All eyes were on the Action Agenda lately and this month’s Member of the Month is no stranger to the Action Agenda. Having been part of both the Action Agenda Committee and the Health4Youth, Mayri Tiido is experienced at European Level . The AEGEEan interviewed Mayri about this honour. 

The AEGEEan: Congratulations for being member of the month! What was your first thought when you heard the news?
I was like: AAAAWHAAATAAAAAAAAT!!??!?!?!

The AEGEEan: Before we go into all the AEGEE stuff, tell us a little more about yourself!
Who is Mayri in five words?
I love creativity, improvisation and dancing, I am hard-working, optimistic and enthusiastic.

You are originally from Estonia, AEGEE Tartu, but currently living in Nijmegen, how do you like it there?
I love living in the Netherlands. I feel so connected to Europe, because of the good train/flight connections. I like biking everywhere. I enjoy learning Dutch and practising it with my friends (I even like the pronounciation of harsh “G”). To sum up, I feel kind of good here! To balance the story, I must say that sometimes, I really feel stuck in the bureaucracy. Health insurance, official registration, language courses, job applications. It’s hard to get through that, but luckily, I’m almost there. So I still like being here!

How did you get involved in AEGEE and why did you become so active?
I found out about AEGEE in the spring of 2010. I joined with the thought of just going to a Summer University (SU). I got more involved after my SU in Palermo. I couldn’t believe that I could be surrounded by AEGEE spirit in my everyday life. What is more, the thought of AEGEE being an endless pool of opportunities also kept me going. I became more and more active because I felt that I could actually do something, make a change.

I think we can safely state that you are very active at the European level! You were nominated for your past and current achievements, and of course, we all know you will achieve much more in the future.
Can you tell us a bit more about what you have done in AEGEE so far?
My first position at the European level was being a member of the Planning Team 2011, where I was responsible for doing research for the new strategic plan. Since I was there and contributing when the Strategic Plan and first Action Agenda were created, it seemed a natural follow-up to join the ACT (Action Agenda Team). Around that time I also got interested in trainings and especially in being a trainer. I participated in Training4Trainers (April 2012, Warsawa) and thanks to that, I discovered another opportunity in AEGEE. I have been a trainer at ESSU Patra and PRES Nova-Goricia/Goriza. At the moment, I’m the project manager of the Health4Youth project. Another amazing opprtunity! Right now, we’re finalizing our webpage, so we can start sharing awesome information/ideas/tips about healthy lifestyle. We have a lot in mind, so keep tuned! In a year, we wish to let every AEGEE member know about our project and to encourage them to contribute to it. We also want to reach students outside AEGEE, so I hope that we will manage it, thanks to the fact that some locals have new cool members.
If you are interested, you can read my more detailed AEGEE story from the Nordic Stars blog:

What is AEGEE for you in five sentences max?
Life is what you make out of it and AEGEE is a great platform to challenge yourself, go beyond your comfort zone, start new things (maybe even follow your dreams) and what is most important: having fun while achieving something!

What is your coolest AEGEE experience so far?
I think that it was at the Planning Meeting in Poznan (2011). I was working on an objective for Inclusion of Minorities. In the evening, I felt that it was not good enough and I asked my group mates if they were willing to go to the party an hour later. We started working, but it took so much longer than I estimated. In the end, it was only me and Roald (AEGEE-Utrecht) who continued, but shortly after that, Miguel and Gizem also joined us. People were getting back from the party and we were still working. We finished at 3 am. In the morning we had to finalise our objective suggestion and present it. I was still so tired when I went to present it and I was sleeping in my head the whole time when people gave their comments. I presented our idea and in the end, I was waiting for bashing questions. There were none. Thomas Leszke said: “If you have no objections, accept this proposal with acclamation.” Everybody clapped. That feeling, when something you’ve been working on gets accepted – I will never forget it. I had the same feeling on the stage when Health4Youth got accepted as an official AEGEE-Europe project. Pure happiness!

What will you achieve in AEGEE  in 2013?
I would like to establish some great partnerships/cooperations for the H4Y project, that will be beneficial for the entire association.

Anything else you really want to share with us?
I would like to make a shout-out to my dear Matthijs who is also in AEGEE (trainer, Health4Youth). He always supports me so much and he can work just as crazy as I do. That makes stressful times so much more fun and easy.

Written bij Maartje Natrop, AEGEE-Utrecht 

LOCAL OF THE MONTH – AEGEE-LEIDEN

Eline and Margo

The AEGEEan interviewed E.G. & Margo van Berkum at the Agora Budapest about their local, the Show Your Colour (SYC) concept and future plans for this antenna.

Eline is a former board member and now Speaker of the Advisory Board of AEGEE-Leiden, here at the Agora Budapest she is a delegate. On European level she is the Policy Officer for Social Inclusion with a focus on LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) policy. Margo van Berkum is a second year member of AEGEE-Leiden, here in Budapest as a visitor at the Agora. It is her first Agora and she is enjoying it to the maximum. She is currently not in a commission on local level because she is very active in the study association of her university.

Your antenna is nominated because it is a very successful antenna, also because you have been organising the popular Show Your Colour concept for seven years now. What do you like most about this event?

Margo (M): Perhaps it is the fact that all Dutch locals come together here, and Belgian locals and often even representatives from the Comité Directeur (CD). Three years ago we also had visitors from AEGEE-Mannheim. So the best part about it, in my opinion, is that it brings so many people together.
Eline (E): Plus it is a party for new members. Not specifically, but a lot of locals see this party as the closure of their introduction period. For many newbies it is the first big AEGEE party. But of course old members also keep coming back because it is such a big and successful event.

Why was this event created?

Eline quoting Annelies Koop, former President of AEGEE-Leiden and the founder of the SYC initiative: “We had the idea of bringing some positive energy into our local and bringing AEGEE-Leiden back on the map, as some locals were wondering if we even still existed. Plus we wanted to find a way to get first year members more involved and familiar with AEGEE and members from other locals. With the help of AEGEE-Amsterdam and AEGEE-Utrecht, we promoted this event and starting from the first time we organized it, it was already a huge success!”

Why is this event called Show Your Colour?

E: There is not a fixed concept but every local gets a particular colour. So for example if Leiden gets the colour red, you dress in red and make it as crazy as you want! Every year they get a different colour. It is an easy way of a thematic party and you can recognise who is from where.
M: So ‘’show your colour” actually means show from which local you are! Plus it enhances a feeling of inclusion for new members within their antenna; all together in the same colour!

What else do you do during this night?

E: We have a nice speech around midnight where we express what the event means to us. This year we used that moment to honor Annelies Koop; the initiator of this event. She has just been made honorary member of AEGEE-Leiden.
M: And of course there is some traditional flag stealing!

How do you feel the event contributes to AEGEE?

M: It brings so many locals together so it creates a bond. It increases the bond within your local, so internally – because each local has one color – and on the other hand because everyone is from AEGEE so you have the common spirit as well.
E: The Dutch locals are closely connected in more ways than one, we have a great cooperation, and this party enhances that.
M: It is a positive start of the new year, all together. We start off the year together before we all have the Network Meetings, Agora, Regional training courses and so on.

What is special about AEGEE Leiden?

E: We are one of the founding locals of AEGEE-Europe. So we where there from the very beginning and still alive and kicking!

We interviewed Eline & Margo at the Agora but of course wanted to hear something from the board of this great antenna as well. Alicia Uijl, Secretary of the current board, was happy to reply on behalf of the whole board:

How did you feel about the nomination?

Alicia: We felt really honored when we found out that out of over 200 locals in the whole network we were selected as local of the month!

What other things are you doing now in AEGEE-Leiden?

A: In AEGEE-Leiden we are busy setting up a workshop evening, so that our members get to know more about the European Network. There will be speakers from the Environmental Working Group, Human Rights Working Group and the project Health4Youth. Next weekend we will have a hitchhiking competition to Brussels, were we will be visiting the CD House. Also we are organising a fantastic New Year Event and a lot of local activities, like social drinks, dinners and parties.

What are your future plans?

A: We hope to organise a Network Meeting in spring and we hope that a lot of our new members will become active on European level!

Written by Maartje Natrop, AEGEE-Utrecht

The Dark Agora… it sounds like the title of some superhero movie: Batman fights the Dark Agora! However, we are not talking about fiction here…

“Dark Agora” is the name that has informally been given to the shadow of the real Agora Budapest; the most popular event in the history of AEGEE! With about 1700 applicants and only 785 accepted, many rejected participants decided to come to Budapest anyway. Planning and plotting to sneak their way into the gym, to crash the parties and to possibly conquer some left-over dinners. After all, nobody wants to miss this amazing event. So we can surely state that in the first week of November, Budapest will be flooded with legal and illegal Agora participants. The streets will be crowded, the hostels will be fully booked and the restaurants and pubs will make their annual profits in one week.

Of course, we do not recommend people who are not accepted as a regular or extra participant to go to Budapest, since there is just not enough space to host all these Dark Agora participants.
But since some of you are planning to do this anyway, and since die-hard devoted AEGEEans cannot be stopped, we decided to give you some tips on how to safely survive the Dark Agora:

1) How to avoid sleeping under a bridge!
The temperatures for November are not so suitable for sleeping under a bridge if your ‘sneaking-into-the-gym’ attempt fails, and many hostels will be full. So in order to ensure a sleeping place, you could try couch-surfing, it’s fun and free (check out couchsurfing.com). Or hook up with a cute Hungarian boy/girl at the very first party. If you do the latter, make sure to choose one that you find attractive enough to spend four nights with; that saves you from going through the whole process again at the next party.

2) Dress up and disguise!
Dressing up nicely might help you get past the bouncer in an overcrowded club. This tip is especially effective for girls (read: low cleavage, high heels, works like a charm!). Boys might be better off waving some paper around. Bringing a disguise is beneficial if your first attempt fails. Put on a wig, sunglasses or whatever hides your true identity and try again! Ever heard of the expression: ‘third time’s the charm’?

3) Food fight!
If you do manage to hop into the gym (even if it is just for a little bit) and feel hungry when the legal participants are enjoying lunch or dinner, your best chance of getting something is starting a food fight. Once everybody is all caught up in the delicate art of making eatable products fly, you can secretly catch some of the strings of spaghetti or pieces of bread that are flying around in the air and voilà, your meal is served!

4) Live streams and Hungarian beers: a perfect combo!
Last but not least: of course we do not want to encourage you to keep on trying if our lovely Agora organizers already told you several times that you cannot enter the gym, or the plenary hall, or the club. They have worked their asses off ensuring an awesome event, so we should respect them. So, in case the tips above fail to get you where you want to be, just seek comfort in the company of your fellow Dark Agora participants, go to a pub with WiFi, order a nice Hungarian beer and enjoy the Agora live stream on your phone or notebook. Better luck next time!

See you in Budapest!

Written by Maartje Natrop, AEGEE-Utrecht