rosa dels ventsthe official magazine of sitges 2012

issue two

2 rosa dels vents

editorial.

Dear Delegates,

When we work in Sitges, this is what you see, everybody stops and is loving EYP. We’ve got a camera with a flash, and we ain’t afraid to show it – We’re journos and you know it. Photo, Photo, Photo, Photo, Photo – Flash.Photo, Photo, Photo, Photo, Photo – Flash.Photo, Photo, Photo, Photo, Photo – Flash.Photo, Photo, Photo, Photo, Photo – Flash, flash.

Enjoy reading, enjoy “rosa dels vents”!

Ceren & UlliEditors of Sitges 2012

rosa dels vents 3

12

28

content.

12 Sitges’ got talent16 Your face when22 Secret life of busy bees26 Some pieces of advice30 Make a difference

4

20

12

28Teambuilding 4

Life beyond the seaside 14Risking the monarchy? 20

Trash is dinner 24Greetings from abroad 28

4 rosa dels vents

teambuilding.by

Gun

dega

Ele

rte

Carla Celda, Taryn Cornell, Gundega Elerte, Claudia Grimal, Hugo Hoyland, Lea Schiewer and David Teruel accompanied

our seven committees through a very sensitive process.

afet.“Teambuilding – a day at the beach“, the latest work of Charif van Zetten is in theatres now. The captivating first part of a whole trilogy called “Foreign Af-fairs” appears to be a success right from the start. The story of the movie is based on ten strangers meeting in a Spanish town and finding their common ground with the help of the chairperson, despite their different origins.What makes this film so special is the way the characters unite, be-coming the “AFET Committee”. An ordinary bag of M&Ms for instance leads them to a dialogue about love, joy and plans for the future. They discover the memo-ry jogging powers of tennis balls and, in a very touching scene, si-lently communicate the colour of their underwear. Moreover their breath-taking encounter with giants, wizards, dwarfs and the SEDE tribe is unforgettable.In a nutshell, this screen debut of a handful of promising new tal-ents certainly whets our appetite! We are eagerly looking forward to the pre-announced sequels: “Committee Work” and “General Assembly”.

sede.SEDE set off with a bang as they dived straight into the ‘newspa-per game’ – with their chairperson, Hauke Sommer, taking the first swing. After a hilariously rocky start with the name games, the commit-tee quickly gelled together as they moved to the beach to start the true teambuilding exercises. The del-egates swiftly learnt the need for teamwork and risk-taking follow-ing their epic attempt at the “Red or Blue” dilemma. Complete with betrayal, reverse psychology – and multiple attempts to cheat –, SEDE started to channel their true inner politicians…They learned well from the experi-ence and managed to succeed in uniting a split group once again as tribes divided by a raging river, and needing to pass a holy book across it. Their “God” – Deus Sommer himself – became increasingly ma-levolent with his flooding of the riv-erbanks, forcing the teams to think creatively about how to best utilise the available tools. With ideas rang-ing from sacrificing a tribe member to seizing public property of Sit-ges, I am hugely looking forward to what on earth SEDE will come up with in Committee Work!

femm.Elina Sairanen and Luis Alge-ciras are chairing the committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality, which have been set the task of debating on abortion policies around the EU. But before diving into debates, they built their team; members of the committee had the chance to get to know the apart-ments of this building and construct a sense of Committee Spirit. From the atmosphere it was obvious that these eleven delegates felt confident and comfortable, and they were able to overcome all the challenges their chair set with incredible lightness.During Teambuilding, they found out that FEMM is the bass play-ers’ committee – almost half of the group knows how to play this par-ticular musical instrument, and the committee is filled with highly tal-ented people not only in the means of music but communicating, hav-ing fun, participating as one and de-bating. They managed to solve the human knot all together as a team rather than being individuals stuck in a knot. All the bass players were convinced that FEMM is composed of the most amazing rock stars and chefs ever. Keep updated, because this committee has a lot to say.

envi.Once upon a time, in a charming city close to the sea, a group of environmentally worried people gathered. The first encounter was placed once they fought with balls of paper – obviously economising the amount of paper used. They were getting warmer and warm-er and, despite believing this was caused by climate change, they just kept on moving to the beach with the team. There, they got to know about Marti’s passion for windsurfing and the committee’s addiction to vegetables (with Anna and Tito loving broccoli). By the time Isaac mocked his mates about his morning diar-rhea, Tito explained why Isaac would be a very profitable del-egate to buy. Sonia’s confession about her active personality and Vicky’s dancing put the dot on the first part of the Teambuild-ing day. Gathered around the Sitges sea-side and closely guided by Car-men and Lukas, ENVI were delighted to get to know their mates, but most importantly, also succeeded in shaping their own personality.

empl. “All hands on deck sailors: Hoist the sails, raise the anchors and set the course to North by North-West. Let’s get the EMPL committee ready for sea”, yelled Georgina and Julia. Our two experienced captains attended to the crew’s every need. One could not help but notice how unusual the crew was on this sunny afternoon on the Sitges pier – a crew born from the love between Spain and the European Youth Parlia-ment, a crew with world-changing aspiration. The 11 sailor-strong ship set sail for the port of “Youth Em-ployment”, in the land of plenty. For maximum cooperation, our band of brothers needed to know each oth-ers’ fears and hopes, their expec-tations and ambitions. Their lov-ing captains carried them through snowstorms and hardships of life at sea by defending this loyal bunch of men and women against 20 feet tall giants, three feet small dwarfs and witty magicians from the likes of the JURI Pirates. The journey is long; the EMPL ship still has many obstacles to face. Will they be able to conquer the seductive atmos-phere of the Committee Work Si-rens, or even the General Assembly Cyclops?

afco.What do you immediately observe about a person when you first meet? You notice the colour of their hair, their accent, and soon enough you can locate the person on a map. Fair enough, since their looks often de-pend on their culture and nation. Nevertheless, AFCO – chaired by Anni and Lorenzo – have put aside the aforementioned. When meeting a person, you start by presenting yourself. In this phase, AFCO already realised that some people resembled others. Some peo-ple look like Candance from Phineas and Ferb (Marta), or Raúl González (David); Paula Echevarria (Laura); Johan Cruyff (Felix) and even like Catwoman (Rocío). It is said that people always resemble one animal or another. So here is some advice: be careful, because you can find a kiwi bird (Cris), a tiger (Etxahun), a dolphin (Ignacio) and Donald Duck (Gerard) in AFCO, and they are dangerous and aggressive when in possession of snowballs. How-ever, there is no need to worry, be-cause also have Harry Potter ( Juan) and a future Pokemon trainer (An-dreu) that will save us even if we are in front of a lava river and need to move to the other side, or have to face up JURI in skinning a snake.

juri.It was a nice sunny day; a fresh breeze and the smell of the sea were in the air. A group of twelve peo-ple sat in the sand, forming a circle. If you walked closer to them, you might have heard them trying to sell each other. As if that wasn’t weird enough, they would actually be will-ing to pay a million, even a billion Euros, as the offers were quite ap-pealing. People speaking differ-ent languages, traveled all over the world, singers, dancers. Each and every one of them had serious plans for the future – sure that knowl-edge, experience, and friendship are needed to succeed in life. These peo-ple constructed a group, in fact, the Committee on Legal Affairs, about to solve one of the most widely-discussed problems the Internet has faced lately. If you had seen them solve problems back there on the beach, you too would be sure they will succeed once again.

12 rosa dels vents

In this “EYP has Talent”, the Delegates’ personalities truly shone through their performances. From the jovial “Lemon Tree” (Fool’s Garden) to the violence of the “Fuego y Miedo” (Ska-p) one can cer-tainly say that we were able to get a wide scope of world cul-ture. Who knows what can be learnt from songs like “Mr. Bombastic” (Shaggy) or “Hangover” (Taio Cruz), but we can, at least, know that we certainly were able to gain an insight into what Delegates are capable of doing on stage. As Journalists, we especially enjoyed two aspects of Thursday’s performances: First and foremost, EYP is a lively place, a place full of energy where free expression is strongly encouraged. On stage, we were strongly impressed by the same energy we

strive to communicate to delegates. Smiles spread to all corners of the room thanks to the creative work of the delegates.Secondly, after seeing the energy and hap-piness spreading at supersonic speeds, as Journalists, we truly enjoyed how carefully

certain delegations had thought their performances through. A special mention to the delega-tion of Agora Sant Cugat who performed a jaw-dropping, per-fectly choreographed dance to “Give me all you love” (Madon-na). Creativity was oozing out of the walls of “Espai Jove”.As a unanimous decision from

all the Sitges National Session Officials, we are proud to say that we would all want to see the same energy, creativity and hap-piness that Delegates showed so well dur-ing the Euroconcert throughout the rest of the your life within the European Youth Parliament.

sitges’ got talent –“tu si que vales”

“ We enjoyed how energy and happiness spread and delegations had thought their per-formances through. “

Hard work, creativity and raw talent were all vital components of Thursday night’s Eurovision Song Contest, judges Hugo Hoyland.

14 rosa dels vents

life beyondthe seaside

As members of the EYP, many opportunities to travel to new and exciting places – whether it is five minutes or five hours away from

where you live – are always available. However, as you will notice by the end of this session, you rarely have the chance to explore

the cities you visit during a session. This is why Taryn Cornell and Hugo Hoyland explored the beautiful city of Sitges for you.

Sitges is an exceptionally old city, with roots dating back in the 4th century, earlier than Spain itself. During the 12th Century, the town fell under the control of the Sitges family, thus giving it the distinctive name we all now know. One of the most striking monuments of Sit-ges is, of course, the Church of Sant Barto-lomeu i Santa Tecla – the one spotted dur-ing Teambuilding. It was constructed in the 17th century accommodating two Gothic sepulchres, and replaced an older church in the same location. A short walk to the north reveals the slightly lesser well-known Palau Marycel. Built by the American Charles Deering to house his Art collection, unfortunately it was aban-doned in 1921, where it fell into disuse un-til 1969. At this time, it regained its former use by welcoming major private collections, mostly dedicated to Medieval Art.

rosa dels vents 15

During your expedition in Sitges on the walks to and from the hotel, another thing you may notice is the modernist movement that has had a decisive influence upon the local architecture. It rooted in many locals making their fortune in America who, when returning to Sitges, brought a modernist, multinational influence with them. Today, this artistic culture is reflected throughout the city, with festivals occurring almost eve-ry week.As a city that can trace formal relations back to Germany, the United Kingdom, France, America and the rest of Spain, Sitges is a perfect melting pot of cultures and creates the ideal atmosphere for an EYP session. The conflation of local and international in-fluences means that Sitges, just as the EYP, has taken advantage of the opportunity to combine the significant characteristics of those nations.

CAN YO

U FIN

D?

16 rosa dels vents

your face when ...… you hear the wake-up call:

… you’ve had far too much to eat:

by Taryn Cornell and Claudia Grimal

rosa dels vents 17

… you’re waiting for coffee break:

… you’ve been out in the sun:

18 rosa dels vents

… you think of your committee:

… you realise the session ends on Sunday:

rosa dels vents 19

… you’ve finished … Teambuilding:

… your resolution passes:

Some years ago, the state was ruled was not of a particular interest for its citizens and nobody required direct influence or provoked change. But this has changed and is still about to change. Whilst Monarchies are still a controver-sial topic in Europe, their permanency has been threatened by many republicans who are willing to remove a governance they consider irrele-

vant. In countries such as the United King-dom, they have maintained their popular-ity, but recently conflicting opinions have

flourished. But what are the reasons be-hind this opposition? Some citizens have questioned both the morality of their mon-archs and their role in the de-velopment of their country.Remarkably, conflicts raised within the Spanish media

during the last few weeks led to an increase of these hostile feelings: Juan Carlos, the

“ The situation got even more controversial when the king broke his hip and was brought home by a private jet. “

risking the monarchy?

Carla Celda and David Teruel Cano analyse the value of nowadays’ European monarchies

after a recent trip of the Spanish monarchs.

King of Spain, went on an expensive trip to hunt elephants in Botswana – an ad-venture widely criticised by both the me-dia and the Spanish population. The situ-ation got even more controversial when it got public that the king broke his hip falling on a step and was brought home a private jet. Immersed in a recession period, with Spain being among the most affected countries in Europe, this trip did not meet plain acceptance among his citizens.However, even surrounded by a dark criti-cism about monarchy, there is a spark of light shining on Spain. The Royal fam-

ily has supported the Spanish people for many years, especially when the King end-ed the right-wing military coup in 1981. They have focused on social programmes which aimed to maintain public welfare. After recovering from his accident, King Juan Carlos apologised for his misdeeds and promised to amend his behaviour.In the tightrope situation we live in, is it morally justified to oppose monarchy just because of the King’s last expedition, or can past achievements excuse it?

the secret life of busy bees

rosa dels vents 23

First of all, it is nearly impossible to pause an Orga’s work, even for few minutes. They are working 24 hours a day: Running from one venue to another, preparing meals, making announcements, tidying up, fixing any occurring problem – the “Orga hive” is a lot of coming and going. While you are crossing spider webs, solv-ing human knots and building monsters, they prepare lunch and the coffee breaks, or print the issues. At the same time, they clean up and arrange your Committee Rooms ready for your arrivals. It is evident that any Orga needs to be able to multi-task. Besides steady nerves and a cool head, they stand out due to characteristics such as flexibility and team spirit. Further-more, when the going gets rough, they are capable to surpass even themselves. That being said, organisation is a team sport, and a good Orga must know when to ask for help. Together as a team they overcome stressful moments, such as the arrival of all the participants, and any unexpected prob-lems. Anna told me likewise – that a quick look on the organisational master plan, and having the certitude that everything is planned, helps to keep her calm. She is

relieved about the realistic time manage-ment of the two Head Orgas, and consid-ers the regular Orga meetings to be very efficient.Being part of the Orga team is certainly quite a challenge and not all fun and games, as Gonzalo explains. It is serious work and demands a lot of commitment and effort. Moreover, they unfortunately often miss memorable moments of the session, in-cluding Teambuilding. In any case, they are gladly doing their job. Without them, all these magical moments you have expe-rienced so far, and every great memory you will take home with you after the session, would simply not be possible. That is why I was asked to pass you the following message: If ever you have any question or worry, do not hesitate to go to them. They are all ears to your concerns and will do their best to help you. So, the next time you see one of those red folks buzzing around, give them a warm smile. When you are enjoying yourself, it is thanks to the dedication of Georgina, Gonzalo, Al-bert, Oriol, Mariona, Anna and their two queen bees Laia and Silvia.

You hardly see them. They get up earlier than you do and stay up longer. They snooze, instead of sleeping. But still, they keep on smiling and are willing to do anything to make sure you have a good time. Who are those tireless busy bees, also known as “Or-ganisers”? Lea Schiewer spent some time in the backstage area.

Have you ever found yourself standing in front of your fridge, looking at a yoghurt, whose best-before date expired just a day ago, not knowing whether you should throw it away or eat it an-yway? In such situations most people tend to dump food that actually is still consumable.Due to this attitude, sev-eral million tons of food produced worldwide end up in the trash every day; this amounts to about one third of all food every year. Bear-

ing in mind that these aliments would be more than enough to effectively fight the global hunger, it appears to be necessary to reconsider society’s perception of waste.

The so‐called dumpster diving, also known as “containering”, is a re-action to this problem. Although scavenging bins and containers for food usually results from poverty, an increas-

ing amount of people, especially students, chooses voluntarily to nourish themselves

“ They are boycotting the affluent culture of today and reducing their ecological footprint. “

one man’s trash is another man’s dinner

The 21st century is setting more and more extraordinary trends. Today, people are base-jumping, speed-stacking,

car-sharing. Though, some of these activities, such as dumpster diving, have a more serious background. Lea

Schiewer gets to the bottom of this.

from what is regarded as garbage. In do-ing so, their aims, amongst others, are to boycott the throwaway and affluent culture of today, as well as reducing their ecologi-cal footprint. Even though this movement receives growing moral support, in most countries dumpster diving is considered theft and consequently punished. The “di-vers” counter this prosecution with even more efforts, such as websites with detailed instructions how to container without get-ting caught, or public buffets, prepared with food taken from dumpsters. Certain-ly not everybody struggling with the gen-

eral consumer behaviour feels comfortable with the idea of providing themselves with food via nocturnal tours in order to op-pose to the wasteful use of aliments. But just by choosing regional, seasonal or or-ganic products instead of imported food or mass‐produced goods, people can still ac-tively involve themselves in the cause. As is often the case, reassessing one’s own man-ners can make a change. Considering the number of people suffering from hunger, this kind of change should begin sooner rather than later.

some pieces of advice

David Teruel Cano and Hugo Hoyland interviewed Officials in an attempt to provide with survival tips for

future sessions based on past experiences.

rosa dels vents 27

8

When in a session abroad, you defi-nitely should close your hotel room door if you do not want to wake up in the early morning to find your suitcases raided and all your food scattered all over the room.

Once again, closing your room door is an absolute necessity unless you want a two-meter-tall non-EYP Ukrainian man with a moustache pulling you out of the bed by your feet.

When in an airport please make sure you distinguish de-partures from arrivals so as to not find yourself on the other side of the airport 10 minutes before your flight.

(from a Spanish Official) When go-ing to International Session or just sessions abroad, do not forget to bring some extra Spanish food in case you do not like the local “deli-catessen”.

Do not fall in love with the Presi-dent! Although this seems rather obvious, many delegates and even officials succumb to the irresistible charm of their President.

Never give your key to any-body unless you want to find them asleep in your own bed.

Never attend an EYP session as a delegate when your boyfriend or girlfriend is chairing.

Do not go outside in just your underwear unless you do not mind having to walk past all the officials half-naked.

7

5 6

3

1

4

2

Once the session is over you will probably leave with both a feeling of fulfilment and a thirst for new sessions. However, some fear may arise when having to choose whether to apply for a session or not. Would I fit in other National Sessions? Am I ready to fly across Europe all by myself ? Will I be capable of going to an unknown country, with unknown people? What is awaiting me there?To deal with all these uncertainties and hesitations, knowing that it is not easy to get through EYP, our Officials have collected experiences that might be useful advice for future sessions.

And finally our advice to you is: Never feel down for EYP – it will liven up whatever grim situation people are in. You may think most of these anecdotes are very unlikely to happen to you if you are cautious but you never know what life brings to you. Therefore we invite you to take risks, to make your life exciting. What do you have to lose?

Dear participants of Sitges 2012, the 13th National Selection Conference of EYP Austria in Vienna would like to send its warmest greetings and tell you something about itself. Taking place almost at the same time as your session it is organised by two lovely ladies, Teresa Stadler and Ronja Seyrl. The motto of the session is “Bridge the Gap” and covers topics of integration as well as solidarity between generations, inspired by 2012 as the European Year for Active Ageing. When asked to comment about the session, Ronja says : “Our weath-er is pretty amazing. But I would like to be in Spain right now.“ Bentley James Yaffe, the session president, also mentions the weather in his message to you: “I wish Zo-sia good luck and I am sure you will have a great time because she is a vibrant, bub-

bly and intelligent young lady. I am also happy that you have not stolen our good weather.” Yeah, the weather really is awe-some here. I am sure that yours is as well but you are in Spain and therefore simply expected to have nice weather. For us in central Europe having so much sun at this time of the year is on its own a reason to celebrate. The fact that we can talk about the weather and not worry about anything more seri-ous shows how smooth the session is run-ning so far and there is no sign that this could change during the rest of the time we have in this beautiful city. So we wish you at least as enjoyable mo-ments as those we are going through right now and a lot of success with your work. See you all around it the world of EYP!

best wishesfrom abroad

For months, EYP España and everyone of us have been looking forward to Sitges 2012. But we are just one of five National Selection Conferences taking place throughout Europe in these days. We received greetings from our Press Team friends in Vienna, Austria and Istanbul, Turkey.

Just four weeks after the International Ses-sion in Istanbul, this beautiful city is host-ing another amazing event. After a successful day of Officials’ team-building at Kabatas High School, set on the shores of the Bosphorus with a stun-ning view, we were lucky to welcome some of the most enthusiastic delegates EYP has ever seen. Starting as early as 11 o’clock, Delegates had a long and intense day of Teambuild-ing. Presided by the infamous Tiago Cor-reia Machado from Portugal, the session had a good kick-off in the Yildiz Parki un-der a clear blue sky and brilliant sun.The delegates, who have come to this ses-sion from all over Turkey, jumped into the welcoming atmosphere provided by EYP Turkey and the many international Of-

ficials. Teambuilding brought about a lot of laughter and bruises – several delegates seemed a tad overenthusiastic, promising strong committees for the following days. During teambuilding the delegates got to know their Chairs, Journalists and Organ-isers, who were all very involved in the pro-cess and seemed to enjoy themselves just as much as the Delegates did. After many games such as Funky Chicken, Ninja and the Newspaper Game every committee re-ceived a box full of lunch goodies from the lovely Organisers. Now we are looking forward to the first day of committee work, the following General Assembly and last but not least, the Fare-well Party on a boat which will take us on a tour of the breathtakingly beautiful Bos-phorus.

Because it

is different.

Sitges Session Shirt –

now on sale, just €5!

rosa dels vents

Sitges 2012 is sponsored by: