Members of AEGEE… these legendary creatures with their own rituals that they might be as a sect (minus the mystic leader). We are aware that we use a different language full of abbreviations: CT, KT, PT, PM, CM, NWM, EPM, JC, CD etc., but we also repeat some sentences, to us or to strangers. Here are six things that we always say. And if you’ve never said or heard them, either you are not in AEGEE or last time you were in an AEGEE event was when dinosaurs walked the earth.
“A_ _ _ _ _e”. If you correctly guess that the word is Awesome… Congratulations! You are in AEGEE. This local is awesome, this event is awesome, this person is awesome, this Agora is awesome, this sticker is awesome. Let’s be honest, an AEGEEan’s favourite word is ‘awesome’; we use it pretty much to define everything. But we also know that deep inside, everytime someone is pronouncing that word, you actually want to stab kittens. We feel your pain! Here is the list of synonyms that can be used instead of ‘awesome’: amazing, astonishing, marvelous, eye-opening, fabulous, portentous, prodigious, stunning, stupendous, sublime, surprising, wonderful.
“I’m going to graduate soon”. Everytime you pronounce this sentence, a TV-like laugh track plays in the background. As much as we love our organisation, it’s a fact that sometimes it takes away a lot of our time. Time that we could easily use to study. Despite the fact that all the skills we aquired by being active in several projects and in our local are priceless, the job market is more in love with a degree. The members who were able to dedicate up to eight hours to AEGEE, working in order to maintain themselves in another city and to graduate on time, should give workshops and share their secrets! Very much appreciated. Pretty please.
“I want to give back what the organisation has given me”. This is the standard phrase that all the candidates use in their applications or their presentations. Never noticed it? Impossible. Try the take-a-shot-game with the sentence during the Agora and you will see the entire Chair Team floating in a lovely pink cloud with unicorns and daisies all around. No one doubts that you’ve grown a lot within the organisation and you are running because of the well being of the Network (and not because of your career). But then, do you really need to mention that in every application? Posterity will judge.
“I hate the visual identity”. It’s time for your coming out. You’ve just finished printing like a trillion of stickers and you do immensely love the graphic of the upcoming event in bright fuxia and blue tiffany with the name of your local in a sunny yellow. Now you have to change everything because a common visual identity was introduced ONLY three years ago. Actually the Visual Identity is pretty awesome (see point 1) and you can play a lot with it (Agora’s stickers anyone?!). Plus, don’t let the poor PRC check all the logos and said disconsolately: “A lot of locals are not respecting it”. Join the dark side, use VI!
“I have a motion/objection”. Yes, we do agree that it’s something you’d rather hear than say, but it HAD to be on our list, because we pronounce these words with fear, even whispering them… hopefully with nobody listening. Typical scenario: It’s almost 9 o’clock in the evening, the person sitting near you has acquired the same shape of a chicken thigh (or celery, if you are a vegetarian or vegan) and you really want to take a bite to suppress your hunger. And in that very moment someone is stepping on stage objecting something or presenting a motion. Even if you really appreciate how democracy is shaping, in that very moment you feel like back in high school when someone was reminding the teacher to assign homework after the bell rang. It’s all about the timing.
“This will be my last event!” After four or five years in the association, it’s physiological that members slowly leave to explore the beauty of life after AEGEE. When an AEGEEan decides it’s time to go, s/he usually organises a press conference where s/he solemnly declares “After 15 years of honourable service as the president of this local, I’m passing the baton to the young former secretary who has been in AEGEE only for nine years”. Let’s be clear, leaving the association is anything but easy. After all, we have a good example that we can be “old”, but still kicking during events, namely Honorary member of AEGEE-Europe Gunnar Erth. We cannot disclose his age because his file is still secreted in the Vatican archives, but – as the picture suggests – he was the one who introduced Franck Biancheri to François Mitterand. Long story short? See you somewhere in Europe in your next last event.
Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Verona