One module of the business masters program at WIT is the International Study Trip, which involves a semester-long project and a trip to Brussels, Belgium. The project involved arguing that our assigned country was best suited to hold the Presidency of the EU for 2.5 years. This is considerably longer than the actual half year Member States of the EU currently share on a rotational basis.
Since one of my undergraduate degrees at Lafayette was Government & Law, this project was right up my alley. My team was assigned to Denmark, and we absolutely killed it! Our 20-minute presentation and arguments during the roundtable debate on the last day of the trip went well.
The rest of the trip was extremely educational as well. We participated in multiple seminars throughout the week, listening to speakers present on a broad range of topics. Not only this, but we were able to tour all of the EU Institutions. First, we were able to go inside the European Parliament. To be standing in the same room where major decisions are made for the entire EU was so cool (major politics-crazy nerd moment).
We also got to go inside the European Council to see the Consilium. There we listened to Mr. Christian Froik explain the inner-workings of the EU. Afterward, we walked to the European Commission to have a short Q&A session with Ireland-native, Phil Hogan, who is the European Commissioner for Agriculture & Rural Development.
There were many great things about this trip, but you can’t go to Belgium without having a Belgian waffle! Alyssa, myself, and our teammate Helena found a great waffle stand in Leuven where we were staying.
Overall, the experience was something I’ll never forget. Big thank you to Sport Changes Life for giving me the chance to have this opportunity!
