Great, fucking sweet, yep.

What? What?

I’m not, I’m not shocked at all Tim. Tim, I haven’t even been into make up yet, Tim.

I’m not shocked at all, I’ve been saying this for fucking months, nearly a year.

The moment you think he can’t do it is the moment he takes the White House.

Of course Trump fucking won, what is everyone so fucking shocked about?

Jesus, the media, the political elite, the pollsters, the markets, you.

Jaws on the floor. How can anyone be so fucking stupid?

Hillary Clinton. What were the democrats thinking?

Hillary Clinton? Don’t get me wrong, I wanted Hillary to win. I would personally vote for Lucifer over Donald Trump?

Trump, the pussy-grabbing, wall-building, climate-change-denying healthcare abolishing, tax-dodging, shit-spewing demagogue.

How shit have you got to be to lose to that?

Where was Sanders? Why wasn’t he on the ticket?

I have no doubt in my mind that Sanders would have beaten Trump hands down. But instead they chose Clinton.

A candidate that has been cozying up to the banks and dry humping corporations for years.

Who is on record telling her corporate friends that you should have a public and a private persona, in other words “Don’t tell the truth to the plebs or you won’t be able to rip them off”.

She’ll do… That was the feeling.

What did they think was going to happen? People keep saying to me “How did this happen?”. They’re dumbfounded, but it’s so simple.

The left did this. This is my fault, people like me. When are we going to learn? The left have given up putting any argument across at all to the point where Clinton is considered left. Liberal.

On many issues, Theresa May is less right-wing than Clinton. That’s just a fucking fact.

And yet my friends are on Facebook saying:

- “I’m with her.”

- “I’m fucking not.”

- “Oh, but she’s better than Trump.”

Sorry, that’s not good enough. Clearly…

Clearly it’s not good enough. And if I see -fuck me…- one more tweet containing a #TrumpWins, next to a #EverydaySexism, I’m going to drop a fucking bollock.

Not everyone that voted for Trump is a sexist or a racist. Some of them are, but most aren’t. Most people didn’t vote for her, not because she’s a woman. They didn’t vote for her because she offered no palpable change what so ever.

Same old shit.

Trump… represents change. A terrifying change, but a change none the less.

Hillary represented, well she… represented very little actually. Because she protects corporate interest. Because she doesn’t call the police when questions from the debate are leaked to her in advance.

I notice we barely reported that.

Not everyone that voted for Trump is a sexist or a racist.

How many times does the vote not have to go our way before we realise that our argument isn’t won by hurling labels and insults?

Tory majority, government, Brexit, Trump,…

What next?

When will we learn that the key is discussion?

If you’re unwillig to discuss then you are creating the conditions in which Donald Trump, and people like him can thrive.

But instead of persuading people to vote, she just courted celebrity endorsements, and then lost.

What’s going on? It’s almost as if the political acumen of Beyoncé and Jay-Z count for nothing!

And then she loses it, and loses the election, and she locks herself in her hotel because she’s too upset. Or because it had never occurred to them to even write a concession speech.

Either way, grow up!

I have no sympathy for her whatsoever. Be a better candidate!

But the thing is, I can’t say this to any of my friends. People like me, I’d get fucking lynched if I said this. Because people like me won’t listen. I did this? This is my fault.

Fucking Donald Trump.

The left is responsible for this result. Because the left have now decided that any other opinion, any other way of looking at the world is unacceptable. We don’t debate anymore, because the left won the cultural war.

So if you’re on the right you’re a freak, you’re evil, you’re racist, you’re stupid. You are “a basket of deplorables”

How do you think people are gonna vote if you talk to them like that? When has anyone ever been persuaded by being insulted or labeled?

So now, if you’re on the right or even against the prevailing view, you are attacked for raising your opinion.

That’s why people wait until they’re in the voting booth. No one’s watching anymore.

There’s no blame, or shame, or anything and you can finally say what you really think, and that is a powerful thing.

The tories in charge, Brexit, and now Trump.

And all the polls were wrong, all of them! Because when asked, people can’t admit what they think.

They can’t admit what they think, they’re not allowed to.

The left doen’t allow them to. We have made people unable to articulate their position for fear of being shut down.

They’re embarrassed to say it. Every time someone on the left has said “you mustn’t say that.”, they are contributing to this culture.

It’s time to stop moaning.

It’s time to stop crying over spilt -fucking- Brexit.

It’s time to stop ignoring your opponents, or worse, trying to silence them.

It’s time to stop banning people from speaking in Universities.

It’s time to stop thinking that reposting an article on your Facebook feed is political engagement.

That banning a gymnast from doing what he’s good at because he insulted someones religion, somehow achieved something.

And sorry, when did the gymnasts association start thinking it was appropriate to start enforcing blasphemy laws?

It’s time to realise that reading The Guardian doesn’t make you a liberal. That retweeting Greenpeace doesn’t lower your carbon footprint.

And if my mansplaining is triggering you, you can either fuck off to your safe space or you can engage, and debate me, and tell me what I’m getting wrong, because Trump just won the White House.

Being offended doesn’t work anymore!

Throwing insults doesn’t work anymore!

The only thing that works is fucking bothering.

Doing something.

And all you have to do is engage in the debate.

Talk to people who think differently to you and persuade them of your argument. It’s so easy, and the left have lost the art.

Stop thinking that everyone who disagree’s with you is evil. Or racist, or sexist, or stupid, and talk to them!

Persuade them otherwise, because if you don’t I’ll tell you what you’ll get.

You get President Trump!

I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep your attention by starting this random flow of thoughts by quoting Lady Gaga, but I think it’s quite applicable at the moment.

I was very excited waking up early on Wednesday the 22nd of March 2016 to go to Antwerp to visit an exhibition about the hospitality industry. I’m normally quite busy following all the latest news. And lately I’ve particularly been following bombings and attacks happening around the world.
-It’s something I do because I think you have to be aware about what happens around the world.-

I had quite some things on my mind and I had to be on time so I didn’t focus on the news at all on Wednesday morning, not until I got a text from my mom anyway.

While getting on the train to Antwerp from Bruges at 8:24 I received a text from my mom confirming a rendezvous for a day later, and she mentioned there had been an explosion at Brussels Airport, without knowing anything specific about what happened.

My first thoughts, just as anyone else’s I guess were thoughts of disbelief, but those first thoughts were immediately followed by a phlegmatic feeling that it really wasn’t that much of a surprise to me after months of high terror alerts in Brussels following the Paris attacks on the 13th of November 2015. -It’s easy for me to say this now but it I had this feeling that it was going to happen soon or later, no matter how bad this may sound.-

The exhibition I was planning to visit was about trends and evolutions in the hospitality industry and while I was waiting for further news from various news sources on the train I searched for the definition of a trend in the Cambridge online dictionary. I came across the following: “the ​general ​direction of ​changes or ​developments”.

I arrived at the exhibition hall in Antwerp and I took a smal tour. Then I took a seat next to the other people there and I had a look at the empty seats both in front and beside me while guest speakers did what they came to do and I realized that what happened in Brussels might be becoming a trend too, well not a trend really, but an evolution.

It’s a dreary thought to be honest but as sad as it might seem one of the speakers said “it is a thing we’re going to have to get used to”. It’s sad that we have to, but we will.

I have a hard time thinking about the people who had dinner with their families the night before, not knowing it would be their last. I have a hard time thinking about the men, women and children giving their loved ones a kiss, not knowing it would be their last, thinking they would see them again after a trip to a country far away or just after a day at work. I wonder what they would have told each other if they had known it would be their last moment together, if they had known it would be their last conversation.

I understand that these attacks were in the heart of our society, and they were very close to our homes, and my thoughts and prayers go out to all of the people who lost someone and to all the people who know any one even remotely involved in the attacks on Brussels.

But at that same time I am thinking about all the stories and reports I hear and read every single day regarding airstrikes being carried out against civilians on marketplaces in Yemen, about bombings in Istanbul or Ankara, about bombings in Iraq killing more than 200 civilians. They are victims who don’t get the attention the people in Brussels got. “It happens every day over there” seem to often be the first words coming out of our mouths when we talk about Middle Eastern attacks but those words shouldn’t make up for that, and don’t get me wrong, they don’t at all and they never will.

It’s just my opinion that awareness about these kinds of attacks should be a lot higher. The people who don’t live in our vicinity shouldn’t have to suffer from similar attacks no matter who they are. Because every time a man, woman, or child gets hurt, it is one too many. No matter his belief, no matter her race and no matter their origin.

The people responsible for attacks like these across the world aren’t conducted by Islamic terrorists. They are being carried out by terrorists who are inducing panic, yes, but they are no Muslims.

In the wake of the attacks in Brussels this might sound harsh or bold but governments commit similar crimes on a daily basis, and I’m not only thinking about the governments of Middle Eastern countries. Don’t be afraid to open your eyes and look at the West, because they conduct bombings against civilians every single day.
There’s a good chance I’ve lost your attention round about a sentence or three ago because you’ll want to deny this or try to justify this by saying that “they’re terrorists who do the same to us”, but really they don’t and they aren’t. Don’t use the acts of a few people to judge an entire population.

If you want to open your eyes and if you’re willing to see more than what you’re being told by your local media outlets then you can learn a whole lot more about everything that is going on, and I invite you to do so, if you’re willing to.

“You won’t know how it feels
’Til it happens to you” -Hoping you’ll never have to.

- 23rd of March 2016

It doesn’t happen very often that people of my age get the chance to meet students of the same field of interests from so many different countries and cultures in one big event in the way we have had the privilege to in these last few days.

I have been asked the question “How was the EMCup?” and I think the word that comes to mind first is also the closest to a worthy answer. It was “intense”. It has been quite an emotionally charged competition with a lot of mixed consecutive feelings giving me the impression I got a free ticket for an emotional rollercoaster. I’ve had a whole range of emotions and moods in a row like stress, relief, humour, dissapointment, curiosity, pleasant surprises, unpleasant surprises, optimism, joy, admiration and so on.

I really enjoy moments like these, you see, but it’s only once you’re home and you get the chance to sit down and look back on the entire thing that you realize what you’ve experienced and in what way it has changed you.

On our way home I started thinking about the coaches I spoke to, the ideas other competitors had talked about and the amazing people I got to know. It really hits me now how important this amazing event is for the future of the hospitality industry. Both because of the “Silver Waves” theme of the competition this year and because of the connections we made with key persons in this industry and the friendships that started in Maastricht during these days as well, but also because of the life lessons we learned from experienced people in this industry.

These men and women taught us things we didn’t know and pointed out things we did, but had to be reminded of again.
Thank you for your feedback on our work.
Thank you for reminding us that at the end of the day, it’s not about the amount of money you made.
Thank you for reminding us that in order to be able to grow, we have to get noticed.
Thank you for reminding us that we should be open and be positive whenever we can.
Thank you for reminding us that we should be grateful for all the chances we get.
Thank you for reminding us that in the end, everything will all be alright, and if it’s not alright, it’s not the end.
Thank you for reminding us that the things we take for granted are the things we should be most grateful for.

And finally.
Thank you for reminding us again and again and again to get out of our comfort zone!

I am very thankful for all the opportunities we were given during the entire EMCup 2016 and I will remember it all forever.