There is a place. Like no place on Earth. A land where every night is a new sleepless adventure. Some say to survive it: You need to be as mad as Hatter. The place in Beograd and The AEGEEan caught up with the antenna in the Serbian capital about what they are working on lately.
Board AEGEE-Beograd 2012.-2013.
The AEGEEan talked with Jelena Stanković and Ivana Miljanac who are part of the coordinating team for the upcoming New Years Eve event in Beograd later this year. There will be board elections in Beograd in December and talking about the experience in the board they say “For two of us, it was interesting experience to work in a board with a lot of different but inspiring people. This year was an existing voyage full of possibilities of learning something new and to transfer our knowledge to others.” It is likely that some of the current members will continue in the new board or become part of the advisory board. The girls also tell The AEGEEan that there are many new members in the antenna who are motivated to contribute to AEGEE-Beograd in this way. The board has since the beginning of their mandate last year been writing a knowledge transfer manual for every function separately to ensure that the new board will manage to do their job well.
When talking about the history and the story behind the antenna the girls get a bit nostalgic. “It seems like it was yesterday, that AEGEE-Beograd became member of AEGEE-Europe, and during these 18 years, sometimes difficult, we managed to become one of the most active locals, with over 60 projects. All this is, of course, because of the people who put a lot of effort and faith into this organization, and that is what makes us special. Keep on smiling even if the ice is breaking.”
AEGEE-Beograd is an antenna with 90 members, where a percentage of about 20% are active. What Ivana and Jelena especially have noticed is that a lot of the new members are as mentioned above interested in participating more, and also especially in the organization of the New Years event they are organizing at the moment.
In order to motivate the members on local level AEGEE-Beograd organizes a Local Training Course (LTC) every year as well as different trainings, social meetings and hangouts. “We are trying to find a way to motivate our members to become and, what is more important, stay active.”
Organizing a New Years event (NYE) is some kind of tradition for AEGEE-Beograd, before this NYE they had DANCE FEEL LOVE vol.1 and vol.2, Crazy Winter Tour vol.1 and vol.2. After AGORA Rhein-Neckar, inspired by AEGEE spirit and people, Jelena decided to organize this event once again, she made a proposal to the board, gathered a team and the adventure began.
The event has the name “Wonderland” where everything is special and different, and people should expect the unexpected. Moreover, AEGEE-Beograd is also really focusing on the cultural exchange part of organizing events. “As people who attended our events already know, we are always trying to be the best hosts. We want to create a relaxing atmosphere in which participants can actually learn something about Belgrade and Serbian culture.”
In terms of what plans AEGEE-Beograd has for 2014 Jelena and Ivana say that the new board should have the opportunity to decide on this. However, they both promise that the antenna will become more active on the European Level as well.
Written by Patricia Anthony, AEGEE-København