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The first official day of MEPNL 17 was partially marked by teambuilding activities. The first delegates arrived around 8:45 and the activities officially started at 9:30. There were 3 activities, the EUscape Room, Crazy MEP and Cultural Differences. We followed committee EMPL during their teambuilding.

They began their day by trying to escape from the EUscape Room. In this room, they were introduced to Dr. Vector Doll of Evil Corp. His plan was to take over the world, but the committee could prevent that by trying to escape from the room in 45 minutes. The team got all kinds of cryptic messages like ‘I can fly but without wings.’ (Referring to time, as you recall ;) ). Unfortunately, EMPL didn’t do that well though. They missed very apparent hints and they didn’t work together well. They did do well with the flashlight, which was used to show hidden messages written on a clock and a report card. This committee didn’t manage to escape from the evil plans of Doctor Evil. However, we do want to give a special thanks to Clocked-Up, who designed the Escape Room and guided the delegates during their game experience. Without them, we wouldn’t have been able to participate in such an amazing teambuilding activity.

The committee moved on to the Crazy MEP activity. In this activity, the delegates had 10 tries to meet as many of

the 15 criteria as possible in pictures. They got a polaroid camera with 10 blank pictures in them and were sent to fill these pictures. The photos would be graded at the end of the day by the staff. The criteria had been marked with points. There were criteria that were easy to hit, where 5 points would be rewarded. Other criteria were semi-difficult, the committee would get 10 points. When working with really hard criteria the committe earned 15 points. An example of an easy criterion is creating a formal portrait and an example of a very difficult criterion is taking a proverb literally. EMPL did really well in this. At least, according to them, they earned 13 out of 15 criteria.

The last activity the EMPL committee did was the intercultural teambuilding. This was started by, once again, introducing yourself by stating your name, country of residence and hobbies. After this, the CPs hosted a round of rapid-fire questions. Once you had heard the question, you’d have to write down the first thing that came to mind. Using these answers, the delegates had to talk about their answers, the differences in cultures and the most important aspects of MEP. Following these conversations, the (moral) rules of the committee meetings were discussed. This also marked the end of a very exciting part of the programme, the teambuilding!

E D I T I O N 3 F E B R U A R Y 6 | 2 0 1 7

Escaping from awkwardness

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Yesterday was the first sniff at what this week will be all about. After a great teambuilding event, the new teams were immediately put to the task of creating a resolution. All committees, ten in total, discussed topics from education to industry, constitutional affairs to employment and civil liberties to environmental problems. Of course, right from the start as serious as one can be. No one wants their resolution to fail during the General Assembly upcoming Friday and Saturday.

Doesn’t mean there is no room for smiles though, especially the committee INTA seemed to enjoy themselves. Never mind the fact that they had just finished a game when we arrived. The AFCO committee on the other hand, definitely gets the price for most serious-looking. Even when the hand waves of Niek in front of Libaan took place (don’t ask), their serious faces didn’t waver. Respect for our politicians there.

Poll: Where do you look forward to most?

All in all it has been a fruitful afternoon with many experiences and input that made it possible for everyone to prepare even better for today. MEP’s official opening day, and the day to blow everyone away with the most amazing ideas, to take the spotlight with original plans, and to find a compromise for the bottleneck. No pressure, but to combine the words of Apple and Kant: dare to think differently!

The start of something great

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The conference has started, the delegates have met and all are excited about spending the week in the Netherlands. Referred to as an amazing country, home to amazing people. However, I wouldn’t blame any delegates on having their doubts about this…

It is a well-known saying that the Dutch are not really, what should we call it, courteous, with their money. They rather walk than drive, are die-hard negotiators and won’t give in if it will cost them too much money. Or, so they say. So, here we all are, sleeping at host-families (which are Dutch), wondering if we will even get dinner tonight..

Well, the first nights have passed, and apart from some missing delegates at the start, we seemed to have survived. Even better. A lot of people have gotten a nice breakfast in the morning, some were allowed to watch the TV-programs they had missed, and almost all of the delegates were brought to the places they needed to be, by car.

On top of that, Sunday night was a night-in with the host families where they ate together with the delegates, and either cooked with them or for them. On Monday night there is a fancy dinner in a church and from Tuesday on, a Stayokay hostel is reserved for us.

Thus, considering the amount of time spent at the organisation, the troubles our host families have to go through (no worries, I have heard from a reliable source that they are glad to have us) and the great program planned for the week; it is safe to say that the saying ‘Dutch sit on their money ’ is a myth, and therefore our verdict is:

MEP-Myths fact check: Dutch sit on their money

Did you know that..•…Karlijn, one of the journalists, aspires to be a

professional MEP food blogger?• …it was rumored to be over 100 degrees in the

Escape Rooms to simulate the stressful situation better?

• … almost everyone enjoyed the typical Dutch ‘kroket’?

• ... the staff and journalists managed to solve the EUscape Room the fastest?

• … the daily videos can also be found on YouTube?• … the Stedelijk Gymnasium Arnhem was founded

around 1310? • … today is the only day that you had to wait so long

for your daily news and facts, tomorrow you won’t have to be excited for your newspaper longer than till lunchtime!

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PROGRAMMONDAY

09.00 – 11:30

Opening CeremonySchouwburg Arnhem

12.00 – 18:00

Committee meetings and lunch

18.00Departure to Eusebius Church

18.15The Gelderland Dinner

22:00

Delegates spend the evening in their host families

Sterre de Geus, Team Arnhem, Staff.

Q: How have the first 2 days played out? Everything going according to plan?A: It’s been a blast. Saturday was a real challenge, as we had to get a lot of people to their host families over such a relatively small amount of time. But it was amazing to see how nice all the host families were and how excited all delegates were. Yesterday went really well to be honest. Some delegates were late but other than that everything went well. The EUscape Room in particular was the favorite part of many people!

Q: You’re a part of Team Arnhem, what is a day like this like?A: Our days begin 2 hours earlier than those of the delegates. Yesterday for example, we had to prepare the school for your arrival. We had to prepare all the food, the rooms and of course ourselves! All throughout the day we have to make calls. We had to order 20 extra ‘kroketten’ and stay connected with the rest of the staff of course. Sometimes the delegates may not see us walking around, but they can be sure that we are always busy to make their experience as enjoyable as possible!

Quote of the Day

Anyone in any escape room

ever:

“Maybe this isn’t even a clue”

Humans of MEP