Us Europeans

Holiday time

July 10, 2008

When I saw that my way from the south tip of Denmark up to Copenhagen would lead through `Fakse`, I was excited about the idea of spending the night in a village with such a cool name. Reality seems to be a bit less sparkling. There is not much to see in Fakse, neither are there many people to talk to. They all seem to have found there luck elsewhere at this time of year. Which leads me to today`s question: how do Danish people typically spend their holidays?

Posted by Bruno

Countries of Europe, European Union Member States, Political Blogs

Easy living

July 8, 2008

For those of you who manage to keep up reading along with my trip, welcome to country number 27: Denmark! I got here in the early afternoon, on the ferry from Rostock to Gedser. Denmark is the birth place of the Vikings, Lego, Queen Margarethe II, Bjarne Riis, the Laudrup brothers and a wealth of fairytales. In polls, Denmark consistently comes up as one of the happiest nation in the world. I wonder if two weeks will be enough to unravel the Danish secret recipe for happiness.

Posted by Bruno

Countries of Europe, European Union Member States, Political Blogs

Contemplating the past

July 6, 2008

Each country has a different way of dealing with its history. The Portuguese are nostalgic about it, the Hungarians proud, while the Poles are trying to eradicate the negative consequences that their history still casts on them. Almost every country glorifies its past by honouring those who helped create, protect or even enlarge the nation. The situation in Germany is a bit more complicated than that. How does the current generation of young people deal with the legacy of Germany`s troubled past?

Posted by Bruno

Countries of Europe, European Union Member States, krocha, Political Blogs

Historical mistakes

Each country has a different way of dealing with its history. The Portuguese are nostalgic about it, the Hungarians proud, while the Poles are trying to eradicate the negative consequences that their history still casts on them. Almost every country glorifies its past by honouring those who helped create, protect or even enlarge the nation. The situation in Germany is a bit more complicated than that. How does the current generation of young people deal with the legacy of Germany`s troubled past?

Posted by Bruno

Countries of Europe, European Union Member States, krocha, Political Blogs, Us Europeans

After `Us Europeans`

A little more than one month before the Us Europeans project will come to an end. I hope that those who hooked on have enjoyed traveling along over my shoulder and will equally appreciate the remaining 31 articles. While this particular mission is coming to an end, I am also working on what the next project will be. I therefore use this article as a `call for projects`. If anybody has interesting ideas about how to promote cross-cultural understanding and European integration, I will be more than happy to make contributions to those.

Posted by Bruno

Countries of Europe, European Union Member States, krocha, Political Blogs, Us Europeans

Solidarity and Revolution

Every country in the former Eastern Block somehow participated in the overthrow of communism. Poland`s most influential anti-communism movement was formed in the early 1980s. Under the name of Solidarnosc, a group of shipyard workers founded the first non-communist labour union in the communist world. Initial strikes proved counterproductive on the short term. On the long term, Solidarnosc successfully undermined the communist system to finally overthrow it by the end of 1989.

Posted by Bruno

Countries of Europe, European Union Member States, krocha, Political Blogs, Us Europeans

Dresden news review

July 5, 2008

After discussing some national newspapers in previous countries along my way, I thought of today as a suitable occasion to pick a regional newspaper instead. Germany has many of those. My stay in Dresden made me opt for the local Sächsische Zeitung, which has quite some controversial topics on offer today, most of which seem to focus on procedures, procedures and even more procedures.

Posted by Bruno

Countries of Europe, European Union Member States, krocha, Political Blogs

Growing up in the DDR

July 3, 2008

Children who grew up in Germany before 1989 had very different childhood bases on whether they were born in West Germany or in East Germany. The general perception of West-Germans is that children in East Germany must have suffered a lot under the poverty. DDR kids had fewer toys and fewer opportunities to go on holiday, but whether they were really unhappier because of that remains hard to say. Eik (29) enjoyed his childhood years and would not have wanted them to be different from what they were. Here`s his story:

Posted by Bruno

Countries of Europe, European Union Member States, krocha, Political Blogs

Nine neighbours

July 2, 2008

No country within the EU shares as many borders with other countries as Germany does. The list of neighbouring countries has no fewer than nine members: Denmark in the North, Poland and Czech Republic in the East, Austria and Switzerland in the South and France, Luxembourg, Belgium and The Netherlands on the Western side. In each of these nine countries, inhabitants have distinct ideas about the Germans. But what do the Germans themselves think about their `Nachbarn`?

Posted by Bruno

Countries of Europe, European Union Member States, krocha, Political Blogs

Us Europeans

Us Europeans - Discovering the European Union in portraits


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