370 kilometers. That is the distance between Vienna and its little sister Zagreb. However the train there gets passed by heavy trucks on dirty roads, birds and once even a running wild boar. Unfortunately you seem to get charged by the hour, not by kilometer.
We were awaited by friendly Croatians that guided our ways, shown the wide range of shops that not only accept all sorts of credit cards even for little payments but also open until late at night and Sundays. We also appreciated a wider choice of take away food than in Vienna. Gigantic crêpes, Freedom Fries, Sandwiches.
The hostel in which the debaters were quartered was good, free wifi, affordable coke in cans. A second shower per floor would have sped up the morning a little, though.
After registration it quickly turned out one of the Viennese debaters had to perfom as “Iron Man” at the competition. Rosie Halmi originally arrived to judge (as well as Sabine Rainalter) but was given the opportunity to form a team, therefor having to fulfill both positions in her team. Her team “Leo, return my pillow!!!” performed well, though, just like Caroline Schmidt and Karoline Lutz as “C & K aroline“. Agnieszka Bibro and Leonhard Weese as “Rosie, make my bed!!!” almost made the break by one team point, a curse that has now haunted Debattierklub Wien four times this semester alone. However they both did well on speaker points, being 23rd and 9th in the tab.
The tournament was fun, had the perfect size to practice and yet compete, be friendly with all the other debaters and make good friends. Branka Marusic and Filip Dobranic served as good CAs. Only the few number of judges (like in Ljubljana two weeks earlier) took a little from the fun and experience.
Although some debaters don’ t favor clubs because of the lack of communication and prefer locations where debaters don’t have to interact with non-debaters the org team chose a fun place for saturday night’s socials. Fun enough to sneak out through the window and back with a handful of “American Donuts”, another thing that makes Vienna’s little sister superior over her old k & k sibling.
But maybe that’s just the way debaters see it.
Zagreb should definitely consider bidding for worlds, as pointed out numerous times during the weekend.
Congratulations to Črt Podlogar and Anna England-Kerr for winning the tournament!
The motions:
R1: THW ban artificial insemination for single women
R2: THBT a morning of awkwardness is always better than a night of loneliness
R3: THBT Wikileaks is a threat to global security
R4: THW only fund university programs that contribute to states’ economy
Semifinal: THBT WTO members should trade in SDR
Grand Final: THBT bribery is a legitimate tool of policy making
The see the tab click here.
Leonhard Weese/msi
