The Confused Europeans
There are 3 confused Europeans in our group in the What Democracy Means course at Birmingham University, UK. There's a Serbian guy - boasting a great degree of humor and good knowledge of laws and wines, a very good natured Turkish guy, and myself - the Asian-Armenian European Wanna-be...
The Serbian guy coined the term - and it fit in well with the three of us perfectly. We just seem to have a lot of things in common, although - God knows, if we get started on differences we could compile a never ending list. Still, of representatives from over 30 countries we seem to be the most confused folks. Some how the discussion on Caucasus: European, Asian, or What? seemed to fit in pretty well. The Serbian guys seems to have the least problems of all - at least as regards basic geography: Serbia's definately in the right spot, but then - the EU don't seam particularly eager to take them on, do they?
We all know what's Turkey going through these days as the moods on EU-Turkey talks pass through various stages of downs and down-belows. I personally think, that if the Baltic countries could make it into the EU, Turkey definitely should, but that's a whole other issue to explore, so I'll stop here, and refrain from commenting on my subjective views of where Armenia belongs.
Oh, almost forgot to mention!!! We had to make a toast to our Rumanian friend: there's a guy who definitely knows where he belongs - for one whole week now, as Romania has been officially EU since January 1st, 2007. Yeah, I'm jealous...
Anyway - while the confusion's going on here in the UK, I'll try my best to behave European - whatever that means... needless to say, that any advice from visitors of this blog on what being European means will be greatly appreciated.
The Serbian guy coined the term - and it fit in well with the three of us perfectly. We just seem to have a lot of things in common, although - God knows, if we get started on differences we could compile a never ending list. Still, of representatives from over 30 countries we seem to be the most confused folks. Some how the discussion on Caucasus: European, Asian, or What? seemed to fit in pretty well. The Serbian guys seems to have the least problems of all - at least as regards basic geography: Serbia's definately in the right spot, but then - the EU don't seam particularly eager to take them on, do they?
We all know what's Turkey going through these days as the moods on EU-Turkey talks pass through various stages of downs and down-belows. I personally think, that if the Baltic countries could make it into the EU, Turkey definitely should, but that's a whole other issue to explore, so I'll stop here, and refrain from commenting on my subjective views of where Armenia belongs.
Oh, almost forgot to mention!!! We had to make a toast to our Rumanian friend: there's a guy who definitely knows where he belongs - for one whole week now, as Romania has been officially EU since January 1st, 2007. Yeah, I'm jealous...
Anyway - while the confusion's going on here in the UK, I'll try my best to behave European - whatever that means... needless to say, that any advice from visitors of this blog on what being European means will be greatly appreciated.
posted by Mediapitek at
18:20
2 Comments:
Funny to talk of Europe when you're in England. ;-)
I remember visiting a friend in Oxford in December 2005 and I asked him where he went on holiday during the summer.
His reply?
"Europe." ;-)
Funny, we have an "island mentality" in England and I'm not sure we consider ourselves part of Europe as much as continental Europe.
I'm no saying that's right, btw, but just an interesting observation.ita
Europe in itself seems really controversial. I don't quite understand what to make of it? UK joins EU in some things, but refuses to join the Eurozone or Shengen for example. The same story with Switzerland, etc... I guess EU's a dead end just like the UN - but if it does work in the end - it'll be the best project ever!!!
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