In my first step in AEGEE, I’ve been trampled by hordes of emotions. A laugh, a new meeting, a teaching, a strong drink from each single event we have been part of something remains firmly impressed into our hearts forever. This privilege that we members experience is as rare, as it is fragile. But honestly how could the association survive and be active for 28 years if its members were not trained about its structure, activities and projects?
To satisfy this formative necessity, AEGEE-Udine with the help of AEGEE-Treviso enthusiastically organized a Regional Training Course (RTC) opened to all the antennae of the Rainbow Network. One year after the first edition, the event was repeated in Cesclans, a peaceful village north of Udine between the hills, and thanks also to the success of the last year, it attracted the attention of many interested students from all the Italian peninsula.
Around 60 participants attended the three days course, coming from all area: from Bergamo to Rome and from Pisa to Venice. Two of them even came by plane, one from Sardinia and the other from Sicily. Fleets of new recruits poured into the embedded pearl of the Carnic pre-Alps, animated by spirit of initiative, intellectual furor and a healthy amount of madness.
Even if the prohibitive temperatures pushed us to hide in beds, workshops were a real success. Day by day trainers tried to explain as many issues as possible, answer questions and share thoughts.
Mattia Abis (AEGGE-Cagliari), the new Network Commissioner of the Rainbow, developed topics about Event Planning and explained the possible roles and tasks in the board of a Local. Obviously, as the Sardinian Antenna was elected as location of the Autumn Agora 2014, everybody was curious to know the advice of one of the supporters of this deed.
Erika Bettin (AEGEE-Venezia), after a presentation focused on Public Relations, involved all in a striking sale of common objects, stimulating us to find new imaginative utilities. Besides that she succeeded in describing AEGEE in an hour, going over all of the opportunities that our association offers.
On the other hand, Paolo Svegli, professional coach and one of the founders of AEGEE-Udine, was controversial in describing of Human Resources. With a behavior between a pot salesman and a Tibetan monk, this man divided the audience bringing up different opinions. Although many were captured by his mission of “supporting the continuous improvement that exist in any of us, both at individual level and as association, trough methods that spand from NeuroLinguistics Programming to the principles of the total emotional integration”, many remained perplexed on the real utility of such methods since the absorption is not easy nor immediate. Anyway all of the participants followed his session with interest, increasing their self-esteem and learning some self-motivation techniques.
For sure the ones who absorbed the most the concepts, expressed in these three Friulian (the area around Udine) days, were the members of the reborn AEGEE-Verona, that through the voice of its secretary Giulia Recoaro, enthusiastically admitted that: “the RTC gave us the right amount of enthusiasm, motivation and formation to give the best contribution possible to Verona. We promise to pass all this knowledge to our members so that our antenna will grow, involving more and more people who might be able to organize an event like this!” Recognizing in these intentions the joyful trampling impulse of effort, I personally believe that the whole Network will benefit of the contribution and strength of this antenna in Verona.
Dulcis in fundo, how not to talk about the social nights: happy moments of authentic fun. Always preceded by delicious and lavish meals, prepared by two incredible women (Chiara and Patrizia, members of the welcoming antenna, who cooked for 60 people!) in a hall that shifted from conference room, to dining room, to disco, these moments gave us with more smiles and needed relaxation after days so full and challenging. The AEGEE spirit fulfilled creatures of the forest and superheroes (these were the dressing codes of two parties) and Dionysus raised the curtains on scenes of body painting since all the participants could taste wines from all over Italy on the last party, the Regional Night.
So to find a moral, as Patrizia and Chiara taught us with their cake: “the more effort you make, the sweeter is the result”.
Written by Christian Spagnol, AEGEE-Udine