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Answering The Real Question: Why do I not have a girlfriend?
Written by Ingvild SkarpeidThis afternoon the Summit reaches its absolute climax, with Peter Backus finally explaining what I have been waiting for all weekend: "Why don't I have a girlfriend?" (Or rather in my case, why I don't have a boyfriend!) Take ten minutes to see his amazing talk here!
Paul Mason from Newsnight also makes a swift appearance this afternoon (for you non-British people, Newsnight is one of the most popluar and important news shows on BBC every night.)
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| Photo: |
| Paul Mason of the BBC |
In the last break of the WES I meet Joseph from Manchester who is sitting with some of the friends he has made at the Summit. I tentatively try to ask them how they are feeling after three hardcore days of meetings and seminars. Are they not tired? Isn't some of this really boring? Can you give me anything – anything – negative to say about WES?
"The Summit is amazing! It is no wonder that it's arguably the best economic student event in the whole of the UK." I look at Joseph's friends. They are nodding in agreement.
In my attempt to see if I can track down a disgruntled delegate, I corner three Erasmus students: Iva, Gerard and Léa. Coming from a foreign perspective they all agree on one thing. Iva, a Bulgarian doing her finance degree in Madrid explains: "The students here seem to be a lot more interested in their subject than at the universities we come from. I don't think that UK universities are better, on the contrary I think my university in Spain is better than my host university here in England, but the students here are so motivated."
And I have to agree – it is inspiring to see students putting together a weekend conference packed with policy experts, media celebrities as well as traditional academics. It makes me think that this is possible not only here, but across Europe and of course the world. What's more – if I am to believe the speakers I have talked to at the WES, it is important and beneficial to a number of disciplines to have international summits like this, even on an undergraduate student level.
Photo: L-R: Joseph (Manchester), Cheng (London), Medalynn (London), Nicholas (Birmingham)
Ingvild Skarpeid is reporting live for E&M at this year's Warwick Economics Summit, UK.
"The coffee is indescribable.... but it gets you through the day."
Sitting here on a balcony blogging in the morning, I look out to the river Danube, and want to claim that I've invented a new term for our growing 'European' English dictionary. (If such a thing exists, Chris...)
My new term - 'Conference mentality' - is the 'I'll sleep when I'm dead' attitude to conferences - when you experience the night life with young Europeans till the early hours, (have YOU ever seen Hungarian Karaoke....?) but are still the first person up for breakfast so you can talk about EU policy with the older, more mature participants. My gravelly voice and empty coffee cup suggests that I have the 'mentality' in abundance...
Last night we went into Budapest. Through a small gate and old courtyard near the main train station there is what seems to be an old wine cellar. It was in fact a vibrant local bar with live music of swirling melodies and heavy rhythm. The Dav Trio, a local band from Budapest, were playing and if I wrote their email address down correctly, they should be making an appearance on our new music blog soon...
Today we're focussing on the promises for the Landau convention in May. High ambitions are in the air and people have come up with many innovative ideas to involve the local population in the week's proceedings. Just one example is a 'living library' where people are the books and volunteer to tell their stories and discuss in groups. I make a short speech on E&M's role as media partner, perhaps its just my tiredness, but it all suddenly seems to be a lot of responsibility for the team we send out there...
Never mind, of more pressing concern is to venture out of the European centre and enter Europe proper... I'm heading into the centre of town, capturing some photos for the Sixth Sense, and meeting Tina from EUSTORY to share a coffee in the Heroes Square.
Which reminds me: the coffee is still indescribable, but it's getting me through the day.
„The Role of Music in Building the EU“ is a title that promises a lot.
Erna Hennicot-Schoepges’ lecture „The language of art and music“ doesn’t keep it. In fact the 69 year old pianist, educated in Brussels, Paris, Salzburg and Luxembourg, knows both sides: from 1999–2004 she was minister of culture, higher education, research and public works in Luxembourg, and then worked as a member of the European Parliament (2004-9). But in her speech the good and noble ideals suffer from insufficient and biased argumentation.
Yes! – music is a wonderful thing. Yes! - there is scientific proof that music, more directly than other forms of arts or communication, affects the brain’s emotional centre. Yes! - there have been studies in Berlin elementary schools suggesting a positive correlation between instrumental music education, intelligence and social competence. And of course one cannot appreciate enough a highly decorated (retired) politician vouching not only for better music education in general, but also for the delicate imparting of contemporary classical music. But does that really suffice to emphatically declare music is a language that all mankind understands, all mankind is unified by and that it is the language that a multilingual and fragmented EU can be built on?
And why do you volunteer? The question reverberates around the conference room, like a challenge to those of us who still wonder why we're lucky enough to be sat in Budapest. For me I wonder, do I volunteer? Do I do enough? Was it for altruistic purposes or something more self centred? And if I did what was it that kept me going?
Frank, head of Citizens of Europe, is sat next to me and assures me that E&M counts as volunteering (no, we don't get paid!) and I suggest then that it was a central principle, core aims and questions we hold, that motivates the editors and many authors to spend their free hours producing the magazine. And of course the fact that we like each other! It seems to go down well with the volunteers and NGO representatives here, and the principle of association and belonging, if not personally, then through common ideas through the end of an internet cable is added to the list of reasons people keep volunteering.
In smaller groups we designed an advert for a local intercultural fair and focussed on how to deal with identity for participants – do you emphasise it in the hope of fostering understanding, or refuse to define people by these labels. It's a serious issue for cultural intergration in wider Europe, if not just for our imaginary event. We settled on both approaches, the first to be used for adults to tell their own cultural stories and the latter for children to focus on the similarities that their age brought them.
I was 'volunteered' (a term often used here...) for the task of presenting and selling the intercultural event under the catchy slogan of 'no need to travel, the world is here!' to passing participants who may want to volunteer.
It was interesting to see that their questions to me focussed on two main concerns.-
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How will they know whether their work is having an impact?
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Can I promise that they wont be sucked into working much more than originally wanted!?
Can you think of any more?
Photo: Matt sells volunteering to participants.
Matt, Sixth Sense Editor, is reporting live at the Open Forum weekend in Budapest, organised by Citizens of Europe.
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The morning at the WES starts at 10 am, with the Ramphal building slowly filling up with scattered and confused delegates waiting for the talks of the day. I manage to corner Andy Haldane, the Executive Director of Financial Stability at The Bank of England. Haldane is to my delight speaking on patience and economics, disguised under the rather dull label "Finance and Stability".
Do you think conferences like this can help bring the economics discipline forward?
- "Yes, massively so! Such conferences definitely enhance the education of today's students. Moreover, if we're talking about the economic crisis, it is an international event that is best told from an international point of view – we can learn from events like today when we're all together."
And there certainly is an international focus at the WES, I realise as I am introduced to Bulgarian Nikolay and his Lithuanian girlfriend Vaivara. Nikolay, who grew up in South Africa, is arguably among the most veteran delegates at the Summit, having come to the WES for the past four years. He keeps on coming simply because he finds that "it is a brilliant occasion to freshen up my knowledge, apply what I have learned about economics to real world scenarios and to hear experts contradict each other publicly!"
Nikolay also seems to have an remarkable marketing talent: "The second I was here I managed to get 20 people from my university, the next I got 40! I have now completed my studies but we are still around 30 delegates from Manchester here. In fact, I think it is even more important to continue to participate in these kinds of events when you finish university. It is so easy to come into a habit of work-TV-work-TV… It’s so good to get out of this and get a mental stimulus that we take back to our daily lives."
So when do you plan on finally stopping to attend the Summit?
- "My plan is to continue to be here every year, at least as long as I live in the UK. In fact, I plan to continue to be a delegate until I become so successful that I can finally be a speaker here. The only thing that could stop me would be if I was to go back to South Africa!"
Nikolay, Vaivara and the rest of us head out for lunch, as Haldane disappears to the VIP suite. I want to leave you with this morning's message from Haldane, which is the link between patience and good economics: Check out this video from RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce), about the 'secret powers of time'.
While we're off to eat, this should give the rest of you some food for thought!
Ingvild Skarpeid is reporting live for E&M at this year's Warwick Economics Summit, UK.
Matt, Sixth Sense Editor, is reporting live at the Open Forum weekend in Budapest, organised by Citizens of Europe.
The sign that greeted me as I arrived at Budapest Ferihegy airport proclaimed 'Budapest welcomes the EU presidency.'
I thought that was an odd way to greet an E&M reporter, especially a sign that covered the whole side of a large 11 storey building! (And I hadn't realised they knew I was coming...) But the circle of stars on a deep blue background was a welcome sight of familiarity. Perhaps I should have read the end of Ziemowit's first blog more carefully; I had left the UK without learning any Hungarian...
2011 is the European year of volunteering and this weekend Citizens of Europe are hosting an Open Forum in the European Youth Centre of Budapest. The weekend will be spent exploring questions of what is good/bad volunteering? How do we get people to motivate themselves and others? And why do people volunteer anyway? My role is to participate, to report and to prepare for the large conference in May, where E&M will be the official media partner for the five day event in Landau, Germany.
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| Photo: Matt Shearman |
| View from the Europe centre. |
After arriving late in the evening, I was quickly taken into the heart of Budapest on 1970s metro trains (pictures coming...) to experience the local beer, Dreher. Walking into a chic bar, far from my expectations of an edgy cool city, we were advised that we'd 'feel more comfortable downstairs'. The middle aged men in suits turned round and we knew the waiter was probably right.
0.5L of beer, less than 3 euros, helped the conversation flow and my Dutch, French and other colleagues quickly moved onto jobs, interests, passions and Europe. It turned out we'd all lived in Berlin at one point or another. And sitting back, its nice to know that even in a new city, the furthest East I've ever travelled, everything feels vaguely similar.
I think my European horizon has just moved eastwards...
We have already been greeted in the Chancellor’s Suite with a glass of wine (or two) when we’re welcomed into the first talk of the Warwick Economics Summit (WES).I’ve just been promised a weekend extravaganza by the Summit coordinator, andconsequently I’ve decided that I will indeed sit back and relax. (I’m a bit scared that I’ll be a little too relaxed here at the back, after all it is Friday night and we have been given free alcohol. )
But I actually cannot sleep through this, despite the dimmed lights here at the back ofthe Ramphal lecture theatre. Somehow the WES has found a set of people capable of making economics - even on a Friday evening - interesting. After one hour I have heard about the links between dating and alcohol, and which isbetter: commuting or sex? Tim Harford, or “The Undercover Economist”, promises to illuminate “boobs and booze” – again, after all it is Friday night. Tim has got my full attention.
The Economist’s prominent Editor Daniel Franklin tells us that five dustmen proved to be more right about the development of the world than a set of economists at, that’s right, The Economist. Hmm.
So far the WES is a lot of fun – the proof? At my perfectly placed position at the back of this dimly lit, hot-aired lecture theatre I have so far not seen a single person sink down in their seat and close their eyes (as is, let’s be fair, not unusual at these kind ofevents).
And as this day’s sessions of lectures ends, I already can’t wait to see tomorrow’s speakers. Until then, I would like to leave you with the wise words of Tim Harford: "No matter what you're doing - commuting or having sex.. It's always better with someone else."
Ingvild Skarpeid is reporting live for E&M at this year's Warwick Economics Summit, UK.
Main photo:Andy Chayton, RBS courtesy of Alexander Hogström
Can economics explain why I don't have a girlfriend?
The Warwick Economics Summit is one of the largest student-run events in Europe, and takes place at University of Warwick from the 18th to the 20th of February 2011. Participants from over 50 different universities are represented this year, from as far away as Rio de Janeiro and Massachusetts. There is fierce competition between students every year to secure a ticket for the Summit, and this year the tickets reserved for the Warwick students were sold out in only four days!
So - why would anyone sane in their early twenties voluntarily spend valuable time and money to go on a weekend away to discuss - economics? Are the participants at the WES simply a bit crazy about their subject – or even a bit mad in general - or could it be that economics can be fun? In fact, these young students from all over Europe seem to take part in a new, transnational trend: students are crossing borders to share knowledge and experiences as a part of their studies.
400 students representing a wide array of different nationalities will be gathering at Warwick for the Summit, and they will attend a number of talks, seminars, a panel debate and networking sessions with top academics and experts in economics and politics. Equally important, they will socialise and make new friends and contacts from all across Europe and the world.
E&M will be present at this year's Summit as it celebrates its 10th anniversary. We will try to tell you why economics can help you find out why you're single, how (not) to single-handedly ruin a bank and find the links between crime and economics. We will be giving you the hottest, newest insights in economics, the best speakers and the stories of lifelong friendships built during this cold, but vibrant weekend in Warwick.
Ingvild Skarpeid will be reporting live for Europe & Me at this year's Summit.
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