AEGEE Network Meeting Catania, Italy
One of the spring network meetings in 2011 was organized in the beautiful Sicilian city – Catania. Professional and well-organized team from AEGEE-Catania prepared truly an amazing event.Together with their netcommie Pierre and with a group of trainers (apart from me and Pierre, there was also Milica from AEGEE-Beograd and Maria from SUCT) we managed to fill three cold and rainy days with interesting workshops, presentations and a lot of fruitful discussions. Most of the participants were from southern Italy, so they had a great chance to talk about their problems, discuss possibilities of cooperation and brainstorm about new projects or initiatives.
Network meeting took place in the Villa Morelli, quite far from city centre of Catania, so we had a great working environment there. We had a place to sleep, a place to eat, a place to work and also a place to enjoy some social activities and informal talks in the evenings.
(There was also an article about this NWM in local student magazine, you can check it out here: http://www.universitinforma.it/ , it is in Italian, page no5)
During these three busy days, participants discussed their current problems and challenges that they are facing in their antennae and tried to find some solutions. They also got to know a bit more about the structure of AEGEE and how European level in AEGEE works. There was a presentation about Summer Universities and about the work of SUCT. Important was also session about twin antennae – a project which can be useful for many locals. Participants also enjoyed quite complicated, but very interesting HR game that helped them to understand how difficult it is to manage human resources in every antenna. Another workshop was about PR and there was also a presentation of the new flagship topic – social inclusion. External guests from Italian Youth Forum and from local branch of ESTIEM in Catania contributed to the network meeting with the presentation about their associations and its activities.
Schedule for these few days was very busy, but we still managed to enjoy nice (but cold and a bit rainy) evenings with a group of great, motivated and enthusiastic AEGEE members.
AEGEE-Catania did an amazing job with this event, as everything was always ready and they managed to solve every little problem that occurred during the event. Network commissionaire Pierre was always prepared, as well as the rest of the trainers team. And last but not least, our amazing and enthusiastic participants that were actively involved in every session – asking questions, making notes, discussing, brainstorming, planning and discussing again. Great job, folks! I wish you good luck with implementing your plans!
All in all, I can say that another successful network meeting was organized in AEGEE. And it was great because it brought people together; not only to discuss and to plan future projects or activities, but also to make new friends and to have a great time together. Thank you all for this awesome event and see you soon somewhere in Europe!
By Miroslava Ganzarcikova, Comité Directeur 2010/2011