The Brussels Weekend

1-3 February 2002OUGSME’s first event of the year was the AGM weekend in Brussels. It was a pleasant surprise to receive all the bookings and it looked as though it was going to attract even more people than the inaugural meeting in Basel, Switzerland. I arrived very early with the first machine from Berne, to give me enough time to prepare everything and talk through the preparations with Ole before everyone arrived. It was so early that the youth hostel, venue for the meeting and accommodation for the group, was still serving breakfast, so I managed to grab a quick coffee for which I was grateful, as the flight had been particularly bumpy and I hadn’t felt like breakfast.

Annual dinner

Ole arrived and we drove through Brussels towards the ring road and out of town into the wooded countryside for a pleasant meal at his home and enough time to check the preparations. It was at this stage that Ole thought things had been going too well and there were sure to be problems ahead, but I thought he was just being overly pessimistic. By 2.00 pm we were back at the YH and waiting for the group members to appear.

Twelve members of six different nationalities and living in eight different countries, plus the chairman from England, one family member, one guest from Brussels and one guest from Vienna made up the group for the evening and had either already arrived by late afternoon, or had phoned to say they were on the way or would meet us at the designated restaurant.

AND THEN THE SMS CAME OVER MY PHONE!

After a quick phone call from my side, it was obvious that Ole’s prediction of pending disaster had come true. The restaurant in which we had booked for the group had been closed down and sealed off in a police action that afternoon and we were suddenly faced with the problem of having to find another venue at very short notice and no possibility to inform those who were going straight to dinner. Ole dashed off into town whilst everyone at the YH waited for news, speculating at the reason for this unexpected event. Had they poisoned their customers and we had been saved from a terrible fate, or had the proprietor opened up to find a body or what? Anyway, an hour later Ole was back with a new booking, someone was sent to the first restaurant to find the missing members and the rest strolled into the city centre for a pleasant, leisurely evening by food and wine. Problem solved.

The European Commission building "Breydel" was scrutinized (limestones rather than politics were central)

Saturday morning we were out early and on the way to the Metro. The weather was fantastic, blue skies and quite warm. We spent some time admiring the architecture of the European parliament building and related offices before setting off to the Natural History Museum for a guided tour of the Iguanadon collection. More visitors arrived for the day. Christine, our guide, was very enthusiastic about the dinosaurs and gave us an interesting lecture on how they had been discovered in a coal mine, the miners finding themselves in the employment of the palaeontologists for three years whilst the artefacts were collected and carefully removed. Nobody knew what exactly had been discovered and when the experts started to rebuild the huge skeletons, the ceiling of the room they were using proved too low, and they had to be moved to a church. This collection is truly impressive as was Christine’s knowledge, and we all learnt a great deal.

The afternoon was reserved for the Annual General Meeting, which luckily, from my point of view, went without a hitch. After business matters had been completed, I had the pleasant task of presenting two gifts to members for their help, a trilobite for Mike Molloy, who had looked after the Etna finances so prudently, despite the difficulties of juggling with three different currencies, credit cards with a ridiculously low limit and hotels that wanted cash payments. Ole received an aragonite specimen for his good work in organising the weekend.

After coffee OUGSME’s first guest lecturer, Professor Jacques Nihoul from the University of Liége, gave a very interesting talk on ‘Sustainable Development and Problems with Earth Sciences’. His enthusiasm for this subject proved extremely animating, expressed in the number of questions he answered afterwards. We are very grateful to Professor Nihoul for giving up a free Saturday afternoon to join us, and this without requesting any fee. OUGSME presented him with a donation for the student’s fund, which gives students the possibility to participate in scientific conferences – from students for students - and we know that this donation will be put to good use.

And the discussions went on into the night

Work over, the group again set off in the direction of the city centre, this time by a different route, with Ole stopping at various points of interest to offer information on history, architecture, literature, medicine, in fact just about everything and anything. He had certainly done his homework. Our last official event was the Annual Dinner in a restaurant not far from the Grand Place.

Art nouveau

Sunday was a continuous round of farewells, first at the YH, then later on Grand Place, and finally at the airport. It had been a good meeting, a very enjoyable three-day event. Friendships have again been strengthened, geology was always the main topic of conversation, a common interest creating a strong network through Europe. Other events are planned for this year and we hope to be able to see some new faces, as well as catch up on the old, familiar ones.

Next year’s AGM is in Luxembourg, last weekend in January. Hope to see you there!!

Annette

 

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