DECADENCEOfficial Magazine of the 10 Year Jubilee Session of EYP Finland

Third Issue 14 February 2011

EditorialCONTENT3. Head Organisers

4. About Epilepsy

5. Education

6. Farewell

7. How to continue in EYP?

8. CULT

9. CLIM

10. ENVI

11. EMPL

12.-13. Valentine’s Special

14. DEVE

15. ITRE

16. AGRI

17. REGI

18. AFET

19. LIBE

20. Bromance

21. Fashion Column

Today is Valentine’s Day which is considered to be the most romantic day of the year. However, in countries such as Fin-land it is actually called Friends’ Day to celebrate friendship. You most probably have made many new friends here during the past few days and even though it is fairly easy to keep in touch with them, for instance, by logging into your Facebook account, we truly hope that when you open Decadent you can feel reunited with your newly-made friends again and again.Despite the fact that this year’s Finnish National Session is over, we would like to take this opportunity and thank the organisers for being reachable 24/7, the chairs for fun evenings and Gillian for showing her unique laughing body language.But most of all, we are extremely grateful for having the most hard-working, committed and at the same time hilarious pres-steam ever. Tears of laughter have been shed but only caused by identity changes, human piles and panic attacks. We were lucky to have you and look forward to having more moments like this.We most definitely hope that all of you, the participants will continue with EYP.

Yours,Laura&Merete

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The Beauties Behind

This SESSIONEnjoying the quiet serenity of the third floor not occupied by delegates at coffee break, I had the chance to talk with our wonderful head organ-isers.

Hanna Pyykkönen from Tampere – Aquarius, favourite animal: dog - is the born and bred Head Organiser. Being the oldest of her siblings, tak-ing command and leading has always been part of a normal days work for her. Her organising skills have let her-self take a job and work with people decades older then herself. She has never been a delegate, a journalist or a chair, but has always seen her path-way in EYP in organising. We have the luck of being her last session.

Sini Ventelä from Kuopio – Libra, fa-vourite animal: horse - has followed a much more normal EYP pathway. Starting out as a delegate in various sessions, she later moved on to jour-noing and chairing. Our discussion quickly moved from EYP formalities, to random childhood anecdotes, Sini being the clear winner, who has the most , let us say interesting childhood memory: BAD GUM. Please imag-ine a young Sini thrashing in the bed caught in an evil dream and a mali-cious fever. In the aforementioned dream, she is appointed with the ag-

gravating task of fixing a rocket full of dutiful astronauts. Her only ma-terial to fix the rocket is with gum, and she knows that if the rocket is launched before she can fix it, the as-tronauts will die. Sadly she isn´t able to fix the rocket because of the last piece of gum that does not match the piece that is broken. Back in the real world poor Sini is running through her house still caught in her dream, screaming: ´BAD GUM´ Leading her to mom to believe that her daughter

suffers from schizophrenia.

I actually started the interview bur-dened by the knowledge that organ-ising is a hard, unthankful and unfor-giving job. And it undoubtedly is. But only organising can be so rewarding. Seeing a session that you nurtured come to life and unfold is amazing. And the maturity achieved through organising is incomparable. Try it.

- Julian Cooke

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The first European Epilepsy Day will be launched on 14th February 2011 (the Feast Day of St Valentine, who is reputed to have had epilepsy). There-after it will take place annually on the 2nd Monday of February. The aim of European Epilepsy Day is to promote epilepsy awareness through educa-tional and promotional activities. The Finnish Epilepsy Association has organised several events around the country. We will meet people “face to face” in shopping centres and on the street to discuss their knowledge and attitudes towards epilepsy. There will be events also at the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

The theme of this year’s campaign is the “Many Faces of Epilepsy”. The message is that epilepsy is a group of disorders in which seizures recur. There are many different types of epi-leptic seizures. Epilepsy is caused by abnormal, excessive discharges in the brain. Epilepsy is an individual con-dition. We want to let people know that anybody, you or I, can get it. Even today epilepsy remains a hidden disease and people have many super-stitions about it. Attitudes towards people with epilepsy are influenced by the extent of their knowledge about the condition.

Epilepsy and youth

Epilepsy is the most common neuro-logical disorder of adolescence and one in every hundred youth has the condition. To be young and to have epilepsy can be challenging. In ado-lescence the mission is to become in-dependent and self-empowered. Hav-ing this condition can have an impact on that process. Social life and leisure activities, to fall in love and find a partner, to belong to the group and to be “cool” are all important issues at this time of life. Young people have to make many important decisions for their future regarding, for exam-ple, education and vocational plans. These plans should be realistic – epi-lepsy should be taken into considera-tion, but the pointless fears should be left out. Driving is sometimes a big question, because to get a driving li-cence a person has to be seizure free for at least one year. It is not always easy to accept that epilepsy can bring to one’s life some uncertainty as well as other issues that a person has to pay attention to. It can be embarrass-ing to have to take medication or to avoid alcohol or to ensure that you get enough sleep. Also ever present is the fear of having a seizure and losing control over one’s own body. Epilepsy

can impact on quality of life even if it is well controlled and the person is seizure free.

What should to be done?1. It is important to ensure that young people with epilepsy receive the best comprehensive care possible. There should be proper diagnosis, treat-ment and follow-up. Epilepsy is a se-rious condition. Each year there are 33 000 deaths in Europe related to epilepsy and at least 13 000 of these deaths could have been prevented with good comprehensive care;2. Particularly important for young people is to have sufficient accurate information and support when plan-ning their future. There could also be a need for psycho-social support;3. Knowledge and awareness level of epilepsy needs to be increased. We need better resources for this impor-tant work with people with epilepsy.

If you would like to get more information about epilepsy you can visit our website (www.epilepsia.fi) or find us on Facebook: Epilepsia – villiä virtaa. You will find in-formation in English on the website of the International Bureau for Epilepsy (http://www.ibe-epilepsy.org) and the International League Against Epilepsy (http://www.ilae-epilepsy.org).

Electric Energy

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Learn more about epilepsy

There is nothing wrong with finding the title of this article annoying. Edu-cation is one of the things that every-one has an opinion about, but hardly truly or completely like. Why is that? Why is it that one of the major activi-ties of our life is one of the things we despise the most?

Maybe it is because when we start education we are somewhere be-tween four and eight years old and educated for a world that nobody can predict; a world twenty years from the start of the education process. Remember the story Jari Marjelund told about phones? Ten years ago, Nokia’s Snake was actually amazing. Still is, but Angry Birds is even more entertaining. Children are being edu-cated to fit into a society two decades away in which technology will have advanced to a point currently beyond our imagination, ethics may have radically changed like they have over the past years, and anything popular right now will be old by the time chil-dren starting now are even half way through education. How can we edu-cate children for a world that cannot be foreseen. The answer is simple: it is impossible.

If you thought that was weird, think

again. Almost everything about pub-lic education is outdated, because it was based on the necessities of the time in which it was conceived; the needs of the Industrial Revolution. Within public education children are grouped by age and delivery date, or wait… graduation date, as if age is the most important thing children have in common within education. Addi-tionally, the importance of subjects is ranked according to the corporate use instead of interlinking the system with personal capabilities. Every day children are educated away from the things they truly love because the ed-ucation system tells them it is of less-er importance, whether it is drawing or sports, dance or music, gaming or socializing. To all teachers out there: adapt education to personal capabili-ties to increase the gains of human ca-pacity and to new technology instead of dismissing technology as useless; videos games are not useless, Wiki-pedia is an ever more reliable source, and teenagers can actually multitask between Facebook, Youtube and Twitter.

But why the heck are we talking about education? Read the next arti-cle.

Education

A stream

of thoughts inspired by the works of S

ir Ken R

obinson.

- Tim Keegstra

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Farewell

My dear Delegates,

Have you gone wild?

I ask you this most pressingly, most concernedly. Did you live this week-end – live with full, intense, abandon? Did you give yourself to the Session, let it overwhelm you, swallow you? I truly hope you can say that you did, for it is only by your giving yourself to the Session that the Session may give all it can to you. And, I hope you have realised, all that which it may give is something truly wonderful.

At this Session, we have focused on the coming decade, on the ten yearfuls of possibility laid out before us. Think on the person you will be as you set out on this adventure. Further, think on how who that person will be has been altered by your time here. That a participant could come to an EYP Ses-sion and not leave it a changed per-son is a concept that my imagination spectacularly fails to conjure, that my mind absolutely rejects. By being here, by deciding to take part in EYP – by making that choice – you have taken a step which will alter you forever. The things you have done here, the people

you have met, the emotions you have felt – these are changes to your person which may never be undone. Always, you will have this experience to look back on; in ten years’ time, you will still be a person who was shaped by what has happened here.

These changes may be range in mo-mentousness from the truly epochal to the perfectly subtle, but they are there. They are the games you have played that you had never played before; they are the perspectives on your topic that you have learned from your Committee; they are that song stuck in your head from the farewell party. They are the friends you take from here; they are that sensation when you stood in GA and spoke in front of 170 of your peers; and they are the new view of the world which be-ing here, being a part of this - a part of EYP, of Europe - inspires. Perhaps your time here will awaken a pas-sion for politics or the issue of climate change. Perhaps your time here will invoke you to use your vote at the next opportunity. Perhaps the friend you made here will stand as your best man at your wedding. Perhaps, sim-ply, your time here will make you care

more, care what is happening around you, what is going on the world.

However it may be that this Ses-sion shaped you in readiness for the next ten years, remember that it is – as I said in the first magazine of the Session - this changed you who will shape the coming decade. And if it is indeed that such changes as were moulded here lightens these ten years in even some slight way, then, what-ever else, you may be most proud of what you have achieved here.

To the next ten years, Delegates - to our decade.

- Eoin O’Leary

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How To Continue In EYP- Alex Proctor

EYP is an organisation of chances and choices. Most of your EYP-careers have so far only consisted of a Re-gional Session and now a National Session, and it has been sort of a school thing as they are the ones that have guided you here. The non-Finn delegates, though, have stepped fur-ther into what EYP can give you. They have stepped into the part of EYP that opens up boarders, gone further than just their own countries’ Sessions. This is something everyone here can do.

From this Session a few of you will be picked out to attend an Interna-tional Session, this year we have two of them, in Athens, Greece and in Za-greb, Croatia. Nevertheless Interna-tional Sessions are only a small part of what EYP can offer you. Like the international delegates at this Ses-sion have noticed, the road to foreign countries is already open to all of you. EYP has sessions all around Europe, there are sessions going on pretty much all of the time. Like in Finland, other countries also have regional sessions and national sessions that you can apply to be a delegate in. Most countries are more than happy to accept international delegates’ applications and invite you to bring your- and your country’s input to the Session. There are also Interna-tional Forums to apply to. They are more relaxed sessions that often have a special issue at hand that comes up throughout the session. International Forums also happily take in interna-tional delegates.

In addition, the possibility to be a Journalist is already open. To be a Chair you might want to get a bit more experience, but it is always a possibility for the future. It is possible to go to Journalist- and Chairs train-

ings which ready you for the task via different tasks and practises. EYP Finland is rather active in holding these weekend-long trainings, but anyone can apply to join any training in any country. Chairing and journo-ing is also possible without any train-ing-weekend. But for now, as most of you have only been a delegate for two times I strongly recommend applying to be a delegate, as long as it still feels right for you - delegates are the ones the sessions are made for.

Applying means filling in an open application-form, which can be found either through EYP’s web page, or from an e-mail you get every once and a while because you are a member of a national EYP organisation.

Possibly the easiest way to continue in EYP is through the nearest re-gional activity. For example Finland has EYP Turku, EYP Helsinki, and EYP Tampere as sub-committees to EYP Finland. The regional activ-ity consists of, for instance, EYP ca-fés, which are pleasant get-togethers where it is possible to get to know each other even better and have fun. Being a member of a national organi-sation of EYP allows you to take part in the activity, but to best informed, it is always the best to also be a part of the regional organisation.

EYP is a flexible organisation that al-lows you to decide yourself on how much you want to take advantage of it. When you feel like you want to at-tend a session every week, you can at-tend a session every week. If you feel like your life cannot fit EYP you can come back when you have the time. EYP gives you the chance to take re-sponsibility or just enjoy the fun. If you want to do more of EYP, do it.

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Committee Article- CULT

Risotto Frutti di Mare

I’ve heard that it is possible to grow up – I have just never met anyone who has actually done it. I mean, think about it, why would we want to? Endless hours on the playground, brand new friends every day and oh, those silly little fights about who gets to play with that blonde doll today. Come to think of it, things have not really changed and it is all thanks to EYP. Those tiny but fun issues on who gets to do the defense speech and whether or not we should include in-troductory clause H in our resolution, those things just make our everyday life so much more extraordinary.

Believe me, the committee on Culture and Education is anything but nor-mal. If you would enter this commit-tee room at a random time, there is a high possibility that every single del-egate willlook at you, do that famous Italian hand gesture and say “Buf-fola Mozzarella” or “Risotto Frutti di Mare”. I know, this could not be any

more random and I keep asking my-self the same thing: “Why this obses-sion with Italian?” but I do not have the slightest clue. The weirdness, however, does not end here. I am not entirely sure if it has something to do with the committee presentations and the fact that they had to act out the fierce and fabulous “Twilight” but ever since “Edward Cullen” holds a special place in their hearts. When someone says that hot glittering vam-pire’s name, the whole CULT brings out their high voices and starts sing-ing something very posh and com-mercial, all together. No idea what, it comes like a Kinder Surprise.

Also, they tend to pronounce some words with a slight Irish accent. No possible idea where they get that from but the rumour has it that it may have something to do with their Irish chairperson Ben, also known as Beng-lish. So this is where their cultural side pops out, all together they can

speak numerous languages, are sur-prisingly sporty and are an amazing group of singers. Seriously, your mu-sical would be a hit. I will definitely let the readers know when CULT re-leases their cover version of the song “That’s not my name”.

The sun would go down at least twice if I would try to list all the fantastic moments CULT has shared during those four days. As I, the believer in your brilliant minds am sure you will memorise those moments and remember that what happens in Hel-sinki does not necessarily have to end there.

So, at the end of the day, do we really want to grow up? Being an adult with child benefits is so much better. More direct responses, more CULTure. All we want is more and in EYP that is exactly what we get.

- Luca Olumets

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Committee Article- CLIM

Peace, love and wind power! Luckily, the committee on Climate Change consisted of a more diverse and inter-esting group of people than a collec-tion of idealistic hippies. CLIM was very determined to tackle the chal-lenges posed by climate change. As the expert of the committee Atte Ko-rhola stated, climate change is indeed a wicked problem. Fortunately CLIM had already shown that it could break the human knot in record time, and therefore had the confidence to tackle this political knot in an equally effi-cient way.

Climate change is by far the most dominant issue characterising the 21st society. Indeed, the mere presence of climate change in the western me-dia alone has ensured that we all are familiar with the imagery of melting ice caps, endangered polar bears and constantly rising levels of CO

2. Con-

trastingly, the working climate with-in the committee was oozing sustain-ability and progress; I quickly noted that CLIM was not overwhelmed by

the magnitude of this problem and instead swiftly started to work on possible solutions, while occasionally supporting each other’s points by col-lectively crossing their hands to form the shape of little hearts.

Committee on Climate Change was

not afraid to acknowledge the short-comings of past climate conferences. Instead, they realized that more active measures are needed. CLIM realised that the current measures have not improved the situation significantly, so instead of that, more emphasis should be put on research and de-velopment or the production of new and innovative solutions. They were also impressed by the views of pro-fessor Korhola, and decided to phase out biofuels as a part of the solution while also supporting the developing countries in their fight against cli-mate change.

Changes in the climate pose many threats to the environment. Never-theless, sometimes change can be beneficial as well. I am certain that the change that occurred within this group, transforming them from a col-lection of individuals into an actual team, is a process we all aspire to achieve.

- Tero Pikkarainen

CLIMax of the Session

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Bananas - Atten Shun!

Committee Article- ENVI

- Katarina Warg

On Thursday the 10th of February 170 delegates arrived to the 10 Year Jubi-lee Session of EYP Finland. 17 of them signed up for the Committee on En-vironment and Public Health, Code name: Team Banana, Mission: Fight obesity.

At 10 a.m. on Friday, Team Banana gathered outside of the accommoda-tion venue for transport to Suomen-linna, the training venue. The day included extensive training; improve-ment of communication, increased comfort level of touching each other, education on safe transport of Polish zloty and a fruitless attempt to create a weapon.

Working on the weapon, a monster

with 14 legs, brought the communi-cative problems to the light. The ba-nanas faced the lack of communica-tion issue and spent hours on forming perfect squares to overcome the dif-ficulties.

While bearing in mind Sun-Tzu’s fa-mous quote “Keep your friends close but your enemies closer”, Team Ba-nana carried out a dangerous mission; to try out some of the weapons used by the enemy – cookies and basically everything containing sugar. The mis-sion’s code name: Coffee break. Post-mission debriefing had the Team agreeing on the complete success of the mission.

The two days following the team-

building were spent on working out strategies. An expert joined the team for a couple of hours and the discus-sion was very profitable. At the time of writing, the resolution was almost done and Team Banana aiming to pre-sent a resolution with the same accu-racy as a cluster bombing from B-52’s. The bombing´s extremely accurate; the bombs are guaranteed to always hit the ground.

Team Banana is now ready for com-bat - they will face the enemy, and all potential allies, in the General Assem-bly.

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Committee Article- EMPL

EMPL Is Your Temple

An ugly duckling turned into a swan. A poor cleaning girl turned into Cin-derella. The shyest of us often turn out to be the strongest ones. That is the case with my dearest EMPL. At first shy, modest and quite laid-back, the committee on Employment and Social Affairs grew stronger by the moment.

It is understandable that you are quite introverted when meeting new people. Meeting 19 of them isn’t the easiest thing in the world. Known as one of the biggest committees (cer-tainly the biggest one I have ever seen), they had all typical stereotypes one can find in an EYP committee. A modest, but terribly interesting girl, a stunning boy, introverted individuals, smart-asses, know-it-alls, intelligent

ones… EMPL has them all. Being a tad confused during the Teambuilding, they started relaxing as soon as their chair and journo made complete fools out of themselves running around like chicken. After that, they felt like they could do anything they wanted.

During the Committee Work, their discussions often got stuck in vari-ous parts just because of too many opinions. But being smart-asses that they are, they successfully solved many problems during the Commit-tee Work. Since most of them know what EYP is and what EYP repre-sents, they got along perfectly, creat-ing a good working atmosphere and a warm place for me to be. Entering their committee room was incredible every time – I didn’t distract them once, they were fully committed to their work.

Unfortunately, I didn’t spend as much time as I wanted with EMPL – jour-nalist job often does that. Nonethe-less, guided by the strong Norwegian hand of Marius Aure, they managed just fine without me. But doing the

General Assembly preparation with them was something I looked forward to from the beginning of the session – and they didn’t disappoint me! Some-how, I know that being awake during their debate on the General Assembly will be worth it. And remember – EMPL is your temple!

- Sara Juricic

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Valentine’s DayLove it?

It is that bit of the language of love

that is hard to get or truly understand for guys. Most of us simply see Valentine’s day

as the most commercially exploited day of the year, oth-ers as the easiest day to find a date. For me it is no different;

for me Valentine’s day is endlessly commercial. However, since I met my girlfriend something has changed. The entire thing seems

much more viable now. Her silent excitement started weeks ago and did not go unnoticed. She was clearly looking forward to finally spending an

awesome day full of cute little surprises and saying those little things that make you know someone loves you.

Imagine the look on her face when I told her I was going to Sweden and Finland during our first Valentine’s day.

- Tim Keegstra

Love is not a controversial topic. It’s a topic that shouldn’t contain any controversy, any dilemmas, that shouldn’t contain too much thinking. “A loving heart is the beginning of all knowledge,” says Thomas Carlyle.

When you love, you love for yourself not for others. And if you love, why shouldn’t you show it to the entire world? You love every day but there is that one special day in the year that

celebrates love more than others. One day that allows you to be as cheesy and corny as you want, one day on which you can watch “PS I Love You” without being judged and eat un-healthy amounts of chocolate just be-cause you got it from the one that has your heart.

Love crosses many limits and breaks many boundaries. And in the end – it makes you happy. Getting a flower, a

rose, a box of chocolates wrapped in a red ribbon, a love letter, it all makes you shiver and smile. Why shouldn’t you enjoy it? You may be annoyed by the amount of hearts, flowers and ro-mantic songs but I’m pretty sure eve-ryone can stand some cheesiness.

I will conclude with the words of the great Leo Tolstoy, “All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love.” I couldn’t agree more.

Valentine’s Day. The ever-controversial Valentine’s Day. What is so controversial about it anyway?

- Sara Juricic

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Valentine’s DayHate it?

It is not as if I am made out of stone. I do not despise love and romance. But there are limits. The fluffy and feath-ery holiday that is Valentine’s Day definitely crosses those limits.

Valentine’s Day represents the com-mercialization of love and is merely yet another prime example of the amount of influence the evil multi-national greeting card manufactur-ers have on society. By giving out the impression that love should be elabo-rately celebrated during a course of a single annual holiday, one is naturally faced with major financial implica-tions; teddy bears, cotton candy and chocolate are all elementary require-ments for a successful Valentine’s Day according to these twisted mar-keters. Moreover, why on Earth do people feel a desperate need to book a table for two on this day at a restau-rant, where an evening will cost you more than a wedding. And just when you thought that some things are off limits. Boom! Capitalism finally takes over love.

And think about it, what kind of an example do we set out for our chil-dren? So what goes on inside that child’s mind: “Is daddy only allowed to express his feelings towards mom-my one day in a year? Should I give mommy something once in every 365 days?” Confusion and tears is what we create.

In many ways, Valentine’s Day is the ultimate anticlimax of romanticism. Do we really need to insert a special holiday in our calendars in order to express our feelings of affection? Hav-ing flowers delivered to you out of no-where just because a plastic cupid on a store window says, “Roses are red, violets are blue. Buy me for the price of love.”

All in all, if you still feel the need to celebrate this pointless, over-rated, vicious, sleezy day, go ahead. You do not have our approval because L-O-V-E is just another word we’ll never learn to pronounce.

Being dateless on Valentine’s Day can evoke feelings of loneliness and self-doubt, especially for those who are believers in the mythology of true love. All in all love is just a chemical mixture consisting of hormones, neu-rotrophins, and pheromones.

If you do not already know the feel-ing of waking up on Valentine’s Day without the prince(ss) Charming by your side, then follow these in-structions to survive:

1 Whatever you do, do not turn on the television as it is probably packed with unrealistic and corny propaganda of the big L derived di-rectly from Hollywood.

2 Avoid all types of public events that involve the big L, instead or-ganise a small get together (edit: meaning you and a bottle of wine).

3 Menu of the day: remember to buy a box of tissues, order in choco-late and Ben& Jerry’s.

4 Rent the most disturbing and twisted Japanese R-rated psycho zombie movie only featuring cut-off limbs and massive amounts of blood.

5 Lock the door, hide the key, dis-connect the phone, log off from fa-cebook and enjoy your Valentine’s Day.

With L…

Do not get me wrong. I really am all for love and romance and all that stuff.

The Day When Love Dies- Luca Olumets & Tero Pikkarainen

Singles Survival Guide:

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Dear DEVE,

Traditionally, I would here insert a few sentences about how I felt before I first met you Delegates of DEVE, how together we broke the ice with silly games, how we came together as a group. Then, I would follow it up with some phrases on how those bonds, which developed in Teambuilding, helped you through the discussion of your topic and the formulation of your resolution. However, although impor-tant aspects of what you have achieved here, these are not the memories which come to mind as I sit to write this. Instead, I remember how we chatted during the coffee breaks, how much I laughed every time I sat to eat lunch with you. I remember the friendships I saw grow between you Delegates, I remember the jokes you shared. I remember gathering in front of the hotel waiting for our Chair be-fore our Committee Dinner, surrounded by virtually silent Committees, singing and shouting at the tops of our voices. I remember long discussions of cultural exchange during Dinner centered entirely on the subject of alcohol. I remember bubbles. I remember Barbra Streisand, practicing our killer dance moves in Fo-rum before the Farewell Party (‘shopping one and two and “Hi neighbour,”’) and beatboxing as we walked to the venue.

Yes, you accomplished great things in Teambuilding and Committee Work, things that will benefit you for years to come, and I have already tried to impress upon you with what pride I have observed this. But here, now, as my final written word to you guys, I would have us come together in remembering the fun, the laughs and dancing the box. These are simple memories, but in the long run, they are ir-replaceable treasures.

Yours truly,

- Eoin O’Leary

Committee Article- DEVE

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These last few days have been so enjoyable. Very different than I had imagined, expecting an antisocially inclined and introverted group of lit-tle words, basically Finns. That my committee was so enjoyable to work with is not only because of the Finns jumping over their own shadow but the internationality present at this session. Merely calling it a National Session surely feels like a diminutive of the actual experience. My commit-tee consists of undercover Estonian artists, Italian musicians – imagine a committee dinner, where one dele-gate actually utilises the piano stand-ing in the corner and bedazzles the whole restaurant, Chinese speaking

literature aficionados, athletes prac-tising six times a week, Hippies, fu-ture UN blue helmet soldiers and of course Miss EYP her/himself.

Admittedly this article isn´t half as in-teresting for non ITRE participants, but having an article dedicated only to yourself once in a while is proven to have many health benefits. What-ever the outcome in GA we have all made great friends and enjoyed a mul-ticultural bonding experience unique to EYP. I wish you all the best ITRE.

Committee Article- ITRE

International ITRE

- Julian Cooke

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Beauty over brains or brains over beauty? In this committee, the an-swer is obvious: they are individuals with beautiful minds. First up: what does this journo dude mean? I do not mean that everyone is a nerd from the Big Bang Theory. However, what I do mean is that they together form a uomo universale.

Every member of this group has their personal talent; a refined skill that makes them an asset. Combining all these marvels forms the perfect body of knowledge, which tackles problem after problem. I would love to think that they could repaint the Capella Sis-tina and out do the uomo universale Mi-chelangelo blindfolded while picking up a bunch of mafia brothers out of an Italian maximum security prison.

However, Michelangelo did not paint the chapel in a day, neither did Ein-stein come up with special relativity in his first science class. Following this hardly logical deduction, I must conclude that there is an unbelievable future for these delegates. Whether Nacio had plans to start his own bur-rito multinational or not, whether Ar-turri wanted to get into the Guinness book of world records for the male with the longest hair, or whether Ro-nan wanted to become the president of France or not, it does not matter anymore, because they have started a new path in their life.

Committee Article- AGRI

Uomo

Universale- Tim Keegstra

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The Committee on Regional Develop-ment truly came to the Session and started it with the power of a polar bear and the impact of a huge wave. The committee’s 17 REGImen and -women address each new situation with an astonishing ability to adapt and solve in order to “save the world”.Any committee that begins by think-ing of “what would Robinson Crusoe do” starts in the right place. With its sustainability and experimental atti-tude, which both could be seen while playing the human knot for one and a half hours never giving up and keep-ing on trying, REGI could survive

even being stranded on an island. The committee’s diversity helped them understand everything they were up against from many different angles.

Having the Committee consist of del-egates from eight different countries allowed everyone to fully understand everything on a whole EU scale. The overall balance between each com-mittee member and the positive at-mosphere among the delegates made working together rather painless, more so, even enjoyable. The warm atmosphere will make the Arctic melt and solve the Committees topic.

REGI reached its goals under the guidance of their chair Dominic Dras-nar. The Committees ambition can be seen in the committee members’ dreams for their future. In the future your doctor or layer may very well have been a delegate in REGI. The rather sporty committee also had skills in musicality and languages. Having someone who plays the bag pipes and speaks ancient Greek at the same time is not something you come across every day. Travelling, dancing, acting, art, music, and cooking are some of the things this committee en-joys.

The ability make own sacrifices to help others came out strong in REGI. The warm atmosphere and authentic devotion towards each issue made it very easy to truly like the whole com-mittee and the way they did things. One can only hope these easygoing and willing committee members con-tinue on in EYP so that future en-counters could be possible.

Committee Article- REGI

REGImen To the Rescue

- Alex Proctor

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“First come the polar bears, then the waves, and then REGI”

Committee Article- AFET

After teambuilding and committee work 17 delegates, a chair and a jour-nalist now form the Committee on Foreign Affairs. To give you a feel on how they are like, AFET delegates were questioned about their impres-sions of the session, predictions of fu-ture, foreign affairs and other issues.

1. What was the highlight of the session? Committee dinner 4 Teambuilding 3Committee work 3New people 2Frozen Baltic sea 1Farewell party 1General Assembly 1

2. What did you learn in this ses-sion? How all opinions should be con-sidered, words in other languages, a shout, English, listening, having good conversations, Latvian, English, about politics, to teamwork, love for EYP, culture, politics, Latvian and Finnish, committee work, a lot.

3. Teambuilding or Committee work? 5- Committee Work 9- Teambuilding

4. Orga, Chair or Journo? orga 2journo 11chair 4

5. USA or China? China 9USA 6

6. Who of AFET delegates would make the best comedian? Magda, Ieva, Teemu, Juuso (2,) Kalle (7)

7. If you were stranded on a de-serted island with somebody from AFET, who would you choose? Evija, Sonja, Juuso (3), Kalle (2)Stephan, Joel, Magda (2), Ieva.

8. Best way to cheer up your chair? Food, work, being quiet, not touch-ing instruments (2), wearing clothes with llamas, being nice, playing in-struments (3), being yourself, calling her King Kong, scare her.

9. Which committee is the best? 6% don’t know94% AFET

- Ugis Balmaks

AFET’s Views

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Committee Article- LIBE

- Georgina Ansaldo Gine

Go LIBE!

Every single member of this commit-tee shined since the very first moment they came together. Seventeen peo-ple, no more, no less, were ready to discuss such a wide and controversial topic as immigration.

During teambuilding, they managed to memorize everyone’s names in-troduced by an adjective – I’ve never seen any committee that large being that successful! But this was just the beginning… after the ice-breaking games they started with the problem-solving ones. When they didn’t suc-ceed in one of them, they decided not

to get stocked in their frustration but use that experience in order to try to improve the group’s communication. And, genuinely, they triumphed in the next one.

Teambuilding ended with their re-flections and their hopes and fears for the future. The next day I was glad to be present during some of their dis-cussions where I could see how most of their hopes were accomplished and none of their fears came up. The great amount of people in the group creat-ed some stress when they all wanted to talk, but they fought it with a dose

of humour and by helping each other. I have to say that it was great to see them congratulate each other after reaching every goal they set.

I’m sure that, although the lack of time, yesterday you managed to fin-ish your resolution on time and today perform great at the GA. Never for-get your chair’s words of the first day “With a great attitude and an open mind as yours, you can arrive wher-ever you want!”.

I wish you all the best.

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BROS at First SightValentine’s Day is the time to show af-fection and caring. Nevertheless, you do not necessarily have to be in a ro-mantic relationship to experience these feelings. For exam-ple, this Valentine’s we, the authors of this article, have found bromance - an especially close but non-sexual re-lationship between two bros, male or female. Turns out we are not the only ones. Meet the other most bromantic couples of the session!

Luca and Sara form the Press Team’s (slightly) more feminine bromance. They told us how they first met last summer, on sunny afternoon in Ger-many’s beautiful Frankfurt, where they shared a lovely meal of sauer-kraut. However, this was no coup de foudre. In fact, Luca tells how dif-ficultly their relationship developed over the next six months, until its true blooming these last four days.

Apparently it was Luca who took the initiative last Wednesday which set off this powerful relationship. They found themselves mutually attracted to each other by their common poor Eastern European aura. Their expres-sions of this bromance have been prolific over the Session, Sara tak-ing Luca for what was intended as a 20 minute walk, which - lost in each others’ company and in the failure of Sara’s Google Maps - ended up tak-ing 80 minutes. Luca has reciprocated by giving herself “fully and bodily” to Sara.

LIBE have their own blossoming bro-mance with Iggy and Daniel. They first properly met in bed, when they each woke up to find the other in their room. By teambuilding, they had already realised that there was some-thing special here. Daniel was drawn in by Iggy’s random hilarious com-ment in his Polish accent. They have a somewhat ‘open bromance’ and each share a connection with their other two roommates. We set the pair the task of finding three words to de-scribe the other. Daniel tells us Iggy is sensitive, hilarious and random,

while Iggy defines Daniel with multi-cultural, responsi-ble and awesome. The future of this bromance certainly looks bright. Iggy tells us that he will visit Daniel in Swit-zerland to make a film, perhaps dur-ing the summer. Daniel will repay the gesture in 2012 for the European Championship in Poland.

A brom-com could be based on the story of ITRE’s Christopher Proc-tor and Aleksander West. These two met at EYP Café in Turku. Although they say that they were aware of their feelings immediately, their relation-ship is based on having fun at EYP sessions and is otherwise open. Chris is described by Aleksander as ginger, cute and fabulous, while Aleksander is handsome, tight-butt and a good masseuse. They cannot seem to keep their hands off each other, so their claim of really loving each other is most probably not a lie.

- Eoin O’Leary & Ugis Balmaks

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Being a Fashion

FailureI have spent this entire session in someone else’s clothes. I came to this session with a suitcase filled with one of my best friends, Paula’s, clothes. I am filling her spot in the press team, and I am wearing her badge. You know the expression when you have to fill out someone else’s shoes. I have been attempting to fill Paula’s clothes for the past four days and I still have two more to go as an awkward rep-lica of Paula Kjellen.

Every morning, 15 minutes before we all gather in front of the hotel, you can find me in my room turning my, or Paula’s, suitcase up side down des-perately seeking for a proper outfit in which I feel relatively comfortable in. I put something on, rip it off, put something else on and then I put on the same clothes I wore yesterday only replacing one piece of clothing. I despise myself for my anxiety and desperation as well as for my fashion failures while wearing jeans shorts, black tights, a sloppy t-shirt and a sil-verish jacket.

I constantly ask myself though, why do I care so much. Why can I not just put on anything and go to the com-mittee work venue. As Tatu told me; “You are Swedish, you can pull eve-rything off”. If I would have that atti-tude all my problems would be gone.

I make an effort to keep a smile on my face, be energetic and to just pull it off

but it is tiresome. When I felt tired and uncomfortable I realised why fashion is of such utmost importance in today’s society. It might seem shal-low and one might think fashion only has a place in today’s world of over-consumption, but it is also a tool for expression; just like EYP. By wearing your clothes you make a statement, either you decide to say something or you decide to not care and to not partake in the discussion. It is your loss. I therefore encourage you all to go home and throw out all the ugly clothes you do not care for from the closet. Then you make up your mind, you take a stand and you go and buy new clothes; clothes representing you, the person you want to be and the person you will be while you do it.

-Katarina Warg

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Journalists of the SessionAlex Proctor (FI) - Ugis Balmaks (LV) - Eoin O’Leary (IE) - Julian Cooke (CH) - Tero Pikkarainen (FI)

Sara Juricic (HR) - Luca Olumets (EE) - Georgina Ansaldo Gine (ES) - Tim Keegstra (NL)Katarina Warg (SE)

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