A couple of weeks ago, AEGEE-Chișinău hosted the Autumn Agora 2016, and while a longer, more comprehensive interview with the organisers is still coming, we would like to take this opportunity to review some of the outstanding aspects of Agora Chișinău.
Environment
Chișinău was a really wonderful place to host the Agora. It is a city with loads of green areas, which during the Agora slowly started changing colours; throughout the city, one can read a fantastic mix of the Romanian and Russian language on walls, buildings and billboards; and one could be astonished by the wide variety of traditional and Soviet architecture in the city.
Most importantly for the Agora, the organisers had put a lot of effort into the location: finding a beautiful and charming auditorium to serve as the main stage, outside of which they created spaces for intimate and cosy workshops, space to register, exchange currency, receive one’s meals, and buy merchandise. A huge plus was the resting areas, spaces with fatboys where the participants could relax in between sessions. One of the most outstanding locations was the ‘palm room’ with real palm trees, just a mere two hundred meters from the main venue.
Breaking Stereotypes
One major part of AEGEE is to break stereotypes, and AEGEE-Chișinău has certainly exceeded many expectations. They, first of all, organised an excellent youth conference and were quite flexible to successfully tackle any problem or issue when it presented itself. This included, updating the programme when some sessions took longer than expected, providing some participants with transportation, if needed, and having paramedics on hand to assist participants, who were not feeling well.
What is more remarkable is that this local successfully recruited a diverse group of international volunteers to assist them in setting up this youth conference, making the organisation truly diverse and polyglot, a.k.a. European. In short, the organisers were kind and extremely helpful, the cultural programme (the traditional dances and clothing) was beautiful to see, and the traditional Moldovan food that the organisers provided for the participants was delicious.
Nevertheless, there were a few stereotypes that were confirmed. These were that Moldovans are extremely open, warm and hospitable to visitors, especially to their friends, and that Moldovan wine is quite tasty.
Knowledgeable
The Autumn Agora 2016 was certainly a successful event to transfer information about the various projects, committees, working groups and commissions of AEGEE. Like every six months, the Agora is a place where everyone in AEGEE can come together to discuss our ideas and opinions as one big European community, and this edition certainly furthered the cause for a borderless Europe.
Partners and Sponsors
The project was organised by AEGEE-Chișinău and AEGEE-Europe in partnership with the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the Municipality of Chișinău, financed by the East European Foundation in Moldova, the Embassy of Sweden and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark. Agora Chișinău’s digital partner was Star Net “we change the future”.
Other partners involved in the project and organisations that made a significant contribution to the organisation of the event were: Agepi, Draft, Minister of Agriculture and Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry, Chateau Vartely, Apa Buna, The Railway of Moldova, Institute of Labour, Red Bull, ADR Center and Clasic Mobil.
Stay tuned for our full interview with AEGEE-Chișinău.
Written by Willem Laurentzen, AEGEE-Nijmegen