Wouter Welling (The Benelux)
Wouter Welling was born in Amsterdam, but raised in the area of Groningen in the north of the Netherlands. His Bachelor degree was in Political History of the 20th century. He followed this bachelor and his master in Political History at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands.
In his years as a history student, Wouter predominantly focused on the effects political decisions can have on society as a whole. Examples of this are the rhetoric of political leaders, the influences of political culture on culture as a whole and the political arguments surrounding the concept of identity. These subjects were mostly researched in the period of the 20th century, because as Wouter once declared after studying world history for three years: “before 1900 its fiction to me…”.
His academic interests were always closely related to his personal interests. These were in the fields of intercultural communications, team sports, politics, debating and talking in general. He participated in several debating competitions, debating societies and political activities for youngsters. Besides this, he functioned as a representative for students in educational committees on materials to be studied together with staff in several settings . Overall, he never avoided any form of discussion.
After graduating from Euroculture in March 2012, Wouter directly started as a Schuman Trainee for the European Parliament. At this position he could enrich his political interests and international project management skills. He was positioned at the European Union representation in The Hague and organized several activities for the EU there. In January 2013 he started as a Dutch Governmental Information Management Consultant for a private consultancy company. He hopes to be a politician someday.
Wouter stated that Euroculture changed him even more than he had imagined beforehand. He found out about the program in the fall of 2009 and liked it because of its link to Europe, its international program, its talented students and the skilled lecturers. Besides this he declared that he was looking for something deeper than just a Bachelors+ as a master. Something that forms you as a person for the rest of your life.
This was found in Euroculture, but it brought even more. He Lived in Groningen (NL), Göttingen (GER) and Indianapolis (USA) and formed himself into a true self-declared cosmopolitan. Euroculture helped him to question everything anytime and not to always be judgmental about others and their culture, but to simply be amazed and interested in all.
On summarizing what Euroculture is about he quoted a not so highly educated bus driver in Indianapolis (USA) asking him: “Europe, ain’t that where history’s from?"