Barroso, rain and the 2013 EU Study Abroad Program

After several years of very good luck with the weather, the odds finally caught up with the annual EU Study Abroad Program.  Eleven Michigan students and twelve from the University of Windsor, where the program is based, spent two very hectic weeks visiting all the main institutions of the EU, several country missions, the ICC, NATO and many NGOs in this fifth year of the program.  Rain and unusually cool weather blanketed Belgium and much of western Europe during their stay, but the meetings were excellent. Highlights included attendance at a Business Europe conference where Jose Manuel Barroso gave the keynote address, and a talk at the College of Europe by Michele Chang, a former Michigan resident resident and current co-chair of the European Union Studies Association’s Political Economy Section.