Our last day of work before concluding the programme started at 11 a change for which we could not have been happier. The workload of these two weeks had been intense, but we were ready.
Our morning lecture was on friction and nationalism. It demonstrated the main strengths of this programme very well, not shying away from heavier topics such as class, oppression and the more unsavoury parts of our shared European history. It explored how nationalism has been used as a manipulative tool to influence ‘the masses’ and how, in contemporary politics it can be used similarly. However, it did not paint nationalism as an objectively negative thing. The lecture highlighted that it is a core part of how European identity and how it can also act as a galvanizing force, rather than a divisive one. Discussions like this are very important, as nationalism is talked about only in extremes today. It is either demonized or valorised and neither approach is really correct. I myself have fallen into this mistake, and talks like this are what can move the process of polite debate forward
In the afternoon we had the last of our awesome language classes. We talked of political ideas, revolutions, flags and factions. Historical and modern movements were discussed commenting on their relevance. We listened to a surprisingly catchy song from the 1989 Revolution, about “golans”, a reclaimed slur signifying revolutionaries. One of us has noted that it was “surprisingly beat”. We wrapped up the session with an introduction to some famous Romanian figures and waved ‘bye’ to each other as a language group. We have our fantastic teacher, Ramona Gonczol, to thank for the very interesting experience that was this language course.
Finally, we set to finishing the rest of our duties. Everyone occupied themselves with their own responsibilities. Some edited our documentary, others wrote blog posts and some were polishing our already existing content. We spent a good 2 hours on this, and left with still some work to do in the evening.
As night rolled in, one-by-one our last projects were finished and we laid ourselves to rest for tomorrow’s finale…
European London 