cafebabel.com

Young Europeans remember 9/11

Fri, 10 Sep 2010 13:38:28 -0000

It’s eight years since the attacks which killed 2, 752 people, destroyed the World Trade Centres and damaged the Pentagon on 11 September 2001. The cafebabel.com editorial team share their memories from across the waters on the event which shaped America and the world today

Europe's youth stack up the degrees to shun the dole

('Paulina Dominik',) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 10:02:27 -0000

With one out of five under-25s job-hunting in Europe, many opt to continue studying as long as it takes to avoid signing up on the dole. Diverse realities of a generation in the middle of the crisis

NHS, EHIC, mutuel: young expats get to grips with healthcare abroad

('Hayley Worsley-Carter',) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:00:00 -0000

Three expats discuss their healthcare adventures, with or without travel insurance, in Spain, England and the Czech Republic. It makes for useful reading in the times of a swine flu pandemic

Lisbon treaty: Irish expats lose their vote abroad

('Angela Steen',) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 13:14:05 -0000

The only Irish citizens who are able to vote abroad are diplomats or army personnel. For others, it’s a question of finding the time, money or strength to take a Ryanair flight back home for the second referendum on 2 October, which almost all 27 EU members have ratified

Move to London: my experience

('Helen Swain',) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 16:57:54 -0000

As I had a few months free before going back to my studies, I felt it was time for a leap into the unknown, with a suitcase, some money and a one-way ticket to London. The plan was to work, have fun and refresh my English; pretty scary stuff. One month was my limit for becoming economically independent. A brief guide about surviving for a summer in London

Study in Sweden: an American on Swedish and alcohol for the cold

('Mark Arellano',) — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 16:33:09 -0000

Living in what some of my fellow Americans view as a ‘socialist country’ of moral looseness and liberal idiocy, I can’t begin to stress where they are dead wrong. Sure, everything from the average American viewpoint is going to seem loose and liberal, but it’s not entirely the case. Testimony and tips

In London? Hang out at Pure Groove or Cafe 1001

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 17:00:00 -0000

The one thing that has always characterised the idea of the Big Smoke aside from its climate is its lively music scene. Since the sixties, London has dictated the guidelines of European and sometimes global musical trends, acting as a forge and launch pad for small or slightly more established rock bands. I discover the Chew Lips in between Farringdon and Brick Lane

Istanbul's Yeditepe, Halic universities: erasmus stick together on campus

('Annie Rutherford',) — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 12:00:00 -0000

Students on an erasmus university exchange in Istanbul can either get involved in the city's pulsing and extremely political life or abandon themselves to binge drinking with other erasmus students on the isolated campus. Part two of an erasmus experience retold

Young, Roma and European: 'my children's lives will be better than mine'

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 11:06:53 -0000

While the problems of Europe’s biggest minority seem endless, the EU aims to offer some hope despite ‘much talk and little action.’ Testimonies from Roma Europeans, European Roma

'The notion of EU citizenship is just hyprocritical marketing'

('Aatish Pattni',) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 11:00:00 -0000

For all those people who have settled in other countries in the EU the notion of ‘citizenship’ mixes with that of identity; a European one. All of them will be heading off to vote for their Euro MPs in whichever member state where they have taken up residence between 4 and 7 June

'Eurogeneration' go to the polls

('Andrew Christie',) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 19:00:00 -0000

'Europe is a massive thing'. Yet its counterpart, the European Union, is often dull. During the European elections between 4 and 7 June 2009, a crucial vote for European democracy, we ask whether young people on European voluntary service (EVS) and Erasmus programmes in Germany feel it affects them

Baby soldiers and peacekeeping in Kosovo: why choose the army?

('Alexandra Baxter',) — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 12:31:53 -0000

Tomi, a lively and remarkably blond 24-year-old Finn, speaks candidly about the six months he spent in Kosovo as a volunteer in the NATO-UN peacekeeping campaign. Along with 105 other young compatriots, among them four girls, he was deployed to the Balkans to serve for the UN

Erasmus testimony: a Greek student in Budapest

('Omiros Tsapalos',) — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 14:58:50 -0000

In the final installment of a five-part series, a politics and public administration student from Athens, 21, confirms and rejects historical and linguistic stereotypes in the Hungarian capital. The student exchange programme has run for twenty-one years

Erasmus testimony: impressions of a Bulgarian in Bonn

('Bistra Dimitrova',) — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 14:22:50 -0000

In the fourth installment of a five-part series, a 22-year-old psychology student from Sofia University emphasises the temporary nature of the learning exchange experience. The programme has run for twenty-one years

Erasmus testimony: tips from a Maltese in Rome

('James Pace',) — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 15:48:14 -0000

I can’t believe it’s only been a month since I packed 20kg of my most prized possessions and took them out of hot, humid Malta to set up camp in Italy's eternal city

Testimony: being young, Hungarian and a football-loving minority in Slovakia

('Judit Schv\xc3\xa9ger',) — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 16:33:23 -0000

After contacting a dozen youngsters via email and phone to talk about the currently tense nationalist relations, only one was ready to tell me about his personal experiences

Overworked, underpaid in a French call centre

('Martyn Hawkins',) — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 12:00:00 -0000

Too many young Europeans are forced to work in bad conditions to finance their studies in France. Why a young Italian quit

Paris-Japan-Dublin with Erasmus

('Angela Steen',) — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 12:00:00 -0000

One voice amidst the 100, 000+ other Socrates students who traverse Europe and its borders

Turkey-Germany: springboard into jobs abroad

('Sarah Turpin',) — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 12:00:00 -0000

More and more young jobseekers are attracted to careers abroad due of either a lack of jobs in their own country or a desire to widen their personal horizons

Turkey through German eyes

('Katja Heise',) — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 12:00:00 -0000

The first world forum for the Alliance of Civilizations, launched also by the moderate islamist Turkish PN Erdogan, promotes mutual understanding between different cultures

Hospitals in Europe: pain in the wallet

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 12:00:00 -0000

A guide to social security the French way (to help avoid a head-ache or heart attack when you check your bank balance)