Trondheim

Winner EAIE creative writing contest

sponsored by the International Herald Tribune

Louise Stansfield, Study Coordinator, International Degree Programmes at the EVTEK School of Business Administration, Vantaa, Finland is the winner of the second EAIE creative writing contest. With her entry she has won a free one-year subscription to the International Herald Tribune.

The winner was selected by Michael Cooper, editor of EAIE Forum magazine. He chose Louise's entry because it "has married form and content in an ideal manner and in a few short verses captures the whole range of activities that make up an EAIE conference and flavoured it with the essence of Norway’s ancient capital”.

The EAIE heartily congratulates Louise Stansfield and, at the same time, would like to praise all the contributors. Two runners-up have been selected, who will also receive a small EAIE prize. Michael Cooper explained his choices by saying that the first runner-up is "a delightful play on language as a metaphor of the conference" and the second "an impressionist depiction with a few key expressions". Please find the winning entry and the runners-up below.

Winner

Louise Stansfield, Study Coordinator, International Degree Programmes at the EVTEK School of Business Administration, Vantaa, Finland
(read entry here)

Runners-up

• Martine de Vos, Senior Policy Advisor International Affairs, Hogeschool Utrecht, University of Applied Sciences, Utrecht, The Netherlands (read entry here)
• Anna Gambogi, International Officer, Università degli Studi di Roma ‘Tor Vergata’, Roma, Italy (read entry here)

Winning entry

Trondcast
In St Olav’s town	Fiona’s quorum
We all went down	Run with decorum
To Nidelven’s	Approved a thing
Fine view	Or two

We saw the sea	In Ole’s section
Although briefly	We dined to perfection
Braved the rain	And sang our songs
And knew	On cue

That we wouldn’t stop	At ease in Spektrum
After the workshop	Checked exhibition
But go on to a session	Amazing how
Or two	Time flew

Speakers and chairs	For the dinner we were
Made us aware	merry in Britannia
Of a few things	Care for a dance
So new	Would you?

Open meetings	Rosling’s trends and stats
Brought greetings	Gave us fun maths
And yearly reports	And serious thinking
So due	To do

Nidaros splendour	And we all said bravo
Norwegian flavour	To the new logo
Kortreist we ate with	As nearer the closing
no queue!	We drew

Both choirs enthralled	Antwerp now beckons
Hofstede recalled	And everyone reckons
Our intercultural	It’ll be a big one
Debut	To go to

We networked well	So we ended with class
With partners swell	Raising our glass
And even met	And to fine Trondheim
Some new	Thank you!

Louise Stansfield, Study Coordinator, International Degree Programmes
EVTEK School of Business Administration, Vantaa, Finland

Runner-up

Nörwegian ïsnötte their language or is it?

Airplanes dot wëtteskÿes. Countless föreigners descënd uponneTrondheim. Many nätyves are rumoüred töhävefled town for the 2500 invaders.

These föreigners, thoügh, are frieÿndly—armed with badges, paÿper, green bäckkepackkës. They accommodaÿtte tötheÿr new surroündings quickly, meeting fellöwwe föreigners, inspecting the town. But Nörwegian ïsnötte their language—it seems föreign töthem.

They hävegäthered tölearn. Exchange ideas. Meet others. They allspeakkü English though nötte nätyve language for most. Those gathered learn much. Through lectures. Workshops. Pöster sessions. Infürmation booths. “We want töbe your partner!” says a Chinese man to pässersby. People making connections, smiling. Eating lünchke together. Wining and dining. Imbibing the beautiful scenery of Trondheim.

The nätyves are very frieÿndly. They assist usïn our various searches. They serve us fiskesuppe. They take usön their buses. Smïlïng. They allspeakkü English in addition to Nörwegian. But in tÿme we find that Nörwegian ïsnötte as föreign as it appears. As we study the words around us, we note the similarities with Engliskke, Germän, Dütch. The connections tïghterthänwëthought.

That’s the story of the Trondheim conference: an open, frieÿndly atmosphere. People ready tölearn from eachöther, töbecome partners—allwörking toward the same goal. We allspeakkü the same language somehow. The language of internationalization. Of cooperation.

Martine de Vos, Senior Policy Advisor International Affairs
Hogeschool Utrecht, University of Applied Sciences, Utrecht, The Netherlands

Runner-up

Outside: rain. Clouds. Wind. A ray of sun, so powerful and strange. Then rain again.
Inside: so many streams ... ,
One can hardly realise how many contacts has established.
Feeling the warmness of the Mediterranean.
Then a jump into the Australian Ocean.
One can even succeed in smelling the Asian spices.
The smiling Mexican lady invites you to visit her place.
Talking and talking and talking.
On the plane, coming back home, I spend my time matching cards with faces.
I won’t forget.

Anna Gambogi, International Officer
Università degli Studi di Roma ‘Tor Vergata’, Roma, Italy