College of Europe Alumni website...

Sadly but truthfully, a good example to follow...

http://www.coleurop-alumni.org/index.php

EPA Profiles website... (some ideas)

Dear all,

Me again. Not that I don't have lots of work to do in my office. It's just I miss you too much and I wanted to write again. Here is a simple idea we had with Jens and the others yesterday over a dinner at my place - we thought that it would be great if we could set up a webpage (very simple and light) with our all profiles on it and link it to our blog page, to UniMaas EPA official webpage, EIPA webpage (if they want) or to anything you want it to be linked :) It's a sort of self-promoting thing were anyone could find a small, but professional picture of each of us, with our names, and a short description of areas of expertise/interest. To our names we could link our longer profile or a CV if you may wish. In this way, people, employers, potential EPA candidates, other EPA alumna, could see at a glance who we all are and what we all can do. I volunteer to design, format, and link this webpage, and all I need from you is your enthusiastic and creative input (or 1 picture, 1 CV/profile, and a short description of areas of interest/expertise).

Please let me know if you think this idea is good/bad and let's do it! Really...

I also promised that I will send you all (if you want of course) the CD with the 2 presentations we had during the graduation ceremony. Susan and Carlota, have kindly lent me their CDs with presentations and I will burn a CD with both of these presentation for each one of you if you want. It will take some time (due to current technical difficulties) but I will send it to you. I need from you a reply by EMAIL (vpopovici at gmal dot com) with the address you want me to mail the CD to you.

I know this is an extensive email, therefore let's recap what I need from you:
1. For the EPA2005 Profiles page, if you want to be listed on the website you need to send me:
- your picture (serious/professional)
- your CV
- short (1 sentence) description of your areas of expertise/professional interests
- later on (when all of us are working :))) we'll post also the organization/company/ngo you are working in.

2. For the Presentation CDs:
- email me directly to my gmail email with
- your mailing address that you wish the CD to be sent to

That's all folks. Wish you a hot (not too), sunny (very), and pleasant (very) summer.

Big hugs,

Val

Commission Stage Final Ball 2005

People in Brussels and beyond, I recently found out about an event hosted by the Commission stagiaires which celebrates their final days at the Commission. It's called EUball (ackward name, as anything coming out of the Commission...) So I want to see who wants to go to this event, so that we can all go as a 'gang' from EPA and not be alone among those 'other' people :) (sorry Natascha and others, who will soon be part of the Commission). Their website is: http://www.euroball2005.org/ and the tickets are 32 euros for dinner, unlimited drinks and dancing... expensive but hey - unlimited drinks :)))) just kidding.

Let me know if you're interested to join, 'cause it seems that soon they will run out of tickets! Cheers and talk to y'all later.

V

Post EPA meetings

Hello everyone!
How is the first post EPA summer going? I am in Madrid at the moment, suffering a terrible heat and therefore going out at night mainly.. uf.. what an awful eford! heheheh Lorna left Madrid last satruday and we enjoyed a great time together, especially in Sanfermines..where she didn't have to avoid bulls but many drunk spanish boys calling her "rubia" constantly ("blond girl")!!! also very hard to handle. I promise pictures of us in white and red soon. Lorcan, I don't know why but we thought about you quite often there! ;) Next week I am going to portugal, just before receiving my dearest Cypriot and meeting Kathrine in the little Island a bit later. I don't want to make you all jelous, I just want to share with you the great feeling of meeting some of you during the summer and the wish and hope of seing you all soon. Take a lot of care and have fun, that is very important as well. I will inform you about my future soon, cos as some of you already know I will maybe move to Milan for a quite good job offer. I hope you are all getting what you wanted or at least having a crazy summer!
ciao my favourite international people!
Carlota

Did Paruwa do it???

Cocaine traces at EU parliament

BBC announced today that traces of cocain have been found at the European Parliament in an inquiry by one of Germany's main broadcasters.

The Sat-1 channel sent reporters to take 46 swabs from toilets and other public areas of the Brussels buildings. Nearly all tested positive for cocaine.

A European Parliament spokeswoman said cocaine abuse was not a problem among staff working at the buildings (YEAH RIGHT...).

A professor who analysed the samples said the amounts found were too great to have been carried in on clothing.

"It simply reflects the fact that cocaine was brought in there," Professor Fritz Sorgel of the Institute for Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Research in Nuremberg (IBMP) told the BBC News website.

"The amount was too high and found in too many spots. It shows it was brought in deliberately."
Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/europe/4685693.stm

Now the question is... who, from our group was at the EP during this period?

MidSummer Maastrichters

Hi there. A few of us are carrying on the tradition. Here's EPA2005 "honorary" member, Justin, with Suze, Natasha and Nestan after a great Natasha and Sebastian-style dinner and just before I won some funny game where I became a medieval developer, building lots of walled cities. I think Natasha let us all do better since she knew the rules, but still, Justin took the game very seriously.

Hope all are well. Much love. Suze

Not so unemployed!

Hello everyone,
Maastricht feels so strange without the lot of you. But I have to agree with the Cypriot, I enjoyed seeing most of you again (hello to Bulgaria and Poland) although I hardly got the chance to talk to anybody.

Well, well. Matters might change on my conquest of Europe. I will soon invade the seventh country I will ever have lived in, and it better be my lucky number. The Commission has decided to send me a contract for a PAID internship (what an improvement, from unpaid to paid!) which means that I’ll be in Brussels in autumn and winter! I really hope it is the unit for communication of DG Development as I had wished for, but I’ll only know in a couple of days. What a relief! Saturday I lingered in my room very depressed, sitting on my bed with my face pressed against the pillow thinking: And now what? I’m UNEMPLOYED! But somehow things always work out fine.

So people of Brussels, will you give me a hand in finding a little cosy room not too far away from your own place? Some advice would be nice because I really don’t want to end up in a rat hole :-(

I better get back to work, but I wish you all the best in the future. And let’s make more use of the blogger, otherwise our email accounts get flooded!

Big hug to all of you,
Natascha