I was looking at the FLL site and I happened to find something very interresting. FIRST is SPREADING. There is now a FIRST Scandinavia. Looks like all they do now is the FLL but maybe they will get into the big ranks.
Also recently added to the FLL Forums were the UK and Germany. It looks like their age groups are a little different (up to 16 instead of 14) but I’d love to see them get into “varsity” FIRST too.
Here’s a thought. Where is Euro-Disney??? Could plans be in the works to have a “varsity FIRST” league in europe and if so would the national competition be at Euro-Disney??? Hmmm.
Euro Disney is in near Paris, France. I’m not sure exactly where it is in that area, but it is somewhat close.
Marne-la-Vallee, France. It’s about an hour train ride outside of Paris, I think.
It’s Disneyland Paris now, by the way. 
My company might be sending me to Italy for 18-24 months. I plan to agitate for a FIRST team at the place I’ll be working. But don’t expect anything for another couple of years. First I have to get there, then I have to figure out how to engineer in Italian.
Not having to cross The Pond for a competition would make it a lot easier. Having FLL available would be a good FIRST step too. That way you can focus on issues like concept development, handling, and programming without having to figure out how you’re going to make something. Though it would be nice if you could glue the robots together. They’d be more durable that way.
I just hope I don’t have to try explaining a game like last year’s, that was hard enough in English.
ChrisH