Brussels Redux

I guess it is true what they say: “You can take the boy out of Europe, but you can’t take Europe out of the boy.” Or something like that. In this case that boy is me, and the saying is a bit backwards, because it seems I can’t be kept out of Europe. Next week I will be flying over to Brussels to take part in a general conference held for representatives of the different Erasmus Mundus programs along with some of the members of the old Launch and Liaison committees. So the decision to join this thing so many months ago is still paying dividends in respects to my involvement in shaping the creation of an Erasmus Mundus Alumni Association. I suspect however, that this will be the last of it. I have finished my program, graduated and moved on. Not quite working yet, but with employment even if I haven’t technically started.

If I’m not mistaken, part of our role, or more accurately, the policy team’s role was to determine what process be involved with choosing representatives and handing over the reigns of the executive core of the association from year to year. Since it is one association covering over 80 different courses, that gets a bit tricky from a logistical perspective. Right now there is no executive because we only have a launch committee which was tasked to get this off the ground. It has certainly been an interesting and cultural experience, and I have met some very great people along the way.

Armed with my experiences and, in the case of my role in the IT team, my knowledge, I hope that I can contribute as much as possible. There will be a lot of people at this meeting since each program will be sending two students and one coordinator. I hope that with all the people things don’t get lost in the shuffle, and that so many cooks don’t ruin it for everyone. Because if it is anything like the last general meeting I was at… the balance is precarious and it wouldn’t take much.