EYP.... finally.

First of all... I know I promised this post like 2 weeks ago, but I didn't do it. I was too busy enjoying life.

So I will start from the beginning. I was asked to go to EYP about a month before the actual event, and I had absolutely no idea what it was, but I said yes anyways. And I was excited. But as it got closer, and I met with the other students from my school going and we talked about it more... none of us wanted to go. We had to prepare for our topics that we would be in a committee on so we could discuss it (my topic was woman rights and gender equality), and let's just say I didn't really prepare. I was much less than thrilled. Another girl going and I were even trying to make up reasons why we couldn't go... but that didn't work. We ended up going anyways.

So, we got there, and everyone was just kind of mad that we were there, and didn't know what to expect. There were over 100 people there, and everyone seemed really shy and didn't know what to do.
But then we went to an assembly, and had to play ice breaker games, and things started to get just awkward, not fun.
However, then we broke up into our committees (there were about 9, each on different topics that would be associated with the European Union.. since EYP does stand for European Youth Parliament). My group was the smallest... 6 people, all girls (in the women's rights committee... imagine that!) and we played games from about 8 to midnight. And it was really fun! We all got really comfortable with each other, and started enjoying what we were having to do.

OH! Did I mention that this whole event was in English?! There were people from all over Europe there, but since it was a regional event for Finland, they were mostly Finns.

The next day, we were with our committees the entire day, working on our topics and trying to come up with a resolution for the problem. Ours was how to deal with banning traditional Islamic garments, while considering religious traditions and ensuring gender equality. It was a lot of hard work, and I drank about 7 cups of coffee that day... at least. It was tiring stuff. But there was also some fun things worked in there, so we didn't get too bored. And it was actually pretty fun just discussing our topic. I thought it would pretty much be like death, but it wasn't. So I was happy.

That night, we had a "farewell party", and it was HALLOWEEN themed! :) I LOVE halloween... my favorite holiday, actually. And people actually dressed up! There was a dance, and some different halloween competitions, and it was fun to hang out with people, and especially nice to hang out with the people that came with from my school. I hadn't talked to them before that weekend, but I now talk to them quite frequently at school.

No one got much sleep after that, because we had to meet with our committees at like 1 in the morning to go over our resolutions and make sure we had everything set for our speeches the next day.

So the next day, we went to the City Hall, so we could discuss/debate and vote on every committee's resolution. Each resolution started by reading through the points that they came up with that they would change, then there was a speech from someone on that committee about why their resolution was so good. Then, there could be an attack speech made by anyone from another committee, pointing out things that seemed questionable, or that just wouldn't work, or things they had left out. And then the committee presenting could answer those points, and then an open debate started. There were about 4 rounds, where about 6 people would ask questions each round, and then the committee could answer them. Then, there was a final speech, answering the last round of questions, and again explaining why we should vote for their resolution to pass. Then, everyone had to vote on whether they want the resolution to pass, or not.

Sadly, my resolution did not pass, but it was quite close. There were 5 more votes for it to not pass than for it to pass, so we were pretty happy that it was at least divided, and we had split peoples opinions.
After we had gone through all of the resolutions, there was a speech about what EYP can do for you and how it can change you... blah blah blah.

And now that we have participated in one EYP event, we can sign up to go to any of the events all over Europe. But, unfortunately, since I will not be in Europe too long, I probably won't get to participate in any of them. BUT, if I lived here, I would definitely go to some more. It was a good experience, and getting up and having to talk in front of everyone definitely made me get out of my shell a little bit more, as public speaking is DEFINITELY not my strong suit. But everyone was in the same positions, plus English was no one else's first language, so I did have an advantage there.

It was a great weekend, and I made some good friends.

Here's a picture of my committee (the guy was our chair person, that had to lead us through the entire process) We call ourselves "Fabulous FEMM"

OH, one thing I forgot. The first day, we had to change from formal clothes to regular clothes for team building, and we had to change in the classrooms that we were sleeping in for the weekend (the whole event was held at a high school). There were boys and girls in the same room. So we just had to change in front of each other. Super awkward at first, but then I was just like "hey, maybe this is how they do it here. No big deal". So I was fine with it, but then I found out that a lot of other people thought it was awkward. But it was just another different, maybe strange, thing that I have come across during my exchange so far, and it was no problem at all! As an exchange student, you learn to just accept things as they are, and not really question anything too much.