What is typically good about a cool AEGEE event? Nice international people from various places of Europe, perfect winter weather, snowy slopes for skiing and snowing, cozy cottage in the middle of white mountains and AEGEE atmosphere! Apart from crazy parties, funny ice-breaking games, and never-ending activities there is something that makes all AEGEE events unique – thematic lectures. Besides traditional AEGEE introduction, a workshop on the Eastern Partnership Project (EaP) was given to the participants of the SkiWeek event, organised by the team of AEGEE-Plzen. Despite the fact that the topic was not very clear and close to the participants from the EU member states, it did not leave them indifferent and laid the beginning for discussions. What was the impression of the discussions that followed the presentation? Nicholas Lagodigarda, Petr Slunčík and Daryna Skryl share their point of view:
Nicholas Lagodigarda, AEGEE-Turku, participant
The presentation was very interesting and informative, especially as I am personally interested in the issue of EU expansion and cooperation with non-EU states. I did not know about this project before, and I think the discussion that followed also helped to clarify point of views related to some delicate questions such as visas, mobility, equal opportunities, and EU-expansion. Contrasting opinions emerged and I think there was something to learn for everybody.
Petr Slunčík, AEGEE-Plzen, organiser
The workshop about the EaP project was extremely useful. Even though that I have been a member of AEGEE for more than five years it is still very useful and nice to hear other members views in the same organisation.
To tell the truth I did not know much about the Eastern Partnership project and I was really amazed how distinguished and important the ideas of this project are (such as non-visa traveling, open dialog between students in neighbours countries, etc.). And what is more? After Daryna’s catchy lecture the two-hour long discussion started among participants! I am so proud to be a part of this lecture!
Daryna Skryl, AEGEE-Dnipropetrovsk, EaP Project PR Manager
I was impressed by the participants’ attention to the topic of our project. After almost two hours of lectures we continued the discussion. I believe the reason why we had such a great feedback is that students and young people in the European Union partially face the same difficulties as their mates in the Eastern Partnership countries, that is why participants could easily get into the problematics and give very similar examples from their own experience. Girls from Serbia replied about implementing Erasmus in Balkan countries, we heard the stories about visa problems in case of travel to some Caucasus countries for EU-citizens and other mobility issues. So I guess we have raised the interest among the participants and hope to see it growing in the close future.
Written by Daryna Skryl, AEGEE-Dnipropetrovsk & EaP Project PR Manager