Looking back to September ‘09 conjures a smile on my face by realizing how naïve and immature I have been while even thinking of European Union. My idea of it, as I understand now, just comprehended mainly the geographical aspects, the gratuity of the Schengen Area that allowed me, as a non-EU person, to travel all around while having a single visa and, of course, the aspect you recognize every single day, if you are luckily not wrathfully damaged by the occurred crisis – the €uro currency.
However, my “Euro world” has drastically changed after about first 5 minutes of the introduction lecture given by our appreciated lecturer of economics and EUP Minor coordinator Mr. J. Frencken.
Suddenly I have heard about some institutions, legal aspects and was confused by the question ‘Who is this?’ and the appearance of a picture featuring the President of the European Commission Mr. J.M. Barroso. Ironically, the only thing I share with that particular situation now is the ‘Shame on me!’ thought.
The upcoming weeks intended to be very busy starting from the first day featuring numerous group projects, lectures and meetings. Nevertheless, some of the students were happily blinded by the time-schedule screamingly showing just 6 hours a week divided into 3 days! However, the timetable of a part-time education has had to be balanced with, in my case, hours and hours of reading, writing and learning. Maybe because I have always been trying to do more than requested and luckily did not consider making a U-turn. The ambiguity of the first classes has incrementally transformed into a certain knowledge and has widen my horizon by making me alert to see that I am certainly interested in some particular subjects such as politics and law that were not previously mentioned on my interests’ list. Surviving the midterm test as well as the main written exam we have moved on by going on ‘ASIS goes Europe!’ excursion that has opened my eyes and made me realize the significance of EU institutions even more. We were lucky to have visited the essential EU institutions such as Commission, House of Provinces, Committee of Regions in Brussels as well as the Parliament where we appreciated a lecture given by one of the Dutch MEP’s, Mrs. In ‘t Veld, and were able to feel very important by observing a Plenary Meeting in Strasbourg. While being in the significant city for all the German and French inhabitants, we have visited the European Court of Human Rights where we attended a hearing and have had an extremely interesting lecture given by the Dutch judge. But that was not enough; therefore, we have moved to Luxembourg and attended a lecture at the European Investment Bank. The excursion and its astonishing organization have overwhelmed my expectations and have widened my prospective.
The second part of the semester has brought us more group projects, more lectures and training sessions. In addition to the economical, political and law subjects, we have had two weeks of finance explaining us the process and the significance of Mergers & Acquisitions as well as the corporate governance in regard to the EU and amassed by the 2nd midterm test. The upcoming weeks will concentrate on some legal aspects of competition and will be rounded up by an oral exam based on the individual project.
Hence, we were able to appreciate the courses in Ethics and Negotiations as well as Debating.
In my opinion, the Minor has been extremely informative as well as challenging; it has widen my horizon by far, has taught me more than I have expected and, finally, has contributed to my personality by shaping my future goals and ambitions.
Of course there should be a negative part otherwise it would seem to be a miracle!
In my opinion, the main issue lecturers and students have to suffer from, is the lack of time caused by the means of needed re-organization i.e. abolishment of a month by having been required to finish everything by the middle of December rather than end of January. That led to some overstressed situations, tight deadlines and significant work overload for the lecturers. Many students can argue whether one or another course or project has been necessary, but in my opinion, we all should appreciate the opportunity given to us that, in fact, cannot be appreciated by every student in the country! Hence, in regard to the overstressing situations – I may quote my favorite saying: ‘Where is a will, there is a way!’
I would like to thank the highly qualified staff of ASIS and all my ‘classmates’ for a pleasant cooperation within this period of time and would like to wish you all the success you presume in the future!
