Happy Birthday EU

The EU celebrates his 50. Birthday and everybody discusses that today. The Germans tend to be a little bit negative but I guess it’s more realistic. And of course there are lots of unsolved problems in the EU. The European Parliament is a huge constructor with too much bureaucracy and for the citizen it seems mostly unfamiliar. But just look at the positive site, we haven’t had any war in the last 50 years in Europe; we can travel, study and work wherever we want in the EU. And the EURO is a big advantage as well, we don’t have to change money within the EU, we are more competitive within the EU and with other countries.

And I think it is even more important that we continue the eastern enlargement. Of course the EU has to be careful that they won’t get bankrupt because they are mostly poor countries in the eastern part. But if we won’t let them in we will have a big problem in Europe, because the western EU will be richer and the Eastern part poorer, this could lead the next war.
Right know the European Union consists of 27 countries (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom)

http://www.europa.eu/index_en.htm

Happy Birthday EU! I’m very proud what you did the past 50 years, so keep it up, there are many things left to do.

Ramblings about some current news

While the EU discusses to forbid alcohol for under aged people, which means youth under 18, you can see the problems for this law in the US.
In the US they make the experiences with alcohol later but more excessive.
I discovered that during my internship in the US. All the people under 21 got so crazy about alcohol and just couldn’t handle it. But they were all grown-ups and not 16 anymore. We in Germany are like that when we are 15 or 16.
I mean everybody probably love to make party and of course alcohol is has to be present then. But in my case I can handle it and know when I have enough. In the US I had the experiences that nobody knows when it’s enough. They just got senselessly wasted.
I also talked with lots of people about that problem and some said that Americans are so multicultural and some cultures, like the Asian and Afro-Americans, just can’t tolerate alcohol. I can understand that, but Europe is different and I think it won’t be better if the law to forbid alcohol is too strict. Right now in Germany it is allowed to drink wine and beer with 16 and stronger stuffs with 18. I am also fine with the new law to forbid alcohol under 18 but I think the age of 21is too old. Hey you are supposed to be an adult and an adult can mostly handle alcohol, exceptions are always there.

Let’s see what the EU decides…

http://www.tagesschau.de/aktuell/meldungen/0,,OID6512276_REF1,00.html

And the Oscar goes to...

...Germany!!! Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of the others)


"In East Berlin in 1984, the secret police organization, Stasi, conducts extensive surveillance operations against any East German citizen suspected of opposing the Communist regime. When Captain Gerd Weisler begins monitoringthe daily life of the playwright Georg Dreyman, he finds himself increasingly unwilling to betray his subject's private moments to his superiors."


It is such a great and emotional movie. The movie was very interesting for me because I am from East Germany. Actually I was little when the border falls and I haven't gained real experiences about the political system and the Stasi, but my parents told me some stories and I kind of can imagine how it was to live in the GDR and with a Communist regime. And this movie also helped me to understand that better.


So everybody out there who is interested in that time, just see the movie and you will discover a Stasi life from the view of a Stasi man.