Our terrific trip to the European Parliament in Strasbourg!

Some of us in the Parliament building

From the 11^th to the 13^th of September 2012, we went up to Strasbourg to visit the European Parliament. We are ten pupils from Lycée Sainte-Marie in Riom (Puy-de-Dôme, France), the same ten who took part in the National Session of the PEJ, i.e. the Parlement Européen des Jeunes (European Youth Parliament), in Sèvres (near Paris) in April 2012.

Romain (on the left)

After one sleepless night in a Paris Youth Hostel, we were welcomed by Romain Fabre, from the PEJ, at the Gare de l'Est. He had organized the trip and came with us to the Parliament.

The European Parliament entrance

The atrium...

The architecture of the Parliament building is incredible. It looks like a castle of glass. The flags of the EU member countries all flutter majestically in front of the entrance. We were met by Edyta Michelin who guided us to the conference hall and accompanied us during our visit.

Sylvie Guillaume, MEP (on the left!)

The first MEP we listened to was Sylvie Guillaume, a member of the civil liberties committee, about Shengen. She explained that the enlargement of the Shengen space is a problem, mainly because of the Netherlands' reluctance to let Romania and Bulgaria be part of it.

Some of the pupils and students and also Laurence,
the teacher accompanying the group from Marseilles,

listening to an MEP talking about something actually quite complicated...

The second talk of the morning was given by Gaetan Claeys, an MEP's assistant, who told us what Europe is doing about food safety. We asked about the risks of GMOs and cloned meat.

We then went into the giant Parliament "dome" to watch a plenary assembly. Mr Barroso, the President of the European Commission, was giving his yearly "State of the Union" address. We then watched the voting (mostly show-of-hands); we were very impressed by the high speed of it all. There was a great number of MEPs (we spotted the more famous French ones).

It's a jungle here!

Then we had lunch at the cantine (which is more like a luxury restaurant!). It was delicious and plentiful (unlike the horrible picnic at the Youth Hostel!).

The last conference, about human rights, was given by Mrs Vergiat, a French MEP. 33% of MEPs are women. She explained what the EU is trying to do as regards Syria.

A corner of the Parliament building (offices, meeting rooms, etc.)

Then, just before leaving the Parliament, we took lots of fun pictures (mostly of ourselves and our new friends from the Lycée Victor Hugo in Marseilles who were also there for the day) and did a final quick tour. We then visited the historic centre of Strasbourg, which is very nice indeed, especially the huge cathedral. We drank hot chocolate at one of the cafés, which was nice (especially as it was a bit chilly).

Four pupils from the Marseilles delegation (in front of the cathedral)

In the evening we were back in Paris after a lively two hour train journey. We all went to a friendly pizzeria and then for a digestive stroll in the posh quartiers around the Louvres.

We had to get up very early to catch the train back to Riom but, though very tired, we managed not to fall asleep during the 11 o'clock Maths class!

We were all delighted by our trip from which we learnt a lot. Thank you to everyone for making it happen: Romain at the PEJ, Edyta at the Parliament, our teacher Mr Nettleship who accompanied us, our parents of course, and to Mr Cleyet-Merle and Mr Belin at Sainte-Marie.