Dr. Makowiecki, the self-proclaimed doctor of human and ladybug sexual behaviour and doctor honoris causa of alcohol and drug counseling (MLCD, Miami) signed an exclusive contract with The AEGEEan Magazine and will offer his extensive knowledge and experience to help our readers with their existential problems and questions. This is your unique opportunity to ask what you always wanted to know, but were afraid to ask!

Dr. Makowiecki is looking forward to answering your questions, please send them to aegeean@aegee.org with “Dr. Makowiecki” in the title.

Here are the intriguing questions and answers from the second edition:

Marta: In summer time, the weather is getting warmer and people tend to spend their evenings outdoors barbecuing, meeting with friends for a drink, partying etc. Unfortunately the insects get more active as well and start bothering those poor people. I have in mind especially those cruel little creatures called mosquitoes.
Recently, when I was spending one of those wonderfully warm evenings with my friends at some outdoor party, a question came to my mind and keeps bothering me so I decided to ask for your expert advice: What kind of influence on the mosquito has the alcohol consumed with the blood of a drunk person?

Dear Marta, thank you very much for that interesting question. Many people have asked me this before, so it is high time to make the answer public, as it is very simple. Consuming blood with a certain level of alcohol is for Mosquitos equally challenging as it is a pleasure, which is not that different from the effect on human beings. Centuries of contaminated blood consumption have made these little insects notorious alcoholics, which is clearly noticeable if you have a closer look at their chaotic flight and the funny, yet annoying sounds they are making. To conclude, these insects are chasing after people’s blood with the strong hope of satisfying their need for some quality alcohol. Unfortunately not every single human being has some of it in his/her blood, which drives them crazy and makes them more desperate. I hope that now you will actually feel more sympathy towards these poor flying alcoholics.

Thea: How do I get over the “post-event depression”?

Dear Thea, that is indeed a question that concerns a lot of people. In order to find a solution for it, you need to first ask yourself for the actual cause of your depression. Easily you will come to the conclusion that it is actually “a lack of being part of an event”. Therefore the solution should be close: make every day an event. Start the day with an annoying wake-up call, use a public bathroom/shower, spend the day running around from one place to another periodically shouting out “AEGEE people” loudly, eat some quick and cheap food on the way, end the day with plenty of drinks, sleep on the floor and wake up after 3 hours. Your post-event depression will be over!

Zsofia: Do my food preferences like melons or scrambled eggs with sausages for breakfast say something about my personality?

Dear Zsofia, I always appreciate personality-profile related questions. In your case it is simple: you suffer from the “I-wanna-be-British syndrome”.

Anita: Dear Doctor, who was first – the chicken or the egg?

Dear Anita, questions related to evolution are one of the most exciting ones! I am often wondering why many people are still looking for an answer, as the egg was obviously existing earlier than any chicken could even think about eggs. A long time before the birds, many other animals have been producing eggs, just to mention fish and reptiles. Going back even further, also worms and insects are producing eggs, just in slightly smaller size and slightly bigger quantities. Just imagine how easily we could eradicate world hunger, if we preferred insect to chicken eggs, they produce trillions of them! Eggs have been developed at such an early stage of evolution, as they are compact and therefore easy to bring through the birth channel. Unfortunately at some point in evolution this comfort had to come to an end and now human beings have to suffer while pushing this round-squared offspring through the narrow birth channel. It is no surprise then that so many people spend significant amounts of time thinking about the origins of the egg.

Kata: It was a hot summer night in Sicily. It was carnival, he was a frog, I was a fairy. Who was the guy, Dr. Makowiecki, could you help me find out?

Dear Kata, thank you very much for that unusual question. Reading this may seem strange to many of our readers, but I am also confident this situation is not that unusual for quite some people, especially those living in rural environments. Many girls suffer from the “kiss-a-frog” disorder believing that frogs are actually very good looking and aristocratic lovers. This belief is probably caused by a pathological fairy tale that is often told to young children. These girls then, in their desperate attempt to find the so-called “prince charming” are actually redirecting their efforts towards rather easy targets that express some of common young boys’ behaviour: jumping away when a desperate girl is chasing them. Often this ends in sexually assaulting them, which falls under the “animal cruelty” category. In order to then psychologically justify your own behaviour, you have taken a fake personality of a fairy. My advice is to forget this frog, as the chances of you two getting married are small due to the lack of a law which legalises such relationships and to direct your attempts towards male human beings.

Inez: Dear Dr. Makowiecki, What should we do if during a workshop one participant is starting snorring, clearly because of the hangover from last night?

Dear Inez, I always like to answer questions for which answers can be found in old literature. I have looked through my books and I’ve found an old traditional song that was already dealing with exactly that problem. Please allow me to quote one of the solutions: “Shave his belly with a rusty razor, shave his belly with a rusty razor, shave his belly with a rusty razor, early in the morning!”

Balint: How does one organise a barbecue party on a crowded bus heading from Helsinki to Tallinn?

Dear Balint, thank you for that question as it is related to traveling and food, two things one can remarkably enjoy together or with friends. In this particular case the activity is supposed to involve several people, as this is usually known as the definition of “party”. In order to implement your project, several steps are required. Please follow them carefully!
1. Stand up and shout “Partyyyyy!” with as much enthusiasm as you can. This is a common method to make your peers get enthusiastic and induce some silly behaviour instantly.
2. Start pointing at some of the other passengers with your finger and ask about their well-being with while swinging your arms.
3. Start complaining loudly about the increasing heat in the vehicle and try to convince the driver to open some of the windows.
4. Check the gender of the other passengers. Males are more likely to carry some meat with them. A bus full of male passengers will thus result in a so-called “sausage party”.
5. By now your bus-colleagues should be in the appropriate mood to actually start the BBQ. If not, please repeat steps 1-3 until success.
6. You can now get the grill running and prepare the meat. Congratulations, you have just achieved your aim.
7. You have wisely chosen the route of your bus. Seeing a bus with smoke coming out of the windows, other road users will simply assume that the bus has an integrated sauna.

Written by Michael Makowiecki, AEGEE-Hamburg

AEGEE-Brescia, founded in 1997, has certainly brought up some known faces and memorable events over the years. Located in the north of a country with so many well known places, Brescia may not have been the most recognisable city, but this AEGEE local has definitely contributed to the fact that there are probably just a few people left in the overall AEGEE-Network who do not know this lovely city.

Having only about 10 active members, it is remarkable how many local and international activities they manage to organise. Among these are events in the framework of “The European Year of Volunteering”, “European Day of Languages”, the annual Summer University (this year called Brescia Olympics 2012) and many other local activities, like a public speaking course that helps the local students to improve their English skills. Especially worth mentioning is the annual series of lectures called “European Talks“. It is for this particular event that we are declaring AEGEE-Brescia the Local of the Month! Moreover, keep in mind that they will also celebrate their 15th anniversary soon!

The AEGEEan interviewed Andrea Gatti, the coordinator of this year’s “European Talks”:

The AGEEan: This year’s “European Talks” was not the first edition of the event. Could you tell me about the beginnings of the project? When did it start?

Andrea: As far as I know, the “European Talks” were born as an idea of Michele Turati, who was the pioneer of this event about three years ago. Every year, AEGEE-Brescia’s team applied for funds from our university in order to let some prestigious speakers come to Brescia to deliver a lecture about different important topics regarding Europe.

The AGEEan: Tell me more about the concept. Do you have a special topic for each year’s edition? How do you select the topics?

Andrea: Every year, our board does some brainstorming, we create a list of different topics from our own ideas, television or from the internet and we select the ones that could be the most interesting to our university students (the more currently relevant a topic is, the better it is for us).

The organisers consider "European Talks" an important success in the life of AEGEE-Brescia

The AGEEan: You have the fortunate support of your university that reimburses the travel costs of the speakers. Is it difficult for you to find suitable candidates? How do you make the selection?

Andrea: Yes, we are lucky to receive some funds from our university, but it is not that simple and we always need to make compromises in terms of costs, as well as with the selection of the speakers. Sometimes, we already have direct contact with them and that’s the easiest way. Another way is to send out an open call to ask for speakers. After this, we select from all the applications the best speakers for our topics.

The AGEEan: How successful was the event so far on the local level? Do you get many participants and much visibility?

Andrea: For us, organising such an event is a big success. From our university’s students, we don’t get so much feedback. Probably because we still have some technical problems to solve for the next years (it takes place too late in the evening and we need to advertise it better – we are missing some contacts with the university professors). There are between 10-20 people attending each time.

The AGEEan: There have already been so many lectures, do you have any that you can particularly remember? Which one was your favourite and why?

Andrea: Of course I liked all of the lectures, as they were really interesting, but I can say that there were two I liked the most: “Social Media and how the internet has changed our life” by Michael Makowiecki and “Be volunteer – be successful” by Tatjana Boicova. The first one I liked a lot, as it was about a topic that is close to my field of studies (Computer Science Engineering) and I felt more involved in it. The second one I liked because of  the expression and creativity of the speaker. Everything was very clear, full of examples and nicely involving  the audience.

Tatjana Boicova's presentation: Be Volunteer - Be Successful!

The AGEEan: Do you already have plans for next year? If yes, do you want to change something about the concept?

Andrea: At the moment, we don’t have any concrete plans for next year. We will think about this after the elections of our new board in September.

The AGEEan: What kind of advice would you give to other locals that would like to organise something similar?

Andrea: I think the best solution would be to involve in the event the local university professors (as audience or as speakers as well). In this way, the audience will be more motivated and the university will probably give you more money for the event.

Written by Michael Makowiecki, AEGEE-Hamburg

Photographs by Michele Minuti, AEGEE-Brescia

Attention: If you think you know an antenna, which deserves to be honoured as “Local of the Month”, send an email with the locals’ name and the reason for nominating to aegeean@aegee.org.

Dr. Makowiecki, the self-proclaimed doctor of human and ladybug sexual behaviour and doctor honoris causa of alcohol and drug counseling (MLCD, Miami) signed an exclusive contract with The AEGEEan Magazine and will offer his extensive knowledge and experience to help our readers with their existential problems and questions. This is your unique opportunity to ask what you always wanted to know, but were afraid to ask!

Dr. Makowiecki is looking forward to answering your questions, please send them to aegeean@aegee.org with “Dr. Makowiecki” in the title.

Here are the intriguing questions and answers from the first edition:

Damien: Why is the world round?

Dear Damien, that is indeed an interesting question. Especially as it does give me some insight about the neurotic disorders you might suffer from. Our brain is often replacing one element that bothers us, but is too painful, with something else in order to sustain some equilibrium and prevent us from developing a common insanity. Please allow me to quickly recreate the true element that is bothering you, which is certainly not the shape of our earth (unless you assume that you are living in the 15th century, which would be a symptom of another disorder), but you are certainly suffering from ovaphobia, the fear of eggs. Just go a little deeper into yourself and think about the perfect shape of an egg, almost round but yet not perfect. Also our planet is not exactly a perfect sphere, so you can already see the strong parallel between your question and the shape of an egg.

Furthermore, the egg is the symbol of fertility, so your phobia may be actually caused by your fear of not being fertile or overly fertile (in both cases the egg reminds you of it).

But don’t worry, you are not alone with your mental disorder. Also Alfred Hitchcock was horrified by eggs (and his mother). I am very glad that I could explain you the true nature of your question and good luck with the evaluation of your fertility.

Golden Times: Doktor Makowiecki, what’s the best way to stop smoking?

Dear Golden Times, I understand your concern. I will be very short with my answer here due to the simple nature of the question. Don’t be worried too much about it, as it is really easy. Many of my patients have stopped smoking many times during their lives.

Zuzanna: Should the zoo-sex scenes be omitted from the content of the Discovery channel? (because every time I switch on the channel there is sex between different animals. It’s like XXL but with animals. Disgusting…)

Dear Zuzanna, I am sorry to hear that you consider sex to be disgusting. Hence this is the true magic of life just happening! However, I wonder a bit about the fact of you watching sex between different animals. This is indeed not a common practice, as usually animals of the same species engage in the act of procreation. In case also representatives of the Homo sapiens species were involved, I would like to ask you whether you have been really watching the Discovery Channel. This questions is valid especially because you are also mentioning “XXL.”
I would also like to add that I have been shooting animal (Ladybug) sex tapes myself in order to conduct my research on sexual behaviour. One can learn a lot from these little fellows, as their average sexual intercourse lasts around 2 hours and the male one ejaculates every 20 minutes through shaking of its body. During the process the male Ladybug climbs on the female and tries to hold himself with his six legs while the female is trying to escape. It always impresses me how such little animals have developed such sophisticated techniques.

Tomek: Best way to cure a hangover?

Dear Tomek, I am glad that you are asking this question, as it has been under heavy debate for many years in the scientific community. For many years, I have been conducting self-experiments in order to find the best solution. While experiments are still ongoing, I would like to share with you the basic principles behind this effect. Using simple words, the hangover is a reaction of your body being very upset with you doing a lot of naughty things with it while being intoxicated. This time was probably so exciting that it just feels sad and depressed that the feeling is already over and that is why you feel week and tired while being hung over. Another action is resetting the memory, so it won’t feel so sad anymore.
So there is just one option to make the world go round again! Make your body feel happy and show that you take  care of it. When your body feels sad after a good time, it is certainly the right moment to give it what it needs and make yourself feel good again. The hangover will be over almost immediately.

Dania: My professor doesn’t understand that going to the Agora is more important than attending a lecture “intercultural communication”. What do I tell him?

Dear Dania, thank you for your question. I might have met your professor during one scientific symposium. We used to call him “Theoretical Tony,” as he does everything just in theory. Literally. Everything. That is also why he might not understand the need for practical lessons, which I personally value a lot. Only at the Agora you will get the chance to really get into close contact with different cultures, dive deep into them or let them penetrate your own culture. This is the place, where representatives of different cultures are able to exchange all hard and fluid aspects of their own backgrounds. Only at the Agora such exchange is happening in all combinations and variations. But you can advise “Theoretical Tony” to stick with his strategy and to experience intercultural exchange in theory and on his own.

Margrit: What is the best way to survive a European Night?

Dear Margrit, your concern has worried me a little. I have checked Eurostat (the European statistics agency) and I did not find many cases of people dying during a European Night. My advice for you is to keep the level of alcohol in your blood below 400 ml alcohol level, which will first of all keep you on the safe side. Furthermore, if you feel that you might be assaulted by someone else with a lethal weapon, I would advise you to carry an even more lethal weapon with you all the time during the European Night. Hopefully, this will scare away the assaulter and if not, it is at least not you, who will not survive.

Pablo: Dear Dr., I don’t remember a single European Night. Do you think I have some mental problems?

Dear Pablo, thank you for the interesting question. The symptoms that you are mentioning in your question suggest a severe anterograde amnesia that may be of a physical nature and caused by brain damage in your temporal lobes or it is a psychological effect caused by a severe trauma. In this way, your brain is triggering a self-defense mechanism that erases from your memory all the horrible things you have been doing, which eventually have caused the trauma. Unfortunately, there is no cure for physical brain damage. Fortunately, it is possible to reverse the psychological repression of memories through putting the affected individual into a similar situation and thus confronting him or her with the repressed memory. I therefore advise you to recreate another European Night and to write a journal about what has been happening and log your actions, so we will be able to proceed with a tailored therapy.

Leonie: After a long night, I’m always wrapped up in my sleeping bag so that I sometimes have to walk around in it during the entire day! I feel really ashamed… Could you tell me some quick techniques to help me get out of it even in the worst physical conditions?

Dear Leonie,  I am happy to see such a significant question. This problem is described as the “out-of-sleeping bag complex” in scientific literature.  Many scholars have advocated diverse solutions to it, but I reckon that methods that do not allow a reuse of the sleeping bag are not suitable for you. I also assume that you are not proficient in martial arts, thus there are basically just two solutions that I can advise you here. The first option is to have a strong source of caffeine ready next to your sleeping bag (as I shall avoid mentioning other stimulants on this platform). This can be a crate of energy drinks or an espresso maker. Right after waking up you should keep on consuming it until you have reached the moment when you are more hyperactive than Woddy Woodpicker on speed. You won’t even notice the moment when you will be out of your sleeping bag, have showered dressed up and ran a half-marathon.

The second option is to share the sleeping bag with someone that, let’s call it this way, is not exactly your type. In order to help yourself with that, you can induce a slight amnesia during the prior night. I assure you that the time between waking up and being out of the sleeping bag can be measured only with a very precise stop watch.

Written by Dr. Makowiecki – doctor of human and ladybug sexual behaviour and doctor honoris causa of alcohol and drug counseling (MLCD, Miami).

It was a very sunny and warm day when I finally arrived with all my stuff to the Comité Directeur’s house in Brussels, the place where I was going to live for one year. It was the beginning of an unforgettable experience, there was no doubt about that. But when I moved in there were two little inhabitants of the house that were going to stay there for a long time and certainly contribute to making the life in the house a little bit more exciting. This will be a story of the rabbit inhabitants of the Comité Directeur’s garden.

When I was moving into the house, I found two grey rabbits sitting in the garden and looking a little confused. It had just been few days when a major garden-cleaning action had been carried out in the house and that was so efficient that basically no grass was left in the garden. But soon new grass would grow and start an entirely new part of life for these two rabbits. However, let’s move first to the beginning of the story, just a few months earlier around Easter time.

Friends in the garden
Agnes Leyrer and Olga Basova, previous CD members had one day the feeling of celebrating Easter in Brussels, in the house. What is closely connected to these holidays? Certainly rabbits. In this way, a quick and fun decision caused two little grey rabbits moving into the house. Nico Huurman assembled a wooden cage for them and soon they started their new AEGEE life partly in the kitchen, partly in the garden. But as days were getting warmer, our CD members noticed that rabbits were animals after all and did belong to the nature. So “Flatfy” and “Zugie”, as they were called initially, just moved into the garden for good and soon started living real rabbit-like lifes including digging holes and… but let’s move back to September 2011.

Our two new grey and hairy friends found a little place in my heart, especially because I had promised in front of the entire Spring Agora Leiden that I would take care of them. Fortunately, the time in which they had to live on pure soil without grass was over and the rabbits could enjoy fresh green grass very soon!Miracles of nature
One sunny day in September when we had nice guests from Poland, the guy came to our kitchen and asked with a weird look on his face: “But… do you know that you have baby rabbits?” I just thought that there must be some funny confusion, as we were supposed to have two female long-eared! But the curiosity won and I quickly run into the garden to see three tiny baby rabbits sitting in front of the rabbit-house entrance: one black, one white and one grey. “Holy mother earth! This is a miracle!” Apparently the rumours about our friends having a lesbian love affair were true, just that it was not exactly lesbian.

From this moment on we had an entire rabbit-family living with us. But unfortunately, not everyone was friends with them, as some of the CD members were rather stating that the rabbits would look way better in a pot in a form of gulash. But they had also good protectors acting as their life insurance.

Carrots, I love them
Months were passing by and the little rabbits were eating, growing and eating. Autumn arrived and days were getting colder. The grass was less green and I started to support the family with bags of carrots. I had seen that many times in cartoons that they f****** love them, but I would not have expected that it was even more true in reality! Watching 5 rabbits eating one carrot while there are 20 around was indeed a funny view.

Hard winter
The winter came and December turned out to be the coldest month of the year. It was dark, cold and very snowy. Definitely times changed for the happy rabbit family and the tough part of living a rabbit-life began. Indeed, they were tough and could sit around for hours in the snow, but food was rare and we were supplying them with more carrots, salad leftovers and whatever we could spare (food is also rare for CD members). Finally, Christmas time arrived and basically everyone went for two weeks holidays.
After coming back I could see only one member of the furry family around. I started being worried about them and soon I found the lifeless body of our little white fellow. It was a very sad view. This one was albino, always a bit weaker and smaller than the others. But during the next days also the rest of the family did not appear. What had happened? Their bodies have never been found. While on the other hand, the remaining rabbit was pretty well of, did not seem to be sick, neither hungry. What had exactly happened there? Why did the other disappear? These questions unfortunately could never be answered.
In the next weeks the lonely rabbit was visibly sad, which is more than understandable. But as time was passing by, it was also curing his sorrow and the grey one started adapting to his new life. But soon he was supposed to meet a new rather untypical friend.

A new beginning and a new friend
The neighbour’s cat had been creeping around our garden already for some time. Obviously, the rabbit’s presence cought its attention and during each pass he was just measuring the rabbit with a suspicious look. But the grey friend was not scared. We could just assume that he was simply not aware of the dangers that the predator was bringing. Rather than being scared, the rabbit was bravely running towards the cat and simply scaring it away. We were following this theatre with great interest. However, after several weeks both involved parties started to develop some trust towards each other and the simple curiosity transformed into a deep friendship. From now on it was a frequent look to see the new and rather untypical couple to sit around in the garden, chase each other around and apparently having a great time together.
Then it was already one year since I moved into the house and it was time to move out. We all said goodbye to the little friend and our successors moved in. The next winter was not that harsh and the rabbit was certainly not expecting that just in a couple of months his life would change again. In springtime a new little inhabitant moved in: another rabbit! The CD decided to adopt him from a friend’s friend and the two soon started a new life together.

I could not follow it up myself, but stories have been said that after some initial misunderstanding the ice between the two was broken and now they are living together as best friends. There have been rumours that this even caused them to develop more trust towards the representatives of the human species and now it is even possible to touch both of them.
There is just one way to find out whether these rumours are true – visit the house and inspect the garden yourself.

Written by Michael Makowiecki, AEGEE-Hamburg

Photos: Michael Makowiecki, AEGEE-Hamburg

Silesia, region in southern Poland is probably not the most popular place for tourists. Historically tightly connected to heavy industry and therefore also a particularly shaped landscape formed by diverse tenement houses and coal pit shafts. But would that suggest that this area is not worth a visit? Nothing more wrong than that! Silesia is one of the fastest growing and lively areas in Poland and the particular architecture creates a strong feeling of industrial romantism and definitely is a place for many memorable adventures and discoveries. It is also the home of AEGEE-Katowice, our local of the month. 

AEGEE-Katowice was founded on the 27th of November 1991 and therefore has just turned 20 years old. It is a good occasion for us for a small retrospective of its activities and a small sneak peak into what their plans in near future. AEGEE-Katowice may not be the most well known antenna in our Network, but its strong position and influence was definitely visible at their birthday party that was visited by representatives of nearly all Polish locals and also some foreign guests. but what makes it actually so particular?

As one of the factors we can definitely mention its strong influence in the local community and various activites fostering the local culture. A very good example for that is the festival of absurd culture “Absurdalia” organised in November entirely by AEGEE-Katowice. It is an initiative that was revived this year after a short break with its third edition. This festival is something very unique in AEGEE, as it is a one-week, fully cultural festival including poetry, theatre, film, dance, photography and many more activities. “This festival is directed to everyone that considers “absurd” as a way to express culture and defines as such his/her own artistical activities”, says Ewa Bieniasz, the coordinator of the project. “Through the exposition of absurd, we want to promote the feeling of surprise in our audience and make them wonder. With the presentation of usually widely unknown and strange art, we induce laughter and delight. This is a perfect way to draw attention to the little strange things of every day life in a different perspective”, she adds. A professional jury, consisting of several well known artists was then selecting and rewarding the best works. The festival concluded in the celebration of AEGEE-Katowice’s 20th birthday and in this way has shown that this antenna is indeed remarkable considering its strong involvement in forstering the local culture and its impact on the local community.

But apart from that AEGEE-Katowice is definitely not resting on the success of the “Absurdalia” festival. Every year they are organising an exciting Summer University that is bringing the participant as close to the Silesian culture as possible, including a real descent into the incredible depths of a real coal pit. Wearing a helmet and a full protective suit is probably a rarity during Summer Universities. This year’s SU was organised in cooperation with AEGEE-Bratislava and the whole group got the chance to explore not only the deep coal pits but the entire South of Poland as well as Slovakia concluding in a visit to Bratislava. Another activity worth mentioning is the yearly European Day of Languages – a three-day fair on the diversity of languages with a significant participation of students of the University of Silesia. “PR przy kawie” (engl. “PR with coffee”) is a weekly, as the name suggests, informal meeting with a PR professional and young people interested in matters connected to Public Relations. It gives the participants a perfect occasion to get in touch with a person with significant achievements in this field and learn through the involvement in a conversation covering PR and not only.

The involvement of AEGEE-Katowice in activities fostering the Silesian culture, its strong connection to many external professionals and the high quality training courses that they are organising are already reason enough for nominating them as our local of the month. However, the organisation of the “Absurdalia” festival of absurd culture in November was an achievement that is unmatched in the AEGEE Network was definitely the final reason to issue this nomination. We are looking forward for future activities, the growth of the “PR with coffee” events and further editions of this remarkable festival. Due to all that AEGEE-Katowice is our current local of the month.

Written by Michael Makowiecki, PR Commitee

Edouard Mougin, this name definitely rings a bell. Some of you might know him as a dedicated board member of AEGEE-Lyon, but probably most of you have experienced him as the President of the Juridical Commission, in which he was trying with great dedication to take part in all the reform processes of AEGEE, has always been there to give you advice in AEGEE related juridical matters, has been helping AEGEE-Europe significantly in all issues related to the French registration and French law, and moreover has coordinated a great team of JC Subcommies. All this next to his demanding studies and several jobs including one in a real French bakery selling baguettes. Electing him as the Member of the Month has not been difficult. Now let us get to know him a little better.

Michael Makowiecki: Edouard, you have been a JC Subcommissioner and then elected as President of the JC. Now, the next Agora is approaching and after one term we could not find your application for a second term. Why did you decide not to candidate?

Edouard Mougin: Well, this was a difficult decision to take. Even if this term was really interesting and inspiring, I have to balance several other things at the moment. I’m finishing the second year of my Law Master this year and I need to finish a 6 month internship. Being the JC President is really one of my favorite experiences in AEGEE, but it also requires a lot of commitment. If you want to be sure to be able to attend the next Agora, you should be for sure also able to to have a clear vision of its agenda. For now, I have my internship but I don’t know if I will be able to take days for the next EBM and Agora. More of it, I always think that when you take responsibilities you have to be sure to do your best during your mandate. I know that there is a lot of unknowns and I prefer not to recandidate than to resign in few month. But honestly, I’m going there with a lot of motivation, ready to enjoy every moment, but I know that I will be nostalgic at the end!

Michael: This seems to be indeed a very responsible approach! You have mentioned that it is important to have a clear vision of your agenda while candidating. Looking back at your term, what was the vision that you had while presenting your candidature at the Agora Alicante and was it developed or changed during your term?

Edouard: The Agora Alicante was the perfect timing for me. 3 days before the opening ceremony I passed my last exam of the year. I knew that my next year will only start in October so my vision was pretty clear at that time : you have no obligations for university in the next 5 months, go for it! I had lots of ideas on how to improve our work and from the early beginning we tried to implement an activity plan, new projects and also develop the accessibility of the JC. Well, now it’s time to evaluate it. We made some progress, but I’m happy that some actual JC Commissioner and Subcommies will candidate and pursue this wave of changes. Indeed, the during every mandate JC faces lots of unexpected situations and has to create new tools in order to raise awareness of AEGEE members of all their actions.

Michael: Could you please share some more concrete challenges that you had to face during your time as the President of the JC?

Edouard: During my term, we faced some important changes regarding data protection policy and some parts are still not solved mostly about communication between all the competent bodies. During my candidature, I pointed out the fact that we had some lack about registration in France and started a huge amount of work on it. Finally, we also put a lot of effort in updating legal information about the AEGEE network, which is one of the most important work on our archives. One thing is for certain though: the archives were one of the biggest issues we solved during this term!

Michael: Many readers might not understand immediately what the archives really are and how this kind of work look like. Could you please describe it shortly?

Edouard: In a fun way we can describe the JC archives as a bunch of dusty folders full of really old papers that were hardly maintained in a coherent organisation. More seriously, the archives are a vital tool for the JC. In order to give coherent interpretations of the AEGEE rules or help association to maintain their legal statutes, we need to know what was already answered in some situations or provide a copy of legal documents containing fundamental informations. Our job was really long, but fruitful. Indeed, we start to convert some files to a digital format in order to improve the access of the commissioners to it thanks to the newest electronic tools. This work helped us, for example, to work on documents that explain some important questions that every AEGEE members can encounter. And for that the opinion of previous commissioner was really valuable for us!

Michael: Looking more into the future, what would you advise your successors, what are the most important challenges for them and what would be the main project or reform that should happen in order to significantly improve the way AEGEE works?

Edouard: I would advice my successors to pursue the work we started. Meaning they should try to more foresee what we will have to do and then adapt our agenda accordingly. For instance, always prepare things earlier, even if though I think we really have improved our work for this Agora! I will also recommend them to complete the work on the website and publication of the frequently asked questions. For me, this means a huge step forward in our way of communication and offering tools to prepare proposals, for example. Finally, continue the good quality of our knowledge transfer and the work with subcommies. Mainly organise teambuilding times, as we did during this term and that will finish just before the Agora by going all the team together to the Agora!

Michael: After your successors will be elected and you will officially finish your term, are you still going to be involved in AEGEE? Is there any new challenge awaiting you on the European level? You were also elected as the External Relationships Responsible and Vice President of AEGEE-Lyon. Does it mean that you are going to focus more on the local level?

Edouard: When I started to worked on the European level I think I immediately started to be addicted! During my term as JC President, I was also President of AEGEE-Lyon. But with the start of my professional life, I step back in the local level and will do quite the same in the European level. But I heard it a lot of times in AEGEE and now it’s my turn – it’s really difficult to stop immediately. So I plan to stay really active on the European level by joining the AEGEE-Academy as trainer and also to work on the human resources of AEGEE! Plus some personal projects not related to any bodies, mostly projects that I started and I would like to finish now that I have more time.

Michael: Mentioning Human Resources, it is widely observed that HR is one of AEGEE’s current challenges. What are you planning to do in this field, what is your vision about it?

Edouard: AEGEE has faced huge challenges since its born in 1985, but I truly believe that this is actually our biggest challenge. In constant evolution, AEGEE now has new partners that weren’t there at the beginning and needs to adjust to it. Some parts of Europe see the rise of the eurosceptism, but I know that our creativity will be the tool to sustain our future. In the last year, the creation of new teams with ambitious projects and a strong work in the HR area were developed and we need to make them more concrete. I’m also really happy that this year a member of the Comité Directeur will pursue the good work of the previous HR responsible in the CD. This Agora will see the presentation of a new committee: the Human Resources Committee. They already gathered 20 members that are motivated to work in this field. A new wave of HR workers is coming and I’m sure that it’s collaboration with AEGEE-Academy will be not only fruitful for AEGEE locals, but also bringing more people to the European level. As the choice was really tough, I’ll be involved in the two structures in order to contribute in both fields : training and HR work. With my experience I hope to motivate more people to contribute to projects, working groups and also commissions in order for everybody to benefit from the incredible AEGEE experience!

Michael: Edouard, thank you a lot for the very inspiring and extensive answers. Now you are probably asking yourself: why this interview… I have to reveal the secret that you have been selected the Member of the Month of AEGEE! How do you feel now?

Edouard: I have to admit that I’m quite surprised! This are very nice news and it touches me a lot! As the month is finishing by one of the most important AEGEE event of the year, I will for sure work even more to thanks everybody for this recognition!

written by Michael Makowiecki

Attention: If you think you know someone, who deserves to be honored as “Member of the Month”, send an email with the persons’ name and the reason for nominating him or her to aegeean@aegee.org.

Lower picture l.t.r: Manos, Anya, Thomas, Mirka, Michi, Alla, Alfredo, Mirek

Alfredo, Alla, Anya, Giannis, Kathrin, Manos, Michael, Mirek, Mirka, Thomas