“Why does the EU need agriculture subsidies?” “Is the rise of the Chinese economy a threat to security?” “What are good projects fighting the plastic island in the Pacific?”

In the first days of November the German “Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung” (bpb), roughly translated to Federal Centre for political education, invited for a youth congress on important topics like climate change, the European Union and the emerging markets. In different workshops we tried to answer the difficult questions from above. There was interesting and helpful input from peers and experts, like for instance a high-ranked Chinese diplomat. Naturally there was also enough room to share opinions in fruitful discussions. The location was close to the German capital Berlin at the lake “Werbellinsee”. Of course we took the chance for a morning run and swim to fuel our bodies for the workshops. Not only did we attend the seminars on the various issues like EU agrar policy and photo journalism, but we also met inspiring people like the photo journalist telling about his coverage of the Syrian civil war.

In general there is very interesting and non-expensive events out there. You just need to find them and take the effort to apply. Here is the link: http://www.bpb.de/veranstaltungen/format/kongress-tagung/160670/zukunft-denken-zukunft-gestalten