Wetskills South Korea 2022-
by Floor Hermans, Wageningen University
Wetskills South Korea 2022 finally kicked off!
The first part of today’s programme was a general introduction to Wetskills. Even before we started, everyone was already chatting and networking while enjoying a lovely iced americano. This certainly shows how excited everyone is to be here! After the presentation and introduction of the three cases, we spent the rest of the morning playing various ice breaker games to get to know each other better.
Before we could have lunch, we were asked to choose which of the three cases we preferred. The different cases that will be dealt with during Wetskills South-Korea 2022 are:
- Water and gender equality in the Asia & Pacific region
- Fighting climate change on Korean islands
- South Korea’s dependency on virtual water trade
Well with such interesting topics you can imagine that picking only one is not made easy.
Fortunately, we could let everything sink in during lunch. Some of the local participants, who study here at Sejong University, gave a fantastic first introduction to Korean cuisine. This was especially useful to find out which dishes are super spicy, and might better be avoided by the more ‘sensitive souls’ among us (which definitely includes me!). These are the kind of tips that really help you in life!
The afternoon started with the announcement of the group allocation for the cases, followed by the workshop: Belbin Team Roles. This is certainly an interesting way to get to know your team members and their personalities a bit better. Besides the test results give a first impression of the possible pitfalls, but also the strengths of the teams. The workshop is certainly a good start for a fruitful cooperation. After this workshop, we had time to make a start with drawing up an action plan for our cases.
There are few activities in the world that every human being has to do at some point, no matter who you are or where you come from, because it is simply an essential part of being human: eating. And for that reason, eating together is a great way to get to know others and their cultures. So, a welcome dinner is the best kind of activity to do on such a first evening. After a fantastic Korean meal, good conversations and lots of laughter, the restaurant owner really wanted to close. So, there was only one possibility: move the whole thing to a karaoke bar (we are in Korea, after all). It did not take long before the first people started singing along, full of conviction and enthusiasm. In the end, the rest of this long evening was a string of more English, Spanish and Korean hits.
Even though we have only known each other for one day, I am sure that we will have an unforgettable time with this fun, diverse and international group of amazing people!
