European Commission Stagiaire Journal - 2008

Exotic Vacations • Caribbean Getaways • Tropical Paradises • Luxury Liners

EC StagiairES Journal

Luxembourg mar-JuL 2008

indexPersPectives - moving on from the Past 4

Alberto Ferreira

great eXPectations 7

Koumarah Appadoo

language geek gets confused in luXembourg 12

Ulrika Stigeborn

understanding luXembourgish 14

Saskia Schipper

the treasure hunt from the inside 16

Marianne Ollivier and Aude Girard

Why heaven Was coPied after mauritius 20

Koumarah Appadoo

the trauma of looking for accomodation 25

Cristina Ganciulescu

looking back to the stage 28

Cristina Ganciulescu

there are things i like about belgium 34

Anna Bulírová

some facts about finland 36

Terhi Oinonen PicturesluXembourg - memories in Pictures 38

official triPs - brussels 40

Parties 44

kitchen corner 46

Who’s Who in the ec traineeshiP 54

It has been marvellous, those five months. It has been the stuffs, dreams are made of. Yet, one year ago, none

of us was actually thinking that we would be here, in Luxembourg, at the European Commission. Life is like

this, you never know what will happen next.

Just to remind ourselves, let us go through all those nice times

we have had together. We started by frequenting those great

and trendy pubs in the city centre and in the Grund. We started

to get to know each other, not just the person, but the beer

also. Then we started going out with each other; we organised

trips, whether to Trier in Germany or Metz in France. Some of

us even searched for people with common interests and then

attended concerts, or went to the cinema together. A couple

of us went on hiking, looking for fresh air and new landscapes. Then came the cream of the cream: the

stagiares’ parties. The first party organised went on to top the charts; it was simply amazing and lured so

many people. The other parties were not of the same popularity, but still, those who attended could confirm

that they had a jolly good time. Amongst the other events organised were the football matches (which

then suddenly disappeared), the treasure hunt, and the irregular party at some stagiare’s house. All these

occasions brought us together and helped us to shed our daily stress of work and life in Luxembourg. Let us

not forget to mention the trips organised by the Traineeship Office, including the Brussels’ trip, which some

of us could acclaim as being the highlight of the stage!

Yet, those five months in Luxembourg were rather too short. It came all of a sudden, and went by as

suddenly as it came. Some of us shall be staying here, but some of us shall be leaving as well. We cannot be

too melodramatic about it because there was ample time for us to enjoy ourselves. On the other hand, we

have come out from the stage as people with a greater vision, more maturity and more knowledge about the

EU. Our work in a multi-cultural and multi-linguistic institution as the Commission has taught us that we can

transcend all those cultural boundaries and still have friendship and not lose our identity.

The purpose of creating this journal was not only to provide you with something to read after your stage.

We all know that life does not stop here and it is certain that you shall be busy with your next objective

in mind. It was foreseen that we shall be going each in our own direction, with only memories and nothing

substantial. Hence, we also created this journal to serve as a souvenir for the years to come.

The Journal Team wishes to thank everybody for taking an interest in and reading this end -of-stage magazine.

We have endeavoured to provide you with a wide variety of articles as much as we could. We hope that you

shall all enjoy reading this journal. We wish you all the best in your career and life.

The EC Stagiares’ Journal Team

Message froM the ec stagiaires

journal teaM

EC StagiairES’

journal tEam

ALBERTO FERREIRA

Layout, DTP Edition, Writer

KOUMARAH APPADOO

Editor, Writer

MARTINA BELLOVICOVA

Collaborator

MANUELA FORTUNATI Collaborator

CHRIsTINA GANCIULEsCU

Writer

We would like to extend a

special “thank you” to all those

who contributed to this journal

with their pictures and articles.

Without you, it would not exist

at all.

Some say that holding a traineeship in the European institutions is the chance of a lifetime. What happens when you have two under your belt?

As a second-time trainee, I did not have to contend with the usual troubles of finding accomodation, getting settled, knowing Luxembourg, etc. My

impression as I arrived to the airport was mainly that of a tranquil homecoming, instead of the nervewreck of the first traineeship. Older, wiser? Not at all. Just a clear sense of “been there, done that”... twice. When I got the call for the traineeship, I was actually working a dead-end job in my native country and thus thought long and hard about accepting it. So I did the logical thing: I refused it. My mother cried and my father confessed to me that I was a shame to the family and was officially banished from his will. After some severe bashing from my friends and discovering that some of my relatives had changed phone numbers without warning me, I hastily wrote one month later asking if the vacancy for the stage was still open. Low and behold: it was. How lucky can you get? (Am I back in the will, dad?)

The first time I arrived in Luxembourg with my bags in tow, looking like a bewildered Robinson Crusoe falling in the middle of a symphonic concert, it was late at night on a Sunday and I immediately headed for the gare area. Before the hour was over, some overly friendly people had already offered me heavy drugs and I had had already three sexual offers. I wondered to myself while I hastily called a taxi: “did I take the wrong detour and end up in Amsterdam?”. Little did I know that Luxembourg has a strong underground life that few know of, but superficially it is actually a paradise for families. For this stage, I knew what I could count on and kept clear of such ignominous paths to depravity and corruption of young souls. I can manage that on my own, thank you very much.

�EC Stagiaires Journal Luxembourg Mar-Jul 2008� EC Stagiaires Journal Luxembourg Mar-Jul 2008

Perspectives

moving on from the past

Luxembourg is a strange city, a small village caught in the urban trappings of an European capital. While most claim it is dreadfully boring and bare of any real cultural activity, some find its simple and efficient organiza-tion and easy-going lifestyle appealing. It all depends on the personality of the critic. Luxembourg has one main appeal, regardless of the criticisms launched at it: it is a strategically positioned platform for visiting all of Europe. As trainees, we have visited the usual stops: Brussels, Strasbourg, Trier, Nancy, Metz, Saarbrucken, Frankfurt. The more adventurous occasionally ven-ture into Paris, Amsterdam or other stops. It also is a melting pot of differ-ent cultures, includ-ing German, French, native Luxembourgish and even so-called “minorities” like Portuguese and Italian. That’s not to say Luxembourg has no self-identity. It is just very well buried and you need to dig deep to find it.

My first few days as a second-time trainee were interesting. I nod-ded a lot and pretended to actually know what my unit did as my supervisor dumped 500 pages of theoret-ical, commercial and legal terms on my head. Knowing when to talk and when not to is an art. (Future train-ees, take notice.) As time went by, I began integrating myself in the methods and overall organization of the unit and, before long, was giving suggestions. Everyone stared at me in horror when I candidly promoted the idea that an Expensive Application should be installed in all of the unit’s computers. The jaw of my head of unit kept dropping hesitantly while he struggled to articulate his dismay: “do you know how much money that will take?” Someone suggested that the EC was

not concerned with money. Now, everyone has the Expensive Application at its disposal, even though only a few people use it. It is good to know that taxpayer’s money is being well applied.

The stage itself had no clearly defined tasks and, for three months, I was the allegorical jack-of-all-trades in a small, friendly unit that truly defined the epithet of “multicultural”. The main difference between the EP and the EC stages seem to be in terms of teamwork: the European Commission seems to privilege smaller

teams which creates a more congenial and closer teams than the European

Parliament. Exceptions, as always, confirm the rule

and this varies from unit to unit, but as a whole

it makes for two very distinct experiences. Personally, I believe I have spent more time

on coffee breaks and visiting colleague’s offic-es (thus preventing them from doing their work

as well) than actually sit-ting at my desk. This is what the

“stagiaire experience” is all about: socializing and developing contacts.

Learning? Becoming a more qualified professional? Only if you have the discipline to be totally devoted to your work, which is of course an utopic ideal for most of us actually interested in living rather than existing.

Socially, most of the people that made the first trainee-ship so special were gone, and the context itself was different. I have been lucky enough to find beauti-ful people on both sides of the border, although the petty rivalries that sometimes came up between being an “European Parliament trainee” and an “European Commission trainee” continues to confound me until this moment.

�EC Stagiaires Journal Luxembourg Mar-Jul 2008� EC Stagiaires Journal Luxembourg Mar-Jul 2008

Perspectives

moving on from the past

� EC Stagiaires Journal Luxembourg Mar-Jul 2008

While it is true that people tend to stick to their own groups (friends, family and work), one would think that there would be a greater communication and comrad-ery between the trainees of the different institutions. That logic is akin to teasing someone for having a big-ger car than you do - when the truth is that both of you have no money for the gasoline.

Regardless, comparing the European Commission to the European Parliament is like a broken pencil: point-less. Both institutions have different duties and struc-tures and so it is only natural that both stages are differ-ent.

It is also true that, as a purely social experience, the EC stage was much more intense than the EP stage. Parties were more frequent and the organiza-tion was overall much more professional, even though the themes were recycled from previous years. Tried and true, but effective nonetheless. Pictures were also much better this time around, maybe because the group was overall more photogenic. Just a mere aesthetic appreciation from an impartial observer, of course. The other, more marking difference between the stages was the increasal in the average age. Whilst a year doesn’t make much difference in your teens, it becomes a major thing once you pass 25. The choices you have to make, the way you feel things happen to you become a heavier burden in your spirit. Many times, our conversa-tions steered unintentionally in the direction of job-searching, future plans and relation-ships. It is hard to continue growing and seeking a differ-ent, more suitable place in the

world for yourself as the years go by. Confusion abounds, especially when the possibili-ties are endless. We want responsibility, but never feel quite prepared for it. We want happiness and yet we are afraid of losing what little we have with our choices. We want clarity and yet we drown ourselves in introspection.

But the experiences in these traineeships shed a lit-tle light on this mystery for me. It is all too tempting to travel down the well-beaten road and look for exits with a clearly marked “Here Begins the Future” sign-post. While you have to rely on your past experiences

and your own per-sonal knowledge, the most rewarding possi-bilities become reality only when you have

the courage to take the plunge, grind your teeth and take the great leap into the unknown. No luck arrives unpondered, so sometimes you just have to stick it out and do not let yourself go with the flow, even when the tide seems too strong to fight against. “Been there, done that”? Sure. But what you missed the first time around can change your life on the second. So take the opportunity, be bold and take opportunities as they come - or risk spending the rest of your life being the black sheep of the family. ■

Comparing the european Commission to the european parliament is like a broken penCil:

pointless. “ ”

�EC Stagiaires Journal Luxembourg Mar-Jul 2008

g r e a t

e X p e C t a t i o n s

by KOUMARAH APPADOO

w H AT

1. wHAT wERE yOUR ExPECTATIONs ABOUT LUxEMBOURG AND yOUR jOB BEFORE yOU CAME AND, TO wHAT ExTENT wERE THEy FULFILLED? I must say that I didn´t know much about the country itself, since you often hear

more about Brussels than Luxembourg when it comes to the “EU business”.

As a translator with some knowledge about EU translation, I expected to get a

deeper knowledge about the different texts and to sort out the “EU jargon” that

is often used in such texts. After five months I can confirm that I´ve learned a

lot, both about EU texts and the translation tools used in the daily work.

2. wHAT DID yOU LIKE ABOUT LUxEMBOURG?

But life in Luxembourg has not been just work! I´ve met a lot of nice

people and we have had the possibility to discover this tiny country

together during these months. What I like most about Luxembourg is that

everything is so close! You can go to Germany one day, Trier is only 40

minutes away with the train, and you can easily reach Brussels or other

Belgian cities to spend a weekend there. It´s really sad that our time here

is running out, but I hope that there will be a reunion soon, maybe not in

Luxembourg but somewhere in Europe.

a r eY o U r

IMPREssIONs?More than five months ago, we all received a contact from the European Commission, whether a call, an email or a letter. It was natural of us to start thinking of whether we should opt for the traineeship or not. We had to take a decision. And we all eventu-ally made a choice and that is why we are here. However, just before making the choice, we had been secretly devising small ideas in our head, ideas about how the traineeship and life in Lux-embourg would be. That was a natural process of our thoughts.

These small ideas gradually became more convincing with time, such that they were no longer trivial ideas hanging in thin air; we could legitimately call them ‘expectations’ now. Hence, we were all rearing expectations in the back of our head and it was these same expectations which propelled us to make a positive choice. But was it really positive? I carried out this small interview with a random sample of trainees and this is what I came up with. Well, take a sip from your cup of tea, relax and judge for yourself.

ULRIKA

�EC Stagiaires Journal Luxembourg Mar-Jul 2008

DAVID1. About Luxembourg as city, I didn’t have any special expectations. But

from the stage, I expected to work more and learn more than I finally did.

But I learned a lot from how the European institutions work and about the

problems of managing such amount of workers. I also expected, mainly

after the speech of the first days in Brussels, that the buildings will be

energy-efficient, and that there will be more environmental policies... And

after my arrival in JMo, I was disappointed with regards to these expecta-

tions.

2. In Luxembourg, I found a beautiful and calm city and lovely country full

of nature. I loved hiking and cycling here, especially when I did it in good

company :) I think there is really a good quality of life and I am surprised

that in a city of the size of Luxembourg, it is possible to find such interest-

ing job opportunities. I would like to extend my time here by getting a job.

chRIstophoRos1. I tried to come to Luxembourg with as few expec-

tations as possible. of course, you cannot help it

but find yourself thinking of what the future holds. In

this case, what Luxembourg had prepared for us.

Fortunately, some people gave me an idea about

this place, so pictures were starting to be made in my

head. Small, beautiful, boring and everything closes

at 18:00! That’s what they told me. Well, this was not

far from the truth! Just one thing...we made it seems

as less boring as possible. Meeting interesting people

in a boring place makes it...interesting! This word

was also the key description of the job I was expect-

ing to find in the European Commission. It is true

that I let myself run free with imagination regarding

work. After all, I was an enthusiastic, motivated and

inexperienced graduate that needed to prove that the

knowledge gained through my studies was sufficient

enough to get me through this challenge. But then

I was faced with the truth. I entered a really experi-

enced unit (the youngest is 30 years old) that handled

really big and long-lasting projects. It was really dif-

ficult for them to include me in their level of expertise

and they didn’t have any time for me to either train

me or help me. I was back to searching and reading

as at university, in order to catch up with what was

going around me. I was feeling a bit frustrated since I

was looking for practical knowledge. However, I was

performing small tasks in the meantime. on the one

hand, I was doing everything they didn’t have time

for and on the other hand, I was really helping fulfil

their work, which they really appreciated. It is not until

now that I can take a look back and see the greater

picture. It has been an amazing privilege to work for

an institution that it is so big and to observe the way

everything works. I also understood the importance of

having a good working environment with charismatic

managers and inspirational colleagues. So after all,

the job wasn’t exactly what I was expecting but I

wasn’t expecting what the job made me experience.

2. Luxembourg is one of those cities that grow

on you. After waking up from the first shock,

you are starting to realize things you like about

this city. It’s simple things that make the dif-

ference...the view from the bus going home

or going into town(Bus no 6), the green colour

of the trees that surround the city, the random

meeting of friends in the centre and the small,

cosy, usual bar. I also liked the fact that you

have the opportunity to meet all sorts of peo-

ple from different countries all over Europe

and the rest of the world. It’s strange though

how the city looks different depending on the

weather. I like the city best when it is sunny.

1. I attended to work in the heart of Europe and in an

European atmosphere. It was a dream, now it became

reality!

2. From Luxembourg, I like the mix between nature and

city, mix of cultures and languages, mix between old

and new buildings, European institutions and the grand

duchy...

AUDE

1. I was hoping to have an international atmosphere

and share different styles of working; to have the pos-

sibility to increase language skills; to improve my

chances to get a better job after the preparation in the

Commission; to understand better the dynamic of the

institutions in real life; and to develop my professional

skills according to my degree. My expectations were

fulfilled in the professional and social field and I ‘m also

very happy with the people I met here. I feel we can

have new friends for our life from here and also that our

experience contributes to our future and personal life.

2. It’s best when it’s sunny. It’s a small city easy to

manage. We are lucky because we can be together a

lot of time and we can enjoy our time with people we

know, even though we are far from our home countries.

pABLo

1. My expectations were mostly connected to work. I did not put a lot of expectations on

the social part of the stage or the city. I was hoping to really gain experience and get to

know better how the commission works, together with deepening my knowledge in the

field I was going to work. of course, I was hoping to work with nice people. If this was the

case? At the end of the traineeship I can say that most of my expectations were fulfilled

and that I have learned quite a lot through these 5 months. There were always some

things that could have been better; however I am very happy about my traineeship here.

2. From Luxembourg, I like the mix between nature and city, mix of cultures and languag-

es, mix between old and new buildings, European institutions and the grand duchy...

wIoLA

11EC Stagiaires Journal Luxembourg Mar-Jul 200810 EC Stagiaires Journal Luxembourg Mar-Jul 2008

pABLo


1. Well, first of all, I thought that in Luxembourg there will be more Luxembourgish people, but I saw that only ladies of 60 years old are really Luxembourgish. others can be from all over the world :) And I imagined that EU institutions work in a more efficient way :) 2. I liked everything: people I met, activities I did and after, I started to like the city, because in the beginning I felt quite lost in this city ;-)

DALIA

1. I was very happy when I found out that I

was going to work for 5 months in Luxembourg

at the European Commission. I couldn’t

believe it, it was such a great achievement!

I was very positive about everything even

though I knew that Luxembourg was expen-

sive and we were not going to receive a lot of

money. regarding the job, I was a bit afraid

that I would not be able to measure up to

my task, but I was sure that I would learn a

lot of new things. And so I did… I enjoyed

Luxembourg very much: the city, the long

walks, the trips etc. I had a great time, I made

new friends, I discovered new things and I

learnt a lot. I worked hard, I acquired knowl-

edge in different fields, I was put in difficult

situations, and I managed. Now I feel more

confident, professionally speaking, and I see

my future in brighter colours.

2. I liked everything: the transportation system

(more effective than in my country), the fact

that the city is clean, that the weird people

stay in the train station area, that with 45 EUr

per month, you can visit the whole country,

the castles, the parks, the museums, the cars,

and, most of all, the people I met here. It would

have been nice if there had have been more

cafes or an amusement park or other places

out of the ordinary, but I can’t complain. I liked

it and I will always remember it.

cRIstINA

B Y T e r h i O i n O n e n

Visiting Brussels for the introduction was just fine, it’s a big city and the inhabitants are used to tourists looking for Manneken Pis…English works almost

everywhere here.

Coming to Luxembourg after the days in Brussels was…quite different! The first days I stayed put to my English, everywhere, just to make sure that I could handle the lin-guistic situation. When I was out running one day, I met people who greeted me in a strange way. To me it sounded like the Spanish “muy bien”. Strange… Feeling a bit rude not knowing what to answer, I learned my first word in Luxembourgish: “MOYEN”. Perfect! But even though I tried to rely on my English, sometimes I just pretended that I understood French (not the best idea, I know, but some-times you have to go wild and crazy, right?).

After taking a few French classes with poor Marianne (thank you for your patience!), I thought the time had come to practice my “new” language. I suddenly faced the next lin-guistic problem. When you address people in their language, you have opened up a conversation and must expect that the person you are talking to will answer you in that specific language.

LUXEMBOURG

LANGUAGE GEEKGETS CONFUSED IN

When they told me that I was going to do

my translation traineeship in Luxembourg

I thought that I would do just fine using my

knowledge of English. I knew that French

is the language spoken in Luxembourg and

also in the different European institutions,

but hey, English is often considered the

lingua franca of the world today, so French

can´t be a problem here, can it?

B Y U l r i k a s T i g e B O r n


LUXEMBOURG

LANGUAGE GEEKGETS CONFUSED IN

B Y U l r i k a s T i g e B O r n

I can handle this as far as easy questions are concerned, but when it goes beyond that (especially using numbers) things get difficult. And again, I felt quite lost. But the thing is that in Luxembourg you can actually manage the situation again by using your (hopefully well-preserved) knowledge of German. In Luxembourg you could face the following scenario: When entering a supermarket, you greet the man at the counter with a “moyen”. You ask for a “sac en plastique” for your things and finally the man tells you the sum of your purchase in German. You pick up your things with a “merci” (which fortunately is the same in both Luxembourgish and French) and leave the supermarket. This situation was more then confusing the first months here, but I have to say that I’ve accepted it now. I’ve come to understand

some essential phrases in French (normally you just repeat what the person said to you to seem polite; like with ça va?, nice and easy!) and in case I feel totally lost in translation, I could rely on my basic but yet very useful knowledge of German. After all, Luxembourg is an interesting place to investigate for a language geek. You can hear most of the EU member states languages around you every

day. Having this opportunity means that you eventually learn a few words in languages you would otherwise

never have cared about.So, to conclude this attempt to describe my linguistic confusion during my traineeship here, I can just say that it is possible to get used to this schizophrenic usage of languages. There will be confusion, no doubt about it, but you can always learn from it. ■


WHEN YoU AddrESS pEopLE IN THEIr LANGUAGE, YoU HAvE opENEd Up A CoNvErSATIoN ANd

MUST ExpECT THAT THE pErSoN YoU ArE TALkING To WILL ANSWEr YoU IN THAT SpECIFIC

language.

“ ”

1�EC Stagiaires Journal Luxembourg Mar-Jul 20081� EC Stagiaires Journal Luxembourg Mar-Jul 2008

BY SASKIA SCHIPPER


facts about LuXEMbouRGIsH

It’s part of the West Germanic branch of the Indo--European family tree.

There are around 275,000 native speakers in Luxembourg, and over 100,000 more who can speak and understand it.

Luxembourgish is the national language of Luxembourg, but it is only one of three administrative languages (along with French and German).Home speakers live in Belgium (in the Arlon district), in the Bitburg area of Germany, and in Thionville, France.

Luxembourgish is written with the Latin alphabet and the additional diacritics ¨, ^, ´ as in ë, ä, ê, é.

There are texts from the 9th century, though this is not clearly defined as Luxembourgish. The first modern example dates from 1824.

In Luxembourg, children study in Luxembourgish at kindergarten level and in German and French at primary level.

as some of you know, I developed (apart from obsession with my mobile phone) another love here in Luxembourg: Lëtzebuergesch. Even if it is not an official language in the EU, and is often called a

minority langue, there should be a place here for this special and nice way to speak. Here you can find some important sentences. I know it is maybe too late now as most of us are leaving. But you never know, if you will come back anytime… And even if not – it’s such a nice souvenir.:)

UNDERSTANDING LUXEMBOURGISH

Englishlëtzebuergesch (luxembourgish)

Welcome Wëllkomm

hello Moien, salut

how are you? Wéi geet et dir? (inf)

Wéi geet et iech? (frm)

fine gutt

What’s your name? Wéi heeschs du?

My name is ... ech heeschen ...

Where are you from? Vun wou kennst de? (inf)

Vun wou kommt der? (frm)

i’m from ... ech sin vun ..., ech kommen vun...

Pleased to meet you et freet mëch, lech kennen ze léieren

good morning gudde Moien

good afternoon gudde Metteg

good evening gudde owend

good night gudd nuecht

goodbye Äddi, avuhr

good luck Vill glèck!

cheers/good health! Prost!

have a nice day schèinen Dag nach

Do you speak luxembourgish? schwätzt du lëtzebuergesch?

i love you ech hunn dech gäer / ech léiwe dech

B y M A R I A N N E O L L I V I E R A N D A U D E G I R A R D

the treasure hunt from the insideThe idea came from the willingness to organ-

ize a sports’ event which could gather a lot of people and raise funds for the charities of

the solidarity sub-committee. Members of both sub-committees (sports and solidarity) were pretty enthu-siastic about it and we decided that the event would take place at the end of the traineeship period, on the first week end of July, as every week end before that seemed to be occupied with other plans.

Even though we had been talking about it since April, we really started to get organized in June. There were a lot of things to do: prepare an email to announce the event as well as a poster, speak about communi-cation and people we decided to target for the treas-ure hunt, plan the buffet lunch for the treasure hunt, plan the itinerary, the gifts, ask the city council for an authorization to sell tickets on the street… All of a sudden we found ourselves in a rush and found out organizing this event was not just a fun story, espe-cially as time was running out and the initial plans we had made (like asking Pizza Hut to sponsor us by giv-ing us free pizzas) were not quite easy to implement. At the end, we settled it all by email: communication

of the event, communicating between us, as well as with the public authorities. About that, we first learnt that the city council was not competent to deal with treasure hunt authorizations, so we contacted the Ministry of middle classes, who told us that it was not competent to deal with our event and that we should contact the city council. As we say in French, this was “the snake biting its tail”!

We walked all around the city to prepare the itinerary, had a lot of fun looking carefully around us for hints to explain people where to go, and read guidebooks to ask historical questions. It took about six hours, three after-work sessions, and one wandering around a forbid-den area in Vauban’s fortress! Then, everything had to be written down, the itinerary as well as the question-naire accompanying it, in English and French. Gifts also had to be taken care of. After a long process to obtain promotional objects, we spoke to very friendly people who quickly helped us collect the precious presents. DG ECFIN and DG Education and Culture in Brussels and the stagiaires Remy at La Maison de L’Europe in Luxembourg and Manuela at the Publications Office helped us obtain pens, cups, caps, T-shirts, pins…

EC Stagiaires Journal Luxembourg Mar-Jul 20081� EC Stagiaires Journal Luxembourg Mar-Jul 2008

1�EC Stagiaires Journal Luxembourg Mar-Jul 2008EC Stagiaires Journal Luxembourg Mar-Jul 2008

Indeed, for us, interested about the European Union, these were important souvenirs! At the end, we found ourselves with kilos of EU-promoting by-prod-ucts that we brought home and sorted according to the order of the winning teams. Thanks to the gen-erosity of all the people we asked, we managed to obtain enough presents for each participant. Finally, we had a cooking night on the day before, having to cater for the participating teams. So we baked… not less than nine cakes, all with different flavours (chocolate, cinnamon, banana, pear and almond). No need to say that even before the treasure hunt, we were already kind of exhausted!

And so the D-day arrived… As Place d’Armes, our starting point, was full of stalls because of a market, we didn’t need to “hide” as we had no formal author-ization to sell on-street. We registered teams and gave them the questionnaire, anxious to

know if they would find the hunt easy, interesting, or would give up after half an hour or too difficult questions. We were especially preoccupied with the fact that some of the hints on the way could not be there anymore (one of them being a herd of sheep) or that the buildings in which they had to go (cathe-dral, Neumünster abbey) might be closed. In order to see how they were going we decided to await them on the way in Clausen. After a while we saw a few teams passing by and were quite relieved!

After that we rushed towards the end-point (City park), carrying the boxes of cakes, gifts and drinks. When we arrived (around 16:30) a team was already there! All teams arrived one after the other. There was still a lot to do: sell cakes and drinks, which was

pretty successful (all benefits went to the chari-ties), and correct the questionnaire, which was not so easy because we had to take into account answers to the questions as well as time! In spite of the rainy weather, a few teams

stayed, and luckily they were the first three, so got all the nicest gifts.

WE FoUNd oUrSELvES IN A rUSH ANd FoUNd oUT orGANIzING THIS EvENT WAS NoT JUST A FUN

STorY, ESpECIALLY AS TIME WAS rUNNING oUT ANd THE INITIAL pLANS WE HAd MAdE WErE NoT

qUITE EASY To IMpLEMENT.

“ ”

EC Stagiaires Journal Luxembourg Mar-Jul 200818

1�EC Stagiaires Journal Luxembourg Mar-Jul 2008

Team n°1 was a group of people from the Court of justice, but team n°2 was one of us (Christine, Nina, Saskia, and Bettina, congratulations, girls!). And team n°3 was made of people from the EIB, quite a nice distribution of talents among the institutions!

In the end, we hope that participants were as happy as us to participate as we were to organize this sort of event.

Indeed the challenge was to initiate a treasure hunt in Luxembourg, organize it with a few people in a very quick time for 40 participants divided into 9 teams.

We think that our objectives were reached: earn money to support the solidarity projects Graines d’Avenir (which help Tibetan childrens to be educated in their own culture), Missionary Movement Gesu Fil Proxmu and Cantinho da Solidariedade, have fun and promote Europe thanks to promotional presents. ■

Facts and Figures

about the treasure hunt:

• 9 teams participated

• Winning teams were:1) evita, agnese, ainars, Peter (court of justice)2) nina, saskia, christine, Bettina3) jessica, andre, oliver, gregory (eiB)4) Yannis, ildiko, Diana5) anna, nina, jana, serge

• 130 euros were earned

Mauritius is a small island in the Indian Ocean,

more than 800 km east of a much larger island,

Madagascar, which is located off the southeast

coast of the African continent. During the stage,

I came across a couple of people asking me about

Mauritius. Unfortunately, it was quite impossible

to describe a whole country or its culture in a few

words. So, I thought, now is the chance for me to

put pen to paper and give you a brief overview of

this exotic island, exquisitely loaded with crystal

clear blue sea, pearly chocolate-box shores, tropical

fish and exceptionally hospitable people.

B Y k O U m a r a h a p p a d O O

Mauritius has a surface area of about 1865 km2 (720 square miles), is 65 km long and 48 km wide

with a total shore length of 330 km. The highest point is at 828 meters. It forms part of the Mascarene Islands. In 1992, Mauritius finally became a republic.

HISTORYMauritius is of volcanic origin, probably formed around 7 million years ago. However, it remained unknown and uninhabited for a very long time. Neither is it known who discovered Mauritius first.

MauritiusWhy Heaven Was Copied Af ter


MauritiusWhy Heaven Was Copied Af ter

The Arabs probably visited the island during the Middle Ages, the evidence being a map drawn by Arab geographer Al Sharif El-Edrissi in 1153 which appears to show Mauritius. The Arabs named it “Dina Arobi”. At the end of the 15th century, the Portuguese were amongst the first settlers to come to the Indian Ocean. At that time the Arabs controlled the spice trade. The Portuguese had understood that if the spice trade could be diverted from the usual land route, great economic advantages could be gained. Hence, they launched the ‘Conquista’ with the aim of controlling the spice trade. Domingo Fernandez Pereira, a Portuguese sailor, was probably the

first European to land on the island at about 1511. The Portuguese might have found the island while navigating on the trade route to India. However, the Portuguese never aimed at settling and setting up colonies in the east. So, they did not stay very long on the land mass. The island eventually appeared with the name “Ilha do Cerne” on early Portuguese maps.In 1598, the first Dutch squadron landed on the island and named it Mauritius, in honour of Prince Mauritz Van Nassau. The island was first used as a refreshing station. It contained ebony trees which could be used to repair ships, fresh water and food in the form of the Dodo and tortoises. The Dodo was a flightless and

heavy bird, bigger than a chicken, with a large beak, found only on that island. There had been no endemic animal on the island which preyed on the Dodo. It had therefore evolved without defences. On the other hand, it was not used to seeing humans and hence, showed no fear, making it an all too easy catch for a group


sea-beaten and mouth-watering sailors. It was only in 1638 that there was the first attempt of Dutch settlement. The first attempt lasted for 20 years. There were other several attempts. But the Dutch settlers eventually found the cyclonic weather too unbearable and on the other hand, could no longer cope with the damage caused to the crops by rats which they had themselves indirectly brought through their ships. Hence, they finally left the island in 1710. The Dutch left a mixed legacy. They had introduced sugarcane, tobacco and Java deer. But they also left rats and other feral animals such as pigs and cats which sadly, led to the extinction of the dodo. Hence, in English, there is the expression: dead as a dodo. The French had been interested in the island too, since they saw possibilities for trade and strategy. In 1715, they took possession of the island in the name of King Louis XV of France. They placed a French flag near what is now Port Louis, the capital. They also

named the island “Ile de France”. It was under the French Governor, Mahé de Labourdonnais, that Ile de France knew its first development: a harbour was built. True colonisation started and it became successful as the French were prepared to settle and develop the infrastructure, agriculture and economy and use it as a trading post rather than just a port of call. Soon, Labourdonnais transformed the island from a mere colony into the “star and key of the Indian Ocean”; roads were opened everywhere, a ship building industry commenced and the first sugar factory began to operate. The downside was that they had to introduce slaves from Africa so that progress could be made. The French knew that Mauritius was at a strategic place in the Indian Ocean and they exploited it to the most: the French starting plaguing British vessels on their way to and from India. Obviously, the British were not too happy. In

1810, the British defeated the French

and took

possession of the island. They changed the name to Mauritius again. Under the Treaty of Paris of 1814, the French settlers were allowed to keep their laws, religion, customs and property. One of the most important events during British rule was the abolition of slavery in 1835. Shortly afterwards, a lot of people from India immigrated to Mauritius, with promises of a labour contract. The Indian immigrants were to change rapidly the fabric of the society. They were later joined by a small number of Chinese traders. Cultivation of sugarcane was given a boost and the island flourished, especially with the export of sugar to England. Economic progress necessitated the extension and improvement of means of communication and gradually an adequate infrastructure was

created.


Around the middle of the 20th Century, there soon began a struggle for independence. It was only in 1968 that Mauritius became an independent country within the Commonwealth of Nations. It had its own government and constitution. In 1992, Mauritius finally became a republic.

PeOPle and CulTuReIt has been rightly claimed that Mauritius is the most cosmopolitan island under the sun. Having had such a rich history with a lot of population movement, Mauritius is now made up of a unique blend of different people, cultures, religions and traditions. People of African, Indian, Chinese and European origins have created a multi-ethnic society where the various cultures and traditions flourish in peace and harmony. And hence, you could be tempted to say that here, Europe meets Africa, India and China. Who would imagine that such unique and diversified customs could thrive on such a small place?

But the real surprise comes when you let loose your curiosity and sink into the real life. You shall soon discover that the rich diversity is found in every aspect of the Mauritian life. Churches can be found next to a Mosque, as can Indian temples be next to Chinese pagodas. In addition, the people of Mauritius celebrate various festivals belonging to different religions with equal gusto and fervour such as Mahashivratri, Diwali, Cavadee, Eid-Ul-Fitr, Christmas, Easter and Chinese New Year (Spring Festival) among others. Therefore, the cultural boundaries that cause so much division amongst different ethnicities in other countries are virtually non-existent in Mauritius. Food is definitely one of Mauritius’ highlights. You can enjoy an amazing array of cross-cultural cuisine, from Creole and European to Chinese and Indian. For example, you could have Indian-style curries accompanied by French gateaux and Creole rougailles. “Creole” could be

defined as being of mixed origin, something which has developed with time, after being subjected to different cultures. Hence, eating in Mauritius is a real adventure. Some typical Mauritian dishes are Salami de Cerf, Briyani, Dholl puri, Poisson sale, and Fried rice, amongst others. Since Mauritius is located in the Tropics and is surrounded by the sea, seafood is in abundance. French pastries and baguettes are very common and very much sought after. Tragically, the British did not leave much of their beloved cuisine behind, but one thing which they did leave is the tradition of having tea in the afternoon. The linguistic situation is Mauritius is quite complex. English is the official language and is used in Parliament, courts and school administration. But it is not commonly spoken. French is the unofficial language and is widely used by the mass media such as newspapers and television broadcasts. It is also used at work, at school and in professional settings. The most common language is the Mauritian Creole. Nearly the entire population knows and uses Creole for communication. The Creole language should not be confused with the adjective “Creole” as previously used. Creole might have emerged as a result of the interaction between French settlers and slaves. It does not have a definite written form and is not taught at school. The majority of the words of Creole are of French origin, with a mixture of words derived from English.


There are also a few words from Indian languages and Malagasy. However, nowadays, it seems that French is becoming more and more common. This is mainly due to the naïve and ill-founded belief among some people that French language is associated with a higher social status.

FeaTuReS and aTTRaCTIOnSMauritius is a paradise for the senses, not only for the palate, but also for the eyes. Apart from the white sandy beaches, deep blue lagoons and radi-ant sun, it also consists of numerous other features of equal attractive value. For instance, there is the seven-coloured earth at Chamarel. This is of natural formation, prob-ably created after molten lava cooled. There is also an area of the natural rainforest, containing several spe-cies of plants and animals which are

unique to the island. Mauritius has only two seasons: sum-mer and winter. The winter is very mild and in summer, it can get as hot as 32 degrees Celsius. For this rea-son, plants belonging to other regions with similar climatic conditions can grow on the island. Pierre Poivre, a French administrator, exploited this idea in the 18th Century and cre-ated a big garden, after introducing a wide variety of plant species from all over the world. The garden is now known as Pamplemousses Botanical Garden and is simply a work of art. It includes the giant Amazon water lily, which has leaves up to one and half metres in diameter, and several types of palm trees, including the Talipot palm which waits up to 60 years to flower and then dies. The garden is sure to enchant anyone in search of beauty, serenity and poetry.For people with a philatelic taste, Mauritius can be of equally high inter-est. The country is famous for two of the rarest stamps in the World: the 1847 “Post Office” Penny Orange and the Two pence Blue. These rari-ties have achieved a reputation that places them foremost among the true

gems of philately. They were not the first adhesive stamps created in the world. These stamps are peculiar in that they are inscribed with the words “Post Office”, instead of “Post Paid” and are extremely rare. They are also the most expensive stamps in the world. The estimated value of each of these stamps is over 1 million US Dollar, and will therefore hardly find their way into an ordinary stamp collection. Finally, Mauritius is often regarded as a luxurious destination, where few could afford to go. But this is not a wrong impression at all; the five-star hotels are far too expensive and would be best suited to the wealthy lot. But very often, there are good deals and these certainly have to be given some serious considera-tion. Because if you have not been to Mauritius, then you have missed not only some of the best things that life could offer, but the earthly para-dise itself. As Mark Twain said, “you gather the idea that Mauritius was made first and then Heaven, and that Heaven was copied after Mauritius.”■



The t rauma of look ing for accomoda t ion

Looking for accommodation in Luxembourg

can turn out to be quite a challenge, a real

adventure, and an unforgettable experience. For

those who started their search early, the experience of

looking for accommodation might have been simple

and straightforward, but for me… let’s just say that it’s

something I will definitely remember for a very long

time.

It all started back home in Romania. I didn’t want to

share the flat with anyone (you never know what your

room mate might be like, right?), so I began to search

for a studio. That’s just great, except that we only earn

1000 EUR per month, and Luxembourg is one of the

most expensive cities in Europe with regards to housing

prices. So, after serious investigations over the Internet,

I decided to let go of that idea of living alone, having a

studio to myself, etc.

The next option was to share a flat with people of my

age, preferably. Ok, so I knew about this website where

you could register, build your profile and then write to

people who seem decent and have a room available in

their flat, house or whatever. That seemed like a good

idea, but only for a little while… I received an answer

from a girl who appeared to be perfect: very nice, an

animal lover, never home. Well, excellent! Except that

in the second e-mail she said that I had to transfer an

unreasonable amount of money (the rent for three

months) to her mother’s account in England. I might

have been desperate to find accommodation, but I

wasn’t stupid. So, I told her “no can do” and didn’t

reply to her next e-mails in which she was trying to

convince me that I had nothing to worry about, that

everything was safe etc. Just when I was thinking that

perhaps I was too suspicious, an e-mail came from the

website administrator, saying that I had to end any

contact with this user (I don’t remember her name),

because it was a fraud. What can I say? A perfect

beginning!

The idea of living with a family suddenly sounded

better. The next thing I could come up with was to take

another look at the list sent by the stage committee and

eliminate any weird landlords (those people, quite a lot

of them, who didn’t allow visitors or who were asking

money if you wanted to have people over, those who

didn’t allow you to go out at night etc.). All was said and

done. After that, I started writing to them. I conceived

a nice e-mail as an introduction and I sent it to my new

list of landlords. Half of the replies weren’t good news:

the rooms were already taken. The other half specified

that they would prefer if I didn’t have people from back

by Cristina Ganciulescu

I rEMEMBEr THAT oN THAT dAY I HAd A vErY NICE TALk WITH MY FrIENd WHo ENCoUrAGEd

ME ANd rEASSUrEd ME THAT I WoULd FINd SoMETHING I LIkEd EvENTUALLY, ANd THAT I

SHoULdN’T ACCEpT THE UNACCEpTABLE.

“ ”

home visiting me or that I could, but my visitors had to

be women. If this isn’t strange, than what is? I couldn’t

understand why they were so weird about it. I mean, isn’t

it normal to share your life experience with people who

are dear to you? Why stay isolated for 5 months, having

a miserable life and, on the top of it all, pay for it? I still

haven’t found an answer to these questions…

Then, I found myself in Luxembourg with no

accommodation (luckily I had a friend there who was nice

enough to let me stay for a while until I found something).

I didn’t want to give up on the idea of having my boyfriend

or my mom over. That wasn’t an option, so I kept on

calling and writing to people. The worst memories I

have in Luxembourg were some people’s reaction, on

the phone, to the fact that I have a boyfriend and that I

want him to be able to come visit me. It was like having a

disease! At least, that’s how I felt. I guess the best places

with the best landlords were already taken at the time so I

had to deal with the rest…

My first actual visit to see a room in a house that wasn’t

even in Luxembourg city took place at 10 PM. Apparently

that was when the landlords were home during the week.

But I said ok, because they didn’t go nuts when they heard

that I would like to have visitors from time to time. They

actually agreed to that. So, it sounded promising.

I took the bus and it took me 40 minutes to get there. The

bus stop was next to a forest and there was only a small

light on the road. I felt very scared and you don’t want

to know what thoughts crossed my mind then. Anyway,

in order to take the bus back I had to wait for another

hour, so I figured that there was no turning back. I saw

a car slowly approaching and a friendly face. It was the

landlord. She took me to the house and then she showed

me the room. Big disappointment! The room was in the

basement next to the washing room, there was nothing

on the floor (only bare cement), the heating system wasn’t

working and the window was so small that you couldn’t

see anything through it. The “best” thing was that there

were no buses there on weekends! I was so discouraged

that I didn’t even say no. I said I would think about it and

give them my decision the following day. I will skip the

part about walking around in Luxembourg city at midnight,

in the pouring rain, getting lost and having nobody to ask

where I was. I remember that on that day I had a very nice

talk with my friend who encouraged me and reassured me

that I would find something I liked eventually, and that

I shouldn’t accept the unacceptable. And I didn’t, thank

God!

It was one day till the beginning of the traineeship and still

no accommodation. I was still living with my friend and



my state of mind was getting worse. It was the morning of my departure

for Brussels when another reply knocked at my inbox door. I opened

the message and there it was, a new chance, something to hope for. It

wasn’t in Luxembourg city, it was in a village called Schwebach, but still,

it sounded promising. So, I told them if they could wait until I got back

from Brussels and keep the room for me. I promised them I would go

there directly from Brussels. And so I did (not after I panicked a hundred

times in the train on my way back because I was trying to call them and

nobody answered the phone). I arrived in Schwebach in the evening.

It was actually dark. I saw a field and a remote forest and some houses

near by. When I got to the house, I found that the landlords were very

nice and open. They offered me a tea (that’s rare) and they started a very

nice conversation. I felt comfortable. They talked about their life, their

family. We weren’t strangers anymore… I told them about what I have

been through, about people not accepting visits and visitors and they

found it as weird and stupid as I did. I felt so relieved. Meanwhile I was

secretly praying and hoping the room would be as nice and warm (I was

pretty cold) as they were. And, surprise! It was. A very cozy room, with a

computer and a nice window, and a floor all to myself. I even had my own

bathroom. I agreed to stay there and I slept like a baby that night. All my

worries had vanished in thin air.

Well, after five months of living in Schwebach I am still grateful I chose

this accommodation. It was an incredible experience that changed my

ideas about living with a family. It can be a beautiful thing when you meet

wonderful people. The morality of this story is, do not despair, don’t

accept the unacceptable, and don’t give up hope. So…don’t! ■

The Stage in Jean Monnet... Thoughts and Feelings

stageL O O K I N G B A C K T O T H E

Five months… Five months of mixed feel-

ings and emotions. We’ve experienced

them all: amazement, confusion, joy, diso-

rientation, disappointment, regrets, happi-

ness etc. It was hard, but then it became

easier. Why? Because

we were not alone.

Values like friendship,

sharing, caring for one

another, revealing our

true self were common

during our traineeship

here in Luxembourg,

Jean Monnet. When

you see this building

for the very first time,

from the outside as well

as from the inside, it

seems that it has noth-

ing to offer. Nothing but

long days, one after the

other…But as we came to realize later on,

it is not the building that makes your life

enjoyable here, it is the people in it, your

colleagues and friends you have lunch

with every day, who have coffee breaks

with you, whom you talk to whenever you

have a problem or when you just feel like

talking…

This article is about experience, thoughts

and feelings. It combines

humor with seriousness,

good memories and bad

memories, it’s like a bag

full of ideas and emotions

with which we all identi-

fied at some point.

In order to go through

the main phases of our

life here, I chose a few

key-words which marked

our stay: the first day,

the badge, the office, the

unit, THE canteen (prob-

ably we can all guess

why the article is written

in capitals), the work, the best memory,

the worst memory, and the coffee breaks.

Let us see what these words and phrases

have triggered.

GEORGIOs

1) your first day: looking around bewildered and sleepy,

wishing I had my cat with me for some weird reason.

2) your badge: ok, awful picture, don’t need to be

reminded, thanks. (Queuing was fun though :-P)

3) your office: ay! Mi oficina! Nice and cosy and sunny!

More sunny than it should actually. And hot. Hot hot hot.

Kinda bare though, that’s why I put up some posters and

stuff. Kinda.

4) your unit: he he he, that’s for the unit to know and for

you to guess :-P

5) THE canteen: at first looked grand, then went too

bland.

6) your work: interesting at the beginning, learning all

the trades of the union and stuff, and then I realised that

for some obscure reason I was getting the documents

that the rest were too bored (or too busy and important)

to do.

7) best memory: emm…the snow, the incredible storm

in mid-June, the lunches outside, bits and pieces here

and there...

8) worst memory: Not pertinent.

9) coffee breaks: more like smoking breaks for me, since

I don’t drink coffee…. :-) let’s say plenty of them. And

rewarding ;-)


2�EC Stagiaires Journal Luxembourg Mar-Jul 200828 EC Stagiaires Journal Luxembourg Mar-Jul 2008



Ulrika

1) your first day: Confusing…everything looked the

same: brownish and yellow…nice place to stay! But

as you got used to it, it got better. Now I’m even think-

ing of buying a yellow locker on my own to use as a

wardrobe at home. Well, apart from that, the first day

here was about standing in a queue: to get the badge,

to open a bank account…

2) your badge: I’ve managed to keep it with me every

day…that’s worth mentioning! At first I didn’t like it at all,

it’s not the best picture that has been taken…But now

it’s far too late to do anything about it!

3) your office: I had the pleasure to share the office with

Terhi, and it had been very nice! I will miss our “after-

noon snack time” (which is the time when you feel like

talking and eating instead of doing any translation at all.

To us this usually occurs at around 16 in the afternoon).

4) your unit: Typically Swedish I must say…At first I felt

very lonely since people seemed to stay in their offices

without speaking to anyone else. But as time passed

by, I got to know a few of them a bit better which was

very nice.

5) THE canteen: This could be an essay…I would say

that there were different stages during our traineeship

period. At first, I don’t think that anyone was satisfied

with the food. Then, it gradually got better (or maybe

we got used to the food quality, I can t say for sure). In

the middle of the traineeship period the chef invited us

to dishes like tongue (????WHY???) and other suspi-

cious meals (maybe this was the time when we discov-

ered the EP canteen). At the moment, I would say that

the food quality can differ a lot from day to day. But, let’s

put it this way: You will always have something to talk

about at lunch! Comparing dishes, lack of color, taste

etc…

6) your work: It has been very nice and not that

demanding. I had the privilege to be able to ask for

more work if I felt like it, they never gave me too much

work which was very good.

Translating a text about salmonella in detail is maybe

not the best appetizer, but I guess that there are worse

things…

7) best memory: I guess that it has nothing to do with

the building itself, but with the people here. I would say

that meeting the other trainees for coffee and lunch

made my days!

8) worst memory: Must be the smell of the tongue dish

in the canteen…

Second place: The monthly security alarm testing…

always annoying!

9) coffee breaks: The coffee breaks have been essen-

tial for the daily work here at JMO. There is always a

reason for a cup of coffee!

1) your first day: full of expectations and curiosity2) your badge: I find the Brussels badge nicer.3) your office: very small (narrow) and dark (other translators always bumping into things when they come in)4) your unit: nice and friendly Czech people:)5) THE canteen: Well, I have eaten better things but ok.6) your work: sometimes too much. Can be exhausting, demanding, stressful and frustrating because the large amount of translations makes you work like a machine and there is no time really to appre-ciate or give a deeper thought to what you are doing and what you have already translated. I have also found out I miss contact with other people while working. So translat-ing is definitely not my dream job. But it was worth the experience!!!7) best memory: A few; e.g. talk-ing to a lot of people about a lot of interesting things; making new friends; getting to know new peo-ple; when I got back the revision of one of my translations into English with not that many mistakes:)8) worst memory: sitting until late hours in the office, losing my badge (twice but always found in the end:), getting up very early sometimes, listening to the same information on the EU again and again during some of the lec-tures and visits to the institutions (where I had to fight hard not to fall asleep...)9) coffee breaks: none

CHRIsTINA 1) your first day: I was so nervous to go

to the Drosbach building on that day to register. I was a late-comer

so I knew that I would be the only one. However, I met Ildikó there

and we could go through the following steps together.

2) your badge: My badge is useful, I can use it for the bus. I do not

mind wearing it.

3) your office: On my first day nobody knew which room would be

my office. Then I got it and recognized that I would be alone. I felt a

bit lonely but know I am happy to be alone – no one can disturb me.

4) your unit: My unit is great. The Germans are very very helpful, we

have coffee together every Monday and I can choose my work.

5) THE canteen: We mostly go to the parliament. The food in Jean

Monnet often contains things I am allergic against and the would

never tell beforehand. There is meat in some salads. Once there

was lamb in some kind of chicken drumstick. They never tell me

what is porc and what is not. A bit annoying for me.

6) your work: My workload is acceptable. I do nice things – many

press releases.

7) best memory: My supervisor brought me flowers from his garden.

8) worst memory: A Polish translation that went wrong.

9) coffee breaks: I never take a coffee break in the canteen. In

my unit someone always makes coffee on Monday morning and

Thursday afternoon.

jANA

1) your first day: total chaos in my head, I was getting lost in the building (that actually continued for a couple of weeks), many new

faces, could not remember all names.

2) your badge: if it was not for the way I look at the picture, I would quite like the badge, useful gadget that enables you to get sev-

eral discounts, one day I was unlucky (or rather absentminded) enough to leave my badge at home, so it took about half an hour

for the security to complete the procedure and let me in (that involved my advisor and the secretary, completing a detailed form,

and leaving my ID at the reception for the whole day).

3) your office: nice, spacious but gets very hot in the summer.

4) your unit: very friendly and helpful, highly qualified people who REALLY do a great job.

5) THE canteen: I have slowly turned into a vegetarian as I found the meat meals too strange.

6) your work: lots of work, but this way I’ve learnt to use the IT translation tools, I’ve

acquired a lot of experience in translating EU texts and I’ve achieved the goal I had in mind

when coming here to do the traineeship.

7) best memory: every Yoga class and the final relaxation :)

8) worst memory: I can’t really recall any in particular.

9) coffee breaks: the best moment of the average working day :) although I wasn’t able to

enjoy as many coffee breaks as I wanted to because of the workload.

KINGA

1) your first day: It was a busy day with opening a bank account and meeting your advisor.

2) your badge: Actually my picture in the badge for Luxembourg was a better one than the one for

Brussels.

3) your office: My office is big and I have a nice view. I also have company because I’m sharing the

room with a Swedish trainee.

4) your unit: People in my unit are really nice and friendly. They are really good translators.

5) THE canteen: First I didn’t like the food but towards the end of the traineeship I was starting to like it.

6) your work: I really enjoyed working here. I have translated texts with

interesting topics such as culture, education and also, legislative texts like

amendments of regulations.

7) best memory: It has been nice to get to know trainees from different

countries and speaking different languages.

8) worst memory: At the beginning I once got lost in Jean Monnet. It’s such

a labyrinth.

9) coffee breaks: The important social event, especially in the mornings.

Terhi

LUIsA1) your first day: it was excit-ing, I met my Adviser and my Unit, they were all very friendly and helpful... I was trying to memorize my office number and how to get there. JM0 was, and still is, a labyrinth... but at least I memorized my way to the office.

2) your badge: I was very thrilled with my new Luxembourg badge, since I looked... let’s say...bad...in my Brussels badge!It was very exciting to have a badge from the European Commission

3) your office: it has brown car-pet on the wall.

4) your unit: very friendly, very loud... the BEST!

5) THE canteen: Tongue!Zungue, língua, jazyk, tungen, lengua, tong, limba, tungen, języka, maternă, языка, tun-gan, jezik...I won’t ever forget it...

6) your work: Nice!

7) best memory: all my stage is (in short time “was”) a whole big wonderful memory

8) worst memory: Tongue!

9) coffee breaks: the reason of my existence...JMO was not an exception!

1) your first day: Excited and mostly scared about what i will be faced

with at work. Trying to look cool and approachable. The guy that took me

to the unit was really nice and open, but we never talked since then! My

advisor interviewed me trying to decide what to do with me! I met almost

everybody in the floor but by the end of this tour I forgot all their names!

2) your badge: I have a badge to remind me how sleepy I was! I am not

sure if I was smiling...I think he took the picture just before I posed!

3) your office: C2/012 I share it with an official that is basically acting as

my advisor!( good guy though!) I don’t even have my name on the door.

My office is on the way to the training center...so I often get some visitors

(thank God). My office is also close enough to the exit!

4) your unit: My hierarchy is spanish with a Cypriot director. Can it get any

better than that? However, there is a lot of work they have to do. I just did

all the things they didn’t have time to do!

5) THE canteen: Highlight of the day!

6) your work: Could have been better.

7) best memory: Playing table tennis and that football thingy in the train-

ing center with Anne, David and Penelope.

8) worst memory: Feeling stupid and not important at work.

9) coffee breaks: I wish we had coffee breaks all day long!

Christoforos



DAVID1) your first day: On my first day, my advisor forgot to

pick me up after the meeting and after I just saw my

office…Well… It was Friday, around 17:30… What

else could I do? On Monday our very nice Head of

unit’s secretary introduced me to almost all the unit.

2) your badge: I prefer the Brussels one. Nicer design

and I look better in the picture

3) your office: I had 3 offices,and always shared them.

Two in JMO and one in DRB. In the first, I was in a

corner but still I felt I had enough space. The second

in JMO was much bigger and I had much more space

but it was a really hot office! And now in DRB... The

office is not so big but it’s really bright even if cloudy.

And everything in the building is more modern, but the

location is not as good as Kirchberg.

4) your unit: they are mostly nice and friendly but they

mostly speak French and I almost don’t speak it ...

5) THE canteen: For me, it was nice. I enjoyed meeting

with the other stagiaires for lunch. I think the food was

usually very good and really cheap.

6) your work: Not hard at all

7) best memory: The lunch and coffee breaks with the

other stagiaires and the day I celebrated my birthday

and “good bye build-

ing” there. Also as

Chistoforos said this

day, we “worked” play-

ing table football (baby-

foot) and table tennis in

the fitness centre.

8) worst memory:

Having to left the build-

ing, meaning that I

won’t have lunch with

all the nice stagiaires

there.

9) coffee breaks: They are not coffee breaks! It’s net-

working!! :D And networking seems to be a very impor-

tant thing in the Commission. I guess in the Parliament

and other European Institutions too. ;)

1) your first day: soooo many new people2) your badge: if you don’t look at the photo ….3) your office: I did like it, could stay longer 4) your unit: great colleagues5) THE canteen: let’s have lunch at the Parliament6) your work: the best I had until now7) best memory: there are soooooo many! Maybe 80’ party in Viking8) worst memory: visit of the casemates

AsTRID 1) your first day: meeting with all who are working in

our department and they were rubbing their hands

saying: mmmmm... stagiaire, young and without expe-

rience.

2) your badge: once I forgot to take it with me, of

course I didn’t have also my passport, so they gave

me the label VISITEUR…

When I’m showing my badge in the canteen to have

a reduction:)), these Italian men working there are

always saying ohlalaa stagiaire, quelle chance!!!!

So sometimes it brings trouble, sometimes it is funny

to have it:)

3) your office: quite empty and grey,… when our

unit has busy times, my table is full of documents to

translate. There are no dictionaries. Before coming, I

imagined that there were so many dictionaries here,

but everything is in the computer.

4) your unit: I never had problems with my unit.

Everybody is very friendly and helps me when neces-

sary.

5) THE canteen: I tried to avoid it for some months:)

eating only in the canteen of the court of justice... now

I returned in our canteen, sometimes I’m taking only

the salad which isn’t also very good:)... but some-

times there are lucky days when it is possible to take

even le plat du jour:)) at least we have a reduction for

this…eheh.

6) your work: my work is one of my passions, so I

really like it… I never find my texts boring:).

7) best memory: I do not have the very best mem-

ory connected to this building, in spite of all these

moments together when I had fun or when we had

parties in our unit to celebrate birthdays. The best

memory of my stage is more connected to the trips

I made, for example, a trip to Belgium during which

we visited many towns in Belgium and went to the

seaside.

8) worst memory: At the beginning of the stage once I

went to have lunch with my adviser and some others

of our department. And there was a lady from another

unit who was looking at me and saying: well, they

wanted to take a trainee also in our unit, but I told them

no! I didn’t let a trainee come here...

That was quite sad moment, may be there have been

many troubles with some trainees. Now it seems that

in our unit everybody is very happy with my job and

they don’t want to let me go yet...

9) coffee breaks: too many cakes…

ILDIKó

1) your first day: Hard. Left alone to deal with everything (log in problems, printer installation, etc.). Afterwards I understood that it took only 20 minutes for my adviser to explain me everything (twb, translation standards, normative memory, IATE and so on) that I will be so bored to hear about during incredibly long courses. It was my fault that I did not grasp all information at that time. An excellent example how to be effective but not very suitable for a scared trainee...15 minutes trying to get out of this damn building (next day it took only 10).2) your badge: my photo is beautiful, so I like it :) Just I wonder why everything is in stone age (where are the electronic identifiers and passages or whatever?).3) your office: office is quite OK but JMO... Long narrow corridors with small cages, a true Kafka’s story. Horrible yellow wardrobes with terrible metal sound like in prison. No ventilation, no space. You suffocate here in all senses: your breath, your eyes and emotions.4) your unit: rather patient and friendly. Half of them are so called “nice people”, other half think that they are the most important and very over-worked (hmm, haven’t they worked in Lithuania or just forgot what it means to have a lot of work?)5) THE canteen: never been there, I’m too poor to spend three Euros for dinner, not to speak about other things6) your work: the nastiest work in the unit. Nobody wants to do what I am doing (so they gave it to me). It is not hard but…7) best memory: St John’s day together with some people from my unit8) worst memory: a few arguments with people working in my unit (terrible). Next time I would just shut up and do it as they would say without any questions (it saves your nerves and time).9) coffee breaks: what coffee breaks? I did not have any coffee breaks, too much of work…

EGLE

1) your first day: Too many names to remember and a complex building who turned out not to be complex at all... just illogical.

2) your badge: Nice piece of European identification, a pain when you leave it at home by mistake

3) your office: so glad to be in my own office, but in the end I miss having someone to talk to and that would also make me be a bit more focused on my

work.

4) your unit: hmmm... While being nice, they kept their distance.

5) THE canteen: I love the canteen. I really missed it when I was on holidays. It’s the meeting point of all the stagiaires and the place where we can

finally relax and enjoy a nice conversation. Foodwise... who cares! I liked it because of the people that I met and not because of the service that was

supposed to be provided.

6) your work: Very useful. It’s been five months of permanent improvment of my knowledge... Some knowl-

edge being more interesting than others, obviously.

7) best memory: Knowing that I was going to spend five months with lovely people in a nice environment.

8) worst memory: Looking back now and seeing that those five months are already gone.

9) coffee breaks: Didn’t have many... I was so responsible, busy and important!

PENELOPE

1) your first day: I could not find my office anymore. I thought I just had to go straight on from the stairs,

which is also the case when I go down…to go up I need to go round the stairs. Fortunately my search

only took a few minutes.

2) your badge: I don’t like my picture on the badge in Luxembourg and for some reason my lips are

very red on the Brussels badge…

3) your office: the best office in my unit, because it has the best view BUT incredibly warm in the after-

noon. Opening all the windows doesn’t help. When it is cold outside it is also cold inside. Since I am on

the end of the building and when it is windy outside it feels like my office will be blown away by the wind.

4) your unit: the people are really nice but I guess the age gap between me and the next “youngest” col-

league is 15 years. It feels more like they are the colleagues of my parents than my colleagues...

5) THE canteen: where to start…the good food, because I will be brief about that. They are actually able to make good food but you have to be really lucky

that you pick that dish and that it is the day of the week to make good food. The best thing you can get, is food that can be described as “okay”. Before I came

here I was quite a complicated person in relation to food; some things I eat, others I don’t. Here, I had to let go of my principles and just choose what looked

the best option(…) if I don’t want to starve or eat sandwiches all the time. Most of the time I chose the “okay” food, one of the reasons is that I first checked

the menu and looked up the words I didn’t understand. That way I couldn’t get a “wonderful” surprise on my plate. The food is also amazingly greasy, they can

actually make everything greasy.

6) your work: I am already specialised in doing “QE’. This is the major part of my translations. Nobody asks me anymore if I have time or if I want to do it, the

secretaries just put my name on it and bring it. The advantage is that they are not so long and there is always something new. That makes me specialised

in everything! I don’t do revisions, I am glad for that because I don’t even like to re-read my own texts (but I have to...). Otherwise it is okay, I have nice col-

leagues who are always willing to help. Sometimes I am really busy but most of the time I can do my work at my own pace. The only thing I don’t like is the

difference between Flemish and Dutch. They agreed to use Dutch from the Netherlands so it sometimes feels like I have to learn a new language...Some

words that we regularly use in Flanders are not used anymore by the Dutch people. It is funny when the oldest Dutch colleague in the unit tells me that a word

is really old-fashioned and they stopped using it years ago.

7) best memory: coffee breaks and lunch breaks with the other trainees (except for the food and the coffee), having met really nice people among the trainees

8) worst memory: the FOOD, the coffee and having to use Dutch in stead of Flemish…

9) coffee breaks: I don’t like the coffee…I prefer to make my own. I have drunk many different sorts of coffee but there is not one comparable to the coffee

here. They should have different tastes but everything tastes the same. They give you the coffee immediately after they made it but all the coffees I had here

were cold and in the best case tepid. Cleanliness is also a word that is not in their dictionary. The cups are always dirty, because they spill coffee before they

give it to you. In other companies, coffee is free, here you have to pay for it. I rather bring my own coffee and coffee machine than pay for coffee I don’t like in a

dirty cup...What I do like here (yes, something is coming…) is the orange juice.

VICKY



1) your first day: I fell asleep during a conference, then found out that my advisor is going to go skiing for a week, and when I finally made it

to my office, I saw there was a sticker on the door saying “I don t know, I don t care, that s why they put me in charge.” How… fitting?!

2) your badge: I keep forgetting it quite often, thanks to which I am now aware of the fact that the security guys only know one sentence in

english: “No badge - no entry.”

3) your office: It has undergone some serious reconstruction done by myself, due to which it displays interesting decoration on the walls,

that tends to evoke various reactions from people who step in for the first time:

Colleague: “What is that…?!”

Yannis: “I wouldn t like to be your head of unit.”

Luisa: “Ooooooh…”

Advisor: “Umm… so… you are a fan of Nightwish?”

Secretary: “This is kind of bloody.”

Colleague 2: “Did you draw the pictures yourself?” (…if I did and they sold them as posters, would I be sitting here…?)

4) your unit: My old unit would have been fine, if it was not for the head of unit - who does not understand that “trainee” doesn t equal

“slave”. After I complained, I ended up somplace else, my work is appreciated and I m happy. Everyone is very kind, very helpful, and grate-

ful to have me. Too bad I only did this after several months of suffering!

5) THE canteen: First of all, I would like to say I don t understand why do luxembourgish people enjoy raw meat so much… You would think

that the steaks say “moooo” when you try to cut them with your knife. Secondly, I don t understand why they intend to cook national foods of various countries, label them as such and

then they all taste the same, look the same, and use the exact same ingredients. Thirdly, I don t understand how is it possible that the canteen in Brussels can be equally disgusting. Do

they have some central kitchen where they employ children from third countries?!

6) your work: Weeeell… you get an english text and you translate it into czech, ya know?:)

7) best memory: Too many – trips, parties, people. The first good memory though came immediately - when I met Barbora in the Vienna airport before coming here – it was so nice to

realize that suddenly I was not coming alone.

8) worst memory: What can I say? It s Luxembourg…Generally, all my BEST memories relate to the people (I love you guys). All the WORST ones relate to the place. But since the

people make the place, in the end the worst moments are bearable, after all.

9) coffee breaks: I know some people had them.

MARTINA

1) your first day: The very first day? I flew from Prague via Switzerland to Luxembourg, there were heavy storms all around Europe, all flights in Zurich were delayed but after all the luck I seem to have had this

year, I was still lucky to arrive safe and sound to my destination. The first days of the stage were marked by too much bureaucracy, by a Siberian windy cold in Brussels (both cannot be but negative) and by many

new people and languages around (both cannot be but positive).

2) your badge: I have not had any interesting story about the badge. Perhaps just that for some two weeks it was the only personal identification document I had (after they had robbed all my other cards in

Brussels and I had been left totally paper-free).

3) your office: My office is like a small short noodle in the entrails of a labyrinth-like Jean Monnet with a desperate view into one of its internal “patios”, but I am a humble person who does not require too much.

Back home I am used to working by a window which leads into our garden and I must admit I miss it because I love and need to be in touch with nature, but the sheep grazing some 300 metres away from the

Commission and the wild rabbit I once saw having his early morning breakfast on the lawn in front of JMO are a sufficient comfort for me to survive 5 months 8 hours a day in an artificial and unfriendly building

where the only visible living organisms seem to be human (mainly translators).

4) your unit: I think all the people in my unit are very nice and as a trainee I have been assigned a reasonable amount of work.

5) THE canteen: Having lunch with the other trainees was definitely the best part of every working day

6) your work: I was assigned to work with the translation unit 1 and have therefore been most frequently asked to do economic

and legal texts which I have never been particularly fond of. But in that way I could at least learn something new... Most of

the documents have been quite boring, but some of them have been interesting and funny. I remember having translated

Commission Regulation (EC) No 374/2008 of 24 April 2008 amending for the 94th time Council Regulation (EC) No 881/2002

imposing certain specific restrictive measures directed against certain persons and entities associated with Usama bin Laden,

the Al-Qaida network and the Taliban”. It was the 94th amendment and since than there have been several new editions more;

it has to be translated every now and then because the terrorists in the annex cannot somehow help the temptation to make

minute changes in their average 6 nicknames (which are usually different but at the same time extremely similar)…Another

memorable document I translated was titled something like EFTA Surveillance Authority decision on alleged state aid with regard to the Norwegian reindeer slaughter industry. I remember I found the translation a

bit tricky, because as we do not have reindeer in the Czech Republic, the Czech solutions to some of the sentences, especially to the title itself, seemed to sound either too morbid or too funny…

ANNA

But It Seems There Are Things Belgium does Not Like About Me ...

I like about Belgiumthere are things

I was captivated by the splendid guild houses of Grote Markt in Brussels, I enjoyed my visit to the original Atomium and funny Mini-Europe, I was charmed by the magical

atmosphere of Brugge, and when window-shopping I was quite tempted to buy some of the rather expensive pieces of fine and fancy lace. I am also convinced that both Belgian fries and mussels are really the best I have ever tasted, and although I have never been particularly fond of chocolate I must admit that the cappuccino and cream pralines made in Belgium are not at all bad and are actually more than eatable. I have also had the honour of meeting some very nice and friendly people (Vicky, for example), and in Jean Monnet I was happy to attend IT training courses given by Gerard who is a very good teacher of Belgian nationality and taught me a lot. And since I have always liked simultaneous interpreting and enjoyed moving in a multicultural and multilingual environment, after all I have recently lived I still

somehow wish I were good and lucky enough so as to pass the exam and become a Prague based free-lance interpreter who would from time to time fly to work a few days in Berlaymont or another EU building.I believe that during all four visits I have paid to Belgium I was an interested and dutiful tourist, discovering and appreciating all its strengths, nevertheless, I cannot help the feeling that for some reason the country has taken a certain type of vengeance on me.In March, just after I left Prague with my luggage packed up to more than the maximum weight permitted by the strict and precise Swiss Air, my parents sent me the rest of my personal possessions needed for the 5-month stay by post. Although they were told the ten-kilo parcel would arrive on my Luxembourg address within fourteen days at the latest, I was relieved and frantic with joy to receive it only after almost six weeks, when

I actually did not need the majority of its contents any more ... After many days of extensive search and several telephonic, email and personal demands on all post services involved (i.e. Czech, Belgian and Luxembourgish), I found out that the parcel had arrived to a so-called Brucargo outside Brussels the very second day after it had been sent, and there they kept it for the rest of the time. Any particular reason for that? Any particular reason why the Belgian Post was the only of the three that was unable to track the registered parcel by its number and had no idea at all where it was? In April I went to Belgium again, looking forward to meeting my boyfriend with whom I had planned to do some more travelling. Since I was twenty-five when I was buying the ticket and I was twenty-five the day I went to Brussels, I bought a return ticket using the -26 years tariff. However, it was my birthday in Belgium and I was coming back to Luxembourg just three days later. On

my way I was checked by two or three inspectors who thought everything was okay, but no less than ten minutes before getting off the train and taking a bus to Kirchberg, other two Belgian inspectors came and started to control the tickets again. Although supposedly this hardly ever takes place, I was asked to show them my identity card. When they saw that I was born on the 12th April 1982, they insisted it was absolutely unacceptable to make use of my return ticket because it was April 15, 2008 and I had already been twenty six. I had to pay a full price one-way trip Brussels – Luxembourg for more than 40 euros, including a fine of 13 euros for not having a valid ticket. Had I made both trips being already twenty-six or had I returned after more than a week after my birthday, I would not have said a word. In a way they were right, but I still feel the whole situation was quite ambivalent and the fine rather absurd. In the same scrupulous

I BELIEvE THAT dUrING ALL FoUr vISITS I HAvE pAId To BELGIUM I WAS AN INTErESTEd ANd dUTIFUL ToUrIST. NEvErTHELESS, I CANNoT HELp THE FEELING THAT For SoME rEASoN THE CoUNTrY HAS TAkEN A CErTAIN

TYpE oF vENGEANCE oN ME.“ ”

by Anna Bulírová


fashion and following their example, perhaps I could have insisted on a financial compensation because the train had actually arrived to Luxembourg half an hour late ... Yet the most unforgettable moment of my Belgian experience was still to come.In May I was going to take a plane to Spain from Charleroi, however, at the end I did not fly anywhere and was more than happy to be able to come back to Luxembourg soon after arriving to Brussels. As I was walking to the airport shuttle bus stop very early in the morning on an open boulevard in the city centre, several metres away from the hostel where I had stayed during the March welcome conferences, I was attacked and robbed by two men (I have become somewhat immigrant-sceptical since then, I am afraid ...). Apart from money, telephone, several things of mere sentimental value and the train ticket, they stole all my personal documents. As a result I was denied boarding and lost a top-season flight which had been considerably far from being cheap. In view of the bad luck, I was at least lucky enough so as not to suffer any but a material and psychological harm, and I am extremely grateful to my guardian angel for that ... Fortunately, I also had some money left in the pocket of my jeans, otherwise,

I would have had no means to return back to Luxembourg, as it was holiday and there was no one on the Czech consulate to help me. In this context, my farewell message for you might therefore be “Beware of Brussels!”After a month, the Belgian police recovered my documents, but was unwilling to send them to the police in Luxembourg and insisted on me coming personally to their department to a so called Rue de Houblon. At least I could take the opportunity of the stage trip to Brussels in June ... I had heard that in Brussels there were quarters that were not to be entered, but did not know how they looked like or how one could know he was close. Thanks to good cooperation between the authorities within the Schengen area though, I had the opportunity to become acquainted with one of the seedbeds of crime despite having no interest. Perhaps the police gets some sort of commission for all items stolen that it invites the victims to such quarters so that they can be deprived of their valuables once again? Thank you, Jana and Terhi, for accompanying me with my current anxiety and paranoia I would have never been able to go there on my own and recover my papers, among them my passport that the muggers had probably used as toilet paper. The trip was depressing and useless, because the commissioner who was supposed to be there was absent and had not even informed his colleagues, no more declarations were needed from me and I

did not get to know where, when and by whom the papers had been found or whether anything else from my bag had been discovered, although in bad condition. Supposedly they did not know!Originally, I got an offer of a traineeship both with the Council in Brussels and with the Commission in Luxembourg. Now I am perfectly happy and absolutely convinced that I made the right decision of choosing Luxembourg, because God knows what else

would have happened to me! ■

I WAS AT LEAST LUCkY ENoUGH So AS NoT To SUFFEr ANY BUT A MATErIAL ANd pSYCHoLoGI-

CAL HArM, ANd I AM ExTrEMELY GrATEFUL To MY GUArdIAN ANGEL For THAT ...

“ ”


Some Facts About

FINLAND

B Y T e r h i O i n O n e n

3� EC Stagiaires Journal Luxembourg Mar-Jul 2008

Finland, a country of thousands of lakes and islands, sauna, Nokia mobile phones, an incomprehensible language, cold and dark winters, nightless night in

the Midsummer, shy and withdrawn Finns who drink a lot…These are the most common conceptions of Finland.

There are four distinct seasons in Finland: summer, autumn, winter and spring. In summer, when the tem-perature rises above 25 degrees Celsius, the day is regard-ed as a hot day. All the heat and the light affect the Finns so that we are more friendly and outgoing during the summer months. After the summer comes the autumn with its rains and winds and after September 21, the days become shorter every day until Christmas. The winter is the longest season in Finland, for example, in the north-ern part of the country, in Lapland, it prevails more than six months from mid-October to the end of April. After a hard and cold winter comes the spring, and snow and the ice on lakes and on the sea start to melt. The nature comes back from the dead and you start looking for the summer…

Recently, Finland has become quite famous because of two surveys. Finland was the highest-performing coun-try on the PISA (Programme for International Students Assessment) 2006 science scale with an average of 563 score points, the highest total ever recorded in a PISA study which gathers information on the results of educa-tion measured by combined learning results in science, mathematics and literacy. According to the annual 215-city survey conducted by the human resources consult-ing company Mercer in June 2008, Helsinki, the capital of Finland, was ranked as the world’s second safest city together with the Swiss cities Bern, Geneva and Zurich. The most safe city in the world was Luxembourg. The Finnish population is around 5,3 million and about 1,25 million people live in the Helsinki metropolitan area.

It is often said that Finns are introverts. It’s true that we are reserved to start with but when you get to know Finns better with time, we make very loyal and reliable friends and you might find out that actually we are very talkative! ■

hei! MitÄ kuuluu? – kiitos hYVÄÄ.

finnish is a member of the finno-ugric lan-guage family and it modifies and inflects the forms of nouns, adjectives, pronouns, numerals and verbs, depending on their roles in the sentence. there are no arti-cles or prepositions in finnish. the finnish orthography is built upon the phonetic principle: each sound of the language is represented by exactly one letter, and each letter represents exactly one sound. this makes the language easy for its speakers to spell, and facilitates learning to read and write.

geograPhY

finland is indeed a country of thou-sands of lakes – 187,888 lakes and 179,584 islands to be precise. finland’s land border with russian is the eastern border of the european union. even though the finns are europeans, finland is often missing from the maps of europe, for example, from the television weather maps. nokia - connecting PeoPle

the world’s leading manufacturer of mobile phones, nokia, was founded and is still headquartered in finland. ninety-eight per cent of households in finland have mobile phones, which means that there are more mobile phones than fixed network telephones. nowadays, most of the children have their first mobile phone when they start school at the age of 7.

sauna Bathing

sauna bathing is a typical finnish phenom-enon. the sauna is normally heated until 80-90 degrees celsius in order to increase the temperature of the skin to stimulate perspiration and produce a feeling of relax-ation. for the finns, the sauna is a weekly occurrence and families often go together to the sauna naked.

3�EC Stagiaires Journal Luxembourg Mar-Jul 2008

WE do NoT rEMEMBEr dAYS; WE rEMEMBEr MoMENTS.

Cesare Pavese“ ”

Luxembourg Memories in pictures



luxembourg Song (tune of Yesterday)

Luxembourg…

the city where we’d have never been

without the commission traineeship

oh Luxembourg

that’s where we’ve been

Liquid, the Viking, the Marx Bar,

Apoteca

Just a few places

where we spent a lot of time

Luxembourg…



oh Luxembourg


Buses constantly being late or not

passing

Rain, hail, April snow

and sometimes a ray of sun

Luxembourg…



oh Luxembourg


tREN, EMpL, sANco,

opocE, EcFIN, DGt

Barbarous names

for where some of us have been working

Luxembourg…



oh Luxembourg


parties, crazy nights,

often difficult mornings

Day trips, sporty times

and of course, a lot of beer

Luxembourg…



oh Luxembourg


we will not forget this charming little

city

And will not regret

a second coming here

Luxembourg…



oh Luxembourg


Marianne Ollivier

OFFICIAL TRIPS brussels

�1EC Stagiaires Journal Luxembourg Mar-Jul 2008�0 EC Stagiaires Journal Luxembourg Mar-Jul 2008

WE WANdEr For dISTrACTIoN, BUT WE TrAvEL For

fulfillment. “ ”Hilaire Belloc




��EC Stagiaires Journal Luxembourg Mar-Jul 2008�� EC Stagiaires Journal Luxembourg Mar-Jul 2008

PARTIES


Paint the town red, blue or


kitchen Corner

A truly international experience can not be complete without a taste of foreign cuisine. Here you can find some of the more typical recipes of countries that were represented in the traineeship.

1.

Cook the cod in milk. If using salt cod then remember to soak it for at least 24 hours previously to making this dish (preferably 48 hours).

2.

Fry the potatoes, just until crusty and golden, preferably in very hot oil. Meanwhile, remove the bones and skin from the cod and tear its flesh apart.

3.

In a pan, slice the onion in a bit of olive oil and add the torn cod and, gradually, the fresh cream and milk. Control its texture by adding flour until it is creamy and homogenous, but firm. Add salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste. Add the fried pota-toes to the mix and stir.

4.

Place the mix in an oven proof dish, topping with shredded cheese. Place in the oven until golden brown about 200º C for 20 minutes.

COD WITH CREAM (BACALHAU COM NATAS) Portugal

■ Cod (about 2 or 3 pieces)■ 3 medium potatoes or 4 small ones, diced■ 1 package heavy cream (about 0,5l)■ 2 cups milk■ 2 tbsp flour■ 2 medium onions, thinly sliced■ salt, nutmeg and pepper to taste

by Alberto Ferreira


5.

Whisk up the egg whites and mix them with the butter through the dough (batter).

6.

To get an extra taste, add some vanilla essence to the dough and mix.

7.

Let it rise during 30 minutes.

BRUSSELS WAFFLES Belgium

■ 40 grams of fresh yeast (1/2 oz) for 500 grams (1 lb) of flour■ 500 grams (1 lb) of flour■ 40 cl (1pint) of tepid water■ 40 cl (1pint) of tepid milk■ 8 eggs■ 250 grams of melted butter■ A pinch of salt ■ Vanilla essence

1.

Put the yeast in the tepid water and leave it to dissolve.

2.

Put the flour in a big bowl and make a small hole in the middle of it.

3.

Mix the dissolved yeast with the flour and finally add a pinch of salt and the milk.

4.

Separate the egg yolk from the egg white. Add the egg yolks to the dough (batter).

8.

Heat the waffle iron fully, grease it with melted butter or a bit of oil.

9.

Put some dough on it with a spoon and bake the waffles golden brown.

10.

You can powder the waffles with powdered sugar or add some whipped cream, ice cream or strawberries. If you’ve got some waffles left, put them into the freezer and heat them later under the grill.

by Vicky Van Delsen

��EC Stagiaires Journal Luxembourg Mar-Jul 2008�8 EC Stagiaires Journal Luxembourg Mar-Jul 2008

ORGASM Czech Republic

by Jana Rohova

Depending on the size of your baking tray, you can double the amount of every ingredient.

1. Mix (purée) the pineapple (without the juice).

2. Then simply mix all the ingredients together in a bowl.

3. You grease the baking tray and dust it with flower. You spread the mixture over it and bake at 180°C - top and bottom heating (160°C hot-air circulation) until it is ready. I cannot say the exact time - it depends. Around 30 minutes. (If you prick the cake with a toothpick, there should remain no dough on the tooth-pick). Let the cake cool off.

Cream preparation:

1. You mix everything and spread it evenly over the top of the cake.

2. Then you sprinkle fine grated nuts over it (be generous:) and pour some drops of melted chocolate on it (again be generous:).

3. And there it is, the orgasm ;-) Help yourself. A dobrou chuť!!!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of wheat flour

(classical white) (1 cup

– 200-250 ml, depending on

how big the baking tray is)

• 1 cup of whole wheat flour

• 1 cup of sugar

• 1 cup of fine grated nuts

(walnuts taste better than

hazelnuts)

• 2 eggs

• 2 teaspoons of baking

powder

• Canned pineapple (1 can)

Ingredients for cream:

• 400g Mascarpone

• 120g icing sugar (powder

sugar)

• 1 teaspoon of vanilla

pudding powder (not really

necessary)

• 1 pack of vanilla sugar.


by Jana RohovaCOMMISSION RECOMMENDATION

of 13 July 2008

on the preparation of a Czech version of goulash

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the Traineeships with the European Commission,

Having regard to the requirements stated in the Journal Sub-Committee Regulation of 18 June

2008, and in particular Article 3 thereof ,

Whereas:

(1) The March 2008 traineeship is running out, and the participants returning to their

respective countries shall provide a written memory for their fellow colleagues.

(2) The submitted contributions shall be published in the Official Journal of the Stagiaires

of the European Commission.

(3) The articles to be provided by the stagiaires may take form of a recipe for a meal

which can be considered as country specific due to its origin or frequency of consumption.

(4) Goulash (hereinafter referred to as “guláš”) is a meal of Hungarian origin, although

theories exist that its appearance in Europe was related to Turkish influence. Guláš is widely

cooked in Central European member states and takes on different forms of state (liquid/solid),

preparation and taste, depending on the region and the chef. In the Czech Republic, guláš is

consumed very frequently and is considered as one of the basic products of local cuisine. It is one

of the most typical dishes to be offered in beer pubs.

(5) The subject of this recommendation is in accordance with the opinion of the Lunch

Sub-Committee.

HEREBY RECOMMENDS:

Article 1

Stagiaires may consider implementing the recipe for one of the Czech versions of guláš into their

national cuisines, although it should be noted that slightly different ingredients, as determined by

country specific market offer, as well as no previous experience or no personal acquaintance with

the original product might lead to different results.

Article 2

Measures to be taken:

Chop onions into small pieces and sauté gently in lard or sunflower oil (lard is more taste efficient)

until they become soft without changing colour. Add diced meat and spice with salt, sweet paprika,

hot paprika, black pepper and caraway seeds. Add chopped bacon. Stir and stew until the meat

becomes very soft. Note: Meat should be stewed in its own gravy only with a small amount of

water, check the pot regularly and add water as necessary, but never cook the meat immersed in

water! When the meat is soft, add as much water as necessary to obtain a reasonable amount of

liquid sauce. Add ketchup or tomato sauce, and spice with a tinge of oregano. Use flour to thicken

the sauce – when pouring the flour, stir well the contents of the pot in order to prevent the forma-

tion of lumps. Simmer gently, allowing the sauce to thicken. Finally, taste the product and further

increase the amount of prescribed spices, if applicable. Adding sugar might be needed.

Article 3

List of ingredients (2 portions):

250 g beef (preferably shank), 250 g pork (rump or shoulder), 2 spoons of chopped smoked

bacon , 3 big onions, Lard or sunflower oil (approx. 100 g or ½ of 250 ml cup), Salt, 2 tea spoons

of sweet paprika, ½ teaspoon of black pepper, ½ teaspoon of hot paprika, 2 teaspoons of cara-

way seeds , Water, ½ teaspoon of oregano, 2 spoons of ketchup or tomato sauce, 2 spoons of

flour (approx.), Sugar

Note: The quantitative amounts are more or less approximate, since they have been determined

by an experience-based estimate. The policy maker in charge of this recommendation never

weighs or measures anything, but acts in accordance with sight and taste following the common

estimate-based practice of her experienced cooking mentors.

Article 4

Serving measures:

The dish is to be served with pasta, boiled potatoes or rice. Also edible with bread. Accompany

with beer (preferably Pilsner Urquell, Budweiser Budvar or other available Czech beer).

Article 5

This Recommendation shall become applicable on the first day following that of its publication in

the Official Journal of the Stagiaires of the European Commission.

Article 6

This recommendation is addressed to the European Commission stagiaires of the March 2008

session.

Done at Luxembourg, DGT/LUX.C.CS.01 JMO C4/050, 13 July 2008

For the Commission

Anna Bulířová

GOULASH Czech Republic


1. In a pot, fry the onion, the carrot, the celery and the garlic until they become gilded.

2. Add the ground beef. Then the tomatoes, the salt and the pepper. Finally, add the white wine.

3. Let it boil until the tomatoes are cooked.

PARMIGIANA Italy

Ingredients:

■ 3 aubergines■ 300/400 grams of veal or chicken or turkey (slices of meat)■ 1 mozzarella of 125 grams (cut it into cubes)■ 25 grams of butter■ Parmigiano

For the Ragu’:

■ 1 small onion■ 1 carrot■ 1celery■ 1/2 clove of garlic■ 300 grams of minced beef and pork (if you want)■ 2 tins (of 400 grams each) of peeled tomatoes ■ salt■ pepper■ white wine (only a few drops)

by Manuela FortunatiPreparation of Ragu’:

4. Wash them and cut them round, put a pinch of salt.

5. Let them a little bit in a strainer (the salt removes their bitter taste).

6. Fry them in hot oil. (My mom makes a liquid batter with: 1 egg, flour, salt and mineral water, preferably cold. She dips the aubergines into this mix and then she fries them in the oil.)

Preparation of aubergines:

7. To fry the meat, make another batter with 1 egg, salt and bread crumbs.

8. Pass the meat in the batter and fry it in hot oil.

Preparation of meat (veal, chicken or turkey):

9. In a pan (or something for the oven) make layers of: Ragu’-aubergines-Parmigiano-Mozzarella Ragu’-meat-Parmigiano-Mozzarella

10. Place it in the oven and let it bake until the surface becomes gilded.

BUON APPETITO!!!!

Preparation of Parmigiana:


TIRAMISU Italy

5.

Superimpose the layers in turns (anyone you wish), for example, a layer of bis-cuit, one of cream, one of biscuit, one of cream. Spread the surface with cocoa powder.

6.

Put it in the refrigerator.

7.

Serve it quite chilled.

■ 500 g of mascarpone■ Boudoir biscuits■ Coffee ■ 1 tablespoon Amaretto ■ 10 teaspoons sugar ■ 5 eggs yolks■ 3 egg whites ■ Cocoa powder

1.

Mix the egg yolks, sugar and the amaretto.

2.

Add the mascarpone.

3.

Beat the egg white, and carefully, add them to the mixture.

4.

Moisten the biscuits slightly one by one.

by Manuela Fortunati


KARTOFFELSALAT Germany

by Saskia Schipper

As Germans love potatoes I thought that my contribution would be a recipe to make potato salad or

as we call it in Germany “Kartoffelsalat”. Now there is no correct way of making it since so many

variations exist in various region, but here are two variations.

Before I begin, a little bit of history: traditionally you eat Kartoffelsalat accompanied with a

Schnitzel. It is never missing at our beloved barbecues and of course many Germans have it at

Christmas with sausages. In general you can say that people in the south of Germany prefer potato

salad with oil and vinegar while in the north they prepare it with mayonnaise and apples. Figure out

witch variation you prefer… Good luck and enjoy it!!!

1. Cook potatoes in water until tender.

2. While hot remove skins and set potatoes aside until cool enough to handle comfortably. Slice into a large bowl.

3. Simmer onion in a saucepan with vinegar and water until tender.

Vinegar version:

4. Pour over potatoes and allow to stand until cold. Do not mix or disturb the potatoes as they will crumble and become mushy.

5. When potatoes are cool add oil, bacon, parsley, salt and pepper then toss gently to blend flavours.

Mayonnaise version:

1. Make sure onion, pickles and apple are chopped the same size.

2. Boil the potatoes with their skins on until tender, about 20-30 minutes.

3. Remove from pot and let rest until cool enough to handle but still warm, then peel and dice into preferred size. 4. In a bowl combine all the ingredients except potatoes. Put potatoes into a big bowl, pour “sauce” over them and stir together carefully (potatoes break apart easily while still warm).

5. Cover bowl and let rest in refrigerator for at least 2 hours (overnight is even better).

6. Taste test and add more pickle juice, salt, pepper, sugar or mayonnaise if/as needed.

Ingredients for vinegar version (10 serves):

• 10 medium potatoes well

scrubbed

• 1 large white onion

chopped

• 1/2 cup cider vinegar

• 1/2 cup water

• 4 tablespoons olive oil

• 4 slices bacon cooked and

chopped

• 3 tablespoons parsley

chopped

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon freshly ground

black pepper

Ingredients for mayonnaise version (8 serves):

• 2 pounds potatoes, whole

• 6 baby dill pickles,

chopped

• 1 medium onion, chopped

• 1 medium granny smith

apples, chopped

• 16 ounces mayonnaise

• 6 tablespoons pickle juice

• 1 tablespoon sugar

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 teaspoon pepper


POTATO PANCAKES (BRAMBORáKY) Czech Republic

3. You take a frying pan, put some oil in it, heat it and fry a potato pancake one after each other (it takes quite a lot of time). They should be fried in enough oil, so you should add a bit of oil in the pan after every pancake. They are fried on both sides, thick about 2 to 3 millimetres (generally one soup ladle of the mixture for one pan-cake in the pan of 28 cm in diameter, you may need a spoon or something like that to spread the mixture over the pan, so you see it cannot be too fluid). You fry on one side until it gets goldish brown and then the other side.

4. They taste best when eaten warm! And they are really yummy!

■ 1 kg potatoes■ 100 g wheat flour (or more)■ 1 egg■ Milk (a bit if necessary)■ Garlic (5-7 cloves or even more, depending on if you like garlic. It should be pressed)■ Salt (according to taste)■ Pepper (not necessary, but in case you like, black)■ Marjoram (dry! in small flakes (looks like dry parsley) and enough, a handful or even more, you should taste it and smell it in the mixture)■ Oil for frying

1. You peel and grate the potatoes into a bigger bowl (It is a hell of work and not very amusing, and actually, it can be quite exhausting. Watch out your fingernails, of course, if you are not using a food processor). You use a grater of the same size as if you grate cheese, or one level bigger.

2. Then add all other ingredients and stir well. The mixture should be fluid, but not too much (a bit thicker than the classical pancake “dough”). You actually do not have to follow the amount of flour I have given; it can be less or more. If less flower, you will probably not need milk because the potatoes let out some water if you grate them. If you put more flour, then you will need a bit of milk. You can really improvise with the amounts of potatoes, flour and milk because what really matters is the seasoning – it gives the typical delicious taste. But there should definitely be more potatoes than flour there!

by Jana Rohova

From this amount you will make about 10 – 12 big round potato pancakes. In the Czech Republic they are eaten as a dish on

its own, but you can also serve them with sauerkraut and smoked pig meat or as a side dish with meat – in this case you make

smaller pancakes – about 8 cm in diameter. You can also add small cubes of bacon, ham or smoked meat into the potato mixture

before frying, if you like a meat variation of the potato pancakes.


who’s who

in the EC traineeship

Alberto MSN: [email protected] ADDRESS: [email protected] FACEBOOK: Alberto Ferreira MOTTO: Never have a motto. Life is too complex for that. FAREWELL MESSAGE: Enjoy what you have and fight for what you want. Don’t be an effect; be a cause.

Astrid

Here you can find the contact information and messages from some departing trainees. Treasure the stage experience and keep in touch!


Anna E-MAIL ADDRESS: [email protected]

Aude MSN: [email protected] FACEBOOK: Aude PIDANCET MOTTO: Quand on veut, on peut! (When we want, we can.) FAREWELL MESSAGE: Hope to see you later...

Chris MSN: [email protected]: christopherliverdos FACEBOOK: Christopher Liverdos MOTTO: If it’s something I usually said while I was in Luxembourg it is “I hate this weather!”, but if it’s a favourite quote I guess it’s “All the world ‘s a stage, and all the men and women merely players. (extended version: They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts)” FAREWELL MESSAGE: Hey guys! Thanks for making Luxembourg lively and interest-ing. It’s amazing how in a short period of time you can make friendships that with a little bit of effort could last forever. I hope we will all make that effort! Thanks for the experience and especially the fun we had together! You made this stage worthwhile. See you in sunny Cyprus! Φιλάκια... γεία σας!


Christina P. E-MAIL ADDRESS: [email protected] PHONE NUMBER: 0049-178-71-77-190

Cristina E-MAIL ADDRESS: [email protected] MSN: cristina_ganciulescuMOTTO: There is more to life than increasing its speed. (Gandhi) FAREWELL MESSAGE: Unforgettable experience, incredible people, great friends...It’s hard to say goodbye.

Dalia

SKYPE: etylada FACEBOOK: dalia ziukaite MOTTO: Take everything life gives to you! Even sometimes it’s just the rain he gives you! FAREWELL MESSAGE: The world is small maybe we will meet some-day!


Christine E-MAIL ADDRESS: [email protected] MSN: ChristineDeLux FACEBOOK: Christine BreurMOTTO: Zo gaan die dingen (freely translated: that’s life…) FAREWELL MESSAGE: Let’s keep in touch! ;-)

David SKYPE: david.cerezoFACEBOOK: David de la Calle-Cerezo

Egle

SKYPE: eeglute28


Greg MSN: [email protected] SKYPE: el.greg FACEBOOK: Grzegorz Lesiński MOTTO: Lux in tenebris lucet. FAREWELL MESSAGE: It’s a small world. See you ‘round!

Hamish E-MAIL ADDRESS: [email protected] FAREWELL MESSAGE: Make hay while the Sun shines. I do not know where each one of you will end up one day, but as far as I am con-cerned, I know you have the potential to be great in yourself and accomplish the impossible.

Eleni E-MAIL: [email protected] MOTTO: Do as many things as you can... FAREWELL MESSAGE: I hope to see you all one day! Keep in touch and good luck!!!


Jakub

E-MAIL ADDRESS: [email protected] MOTTO: Muze byt jeste hur. FAREWELL MESSAGE: Good luck everybody.

Jana MSN: [email protected] SKYPE: janca.rohova FAREWELL MESSAGE: Good luck for your life, was nice to meet you all, hope to see you again.

Kinga E-MAIL ADDRESS: [email protected]: kinga_zuchowska FACEBOOK: kinga zuchowska MOTTO: “Why worry, there should be laughter after pain. There should be sunshine after rain. These things have always been the same. So why worry now?” FAREWELL MESSAGE: Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened :-)


Lina E-MAIL ADDRESS: [email protected] SKYPE: linakn11 MOBILE PHONE NUMBER: 00357-99098641 FACEBOOK: Lina neokleous

Manuela E-MAIL ADDRESS: [email protected] FACEBOOK: Manu Forti MOTTO: La vita è come una scatola di cioccolatini: non sai mai quello che ti capita (Life is like a box of chocolates: you never know what you’ll get.) FAREWELL MESSAGE: Good luck and I hope all your dreams will come true.

Luísa MSN/SKYPE: luisalaranjo FACEBOOK: Luísa Laranjo MOTTO: “Para ser grande, sê inteiro: nada teu exagera ou exclui.Sê todo em cada coisa. Põe quanto és no mínimo que fazes. Assim em cada lago a lua toda brilha porque alta vive!” (Ricardo Reis) FAREWELL MESSAGE: I’ll miss you all, I am already missing!


Marianne MSN: [email protected] MOTTO: At the eve of your death, you forget what you did wrong but you regret what you didn’t do. FAREWELL MESSAGE: Don’t forget to keep in touch.

Martina E-MAIL ADDRESS: [email protected]: [email protected] FACEBOOK: Martina Bell MOTTO: Luck is my middle name. Mind you, my first name is Bad. FAREWELL MESSAGE: It´s Luxembourg.

Nina E-MAIL: [email protected] MSN/SKYPE: nina_mtb FACEBOOK: Nina Prunier FAREWELL MESSAGE: That was a great experience meeting you all, thank you so much for making life in Lux so fun!


Nina ICQ: Ninotschka SKYPE: nyny1. FACEBOOK: Nina Mrazova FAREWELL MESSAGE: Thank you guys for the great time we had together!

Pablo MSN/SKYPE: [email protected] FACEBOOK: pablocaude MOTTO: The truth, only the truth and nothing but the truth. FAREWELL MESSAGE: The sun is always there! Even though it’s hard to see in Luxembourg :).

Pawel MSN: [email protected] GG NUMBER: 1848639 FACEBOOK: drkmiota MOTTO: “This week we achieved unprecedented levels of unverifi-able performance.” (Sentence that my boss has in his office, but I strongly believe that greatly decribes what’s the traineeship in Eurostat is like)


Saskia FACEBOOK: Saskia Schipper MOTTO: “Believing that Europe, reunited after bitter experiences, intends to continue along the path of civilisation, progress and pros-perity, for the good of all its inhabitants, including the weakest andmost deprived; that it wishes to remain a continent open to cul-ture, learning and social progress; and that it wishes to deepen the democratic and transparent nature of its public life, and to strive for peace, justice and solidarity throughout the world....” FAREWELL MESSAGE: “Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened”. I will miss you all!!!

Sama E-MAIL ADDRESS: [email protected]: Sama Altaher FAREWELL MESSAGE: It was great meeting you all! Keep in touch!

Stamy E-MAIL ADDRESS: [email protected] FAREWELL MESSAGE: Do your best and never give up. See you in Greece.


Terhi SKYPE: ptjoin’ MOTTO: Life is like a box of chocolates...you never know what you are gonna get. FAREWELL MESSAGE: I will miss this multicultural and multilingual environment which I enjoyed a lot for the last five months.

Tomas E-MAIL ADDRESS: [email protected] FAREWELL MESSAGE: Good luck to everyone ;o)

Ulrika MSN: [email protected] FACEBOOK: Ulrika S MOTTO: What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger! FAREWELL MESSAGE: Thank you guys for making this Luxembourg stay a very nice one! Maybe there will be a reunion in the future...? Until then, see you on Facebook!


Vicky FACEBOOK: Vicky Van Delsen E-MAIL ADDRESS: [email protected]

Wiola FACEBOOK: Viola Bunia MOTTO: Nikt nie mówił że będzie różowo! (Nobody said it will be easy!) FAREWELL MESSAGE: Enjoy your life! And hope to see you someday:)

Yannis E-MAIL ADDRESS: [email protected] FACEBOOK: Yannis Almpanoudis MOTTO: “Working is a problem of the drinking class.” (Oscar Wilde) FAREWELL MESSAGE: See you all around!

Documents

European Commission Stagiaire Journal - 2008