Unfortunately, this wonderful conference had to come to an up. After a hectic day in Jakarta and some last workshops. the last day was made of all of our presentations. All the participants in the Global Terrorism Program were divided into 8 groups and we were assigned to present, in front of the whole assembly, what were the conclusions we could draw from the conference.

My group, composed of Chinese, Americans, Indonesians and I (French-Italian-Swedish) focused on explaining why different forms of terrorism required different solutions. After spending so many hours discussing issues like right-wind radicalism, Islamist extremism, lone-wolf terrorism, terrorism in Scandinavia and the consequences of death penalty, it seemed like an obvious end to our learning: speaking of one solution that would eradicate terrorism sounds inadequate and inappropriate.

But this conference, that gathered so many nationalities and different opinions, proved one point: citizens, at the grass roots level, have an enormous responsibility in their shoulders in the fight against terrorism: striving to oppose all the prejudices and false preconceptions that still are wrongly associated to some ethnic groups or religions. As Daniel Cohn-Bendit, a French-German MP of the European Parliament would put it: “Multi-culturalism, tolerance and acceptance for every individual, regardless of religion, ethnicity and sexual orientation are the real barriers against terrorism”.

The second conclusion that I would stress on at the end of this conference is all the love, friendship and care that I´ve received in so few days. In approximately seven days, I´ve met so many wonderful human beings and new friends. They have taken care of me like almost no one has ever done it before. And I wonder now how to give back what was freely given to me.

I want to especially thank Sindy, Azizah, Tiara and Haqqi, students at Parahyangan University in Bandung that took me out every single day, made me discover every of their preferred corners of Bandung, made me try delicious dishes and immersed me into the Indonesian culture, teaching me traditions, words, ways of living. Your attention to me is a priceless gift that I´ll always remember. Our discussions, our laughs, our differences have made me a richer human being.

I want to thank all the members of the Organizing Committee of the UNPAR International Student Conference 2013 for the awesome work they´ve put in into fixing every single detail of the event. All students, they woke up far before us and went to bed far after us just to make sure that we´ll enjoy our time. You all rock 🙂

I also want to particularly thank Anas, Merve, Mickael, Martin, Tejas, all my new International friends from every corner of this planet for being here for me. You all made me a better man!

In one word: Just go to UNPAR International Student Conference 2014! 🙂

Trying to sooth both body and mind, mine and Sofia’s last two days in Hiroshima were spent walking through Saijo. With our new friend Nadja from another seminar group, we found that Saijo is amazingly picturesque with its traditional houses and calm atmosphere. To my great joy, the last evening included shabu shabu, my absolute favorite dish in Japan. It’s a type of fondue – you cook meat, vegetables, dumblings, noodles (really whatever you want, this particular restaurant had many options) in a delicious broth.

Also, Saijo is known for its quality Sake, and offers everybody free samples at all of their traditional breweries. We obviously took advantage of this, and found ourselves buying home a nice and unexpectedly affordable bottle each. The man in charge of the boutique insisted on showing us English information videos, so at this point we can also account for the production of traditional Sake!

Tasting some sake

We also got a final piece of Japanese crazyness, when we explored the top floor of the otherwise quiet youme house. We were met by some sort of an arcade, with a mix of a never ending noise from the machines and a parade song about the Rilakkuma bear; pink machines filled with candy; and running children. Thanks to the kind people at the hotel, we could calm our nerves at their spa after we had checked out. So our last hours in Hiroshima were spent in the bath and the massage chair (very violent against our calves! We figured they’re just too big, much as the rest of us have been here in Japan).

Rilakkuma wearing a watermelon. A picture really does say more than a thousand words!

The dreaded trip home (Hotel –> Saijo station –> Hiroshima –> Tokyo station + long wait –> Narita airport + long wait –> Helsinki airport –> Copenhagen airport –> Malmö) went surprisingly smooth. As Tokyo station closed when we arrived, and we were pretty much thrown out of it, we got to experience night-time central Tokyo (incredibly calm) in an overprized tapas place and some sort of night café that people went to just to make time pass until the first train starts to run again. Needless to say, we had absolutely no problem sleeping on our flights!

Home again, I can only say that this has been one of the best experiences I’ve had. Both Tokyo and Hiroshima have been absolutely incredible. As regards the INU Summer School, I have no doubts in recommending anybody to apply! It’s quite amazing actually, to have the opportunity to get a scholarship to go to Japan and to meet such great people. It is incredibly intense – not a whole lot of rest! And not a whole lot of spare time, which is the reason I’m writing my last post from home! But the intensity is good, since so many great experiences are crammed in to one week. When we were on the plane going home, I asked Sofia: “for how long have we been gone?” and she answered:

“I don’t know, three months?”

And that’s not because it was boring or too much, we were just able to experience so much. Thank you INU, Malmö University and Hiroshima University. And thank you Japan!

Last night in Tokyo. Tired, a bit lost – and happy.

Following the sightseeing of the past few days, our schedule focused more on the academic part for the rest of our stay. We continued to discuss our papers in our little group, discovering a vast range of topics. We discussed everything from the concept of humanitarian intervention to the subculture of boy love in Japan (young girls who fantasize about male homosexual love). These discussions were paired with lectures from Magnus Ericson and Catherine Kevin. Catherine’s account of comfort women in Japan was new for most of us, sparking a discussion on the aspects of war that aren’t strictly geopolitical.

Alongside the lectures and paper presentations, there were constant preparations taking place for the UN role-play, which would take place on the last day of the course. Assigned with two influential actors, the USA and Saudi Arabia, the master students were in constant negotiation with both each other and the rest of the seminar participants. Dragging our tired selves home one night, we went in to a Sushi place next to Saijo station. Even though the chef smiled approximately two times during our entire visit, he sure made some excellent sushi! Coupled with Japan’s delicious plum wine (served in tiny, tiny wine glasses), we could not have been happier.

Brazil, China, India, Japan, The Netherlands, Nigeria, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Saudi Arabia, The United Kingdom, and USA waiting to start negotiations.

The UN role-play took place on what (I heard) was the hottest day in Japan for the past 100 years! No wonder we were short of breath after a quick stop at the campus’ kiosk. After all countries presented their interests, we started debating and voting for amendments to the draft on Sustainable Development Goals. It was interesting to see just how important lobbying is in this type of situation; the final arguments for the amendments didn’t seem to matter as much as the deals made behind closed doors.

After the handout of diplomas and an excellent good-bye party (Hiroshima Uni staff deserve praise!), we headed off to celebrate our ‘graduation’. The mood was bittersweet, as we knew we had to say good-bye pretty soon. Nevertheless, we managed to scream our way through a long session of karaoke, murdering Clapton’s Leila and Bonnie Tyler’s Total Eclipse of the Heart.