Summer Space Camp

Me watching the live launch of Russian-built Soyuz rocket lifting off on Friday 14 September!

“It’s not really goodbye, just a ‘See you later’.”

With that I ended my two week stay at space camp in the tiny seaside village of Noordwijk with some forty students from all over Europe. Well, perhaps it wasn’t the same sentiment and feelings I felt towards everyone, but at least there are a select few in the group I have grown fond of, and will miss their company. Just earlier this afternoon, I got a gift and sweet note from three girls. On the note it said:

”If there were many more people in the world, it would be a better place to live in. Please don’t change!”

I was extremely touched by the gesture, and was really, really surprised what effect I could have on people, even in such a short time. I mean, I didn’t do much, and was just myself, but that somehow managed to leave an impression on people. It’s a real boost to my self-confidence!

It’s funny to observe a large group of people, and how people interact. There are those who try very hard and try to impress everyone with their joking and imitations and clowning around, and then there are those who are mostly on their own and so quiet you don’t really notice them. And there are those in between these extremes. The first few days you mingle and try to make friends with everyone, but after a while people group together. Minds flow alike, as they say.

We were all brought together by this course in an obscure but utterly fascinating field of space law, and now two weeks later we go our separate ways. Perhaps some people I’ll never see again, perhaps some people I’ve not really gotten to know well, but I’m glad I’ve managed to make connections with a number I’m sure I’ll “see-you-later”.

It was a pretty hectic and intensive summer course, and I really can’t remember the last time I had so many lectures after one another every single day. Almost 50 in total, from all sorts of speakers, and all crammed into two weeks. Towards the end I was so exhausted and drained that I often dozed off in class. It wasn’t such a great idea to be always sitting at the front, but then again from all my years of studying I’ve managed to develop this technique whereby I nap, but every few minutes or so I nod my head in agreement, make a few ‘Hmm’ noises to express my understanding, or turning the papers in my hands profusely to pretend I’m following very attentively. Take a look at the notes I’ve made, and you’ll see scribbles of lines that just fall off the page which I can’t even understand any more!

Everyday the day starts at sevenish, and by eight we have to be at the bus, ready to ride into the research centre of ESA. It’s literally a different world in there, full of thousands of scientists, policy makes, lawyers, working toward progress and realising the dreams of soaring into space and discovering all that is out there in the universe. Through the two days of lectures we’ve had, I just realised what an unexplored area of the law space law is. All these conventions and regulations dating to the sixties, but so much progress has been made in these decades. The problem of the launching state, liability for accidents, problem of space debris, and just the matter of amending age-old legal instruments seem such political and cumbersome tasks.

But I did enjoy it all very much, especially the team assignment. Even though team work took up every single evening, I really had a lot of laughs working together with all these people from different backgrounds. Our assignment was to think of a creative idea linking ‘entertainment and space’, and focus on the legal, political and other aspects of the project that we write about in a report and present before a jury. We were up until at least midnight every evening, just working, researching and discussing. At times there were conflicts within us, and a number of members didn’t really get along well. One disagreed with everyone, and had to be outvoted before our project idea could move forward. He funny eventually changed from opposing everything to the one who seemed to be doing all the hard work and leading everyone else, even though the rest of us were cursing lowly and confused what he wants to do. I bought drinks and snacks everyday, and tried to make sure there was better harmony between people. And I guess it worked well. Eventually we actually made it to second place. Had we observed the rules of writing a report and presenting the arguments, and not gotten penalised for it, we would have easily been the first! I’m happy with the result, especially when the jury mentioned that the legal part of our report was the best out of all eight competing groups!

There’s this German guy that caught my eye almost from the very first moment. I caught myself looking often in his direction, but he was always hanging around these girls, and I never dared to venture close, and only managed to admire him from afar. Then suddenly on the second day, as we were allowed to have some free time to take some pictures in the ‘high bay’, where all these model space crafts and compartments are, fate kissed me. I was just minding my own business, and this guy told me to go stand in the picture. I didn’t know what was happening, but before it I was pulled into the picture, and standing next to that cute guy. After the picture was taken, we both stood there nervously, and laughed at the surrealness of having been forcibly had our pictures taken. Then he introduced himself, and we struck it off instantly, laughing and joking around, and getting to know one another. He has such boyish features, dark brown semi-curly hair, and a pair of beautiful blue eyes that stared into mine as I talked. He listens so attentive, and responds so intelligently and gently. It’s like finding a match I’ve been longing for. Even on the bus, he sat next to me, and we talked all the way back to the hotel. He was so close, I could feel his knee slightly leaning on mine…

Turns out, he’s not gay after all. I found out playing this ‘psychiatrist game’, and the person who is the psychiatrist has to guess who all the other people are by asking different questions. I was the psychiatrist, and I asked him whether he likes boys or girls. The answer was a little disappointment. I guess he was ust very friendly, and giving out all the wrong signals. But that’s alright, I guess.

Yesterday morning, I carried my suitcase and bagback, and went home really early, alone. But not at all empty-handed.