On the 16th of November 2018 we (Nina Stoop (Ghent) and Clara Beers (Leuven) were welcomed with open arms in the beautiful city of Nancy for a motivational weekend. We were joined by people from Switzerland and Germany, or the ‘potato lands’ as we called ourselves. Together with a guy from Costa Rica and the hosts from France we had an unforgettable weekend.
On Friday everyone arrived and played games to get to know each other. After this everyone split up and went to sleep on a local students dorm. This is how I ended up on a party surrounded by students dressed in kilts (a Scottish skirt), as is the tradition of their school, a tradition more people should follow in my opinion. And no, I didn’t find out what they wear underneath.
On Saturday we learned about over fishing and ocean pollution in a great workshop. One group worked on the problem and the other group on possible solutions. After this the organisers presented what was actually going on and what could be done. After this we had a city tour and of course our age old tradition: the Trade Fair! We made 'hete bliksem', a dish with pureed potatoes, minced meat and apple sauce. Of course we also brought Belgian chocolate and beer. One thing is for sure: there were a lot of dishes with potato. This made us realise how closely related our countries are if you forget about the superficial differences.
Overall this was a very nice event with the proper amount of learning and fun!
A big thanks to IAAS France for organising the motivational weekend!