Europe on Track is a project run by young volunteers who aim to raise awareness, to create a space for discussion and to capture the opinions of youth in Europe on important social issues. Thanks to Interrail, the  ambassadors in teams of 3 (one videographer, one photographer and one interviewer per team) will travel by train across 20 countries in one month to deliver workshops, interview young people and organise events in cooperation with 200 volunteers from 30 cities in Europe. Let’s take a closer look at this amazing project!

The AEGEEan: What is your definition of Europe on Track? 

Erifyli and Ola: For many people Europe on Track is the most exciting AEGEE project, also quite often called the “dream” one. The idea is that selected ambassadors travel by train across Europe for one month to deliver workshops, interview young people and organise local events in cooperation with AEGEE antennae about the main topic of each edition. But the aim of Europe on Track is not only to travel and have fun but above all to raise awareness, to create a space for discussion and to capture the opinions of youth in Europe on important social issues while having an amazing time and connecting different parts of our continent (or even further!). This is an unbelievable journey for everyone involved in the project – ambassadors, project team and local organisers. One month full of adventures, events with great content and visible outcomes.

Tell us more about the project’s past achievements. 

Erifyli and Ola: We are working now on the fifth edition of Europe on Track which means the project is already known by some AEGEEans (but not all of them and we want to change it!) and has many things
to be proud of! Each edition of the project tackled a different civic topic, relevant for European youth. The first edition of the project, launched in 2013, won the European Charlemagne Youth Prize which is awarded annually to a project that fosters a shared sense of European identity and integration among young people.
Last edition, Europe on Track 4, was the winner of the Franck Biancheri Award and organised an amazing kick-off conference in cooperation with AEGEE-Budapest and the Civic Education Working Group. During their journey, the ambassadors were able to reach 1000 young Europeans in 26 different cities. After last edition’s success, many people became interested in the project and decided to continue the journey with Europe on Track 5!

How is the team being formed?

Erifyli and Ola: Our Project Team, consisting of 16 people, was already selected in June and has been working on the project for six months! In August, three assistants joined our team to help us in specific areas – Fundraising and IT. Since the beginning we can count also on our CD appointed member Maria, who was the Content Manager of EoT 3 and 4, so she’s a really great help for us! In October we found 34 awesome AEGEE locals which will prepare Europe on Track stops in their cities. The local organisers are a crucial part of our project because thanks to them we can engage different people and be present at universities, have meetings with local authorities, NGOs etc. Now we are looking for the last important part of the team – our ambassadors! This edition, we don’t need six, but nine travellers who will join Europe on Track. To have a bigger impact, we decided to create three teams, one more than in previous editions, and we are currently looking for the perfect candidates! If you know someone who’s inspiring, wants to have a life-changing experience traveling all around Europe while discussing and giving workshops about Sustainability and Climate Change, share our Open Call with her/him.

How and why did you choose the topic for the new edition?

Erifyli and Ola: Firstly we collected ideas from the network. Then we split inside the project team into smaller groups and researched each of the 32 submitted topics: possible activities, grants, cooperation, funds, etc. It took us more than one month to select the final one! The topic of ‘Sustainability and Climate Change’ under the motto “Can you hear the ECO?” is extremely important these days! We are dealing with an environmental crisis caused by irresponsible human behavior but we don’t want to only talk about it, we want to take action. That’s why we will make our project CO2 neutral, we will plant trees (also in your name if you donate to our crowdfunding campaign) and we will gather opinions of young people and inform them about how to act and how to have an impact on the Earth.

What plans do you have in store?

Erifyli and Ola: We said in the beginning that we will take Europe on Track to the next level and so far we think we are doing it! Three routes, nine ambassadors, 34 hosting locals and our crowdfunding campaign are just the beginning of big surprises. We are focusing now on the Open Call for ambassadors and the crowdfunding campaign. Then we will work closely with locals to prepare high level and contentful events and to make them use the opportunity to be a part of big European project. We are also planning our kick-off conference in Thessaloniki and the Environmental Action Week. We are constantly working on Fundraising and External Relations. We hope to reveal some more big surprises very soon!

Who can become an ambassador of Europe on Track 5?

Erifyli and Ola: First of all, we are looking for people for specific positions: photographer, videographer and blogger. Also, we don’t mind if you can do two or all things, in the end you always have to choose one role!
We want to find people who are inspiring, have experience in travelling and delivering workshops as well as knowledge about Sustainability and Climate Change. You need to be open-minded, responsible and, what’s very important, resistant to stress and physical fatigue. Travelling for one month, sleeping in trains, changing place every two or three days can be tiresome and we need to be sure that our potential ambassadors are prepared for it. And in the end, we are looking for candidates with initiative who will make this trip an unforgettable
experience both for themselves and everyone involved in the project.

Is there anything you would like to add?

Erifyli and Ola: We think that what makes this edition special is that we have so many extremely motivated people working on the project and we are really aiming big! Our project manager, Jorge, was an ambassador of EoT4 and has a lot of experience so he always pushes us to do more, think out of the box and do things that have never been done before like having three teams or the crowdfunding campaign. We had a live meeting in Brussels in October and the atmosphere inside the project team is just great! Although the most important thing is that we really want to bring Sustainability and Climate Change closer to AEGEE and young people.

Our initiative is needed and we, as Europe on Track, want to act and help the planet as much as we can. And with our motivation and your help we believe we can do a lot!

Are you curious to find out what young people really think about Sustainability and Climate Change? Are you passionate about travelling? Do you like giving presentations and workshops? Do you want to spend one month doing all of these around Europe?

Then join Europe on Track 5!
Become an #ambassador! We are looking for photographers, videomakers and bloggers/interviewers who wish to travel for one month and bring the topic of sustainability and climate change closer to European youth. You can find Open Call for ambassadors here:bit.ly/ambassadorEOT5
Support our #crowdfunding campaign! Together with Youth 4 Public Transport we will measure our carbon footprint and plant enough trees to make our project CO2 neutral. We need your help for that! Check out our perks and more about our project from the 10th of November.
Organise and participate in local events! You can get involved in organising activities connected with Europe on Track during our Environmental Action Week, or during the route of our ambassadors. You’ll see the list of events on our website soon.
Follow our journey in Social Media!

Facebook: Europe on Track
Instagram: www.instagram.com/europeontrack/
Youtube: Europe on Track https://goo.gl/w1PCcv
Website: www.europeontrack.org

Written by Aliona Sytnyk, AEGEE-Berlin

In times that are not financially easy, travelling seems to be a luxury, but do not forget that even a small trip helps to shake off the burden of problems and gain new strength. There are many tricks which might help to plan a cheap trip. Since most of AEGEEans are students on a budget, we would like to post about opportunities for travelling cheap.

Plan your trip in advance

It’s better to plan the budget costs on a maximum depending on features of each concrete trip: logistics (including rent of the car, tickets for trains, etc.), accommodation and the minimum programme (exhibitions, restaurants, concerts and shopping trips). This may sound obvious but a lot of people forget about logistics and spend more than they expected. Thus, check out ways and compare prices to get to the city from the airport before your trip. In many EU-cities you can walk to the city centre from the central station, so it would be clever to check out the distance beforehand and save some money and time instead of waiting for a bus. The Internet is ready to suggest the average cost of living in a particular city.

Getting there

Most likely, the highest expenditure for you will be a flight. It is better not to delay buying air tickets: the earlier you buy them, the cheaper they will cost.
Buy tickets for the plane using airfare search sites like Aviasales, Skyscanner, Anywayanyday, Momondo, Kayak and low-cost like Lastminute. Don’t forget to clear your browser’s cache before every new search: the cookies store information you were looking before and suggest new options depending on what you’ve already seen. If you always start from scratch, they will not offer you more expensive options. Choose off-season flights, so that they will cost even less. Keep in mind that the fare recalculation occurs on Monday, and if you find a good ticket, you have time until Tuesday to buy it at the current price. Some airlines like AirBaltic offer to pay separately for everything: luggage, registration at the airport, your preferred seat and meals on board. If you can put everything in your hand luggage and survive three hours without a cold sandwich – why pay for it?

For trains you might check out Raileurope and Rome2rio, for busses – Flixbus or Fernbus. You can try “planned hitchhiking” by using Bla bla car services, which offer to become a fellow traveller. All operations and payment pass through the company’s website. It is worthwhile to focus on the feedback of grateful (or not) customers, and if there is no doubt, then the trip will hardly be different from calling Uber.

Or actually try hitchhiking! If it is your first time, consider travelling with someone who is experienced in it. You should also read hitchhike forums about destination you want to go to get some tips and visit Hitchwiki.

Accommodation

Staydu or Couchsurfing are great websites where you can find a place to stay and meet wonderful people all over the world. You don’t have to pay for you stay, but it will be nice if you bring something to your host or share some knowledge like showing your cooking skills or having a language exchange. With Couchsurfing you can also find meetups or people who would like to hang out close to you. If you are a girl travelling alone, who has heard a lot of bad things about Couchsurfing, find a travel mate or a host in Facebook GoWonder®  – Women Travel. You might also try Hospitalityclub, which is a worldwide network of open doors where you can also find a place to stay for free.

In Airbnb you can find a cheap room or a bed in someone else’s house. If not, try LateRooms or Hoteltonight, the last one is a perfect app for spontaneous booking: the closer is your booking date, the cheaper you will book your room. Check out Hostelworld – don’t be afraid to live in a hostel, it is another awesome way to make new international friends.

If you prefer to be all alone and have no money for a hotel, you might also try to rent a car for travelling and sleeping in it, check out Autoeurope.

Since it is not always easy to find a place for the night through Couchsurfing or other sites like that, one must be prepared for sleeping in a tent. Although in many cities there are not many suitable places to break a tent, if you look carefully, you can always find a loophole. You can, for example, take shelter in the backyard of the church (people who come to visit such places are more tolerant and kind), in a small garden with a lot of trees and bushes. Keep in mind that you do not need a large space to sleep, the area of 2mx1m will be quite enough.

Entertainment

Sites around the world suggest many free events and cheap places to visit with comments from other travellers: starting with the Stay and ending with tourist portals like TripAdvisor. Before the trip it is worth to dig on Yelp, Like a Local Guide or TimeOut and see what interesting and budget places there are in the city. Do not forget about Neweuropetours – free walking tours in the EU.

When it comes to museums, concerts, exhibitions, markets and so on, always try to buy tickets in advance. Also in many countries there is a day of free access to all major museums – at such a date it is quite possible to adjust the trip.

Most importantly, if the budget is small, do not put off the issue of entertainment until the last, when you stand on the street and do not know where to go and what to eat. If you pre-marked on an offline map of the city a dozen of liked places, the problem will disappear by itself.

Long-term travelling opportunities

Become a volunteer in an organic farm. Organic farmers are usually limited in the means to hire professional workers, and as a result, some of them are looking for volunteers. You will not receive a salary, but at least you will have a place to stay at the destination. Many of the owners will even provide you with food. The largest and most used by the volunteers organisation is WWOOF or World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms, but this organisation will require you to pay a small fee for joining. For completely free options it will be necessary to comb ads and free forums.

If you are a student, keep an eye for exchange programmes at your university or trainings abroad like ASEF or Council of Europe, which not only cover the travel or accommodation costs but also educate you and give new friends and experiences. You will need a strong motivation and relevant experiences (e.g. organising a Summer University or active membership in the Civic Education Working Group) for this.

Another great way to learn something new is work & travel. Workaway or helpx will help you to find a host, where you get food and accommodation for working four to five hours a day and sometimes even pocket money. Those jobs are usually like babysitting, cleaning or helping with building a house, so you will not only see a country as a local and learn stuff like building a greenhouse, but also improve your language skills. Why pay for a boring language course and a hotel, if you can live in Spain helping someone around?

All this is extremely profitable, but for such a holiday you need to understand precisely that all your “deprivations” are not deprivations at all, but the result of a conscious choice, and consider those restrictions as an exciting quest.

Extra tips for any travelling

• Learn 50-100 of the necessary words of the country’s language before leaving. It’s easier to find out the prices and you won’t be so hesitant to bargain, when you have a small vocabulary. Also locals will react friendlier and maybe even feed you and offer to host you, which happens a lot in Asia.
• Eat where locals eat. The food is more delicious and cheaper there, plus you will feel the city and meet new local friends. 
• Travelling does not only mean taking selfies with some nice architecture. It also means meeting locals or other expats. Improve your social skills – do not be afraid of talking to new people in hostels, museums or on the street. You might use apps like Couchsurfing, Meetup, Facebook ( e.g. groups Munich or Lisbon international friends) or even Tinder for those purposes.

Any other ideas how to discover our big world on a budget? Share in comments!

Written by Aliona Sytnyk, AEGEE-Berlin

Sources:
http://www.wikihow.com/Travel-on-a-Budget 

http://www.wonderzine.com/wonderzine/life/travel/215847-travel-cheaper-travel-more

Picture:

http://blog.kemwel.com/vacation-plans/economical-vacation-destinations-for-travel-on-a-budget

One year as Projects and Communication Director at the AEGEE House in Brussels, and Joanna Pankowska from AEGEE-Warszawa has no intention to pause. During busy preparations for Spring Agora Enschede we talked to a very energetic and inspiring candidate for Civic Education Working Group Coordinator.

The AEGEEan: Joanna, after being in the Comité Directeur, members often take some time for themselves, but this is not your case. What keeps you motivated to lead a working group?

Joanna: Being a member of the Comité Directeur is a very different experience than working in European Bodies for one simple reason – next to the tasks that you are passioned about there is also plenty of tasks that are not necessarily the things you came to AEGEE for. Don’t get me wrong: I am thankful for the experience and I definitely learnt a lot while being in Brussels, but my true passion was and still is civic education, and that is why it feels natural to continue the work I started while being member of the Working Group in 2015/16 and continued as CD appointed responsible towards the education portfolio.

Why do you think civic education has a fundamental impact on society?

Quoting the words of Barack Obama: “The most important office in a democracy is the office of citizen“. Every office requires preparation and civic education is supposed to prepare us for the role of citizens. Currently, we are witnessing insufficient and incoherent teaching throughout Europe of essential civic competences, i.e. the knowledge, skills and attitudes that are needed to act as a responsible, active and democratic citizen. I believe that we need to address this issue first before we can move forward with any other social issue.

CEWG has two big aims: non-formal and formal civic education. What projects have you been working on in these fields?

My interest in the topic precedes my membership in AEGEE. As a scout and a volunteer in numerous Polish NGOs, I have always focused on the topic of inclusiveness and civic education. I took part in a Youth in Action study session, learning about the Swedish education system, and I coordinated a working group under The Polish Student Parliament on the proposals of changing the Polish educational system and many other similar initiatives. When joining AEGEE, I focused similarly on civic education, firstly by joining the Working Group on Civic Education in 2015/16 and being a driving force behind the European Citizens’ Initiative “More than Education”. Being part of the Comité Directeur, I continue contributing to our internal and external affairs on the topic of civic education, and education more generally. Throughout the whole year I have been working closely with the Lifelong Learning Platform, which is one of the most important education oriented organisations in Brussels. Lately, I have also been selected as a member of the expert group on education within the European Youth Forum.

What are the usual task of the CEWG? Describe a typical busy day of CEWG or a live meeting.

It depends on the new team and how we divide the roles. Two years ago, we have been a relatively small team, so the collaboration was smooth, but also the workload was quite extensive. This year, I observe that the whole team of the CEWG (9 people) worked very hard and they also managed to create a very flat and cooperative structure for the team that allows people to work in smaller subteams, which means that for every member the work looks a bit different. Live meetings are there to set up long terms plans and responsibilities. Depending on the capacity of the team, the minimum plan is to fulfill the objectives of the Action Agenda and if the team wants to do more – the sky is the limit. If Agora approves the current objectives proposals, it seems we will be focusing on differences between political systems, visits to high schools, critical thinking and ECI follow-up.

You were among the promoters of the European Citizens’ Initiative “More than Education”. What do you think is its biggest strenght and its biggest weakness?

The weakness is quite obvious – we did not do a classic campaign for it because we never found proper human and financial resources to run a campaign. None of the people in the team was interested in doing so and also several open calls and Erasmus+ openings did not attract people to run it. I myself few times regret that due to my Comité Directeur responsibilities, I could not take a more active role in it. This reflects in the numbers of signatures. Nevertheless, I believe the ECI does bring a lot of value to AEGEE. It is the theme of Europe on Track, which is proving to be a very successful edition, it has been reflected in the Budapest conference, the hitchhiking competition “Thumbs Up for Civic Education” preparation is going very well. It was the main topic of our activities at YO!Fest, University on Youth and Development in Mollina and European Ideas Lab – Greens. We established many contacts that are valuable not only for the ECI itself but also for future collaborations on the topic of civic education (Animafac, European Civic Forum, European Humanist Federation, Association for Teacher Education in Europe, Network European Citizenship Education, Vote&Vous, Bosch Foundation and many more). María Ballesteros Melero (AEGEE-Madrid) was a speaker on behalf of the ECI at the “1st European Conference on Education and Democracy” organised by Fundación Cives in Spain. Thanks to the ECI we have established very close relations with the European Economic and Social Committee. I was invited to speak at the ECI ad hoc group meeting as well as at the ECI day. We are also collaborating with EESC on the upcoming roundtable event: ‘Mind the gap – how to strengthen civic education for all throughout Europe’. Are we reaching one million signatures? No. Do we put civic education on political agenda? I think so.

Can you tell us something more about your cooperation with the Lifelong Learning Platform?

I have been a link between the Platform and AEGEE. I have attended numerous meetings and events but also I have been in touch directly with the Director of LLLP, discussing the possibility of the creation of a new working group within the LLLP on the topic of civic education, which will be led by AEGEE. This conversation has not been finalised yet, but right after Agora I will be attending the General Assembly of LLLP, where it should happen. We are also discussing the possibility of co-organising an event at the European Parliament together with Lifelong Learning Platform and other partners in autumn. LLLP is one of the important partners for AEGEE, not only because it is the most relevant stakeholder in European civil society when it comes to education, but also because AEGEE has been one of its founding organisations and it is important to maintain our active role within the platform. Contribution to the processes and consultations within the Platform allows us to be part of bigger European discussion at the tables that we might not be invited on our own. Taking into consideration all the knowledge and experience I have gained this year, I hope I can continue to be the link between AEGEE and LLLP as a Working Group Coordinator.

How would you pursue cooperation with other Working Groups? Do you already have ideas in mind?

I have numerous ideas but those have to be of course agreed with all of the Working Groups. The general though is to coordinate actions when it comes to AEGEE calendar, so to have months dedicated to each of the focus areas (the idea was born during the drafting part of EPM and does not belong to me). Another idea would be to collaborate on communication towards the Network – for example sending open calls for members of WGs in a coordinated matter or putting together all of the publications and materials from WG that locals can use and have common promotion of them. Last but not least – active communication between groups, sharing best practices, co-creating events and much more – depending on the capacity of all of the groups. I imagine all of the working group coordinators to meet before the summer to discuss a collaboration strategy for the whole year.

You can read her full candidature here.

Written by Aliona Sytnyk, AEGEE-Berlin

Although AEGEE-Düsseldorf is a really small antenna with around five or seven active members, they succeeded to represent the essence and spirit of AEGEE. In February, AEGEE-Düsseldorf organised their first RTC, in cooperation with Diede Oudenampsen from the Academy as trainer. They managed to find accommodation and food, to fundraise some tickets and water, to invite ESN-Erasmus Students’ Network and JEF-Young European Federalists for a presentation, and more. AEGEE-Düsseldorf is continuously trying to improve cooperation with other associations (Christian associations, JEF, and ESN in particular), showing that there is no need for competition. The fact that such a small antenna can achieve such an event deserves recognition.

During the RTC, where the Düssi-fever got participants and organisers affected. Düssi is the elephant mascotte of our the local, that’s the reason behind the funny arm movements.

The AEGEEan: Congratulations, you were nominated as Local of the Month of February! Introduce yourselves, please, and tell us your AEGEE-Düsseldorf story. How did it start? Can you tell us a bit more about your local?

AEGEE-Düsseldorf: Hello lovely AEGEEans, we are AEGEE-Düsseldorf! Once upon a time, a group of Europe enthusiasts decided to bring AEGEE into Düssseldorf’s student life. That was in 19xx and afterwards there is a big gap in our history. It remains unknown until this day, what or who brought AEGEE-Düsseldorf to life. So we start our story with Benjamin Feyen, the bard. It is him, who, with help of his friends, built a solid foundation, that we are still relying upon. Our local was never really big, but that does not matter to us. What matters is the motivation and initiative of our members. Cultural speed-dates, speed-debates, free walking tours and visits from other locals is what keeps our blood pumping. But with our current board, our blood started to boil! Though few in numbers, we managed to organise the RTC “Get your local movin'” in February, with the support of our friends from AEGEE-Eindhoven. And it was amazing!

How did you come to the idea to cooperate with ESN and managed to succeed in it?

In Düsseldorf, there are many youth organisations that revolve around the European future, with young people taking action in making their ideals come true. The goals are not always 100% the same and the methods differ greatly, but we still have a common ground. That was especially true for ESN and AEGEE-Düsseldorf, since we are both nurturing intercultural understanding, so we wanted to get in contact for a long time already. It is thanks to JEF, who started an event for this sole purpose, that we could establish serious (and fun) cooperations. The first “Zukunftswerkstatt”, roughly translated to future workshop, was held at the end of 2016. JEF, ESN, EYP, YEP and AEGEE attended, all youth organisations with the European future in mind. The main purpose of the event was to get in contact and to learn about each other’s visions and goals, as well as to see where we could cooperate together.
It was a great success! Since then, we have had some debating events with JEF and participated in “March for Europe” with ESN and JEF. Now “Zukunftswerkstatt” Vol.2 will be organised by AEGEE-Düsseldorf. This time, the topic will be cooperation on social media. We really look forward to our guests’ presentations on Social Media and the shaping of concrete plans for helping each other out! We highly recommend it to all locals! Look out for who else is fighting for a bright European future and start working together.

What are you working on at in the moment?

There are a few projects we are working on. Some more history-changing, some others purely for our high spirits. We are currently establishing collaborations with other youth organisations, which will help us benefit from each other and spread Europtimism throughout Düsseldorf. It is something that we consider to be crucial and it is nice to work towards the same goal apart from the AEGEE network. Just what is happening with Pulse of Europe at the moment.
In accordance with our RTC, we decided to use sports as a mean of teambuilding. We are now doing monthly yoga sessions to keep us healthy and ready for new challenges. We look forward to Europe on Track visiting us, helping AEGEE-Köln for their pre-event and welcoming SUs and exchanges with other locals. It may not sound as much for bigger locals, but for an active circle of three to seven it feels like a rollercoaster sometimes.

How did it feel to find out that you were nominated? 

We were super happy! To find out that our efforts were noticed by our friends, it made us realise that we are all in this together. We were probably nominated because you can feel how alive we are at the moment and how indulged we are in our events.

Why do you write everywhere that you are not from Cologne? 

Hahaha that is because the cities of Düsseldorf and Cologne are long time rivals (especially when it comes to brewing beer the right way). And because the cities are really close to each other, we emphasise that we are not from Cologne. [they laugh, ed.] You will hear it during the roll call at the Agora as well!

What is your motto? Can you describe your local in one sentence?

Go with the flow and see how far it takes you. Then start paddling.

Written by Aliona Sytnyk, AEGEE-Berlin

Soon upon my arrival from Passau to Heidelberg, I was welcomed by Viola (from Your Vision For Europe) and Mareike (from the Network Commission). They showed me the beautiful city of Heidelberg, and after having lunch with them, we joined an evening meeting with the members of AEGEE-Heidelberg.

All members that were present at the meeting shared their experiences and impression about AEGEE. They also offered me an insight in the work of AEGEE-Heidelberg. They have around 50 members and they are structured in teams. Their board members are mainly new members in general, but motivated to work in management of the local. Their main work is focused on European events and the work that they do with Erasmus students is their biggest recruitment tool. Also a few of their members are active in European Bodies of AEGEE. They have several planned exchanges (e.g. with AEGEE-Cagliari, their Twin Antenna AEGEE-Budapest and with AEGEE-Kyïv) too.

My last stop on this journey was AEGEE-Düsseldorf. I met Maja and Jonathan, both board members, and during a very interesting city tour, we managed to discuss the situation in their local.

AEGEE-Düsseldorf is a small antenna, but an active one. Currently they have around 15 members, of which half is active. In the last year they managed to organise more activities and they even organised an RTC a few weeks ago, which gave them the insight in event management and gave them ideas for new projects. What is beneficial for this local is that near them, there are several bigger locals that they can cooperate with.

The local is facing some issues with recruitment, which is pretty normal when there is lack of a proper knowledge transfer. Another big problem for this local is the change of generations, which is a problem for all locals, but is mostly visible in the smaller ones. My chat with Maja and Jonathan generated useful food for thought.

My trip ended with AEGEE-Düsseldorf after more than three weeks on track. Thank you all for your hospitality.

Written by Zvonimir Canjuga, Financial Director of AEGEE-Europe

Zvonimir in Passau

After the superbly organised EPM in Zagreb, and a short break with all CD members in my hometown, it was time to move forward with the second part of CD on Track. After eleven hours of train, my first destination was AEGEE-Wien. I spent my short stay in Wien with Bernhard and Christian, current and ex-president of AEGEE-Wien. In the discussion with them I got to understand that AEGEE-Wien is a small, but stable local. They have around 20 members, but they expect to have twice as much after the SU application period. They have around ten active members throughout the year and five former members that are helping when or if needed.  In last years, they organised mostly fun local events, but recently they got involved in meeting events with migrants, and events about environment and sustainability. They also shared their views on AEGEE as an organisation today and concluded that we are focusing on finding the identity and becoming more professional, but AEGEE is still offering more than enough place to have fun and AEGEE is open to everybody.

After a short morning trip from Wien to Passau, I was welcomed by Dominic, president of AEGEE-Passau. We were joined by more members for a nice city tour and we managed to discuss the local context in a nutshell.

I was planning to go to Passau for a long time, as I heard many stories about the local and how well they perform concerning antenna management. AEGEE-Passau has almost 200 members with around 40 active members, working mainly with international students. They have a close and good relation with the International Office of the University from which they receive most of the support. Also, a few members of the local are employed in the office. Dominic arranged the meeting with them where we discussed the collaboration of AEGEE-Passau and the International Office, but also the potential collaboration of the International Office and AEGEE-Europe.

Later in the evening, we had a meeting with the rest of the board and a few more members. They described how they see their local now and what they would like to see in the future. I am happy to see that board is listening to its members and more activities are in plans to be organised.  Also, we discussed the current political situation in Europe and engaged in an interesting discussion after it. After the meeting, we concluded our visit by checking the AEGEE-Passau office, in which I saw nice memories from the past years.

You can check here the interview with Dominic, President of AEGEE-Passau.

Written by Zvonimir Canjuga, Financial Director of AEGEE-Europe

19th and 20th of February – Réka, Tekla and Zvonimir

Next stop on my route was AEGEE-Udine. On my way from Bologna to the Udine, I stopped in Mestre to have a short meeting and discussion with Erika Bettin, our lovely support from The AEGEEan and Interim Vice-Chair. Yet, let’s go back to the AEGEE-Udine, whose Summer University was the best in 2016, and I expected to see enthusiastic and young people, new leaders and plans for new Summer University that will be one of the best again. Those expectations were met, even if the local is facing a change of the generations. As soon as I arrived I was welcomed by Filippo, president of AEGEE-Udine, and we went to the city tour where I reunited with Tekla, and later with Reka. During a nice Italian dinner, we had some informal talks about events and European Schools.

On the 20th, our day started with a meeting of the representative of the International Office at the University of Udine, where we gave a short overview of what AEGEE’s contribution is in Brussels, and what the possibilities are to collaborate with both AEGEE-Udine and AEGEE-Europe. Before the meeting in the afternoon with members, through some adventures, we managed to enter our host’s place and work/prepare a bit. In the afternoon, we had a meeting with the whole board and with some of the active members of AEGEE-Udine where we introduced our work in CD, discussed some upcoming plans of the local and gave some recommendations on how to collaborate with nearby locals, how to improve their collaboration with the university and with other possible partners, and how to activate their members. The evening was closed with the birthday celebrations of AEGEE-Udine, as the local turned 25, and for us to take the next train towards Ljubljana, our next stop for CD on Track.

In addition please check the short interview with Filippo, president of AEGEE-Udine.

Written by Zvonimir Canjuga, Financial Director of AEGEE-Europe, and Tekla Hajdu, Network Director

“The European Union is a political and economical union of 28 countries. EU policies aim to ensure the free movement of people, goods, services, and capital within the internal market, enact legislation in justice and home affairs, and maintain common policies on trade, agriculture, fisheries, and regional development. Within the Schengen Area, passport controls have been abolished.” (Wikipedia)

Member states are located primarily in Europe, however not every country from Europe as a continent is in there. Some countries with the strong economy like Switzerland do not want to belong to the EU and those small groups of developing countries bordered by the EU members like Ukraine, Georgia or Montenegro would like to be a part of the EU, but cannot because of their unstable economical situations. 

Let me tell you about most common ways to go to the EU, if you do not possess a European pass, using Ukrainian citizenship as an example. Average monthly salary in Ukraine is 6000 UAH [Ukrainian Hryvnia, ed.] according to Trading Economics and some students get a government scholarship which is not more than 30 Euros. In Ukraine, it is possible to survive for 100 Euros per month, but in the EU prices are different.

1) If you are a student
AEGEE-Kyiv members want to go to AEGEE-Budapest for a Civic Education conference for three days. They are allowed to get a visa when the invitation from AEGEE-Budapest (with all stamps and so on) is provided but only for this period of time. So they pay like 140 Euros for a round trip without an opportunity to stay longer to have a look around, plus they pay a visa fee. The same applies to study trips or any short term trips to the EU for which you can provide an invitation.

2) If you want to study in the EU
Many Ukrainians choose Germany for the universities to have quality education and pay no tuition fees. To get a student visa, you have to bring an account statement of 8500 Euros to the German embassy as a prove that you are not going to beg and have enough money for living. You have to show this bank statement each year to extend your student visa, whereas it does not matter whether you are a good student or not. Not to mention how many years Ukrainians have to spend to gather this amount of money, and once you are enrolled, you are not allowed to withdraw more than 650 Euros from this account since it is blocked while you are studying.

3) If you want to travel around Europe
To get a tourist visa for the EU to travel or to visit your relatives and friends, you as Ukrainian are going to go through fire and water. I am not kidding! To get a tourist visa officially from the embassy you have to provide a bank statement (from 1000 Euros on, depending on the trip duration), plus a сertificate on real estate, plus a certificate of marriage and having children, plus a certificate of employment, plus either booked hotels or an invitation by those who are going to host you, and to top off all of that, booked round tickets with dates. Why? Because the EU government is afraid that all Ukrainians are obsessed with the idea to work illegally somewhere in Europe.

Because of current unemployment and iniquity, many Ukrainians are informally employed, so they cannot provide a certificate of employment to the embassy. To get a tourist visa they go to any tour operator, who writes a fake certificate of employment and also a fake bank statement since it is impossible to prove 2000 Euros on an account while earning 200 Euros monthly. Furthermore, it is actually dangerous to have a bank account in Ukraine, since at any time the bank can go broke and vanish with all your money. The tour operator asks three times the price for a tourist visa compared to the embassy, but for many Ukrainians, it is the only chance to go to the EU.

In addition, you have to travel to Kyiv for fingerprinting (which are actually already in Ukrainian biometric passports), so you need to consider the time and money you will spend for this trip (Ukraine is the Europe’s biggest country if you did not know).

The process for getting the EU visa is super expensive and demanding. Most of Ukrainians are happy to be Ukrainians and do not want to leave their country. Yet, why are they not allowed to travel right after buying a ticket like their neighbour countries and have to spend years for saving money for a bank statement or find illegal ways to visit their friends?

The EU and Kyiv began visa liberalisation negotiations in 2008. At the end of 2015, the European Commission concluded that Ukraine had made the necessary progress and had met all the benchmarks, despite the exceptional internal and external challenges it faced in recent years and presented a proposal to grant its citizens visa-free access to the EU in April 2016. The legislation was signed by the Parliament’s President Antonio Tajani and representatives of the Maltese Presidency of the Council on Wednesday 1st of March and will enter into force 20 days after it is published in the EU Official Journal. Once the change enters into force and provided they have biometric passports, Ukrainians will be able to enter the EU for up to 90 days in any 180-day-period for business, tourist or family purposes.

Of course, Ukrainians will not have the right to work or study in the EU, but at least it will be so much easier for them to visit AEGEE or Erasmus friends and to travel this big world without such strong limitations.

P.S Great MMA Fighter Genki Sudo did not come down to the ring with a flag of his native country. Instead, he had a flag unifying us as equals. What if we all do the same?

Written by Aliona Sytnyk, AEGEE-Berlin

Day 17 – 18 – 19 – Köln, Mainz-Wiesbaden and back to Brussels (3rd – 5th March)

Tekla with AEGEE-Köln

As all good things come to an end, CD on Track is also finishing soon for all of us: for me, the last two stops were in Köln and in Mainz to visit AEGEE-Köln and AEGEE-Mainz-Wiesbaden, which are among the older locals in our Network.

My second to last stop was Köln, where I spent a nice Saturday brunch with the Board and the members of AEGEE-Köln. We mostly focused on how to plan the semester for the members to keep them active and how to participate in Erasmus+ exchanges and trainings as a local. The afternoon continued with a trip to Mainz, where I observed the General Assembly of AEGEE-Mainz-Wiesbaden and introduced who is in CD 54 and what are we doing in Brussels.

Tekla with AEGEE-Mainz-Wiesbaden members

In the evening, I returned to Köln to discover the city a bit and to prepare for my last train ride back to Brussels on Sunday in order to return to office work from Monday.

Even though the trip has ended for me, it brought a lot of experience, memories and things to reflect on for the upcoming months of my term. I would like to thank once again all the locals and AEGEEans who took part in this journey, hosted us, had a meeting with us, showed their cities or just dared to ask questions and be open to know more about AEGEE.

Written by Tekla Hajdu, Network Director

What first thoughts come to your mind when you think of Switzerland? Cheese, watches, banks, chocolate and crazy prizes for everything. Swiss people are also famous for their precision, perfectionism and punctuality. What else would you expect from people who produce watches?

While planning to go to Switzerland many people choose Zürich as number one city worth visiting. In my humble opinion, you might see most of the city in one day, but if you came for a weekend or more, be ready to pay double price for the same accommodation you would find in another European city. Every city has its own atmosphere and Zürich is a city of business. People in suits and expensive shoes with leather bags always seem to run somewhere. You might find a lot of hipsters there too, but even they look perfect and neat. Parks and public places are very clean and seem a bit unnatural for me because of their aristocratic look.

Paying a visit to Zürich, you might like to visit:

#1 Bahnhofstrasse
If you arrived by train, you might want to walk through this street to Old town. There are a lot of brand stores like Rolex and boutiques in here.

#2 Lake Zürich
Follow down the cosy streets of Altstadt (Old town) with a lot of shops to enjoy nice views of Zürichsee (Lake Zürich).

#3 Flea market “Rosenhof” in Weingasse
It is open every Saturday and there are so many nice things to buy as souvenirs. E.g. a real “Viktorinox” Swiss Army knife for five CHF (four euros 50 cents).

#4 Chocolate boutiques
There are plenty of them everywhere and you might do a little experiment comparing a Swiss chocolate from a boutique for 15 CHF with a chocolate from the nearest supermarket for five CHF.

#5 Frau Gerolds Garden
With warm weather, many people come here to chill in BBQ parties, soothing atmosphere and very nice decorations. A good place to try a traditional Swiss cheese fondue.

#6 Churches
Many tourists feel compelled to visit a church in every city. In Zürich, you have three options: Fraumünster, Great Minster Church (Grossmünster) and Wasserkirche. On the promenade, you will find Fraumünster. It was a female monastery for aristocratic ladies possessed considerable power in the city and even they had the privilege of printing money. The two towers which proudly rise in any picture of Zürich belong to the main cathedral – Grossmünster, which was built in the 12th century. According to the legend, the Grossmünster was founded by Charlemagne, whose horse fell to its knees at the tomb of Felix and Regula – patron saints of Zürich. The tower of the Great Minster – it is a great place to take beautiful pictures of the old centre. Close to the lake, the church Wasserkirche was surrounded by water (from whence the name), but the subsequently Limmatquai is connected to the church with the land. In Reformation Times, Wasserkirche was the first public library of Zürich in 1634. Having a “place of knowledge” – the Church- thus made a significant contribution to the formation of the University of Zürich in the 19th century.

#7 Kunsthaus (free on Wednesdays)
If you like art, you might love this museum which contains a collection of classical and contemporary art, including several paintings by Salvador Dali, Monet, Picasso and Marc Chagall.

#8 Thermalbad Zürich: From an old brewery to a bathing sanctuary
After a difficult day and if you have three free hours, you would love this SPA. What is special here is that there is a heated open-air swimming pool on the top of it from where you can enjoy the panorama of Zürich at any time of the year.

You have not seen Switzerland if you were not in mountains!

From Zürich, take a train to Lucerne (40 mins) and you will be surprised by the contrast from business to the romantic city. Lucerne is a city of art. It can indeed inspire you to write a sonnet or paint a picture. Somehow it happens that while most of Europeans and Americans walk the paths of Felix and Regula in Zürich, most, if not all, Asians go to Lucerne. Which might be good for you: follow an Asian person in Lucerne to see all the nicest sightseeings.

#1 Old town
Even without a guide, you discover most of it because there are so many murals or paintings around, narrating about the purpose of a particular building or historical events.

#2 Lion of Lucerne
It commemorates the Swiss Guards who were massacred in 1792 during the French Revolution when revolutionaries stormed the Tuileries Palace in Paris. Mark Twain praised the sculpture of a mortally-wounded lion as “the most mournful and moving piece of stone in the world.”

#3 Take a ship from Luzern to visit the Swiss Alps, e.g. Mount Rigi.
You can hike, snowboard and ski from up there or enjoy spectacular views of the Alps at 1,800 metres above sea level. The cogwheel railway leaving from Vitznau is Europe’s first mountain railway.

Lifehacks:

• Swiss people speak German, but in a Swiss way. So, when you cannot understand what they are talking about, simply ask “Entschuldigung, könnten Sie bitte langsamer sprechen? Deutsch ist nicht meine Muttersprache” (Sorry, can you please speak a bit slower? German is not my native language). However, everyone can speak English there as well.
•  You should definitely try traditional Swiss Raclette:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWcz73qVel0
  (It is better to see once rather than describe)
• Talk to natives and do not judge a nation by one person. Swiss people might only seem too cold and a bit arrogant, but when you take your time to understand their mentality and try to be polite and courteous, you get to know them better.

And remember a Swiss saying, small is beautiful!

Enjoy your time in Switzerland!

Written by Aliona Sytnyk, AEGEE-Berlin