Society
When Pop Meets Opera- Building Bridges in the 60th Eurovision Song Contest
Vienna, the grand city of music, is playing host to the 60th edition of Europe’s premier pop singing event; albeit, Vienna is famous for opera, symphonies and classical music. #12Points is how the city has been rebranding itself for the duration of the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC). The face of the ESC 2015 is Thomas Neuwirth, more commonly known by his Drag Queen persona ‘Conchita Wurst.’ From advertising for bank loans to having a sausage named after her, no one in the past few years has achieved as much popularity after winning the ESC as Conchita. The city entered into a week of celebrations on the Sunday leading up to the finals. The State Opera House (Wiener Staatsoper) organised a special matinee programme, with the overarching theme of ‘Building Bridges’…
The Art of Looking Busy
By Marta Garayoa
Apparently, efficiency is losing its status in favour of exaggerated dedication; even if that dedication is just a façade and lacks consistency, because we can all guess what happens with the seat-warmers: they explode. None can handle that amount of pressure, lack of sleep, lack of free time… especially if all those sacrifices are not accompanied by a great amount of money, so they end up suddenly exploding, leaving the company, reconsidering all those lost hours spent warming someone else’s seat, all the missed plans, beers, potential relationships…
Family! I’m going on Orgasmus… I mean Erasmus!
By Annie Thomas
Some call the famous Erasmus student exchange program ‘Orgasmus’. No need for a big explanation I guess… If Erasmus is not only about sex and parties, they certainly amount for a great deal of it! Only the most introverted and the deadly serious ones will not have enjoyed some kind of transcultural physical acquaintance during their exchange.
Varoumania no more?
By Cristina Dias Neves
You know what? I was quite right about Mr. Varoufakis. The guy is an absolute thrill for women in Lisbon – as well as all over Europe. Girls between 7 and 77 turn red just mentioning his name. It is the same for German, French and British girls. Two months after his appearance in Eurotown, every European woman knows how to spell a funny Greek name and gets really interested in the news, each time he’s on the TV set
The quarterlife crisis
We have all heard about the midlife crisis but, I hope I’m not alone here, I believe there is also a quarterlife crisis that might be hitting more people than we think. Maybe even you, reader, can see yourself, to a certain degree, stuck in this weird phase without even noticing it. You’re certainly not a kid but you don’t see yourself as a full adult either, so you’re trapped in a sort of limbo…
Erasmus destination: Italy and the UK (from France)
J’ai eu la chance d’effectuer deux semestres d’Erasmus consécutifs. Le premier en Italie, à Forli (à 70 km de distance de Bologne) et le suivant en Angleterre à Stoke on Trent. Je pense que de toutes mes études universitaires cette année là a été la plus formatrice tant humainement qu’académiquement.
The American Dream: My first encounter with the US police
I know Chicago is pretty far from Europe, not only distance-wise but culturally as well, though, as a Spaniard (and therefore European myself), living one year in the US left a wide number of anecdotes in my diary. Anecdotes that I am willing to share with you all if you have few spare minutes to read. But please, don’t judge, I was young and innocent.
Stereotypes
By Driss
from Casablanca, Morocco
Usually, when we go to a country for an Erasmus, we arrive with our very own bundle of stereotypes, and sometimes, if not often, we take them back with us…
At the end, the only way to leave your bundle beside the road is to keep your experience forever with you, no matter where you are, and this is not the task of your memory, but that of your friends, and that’s what Erasmus is all about.
Erasmus destination: Madrid (from Turkey)
I was standing with my mom at Ataturk International Airport at 4am waiting for my flight to Madrid from Istanbul. I was overexcited since I was travelling to my dream country to live for 6 months! I love Spain, Spanish culture, language, Spanish men, and the architecture, that’s why I chose Madrid for my Erasmus experience.
