EU 27
All posts from EU 27
Reflections #1
Posted 1 Sep 2007:Instead of interviewing people today, I thought it would be a nice idea to write about what I have seen so far. It`s the first of September, and I am planning to write similar reports again on the first of each other coming month.... Read more
Reflections #2
Posted 26 Sep 2007:I`ve been on the road for about two months now. On the first monthiversary of the Us European trip, I chose to write about regional and international conflicts and how each country seems to have its own problem between different layers of the population, whether the reason be in language, religion, ideology, history, nationality or something else. These conflicts seem to have a significant influence on the way people organise their lives. During my stay in Estonia and Finland, I came across another element that seems to be decisive in the mentality of people wherever they live: nature.... Read more
Reflections #3
Posted 3 Nov 2007:After three months of travelling, I have now covered 25% of my itinerary. I am happy and grateful that I have the possibility to get to know so many different people, different places and different habits. I think Europe is unique in the endless diversities it offers on such a small piece of land. So many languages, philosophies, cuisines, landscapes all within a few hours reach. But so many gaps to bridge if you all want them to work together in a sensible way.... Read more
Reflections #4
Posted 30 Nov 2007:It took me four months of traveling to get to my favourite European city: Paris. I will take this achievement as an excuse to dedicate the fourth edition of `personal reflections` to ? my own project. Many people have been asking me what, how, where and why questions about `Us Europeans`, and upon completing one third of my itinerary, I feel confident giving some insight in it. Here`s the Us Europeans FAQ, I hope you will find it interesting reading material.... Read more
Reflections #5
Posted 26 Dec 2007:I`m a few days ahead of schedule, inserting another `personal reflections` article into the Us Europeans archive. The reason is fairly simple and straightforward. I have been following the news in The Netherlands quite closely while travelling, and am quite worried about what`s happening. Politicians are messing around with something they all label as `Dutch heritage` and which they see as the ideal future for The Netherlands: a future of national safety by social exclusion and religious separation, where freedom of expression means that people should be prepared to be insulted by people who have a different point of view.... Read more
Reflections #6
Posted 1 Feb 2008:It`s the first of February today, which means that I am exactly halfway the `Us Europeans` project. It`s quite a strange moment, in a way even scary, and I will try to explain why.... Read more
Reflections #7
Posted 1 Mar 2008:Another milestone reached: today is the seventh monthiversary of Us Europeans. The slight midtrip crisis I reported about a month ago faded out in just a few days, and I quickly got back to the task at hand: browsing through the future history of Europe.... Read more
Reflections #8
Posted 1 Apr 2008:Another month gone by! It`s number 8 and there will only be four more to go. I think that`s still quite a lot but if I look at how quickly the previous ones have gone by, it seems like the whole adventure will be over soon. Anyway, many people have been asking me about what kind of comments I get on my projects. I obviously can`t write down all of them, but I did manage to compile a good list of e-mail comments that I received during the previous months. Most of them are quite positive, some are negative or even insulting, another few have nothing to do with the project itself but are still quite amusing.... Read more
Reflections #8
Posted 3 May 2008:The upcoming commemorations of the end of WWII remind me of the many statues I have seen across Europe, all the military graveyards, former concentration camps or other types of scars from the past. They all mean to express one and the same message: We never want this to happen again. No more slavery, no more colonization, no more territorial disputes, no more Nazism, Fascism, Racism. The memorials represent a frozen state of `Evil`, as if it is something that belongs to the past and has now been forever extinguished.... Read more
Reflections #10
Posted 31 May 2008:After more than 300 days of traveling, I have spoken to more than 3 000 people from all sorts of different backgrounds. In the tenth edition of my `personal reflections`, I try to describe some of the people I met on my way. With a little bit of good effort, I can all fit them into the categories specified below:... Read more
Reflections #11
Posted 29 Jun 2008:A little more than one month before the Us Europeans project will come to an end. I hope that those who hooked on have enjoyed traveling along over my shoulder and will equally appreciate the remaining 31 articles. While this particular mission is coming to an end, I am also working on what the next project will be. I therefore use this article as a `call for projects`. If anybody has interesting ideas about how to promote cross-cultural understanding and European integration, I will be more than happy to make contributions to those. ... Read more
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