#13 Walk down memory lane

On this day 5 years ago were the last EU elections. I remember that clearly because this was the day that we were elected as the National Board of Erasmus Student Network The Netherlands where I was President. It was a day full of excitement and uncertainty as every electable position is (and should be). I grabbed a bike and voted at the section set up by the Bulgarian embassy in Groningen. I was thinking then and still believe now: how cool democracy is - to be able to choose who to represent you. And this experience was very embodied as I was running to be elected myself.

What I didn't know back then was how much the EU and politics would be an influence in my life 5 years later. Since then I have been an advocate for international students and the Erasmus programme, a Bluebook trainee, youth representative for the UN and I was candidate in National and Local elections.

As I am reaching the end of the Master's in Strategic Leadership towards Sustainability (MSLS) we're finalising our finalising report which is also related to the EU. Tomorrow will be our thesis defence on the EU's Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). In the last 4 months, I've learned a lot about doing qualitative research, about the EU legislative process, about the sustainability legislation ecosystem created as part of the European Green Deal and I'm wondering what will follow after the upcoming elections in 2 weeks (6-9th of June 2024). And I hope all of you who read this will #useyourvote!

But as I am almost closing my MSLS chapter - I'm reflecting - on how did I end up here? This month I delivered a 6-day training on the topic of peace for volunteers of Erasmus Student Network in cooperation with the Council of Europe . An achievement that I would not have imagined 5 years ago when I did my first Training for Trainers, ESN Starter in February 2019.

As part of that Starter training, we had to design and deliver a workshop for our peers. As ESN is an international organisation with volunteers coming from all over the world I didn’t have to think twice about which topic I wanted to deliver – intercultural communication. I also didn’t have to think much about which model I want to base my workshop on – I chose the Iceberg model.

In short, the model postulates that things that we use to differentiate from each other’s cultures like - food, music, customs, and festivities have much deeper roots that reveal our attitudes, values, assumptions etc. Misunderstanding or conflict often arises on the upper level, whilst on the deeper where it can be resolved. ?and it is more suitable to seek the similarities or differences on this underlying level.

Today I understand the Iceberg model in a much deeper way thanks to courses such as MSLS, but also two accompanying courses that I did next to it - u-lab by the Presencing Institute and Capra Course by Fritjof Capra. With u-lab we have a long history because I first heard about it by the community of practitioners in the European Commission when I was a trainee. Since then I started but didn't finish the course 2-3 times. I understand that now was the perfect time to do it because it really amplified its message together with MSLS and the Capra course.

What I know now thanks to the Iceberg model is that our whole society is a living system - and just like a tree - it has a visible part and an invisible part (roots). When we look at the roots we can address the underlying issues and we can achieve long-lasting societal change.

Both courses have given me a lot of knowledge and practical ideas on how to do so. In the upcoming months, I will share more about my learnings on my substack blog which you can follow here. The thing about societal change is - that it's not something we can do alone. When we work together, as Prigogine says - small islands of coherence can lift the entire system out of chaos. That's also I am organising the Women's Gathering in Italy in the end of June.

We are gathering with a group of women coming from all over the world under the question: What kind of women's leadership can create thriving and sustainable futures for all? The intention is to uncover, question and transform deeper layers of ourselves, the communities we come from and the world we live in. If this sounds like something that interests you and you wish to attend or collaborate, please reach out and message me.

Until then I remain here, continuing my last weeks of the Swedish adventure - a lot of exciting things are coming up in June! Can't wait!

With love,

K.