum, being an official etc. etc.)

No matter what delegate you are, whether you are interested in going on that journey in terms of sessions or you’re happy enough with the experience of one regional, take as many opportunities with this organisation as you can. I’m still here six years after my first session, because it is such an amazing organisation. When I started here, I was such a shy individual. I hardly spoke during my first two sessions, and now I’ve got to the stage where I’m presiding sessions.

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Anthony McKee

sident of the RSC in Nauen What do you think is the added value of EYP to your life?

I used to be incredibly shy. When I started EYP I could hardly speak, and I only could check other people’s speeches for grammar mistakes. While I’m still good at that now, EYP brought so much more to me as a person, I now know how to talk, how to present myself and to be confident enough to do things by myself, which gives me the confidence to grab opportunities elsewhere. All the great experiences that you get through being in EYP made it possible for me to do things elsewhere.

What is your favourite part or aspect about EYP? Although it is cliché, the friendships you make in EYP last forever; I’m still in touch with people who I met as a delegate. And I’ve done some amazing things with those people too, I slept in a bunker in Switzerland and we had a solar party in Finland.

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ORGANISERS

Not the heroes we deserve, but the heroes we need

An interview with Christian Ulmer, the Head-Organiser as well as Eline Katsma, the organiser responsible for the Cultural Programme.

How did you first get into EYP? Christian: Ladies first Eline: I got in touch with EYP through my school as a delegate, I did the National Selection Process in 2013, and have been involved with EYP since.

Christian: I got involved with EYP 3 years ago as a delegate, went to my regional and national sessions that year, and since then I have been active in EYP Germany, mostly as an organizer.

What motivated you to organise/Headorganise this session?

Christian: As a delegate, I was always curious of what’s going on behind the scenes. I wanted to see how organisers work, how young volunteers spend so much time and energy on a project and create a session. After a few times as a delegate, I applied as an organizer and experienced what it feels to be a part of the organizing team. My motivation was not to see only one part of the session, but the entire ‘whole’ of it, which motivated me to become the Head-Organiser for this session, to shape the session in the way as I vision it and experience it to the fullest Eline: For me, I’d say its two main things. On one hand it’s the process, as an organizer you meet so many people and make great friends.

Also there are the skills and experience that you learn during this process, that could come very handy later in life.

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What was the biggest challenge for the organising team?

Christian: There were a few bottlenecks, with a lot of stuff going on at the same time where many things could go wrong, but everything went super smoothly, and team has demonstrated great performance.

Do you think this session has had an impact you?

Eline: Yes definitely, I am going to be a Headorganiser next year on the nationals, and it was great experience to witness everything to prepare me for what’s going to come, and having a role model like Christian is a great benefit to have.

What has been your favorite part of the session so far?

Chirstian: The most exciting moment was definitely the general teambuilding. You see all the delegates and officials together, and it’s the start of the session, which is something you’ve been working on for months, more than a year for me personally, and seeing everything starting was a very exciting moment.

Eline: For me, it’s the moments when we are in an organizing room, and there’s that feeling of unity and friendship in the team, with all the little insiders. Doesn’t matter what I have to do, as long as I have a good team, I’m happy to do it.

Whats your favorite position in EYP? Eline: I really enjoy organising, you work in a team, getting to know to other organisers. I don’t know how, but you get very close after just two days, and it gets very emotional by the end.

Christian: Organising is my favorite too, firstly because I like to get the behind-the-scenes view, and as an organiser you get that the most, seeing things working together, how gears shift and how everything runs smoothly. Also, it’s the role that involves you longest in the session, as an organiser you get to experience the whole process, you see where you started and in the end you see the result of what you have created.

Eline: Also, you learn to appreciate all the things more, that you don’t see as a delegate, like inviting all the speakers and raising funds.

It’s a great feeling of fulfillment when things go successfully.

Any special ‘behind the scenes’ moments in the Organising team?

Christian: The thing is, if everything runs smoothly, you don’t see the work behind it.

As an organizer, you go through the program, the plan and all the tasks, there are so many things you have to keep in mind. The team has to work together and function as one, and there are so many external people we depend on.

When it runs all smoothly, and you get to the final day and all works perfectly, you don’t see the work behind it. The delegates just see how everything works well, and you as an organizer know how much work went into it.

Eline: A funny example, when we went to the Eurovillage venue to set everything up, we had to go to Frankfurt and when we got there it turns out we had no key… The delegates didn’t notice this and it was no problem at all, because we solved everything, because we’re just that smart and resourceful, haa.

Christian: Also the organizing team had to stay afterwards till late night, to clean everything up, while maintaining other tasks as well.

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AN INTERVIEW

Dana Kristi

Presiden

When did you start your EYP Career?

I started my EYP career back in 2012, when I attended my first regional session in Latvia.

Afterwards I was selected to be a delegate in a national session that happened the same year, and from there I had the great opportunity to be selected to be a delegate at an International sessions in Munich in 2013. Afterwards, I have realised that I enjoy doing EYP, so I started doing more and more sessions, which has led to the fact that this is close to my 30th session in the 5 years time.

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What is next for delegates after their regionals and their nationals? (e.g. a forum, being an official etc. etc.)

It is either going on an international journey, either on an international Forum or an international Session if you get selected, where you get to meet people from all around Europe, who in a way become a big part of your.

There it is also the academic knowledge you gain, as you get to talk about topics that are understood differently in each part of Europe.

Another thing is that, soon you will become officials as well, and you will get to do what we are doing, and you will get to go to more sessions and shape new generations, which in my opinion is the greatest thing you can do for EYP, if you want to give back for knowledge you have gained.

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iāna Skrupska

nt of the RSC in Frankfurt

What do you think is the added value of EYP to your life?

If I look at the added that EYP has given to my life, I have definitely grown and changed as a person. Not only because I became more mature with time, but because of things that I have learned and the way my views have changed. I feel very grateful that I have had the opportunity to talk about things that matter, and found people who think the same way.

The second point is definitely the people that I have met, the friends that I have made not only in my home country but around Europe, that I can go and visit, and just knowing that I have a friend somewhere. People are definitely the best part of EYP for me.

What is your favourite part or aspect about EYP? Definitely the people, because it’s people that are the ones that shape this organization, who take part in it, who devote themselves to working for long hours, spending weekends in schools in different countries, or just working for a whole year on projects, learning a lot and gaining new skills.

As a part of the session, I really enjoy the teambuilding part, as you can see how people open up, how they overcome their fears, and they do it in such funny ways, that you don’t even realise that a person next to you is soon going to be your best friend. We always hear that we need to get 5-6 hours of sleep per night, but sometimes you get in such great conversation with people, that you simply can’t go to sleep. That’s what I like the most about EYP, you can always find something that keeps you going.

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BEING AN OFFICIAL

What can you do?

While Wiesbaden ‘17 might be over, your EYP career could be just getting started.

You’ve seen a lot of chairpersons, journalists and organisers running around the venues, but what is their role actually like, and what is the best way to become one of them?

ORGANISING

While it is less visible to the delegates than the chairs team or the media team, the organising team is actually the most important. Without orgas (as we like to call organisers in EYP), there would be no place to sleep, no coffee breaks, and no dinner.

Their tasks include but are not limited to taking care of venues, fundraising, public relations, food, and delegate support.

weekends way more often than other officials, and they are usually from the same country, which makes it easier to stay in touch with each other. It is also the easiest position to be selected for, as one does not simply have too much organisers.

If you really enjoy being an organiser, you can take it to the next level and become the head-organiser of a session. Being a head-organiser is a truly daunting, but Organising a session is more of a long-time commitment than being a chairperson or a also extremely rewarding task; you are journalist. Sometimes, you will be arranging responsible for building up an entire session from the ground. But if you want to the necessary stuff months before the get started, apply as an orga for next year’s session happens, as you simply can’t sessions! make a 100-people hostel reservation the day before. While organising might sound like harder, less-fun work than the other branches, it has its advantages as well.

Organisers tend to have pre-session

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CHAIRING

If you’re a delegate, you already know what chairing is about; you’ve seen your own chairperson doing this all week. What you, however, probably didn’t realise is that there is a huge amount of group dynamics theory that chairpersons learn and apply during a session. Chairing is a very EYP-specific skill that requires a lot of patience and a lot of sessions to master.

Still, starting with it is not difficult, a lot of fun and gets you some quite interesting insights on how people communicate with each other.

The position of chairperson is the most academic position at a session; you have to grasp your topic in such a way that you can explain it to your delegates. However, caring for your delegates is

MEDIA

If you like to let loose your creativity, the media team is the place for you. As an EYP journalist, you’ll take a lot of pictures and videos of a sessions participants, and learn a lot about how to edit them and make them look extra nice. If writing is more of your thing, you can also contribute to session issues or write shorter articles to hand out.

Another great thing about the media team is that there is a lot of room for you to create your own projects. You can make an especially hilarious collection of pictures or videos, you can write a more serious academic article, or you can integrate photography, videography and creative writing in one big project. Some sessions even allow for the media team to organise its own activities.

even more important; they all should feel comfortable in the committee room. If you become a chairperson, the vice-presidents will tell you in great detail how you should do this.

If you want to start as a chairperson, your chance to get selected is best if you apply to a regional session. After that, you should apply to as much sessions as you can, even if you think you’re not good enough yet – the results might surprise you! If you have sufficient chairing experience, you can try and become a vice-president, who mentors the chairpersons and gives them advice.

If that goes well, too, you might even become a session president one day!

If you want to apply to a session as a journalist, it is always useful to include some of your own work. This can include pictures you’ve taken, posters you’ve created or videos you edited. You have the best chances of getting selected if you try at a regional session, but sometimes you can go to a national session for your first time being a journo as well. If you like the media team and get the required experience, you can become an editorial assistant, who helps both the editors and the journalists, or you can become an editor and lead a media team.

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AN INTERVIEW WITH...

YOU

Some of the delegates in Wiesbaden WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE VALUE OF EYP, AND WHAT CAN IT OFFER TO ITS PARTICIPANT? Pauline Pralle EYP is a platform for young people, who are not yet ready to have their own political opinion, but still want to get to know to politics but from a different perspective. You can also get to know to a whole lot of young people from all over the place, and I think that’s beautiful.

Sami Aho EYP is for young Europeans, and it makes world ‘smaller’, and promotes more integration.

Emma Lee Petersen First of all, you get to know to many different people and many different perspectives and opinions, if I am

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only at home with people that I know they have the same opinions on different topics, while people all over Europe may have completely different perspectives that you never thought about, or never though about in that way, so it broadens your horizons. Of course you also learn how politics work in detail.

Lilith Diringer I think EYP has a lot to offer, the communication and connection on an international level, the political information, you get to know how political processes work, how bureaucracy in Europe works. Also the skill and factual knowledge on lots of new topics, how to write speeches and present them on stage in front of hundreds of other delegates, its something that you have to practice over and over again, and it’s a great opportunity, especially when it is in another language.

HOW DID YOU START EYP?

HOW DID EYP AFFECT YOU?

Pauline My sister went to EYP while at School.

When I went to the same school, our history teacher mentioned it, so I though ‘EYP, cool, I wanna do that as well’ because my sister was so excited about it, now I’m far more into EYP then my sister is.

Pauline I got to know to so many people that shaped me. Being in a committee with these people, interacting with them, getting to know them changes you. Every person you meet changes your life, and there is a huge change that EYP did to me. I became much more interested into politics, I want to know what’s going on in the world now.

Sami Couple of my friends were in the board of EYP Northern Finland, and they suggested EYP to me. I was in my final year in school, so I though, why not?

Emma At our school, it is quite integrated, in 11th grade teachers announce about EYP, and you can join the delegation or apply and get together in a group with a teacher organising it and you write a resolution together. So a chance came up and I have decided to join.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE PART OF THE SESSION? Sami I would say, either the welcome party, haha, or the lectures on digital dialogue!

Emma It is kinda funny, because in teambuilding there are some games that include a lot of body contact, so at first you think ‘oh, well, ok’ and then you are so concentrated on that game that you totally forget where you are touching people, I know that sounds strange, but even though you’ve know each other for a few hours, you get so intimate, and that’s really special. Then in the evening you dance with each other even though you don’t even know their names, that is very special too.

Lilith I got to know about special topics and their importance in different states in Europe, by getting to know to many people across Europe.

Sami I feel way more relaxed. I talk to different people more easily, random people, I talk to a lot more people here than in sessions in Finland, so I guess it made me more ‘Global’...

WILL YOU CONTINUE IN EYP?

Emma Yes I hope so, I do know some differences between language skills as I am unfortunately unable to go to bilingual school, but anyways there are so many possible ways to get involved.

Lilith Yes definitely, I would like to try out different positions, as I had only been delegate so far, and I want to try myself out in each position at least once, as a chair, an organiser, also a journalist, as I assume it’s a completely new experience from each perspective.

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WHERE DOES EVERYONE COME FOROM? spoiler: everywhere You may have noticed the diversity of nationalities in Wiesbaden. Your chair might have been international, the journalist that took pictures of you was most likely international and the President himself is international. Although it might be interesting to see where these people come from, it might be more interesting to see where they have already been.

Justyn Brockmeyer set out to ask as many officials as possible where they have attended EYP sessions, which resulted in 278 different sessions in 24 countries.

The question to you is also not where you are from, but where will you go after Wiesbaden?

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TRAVELLING WITH EYP 22 OFFICIALS ASKED

278 SESSIONS EXPERIENCE

24 Countries VISITED

EYP CAN TAKE YOU EVERYWHERE

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WIESBADEN2017

THE 27TH NATIONAL SELECTION CONFERENCE OF EYP GERMANY

IS PROUDLY SPONSORED BY

Layouting Tom Cobbenhagen (NL) Content Justyn Brockmeyer (DE) Luka Dzagania (GE) Daniël de Weerd (NL) Tom Cobbenhagen (NL) Photos The Facebook page “Media Teams of EYP Germany”