I never thought I would just sit on my computer and start writing about an AEGEE event, but here I am. Having one of the best events of my AEGEE life, I felt that I need to share my thoughts and feelings about this event to appreciate both organisers and trainers’ efforts with the whole network.
Before the event, organisers did their best and found a place –a place with real beds– to accommodate for more than 60 people, which seems almost impossible considering the city’s population and size. The event was located in Berriz, a small town near Bilbao, in a ‘plaza’ where we could sleep, eat, have workshops and party at the same time! I can say that it was really efficient because we did not have to move anywhere but downstairs.
During the event, it was hard to see the organisers except for coffee breaks, as all of them were working like bees! A group of organisers were preparing the food for us, while the others were getting prepared for the coffee breaks and god knows what else. During meals, we were eating the food that was prepared by local organisers and everything was delicious. Starting with the salad, we had a meal for both meat-eaters and vegetarians, followed by dessert and fruit! I could see that the organisers had a really good fundraising strategy, as they served a lot of things such as cold drinks (coke, Redbull, etc..) for free.
Most importantly, AEGEE-Bilbao managed to integrate the new members with the other members, motivating them to get to know AEGEE and its ‘charms’. All of the new members were totally motivated as both organisers and participants, and I can assure that they will become beloved AEGEEans for the next years.
When it comes to praising trainers, I can easily say they did a great job! As I have mentioned during the evolutions, I was not expecting workshops to be so comprehensive and instructive, as most of the times I was faced with weakly-constructed workshops in AEGEE. However, this event changed my views for good. The trainers encouraged people to join European bodies, analysing our skills and experiences, filling our gaps about AEGEE-Europe and its bodies.
We had a great insight of Civic Education, Conflict Management(#DramaManagement), Role of Netcom, Future of AEGEE, Equal Rights, Migration IG, Youth Mobility WG and other things I cannot recall at the moment.
The sessions were really informative for both new and old members. As we worked on proposals, we had many discussions on different topics which we kept discussing in the following days -even though the event was over-, and we actually learnt something to put in practice!
I am writing this article as special thanks to all organisers and trainers, wishing them much more AEGEEan years with a lot of change.
Oh, and one more thing: TİPİ TAPA TİPİ TAPA KOR Rİ KA!
Written by İlknur Demir, AEGEE-Ankara