This is very exciting. My boss’ boss contacted me saying a representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs called to ask for my contact details. Apparently, the State Secretary wanted to meet me. I had to read that e-mail twice to make sure I understood correctly and curiously called the number they had left.
Next Saturday, the 9th of May, it’s ‘Europe day’ again. On this day European countries celebrate the peace and unity in Europe since 1985 and this year, in The Netherlands, our Minister of European Affairs Frans Timmermans will travel through the country for 27 non-stop hours! The tour will start on Thursday evening, 11.00 pm, in Amsterdam, during the TV show of Pauw & Witteman.
After that the minister will get in the bus – which will be his home for the next 27 long hours – and travel to Utrecht, Rotterdam, Middelburg, Hazeldonk, Venlo, Nijmegen, Deventer, Zeewolde, Warns, Assen and Groningen. On all of these 12 places, he will stop to talk about Europe and The Netherlands from different perspectives, with famous (and not so famous) Dutch people. Themes that will be discussed are: economy, culture, science, traffic, climate, identity and sport and they will be presented through speeches, debates and performances.
Middelburg will be the place to talk about science and astronomy. And that’s where I come in. I’m invited to join minister Timmermans for a tour of the historical science centre ‘Philippus Lansbergen’ by Rijk Jan Koppejan. After that, Vincent Icke (scientist, artist and writer – known from ‘De Wereld Draait Door’), will give a lecture about important Dutch contributions to science and we’ll have a discussion between the three of us afterwards. And all of this will happen from 4.35 am till 5.35 am (yes, in the middle of the night!) The guy who asked me apologised before he said the time, but I think it’s adventurous.
Obviously, I’ll travel to Middelburg the day before and will stay in the hotel they’ve booked for me. And when the minister travels to Hazeldonk, I get to travel along that part of my journey back home in the bus. Of course, for all of this the press is invited and you can even follow everything online – live! And there’s a webcam inside the bus as well!
During the talk, they’d like me to tell about Galaxy Zoo and how I discovered ‘Hanny’s Voorwerp’ and how I think astronomy benefits from the cooperation between The Netherlands and Europe. So, if you want to share your opinion about this too, let me know. And have a look at their site. Here we go!
7 Comments
Amazing! Enjoy every minute and tell them all about us!
Thanks Jules and will do!
Wow, that’s amazing.
have fun and ‘spread the word’
We can follow the tour live on Ustream TV (http://www.ustream.tv/channel/de-27-uur-van-europa).
Via the chat-function everyone can participate in the discussion.
Cool huh?! (That direct link is also in my blog by the way, under ‘live’)
Great, have fun, can’t wait to here how it went!
Ha, *just* arrived at this beautiful hotel! Oh wait, that’s something to put on Twitter huh…
2 Trackbacks
[...] Komende vrijdag, 8 mei 2009, start in de TV-uitzending van Paauw & Witteman om 23.00 uur de 27 uur van Europa. Gedurende 27 uren zal door een gezelschap onder leiding van staatssecretaris Frans Timmermans van Europese Zaken per bus een non-stop tocht door heel Nederland worden gehouden. “Om de vele gezichten van Europa te laten zien, brandende kwesties te bespreken en erachter te komen wat Europa voor je betekent”, aldus de website van dit evenement. Tot die vele gezichten van Europa (of tot die brandende kwesties) hoort kennelijk ook sterrenkunde, want van 4.35 tot 5.35 uur ’s nachts doet de bus Middelburg aan en daar zal in Volkssterrenwacht Philippus Lansbergen een kijkje worden genomen in de wereld van wetenschap en sterrenkunde. Frans Timmermans zal daar in goed gezelschap verblijven: Hanny van Arkel doet er aan mee, die zal vertellen over haar unieke sterrenkundige ontdekking van Hanny’s Voorwerp door middel van de Galaxy Zoo. Ook Vincent Icke is van de partij, de bijzonder hoogleraar kosmologie, kunstenaar en schrijver. Hij trakteert ons midden in de nacht op een wervelend en energiek college en leidt ons rond in de wondere wereld van de Europese wetenschap. Aan het einde zullen Frans, Hanny en Vincent een discussie over sterrenkunde voeren. En da’s allemaal live te volgen op de Ustream van de 27 uur van Europa! Na die 27 uren zal Frans wel 27 dagen nodig hebben om bij te komen. Bron: Hanny’s Voorwerp. [...]
[...] was a nice evening, this ‘ladies night’. And definitely worth spending six hours in trains for. I’d only been there once before, but I felt home quickly and I got a lot of nice responses from the audience. [...]