Immersion Week 1: Last days in Leuven

 

For their final days in Belgium, the AU students took a free day off in Leuven on Friday before heading into a virtual pre-simulation orientation to prepare for the OSCE Ukraine Crisis Simulation that would be taking place throughout the next day. 

Saturday, March 12 was spent on campus at KU Leuven, dressed in the finest business formal attire, participating in an OSCE simulation with the Masters of European Studies students at KU Leuven. The chosen topic was Ukraine, a decision made by coincidence long before the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine began on February 24th. The AU students were spread out among the different country delegations--UK, Ukraine, North Macedonia, Poland, EU, France, and even Russia--and worked with their KU Leuven counterparts to agree on an officially adopted joint declaration on the crisis. The events of the day lasted around 8 hours, but the experience was well worth the time spent. 

March 13th, the final morning of the immersion experience. saw the AU students packing up their belongings and heading off to the airport in Brussels for their noontime flight back to Washington, DC. It was an 8.5-hour flight, a bit longer than last time, but the students all managed to pass the time without too much trouble. 

And just like that, at around 4pm EST on 13 March 2022, Immersion Week 1 of SIS-696: Reimagining the Transatlantic Order came to an end.