For centuries the city of Bremen has had a strong economy. The hanse town was easily accessible from overseas and could tie strong bonds with business partners. For more than 500 years Bremen has had one special day where the old town hall becomes the venue for people of money and power. The "Schaffermahlzeit" is the oldest traditional fraternity dinner in the world. Back in the days it was created to bring together ship captains and owners, nowadays business men from all over the country and sometimes the rest of the world, gather for one day to catch up and tie new bonds. Being invited there is a great honor and a once in a lifetime experience. Simply because you are only allowed to take part once. Wearing a tailcoat is a must and even though we live in the 21st century, no women are allowed during the whole event. During the "walk of the penguins" (that is when the men walk from venue A to venue B) their wives gather at the side waving at their men chatting with each other. The dinner itself starts at exactly 14.36 and takes several hours with a strict time schedule. During that time the 300 guests sit in long rows in the city hall while the women have dinner next door, following the whole event on a big screen TV.

After the implementation of prenatal screenings across all of Denmark in 2004, the numbers of newborns with Down's syndrome dropped intensively. While between 2000 and 2004 around 60 children were born with the chromosomal disease each year, in 2006 only 31 were born. More than 95% of all Danish parents to be, decide to have an abortion if they find out that they are about to carry out a baby with Trisomy 21. – A drastic change of the social landscape. Emmy is five years old and has Down's syndrome. With her parents Martin and Karina and her younger brother Kristian, she lives in the countryside in the middle of Denmark. For one year she has been attending the local kindergarten now and is about to have her first day of school at a public inclusive school, 30 kilometers away from home. Her parents had to fight with the municipality to find the right spot for Emmy. Karina and Martin were given a low risk of 1:800 at their screening. "Emmy was just the number one", they say today. The cut off is set at 1:300, meaning that invasive measures are recommended by doctors. Only the invasive test can give a clear answer about the health condition of the fetus. The small family has managed to create a home full of life and warmth by today, even though the first months after Emmy was born they were in shock and had to align their expectations. They had to rethink their ideas of what is normal or perfect. The world in their everyday life turns a little bit slower as Emmy just takes her time with many things. They are aware of that but seemed to have arranged themselves with it just fine. It is not sure how the issue will develop in Denmark throughout the next years. For me that development is a sign for our strive for perfection. We don't feel comfortable about bumps in the road and need to plan and know everything in advance. The story of Emmy and her family shows how much you can gain if you let life surprise yourself from time to time.

The cultivation of apples at the Val Venosta in Alto Adige, Italy's northern-most province has been drastically increasing in the last decades. About one million tons of apples are being produced there every year (among them sorts like Marlene or Golden Delicious) - and contribute with this amount to an esteemed twelve percent of Europe‘s production of apples. The apple fields of Alto Adige make for the biggest connected fields of cultivation of fruit in Europe. Most towns in the valley have started to participate in the apple industry. Just one small town at the western end of the valley has refused. Mals, with it's 5000 inhabitants has started to revolt against the traditional agricultural sector. In early September 2014, a referendum on the usage of pesticides was held- a novelty in the history of the European Union. 75% voted for a ban of pesticides. Apples are three times more profitable than the cultivation of wheat or rye. But they also promise a much easier living – while being more profitable - in comparison to the humble profits of cow-farmers. This recent development has changed prices of land dramatically. Within a few years, prices went from 30 Euros until up to 90 Euros per square meters. Fertile land seems almost impossible to be bought by local farmers. Therefore the intensive farming seems to succeed - most of all in financial terms. As a result of usage of pesticides grave results can be witnessed: the decline of biodiversity as well as vanishing habitats for animals and plants as well as serious problems for organic farmers. The area now has the chance to become a role model for many other regions in Europe.