One of the goals of the former board of AEGEE-Aachen was to have a Network Meeting taking place in their beautiful city. Their plans became more concrete during the Spring Agora in Patra, where they told the former NetCom Holger: “Yes, we will do it!”. Anna Isabel Ramones, board member of AEGEE-Aachen, was in the well-known Agora ‘I can do everything spirit!’, leading to her volunteering to be the main organiser. The AEGEEan spoke to her to find out more.
From the 9th till the 12th of October, before Autumn Agora Cagliari, AEGEE-Aachen will be looking for 50 motivated participants to join them in the German city of Aachen. “We are still working on the content”, says NetCom Julia Fuss. “But it will probably be focused on networking to share best practices, strengthen cooperation between antennae and individually reflect upon AEGEE’s impact on oneself, as well as become aware of one’s own impact in AEGEE. Additionally, we would like to continue the work on project ideas that were developed at NWM Bamberg, such as an idea to organize workshops on the life of refugees or if possible even go and visit an asylum ourselves. Of course this NWM will also offer a great opportunity to prepare delegates and discuss topics for Agora Cagliari as well as get to know European level bodies!”
Next to the workshops, the local is already planning a social program. “Of course there will be a city tour to get to know our beautiful and historically interesting city of Aachen. The boarder triangle (Netherlands, Belgium and Germany) is also close and definitely worth a visit. Next to that, the parties will of course be BEARtastic!”
The local already has a lot of experience in organizing events, like the Agora in 2008, an European School I in 2012, a Summer University every year and of course the Charlemagne Youth Prize Event. For the Charlemagne Youth Prize, eight young and enthusiastic writers, photographers and future journalists were invited to Aachen to cover the Youth Charlemagne Prize and Charlemagne Prize, spreading the news in their own language and countries. The event was requested by Aachen’s Major and AEGEE-Aachen’s Patron, Marcel Philipp, to give a more international stage to this prize for European Unity. “We are looking back at a very nice event where we met new friends but also actively worked on a very important AEGEE issue – EurOptimism”, Anna says. We cooperated succesfully with Europe Direct and OneEurope (Forum of future journalists in Europe) and gained the experience of how much work it is, to care for only eight persons.”
There’s always a new challenge though, because right now AEGEE-Aachen is busy with their Summer University, “Get Trashed the Green Way”, where they will show 25 enthusiastic participants their city while learning them more about environmental issues and the German culture. “We have two different main organizers for the SU and NWM”, Anna says. “Of course both share their knowledge and experiences and already worked together in the board and on specific events. An active local will support them both during the events. For now, two weeks with 25 participants from all over Europe, 1000 new experiences and a lot of fun and different activities are waiting for us!”
If you’re still wondering why you should apply for this NWM, Anna has listed out all the reasons: “Our antenna is well-known in the whole AEGEE network for always having a lot of fun, for being in every event and for always taking good care of our guests! For example, we had three exchanges this spring and all antennae were really satisfied with their stay here and the hospitality of the polar bears! So we want to show more people that polar bears are simply the best!”
Written by Svenja van der Tol, AEGEE-Nijmegen