It seems I can't get much time in Middelburg this semester... I've been back for two months now and I've hardly had a complete week in the city! Last week the endless adventures took me to Strasbourg, France, on rather short notice at that. My business there was on behalf of the HZ at the European Youth Parliament for Water, where I was representing The Netherlands and the River Scheldt.
This gathering, a sort of conference if you will, is held every other year somewhere in Europe. In short, a forum for young people to decide what their opinions are around water and its various issues, and present their views to officials and policymakers. (which sounds rather boring put that way! I promise it's not!) I wasn't completely sure what to expect; but it was absolutely worth the long trip there.
So I was underway on a rainy Sunday morning, leaving at dawn from Middelburg, in the first train to Rotterdam where I got the Eurostar high-speed train to Paris, then another train á grand vitesse further east to Strasbourg, right on the German border at the eastern edge of France. I arrived in the early afternoon and spent a few hours walking around, noting that this is a pretty typical European city. Cathedral, old town, some fortifications, the touristy shops with shot glasses, magnets, and snow globes.
It was pretty easy to identify my fellow MPs at the hostel, the Nalgenes and well-worn walking shoes are dead giveaways. (this feels like a sentence which has never been written before!) The place, Ciarrus Strasbourg, really stretches the definition of "hostel". Too clean, too modern, not enough crowded rooms and worn-out furniture. Our first outing together was to eat some flammkuchen, or tarte flambée to the locals. Think of pizza if central Europeans read about it five centuries ago and tried to make it themselves. Actually quite tasty!
Morning found us up early and assembled at the European Parliament by 08.30h. While government buildings in the US are stately, rigid, and old-fashioned, this place was curvy and modern! My first error was trying to bring a Swiss army knife inside- the security didn't look kindly on this, and in the embarrassment I left my laptop with them too! Not my finest hour.
The next two days were mainly a series of speeches and lectures from diplomats, politicians, and local officials looking to preach to the young people. That they did, in my opinion, for the good press. These types are masters of dodging questions and saying something without actually saying anything. Yes, very nice of them to share their goodwill with us, but they made no serious promises or guarantees other than praising our activity during this week.
They certainly fed us well though! At the parliament, probably the same food they feed the ca. 700 MPs and other big bosses. Lots of hors d'oeuvres, which we had for at least three lunches and dinners. Easy for a big group! This was an unexpected highlight of the week, though I suppose an army marches on its stomach.
Wednesday had us on field visits across the Rhine in Germany and Switzerland: everyone got a tour of a flood-diversion area, a souped-up floodplain with sluices and pumps to get the water out when needed. The Rhine is by nature a hyper-developed river; used extensively for transport, irrigation, and industry, so it was a surprise to see so many kilometers left for nature. Though it's a far cry from any Minnesota floodplain, which are national parks compared to these. Lovely regardless, in the afternoon we split up for separate visits: this is where the coolest part of the week began!
Near the Swiss border is one of the largest pumped-storage hydropower plants in Europe, the Schluchseewerk. The idea of the place is that water and gravity can be used together as a sort of giant battery; when electricity is cheap, water is pumped uphill to a reservoir, when electricity is expensive (i.e. during peak demand) water is released to generate power. Of course it's not perfectly efficient: thanks to the laws of thermodynamics, they take a 30% hit in efficiency. But it's a clever way of "storing" extra energy in an environmentally friendly way!
This much was explained to us by the engineers and managers of the place, who gave us a little presentation and then drove us in a bus down to the turbines inside the mountain. I recall an 8 gigawatt capacity for the place, over four turbines, a number which doesn't make much sense to me, not being so technically inclined. The pictures will speak for themselves:
The caveat of this crazy trip was that we had to drive for a few hours; time to nap, or yap, or watch the lovely black forest pass by. Our evening was spent at the city hall of Freiburg im Bresigau, where we were given a fancy reception by city councilors! They fed us their finest sandwiches, and sent us off to a new hostel out in the suburbs for an early night. (at last!)
Our location for the next morning was the Regierungpräsidium of Baden-Württemburg, a government office somewhere between a regional and a national authority. Brutalist headquarters, strong coffee, and a conference room to ourselves for the morning. There were a few presentations about cooperation and saving water, then the ball was passed back to us young people to begin planning activities for the upcoming term of this youth parliament. (from one big responsibility to the next, that's how life flows!) I was on the art exhibition committee, which for now is planning exactly that sometime early next year. With a focus around some dimension of water, though this is still up in the air.
A quick potato-based lunch, then back on the bus, direction Strasbourg again. By now everyone was really feeling the fatigue of being worked so hard all week- the schedule really doesn't let up! The afternoon was spent at the Hôtel d'Alsace, a convention center, doing "serious games" around water-governance and availability. And hearing some (rather boring if I must admit!) presentations about how to be an advocate for water. We were well-fed with hors d'oeuvres once again, and some drinks for networking of course. Tired from yet another day of water-managing, I walked back to the hostel and slept deeply.
And then it was the finale! We were at the Palais du Rhin today, which incredibly opened its doors to us and allowed complete access for the parliament all day. On the docket: elections of the new board, making decisions about the group statement about the week, evaluations of the last term, and more planning for the new term. Many little sessions, each of which is too much to explain on its own. A little bit more relaxed today, and a few of us even got away to walk down by the river and around the city center at lunch and just before dinner.
But the week wasn't done there! I had asked (quite sneakily) if I could make a detour through Rennes on my way back to Middelburg; not expecting to hear a yes. But the EU is generous with their euros! So thanks to the magic of two high-speed trains and a rather tight connection through the Paris Metro, I found myself back at the station in my favorite city in France. With my favorite person too!
It was only a 36-hour detour though, and at a price: an overnight bus to Bruges in Belgium, then a short jaunt to Middelburg to arrive on Monday afternoon. Between this short night, meeting and chatting with 75 new people, and the simmering stress of missing a whole week of uni, I got pretty sick. But as I write this a week later, everything has cleared up and I've settled back down nicely.
