Polar bears can not only be found in the Artic Ocean: in Aachen you can find many as well!
Board members of AEGEE-Aachen, Tim Mollenhauer and Katharina Hartz, tell us about the story behind their famous mascot, their ways of keeping members active, and much more!

The AEGEEan:  Could you tell us about the establishment and the current structure of AEGEE-Aachen?

AEGEE-Aachen board: AEGEE-Aachen was established 30 years ago. From then on we grew constantly, and today we count over 160 members working on many projects. One of our biggest projects at the moment is the orientation week for Erasmus students coming to Aachen for the next semester. However, we have much more amazing projects we constantly work on. For example, our Summer University “Extrem deutsch: How to say “Streichholzschächtelchen!”” which takes place in July, or our meeting with our great twin-antenna Lviv next weekend. Another project we are currently working on is our video project “Europe at Eye Level” where we interview people from all over Europe to get to know their personal stories regarding being a European citizen.

Which typical, local traditions do you have?

AEGEE-Aachen is a very tradition oriented local. The polar bear, our mascot, is pretty much present all over the network. For example, in our famous polar bear-costumes, in our bear-bags and bear-shirts and not to forget about our lovely stickers. The polar bear even has its own Facebook page!

What is the history behind the polar bear as your mascot?

Approximately ten years ago AEGEE-Aachen thought for the first time about having a mascot. At that time, real costumes were too expensive for our local, so we took an old, and rather undefined, costume from one of our members. The animal which was probably most similar to that costume was a bear and so our first mascot was born. In 2011, when the EBM in Riga took place with the motto ”Black and White” the board members of that year came up whith a very smart idea how our mascot could join the party even though its brown colour didn’t fit. They simply ordered a polar bear costume that was totally suitable to the party. Since then we never changed it back, so that the polar bear still parties with us on EPMs, and many other amazing AEGEE events until today.

AEGEE-Aachen organises a lot of different types of activities every year, like city trips, weekly meetings and tutoring workshops. How do you keep the quality of all these activities high?

Since we changed the structure of our working groups we have a committee that always has an overview over all our projects, besides the board. Moreover, we work on most of our projects during our working group meetings, which we have twice a month. In this way, people meet in one place for planning and stay informed about all the other running projects. Additionally, a big help is our well-structured Wiki and Google Drive cloud where we can look up nearly everything.

How do you persuade locals to join AEGEE at an European level?

Of course we advertise European events strongly in our weekly Monday-meetings and ask experienced members at the European Level to share their experiences with all of us.

How do you think it affects the organisation that a substantial part of the active members are Erasmus students?

Actually, not that many of our active members are Erasmus students so that it does not affect us that much. At the moment most of our new members are students in the first or third semester, who are going to spend some more years in Aachen. Because of this, the high fluctuation of Erasmus students is not really a problem for us. What we notice as an advantage of Erasmus student members is that they are highly motivated, Europtimistic and bring fresh and good ideas we did not think of before. And of course with their presence they contribute to this special “international AEGEE atmosphere”.

How do you try to keep members active within AEGEE-Aachen?

We try to keep our members motivated by organising engaging events and interesting projects in which members can participate, but also by giving our members space to realise their own ideas. Another thing that we focus on is improving the connection between old and new members. We do this by organising events that older members are still interested in as well, so that newbies can benefit from their experience. Connecting old and new members makes working together easier for everybody, and we keep having fun together and stay motivated.

If I had to describe my local in three words, they would be:

Polar bears, cheers!

Is there anything you would like to add?

Bear bags and shirts are still available! You are always welcome in Aachen – so come and catch some!

Written by Susan Nijsten, AEGEE-Groningen

Laura Pérez from AEGEE-Leon decided to apply for the Network Commission. In order to get to know Laura and her plans for the Network Commission before Spring Agora Enschede, she answer some questions from our magazine. 

The AEGEEan: How would your best friends describe you?

Laura: Even though the question is for me, I decided it would be more fun to ask them directly. I hope the readers enjoy the answers and don’t take them too literally:

Ander (AEGEE-Zaragoza): “How to describe Laura? Just think of how you would describe your sister if you would have one. Beyond the committed hard worker AEGEEan she is, she is truly is a friend you can always rely on.”

Juragis (AEGEE-Tenerife, ACT): “She is the sweetest girl ever, she is always in a good mood, even if you are sad or angry, after talking to her you will feel better. She is full of AEGEE Spirit and she is a very experienced AEGEEan who is always eager to help you when you need her. I cannot imagine a better person to be NetCommie.”

Alejandra (NetCom): “Laura is a nice, hard-working and amazing girl, and such a good friend! She is always full of energy to do anything that she proposes to herself and no one can stop her. I will never regret the day that we started to work together, and, for sure, to be friends, because she is really amazing!”

Anna (AEGEE-Udine): “Laura is among the most committed people I know – in friendships and at work, she will always give her best to keep things going.”

Daniel (Youth Mobility WG): “Defining Laura is not easy; for me, she is a close friend and an important person. Laura makes people feel appreciated even if they don’t deserve it. That makes her a good and communicative person, but she is still in the process of developing herself. Her unstoppable work makes people feel confident and inspired. But there are still some attitudes that she needs to improve as: being too conformist (when a situation is as bad as hell) or being not so visionary. If she is able to configure her vision correctly, her new steps will dazzle us all. One of the most valuable features of Laura, that make her unique, is the way that she sacrifices herself for others. The resulting cocktail is an incredible person, and above all, a good and really important friend. About the rest I do not care.”

Could you give an overview of your experience within AEGEE, both locally and at the European level?

The first thing I did in AEGEE was organising the TSU of León, a bit more than two years ago and, almost at the same time, a post SU weekend event for 140 participants in cooperation with the NetCom (AKA Renove). After all this, I became the secretary of my local. During that board term we organised three LTCs in which I took care of the logistics and/or trainings. One year after, I got elected as president. Then I organised another SU (incoming responsible this time) and then (somehow) helped the organisers’ team of Planning Meeting León.

AEGEE-León works a lot with Mobility students of the University of León, so in the last two years I organised or supervised all kinds of weekly (and sometimes daily) activities for them and in co-operation with our International Relations department, for which I work now. For example: international and welcome weeks, trips, language exchanges… I would say that I have organised almost everything; from parties, pub crawls and city tours to conferences in Russian or sessions of Q&As about mobility learning agreements.

Outside of León I have always attended as many events as I could afford and more so: NWM Valencia, EPM Leiden, SUPS Catania, Leadership Training. And let’s not forget about Agorae; I was delegate and secretary assistant in Bergamo and Chișinău. Thanks to working with the Chair Team in both Agorae I learned a lot. I also typed and listened a lot.

Regarding my experience with the Network Commission, I was lucky enough to be in Brussels one day and to be suggested by a former CD member to a former NetCommie as SubCommissioner. I joined her team and then helped her organise and deliver some sessions at NWM Santander, NWM Barcelona and Renove Zaragoza.
With now a different NetCommie and a different SubCom team, I have also helped organise NWM Bilbao.

I believe NWMs have a lot of potential; so I always wanted to participate (and still do) in some organised by different NetCommies, where I could have the chance of experiencing the realities of locals far away from mine: NWM Aachen and NWM Debrecen were both very different and also different than those I helped organise.
I have recently gained some experience as well with RTCs after the one organised by AEGEE-León and AEGEE-Oviedo and the one organised by AEGEE-Toulouse (in which I was trainer). As for locals, I have been responsible for the following: A Coruña, Burgos, Castelló, León, Lyon, Madrid, Valencia and Zaragoza.

What makes you a good fit for the Network Commission?

I would say that my experience and my motivation do. After a year as secretary, a year as president, and more than a year as subcommissioner, I feel ready for candidating now. But even more important; I am very motivated and excited for the position.

If you are helping a local to organise a NWM, on which things would you mostly focus?

First of all, I would work on the process of selecting a hosting local (and encouraging locals to apply). Then on communication with the chosen local, to make everything as clear and smooth for them as I can. Adapting to the organisers’ needs is also important, as well as supporting them on any problems they can have when organising. Something that I’ve learned recently is that I would like to give the hosting local their own space in the NWM programme; space to show the other participants their local, their city and their best ideas for the social programme. NWMs wouldn’t be possible without a hosting local and the organisers’ team, so I would put the main focus on this collaboration and on working together as one.

You aim to be ‘’a bridge’’ between locals and European Bodies. Could you elaborate how you will improve the communication between them?

Every local is different, some are very active locally and some are not. Some organise activities for the Erasmus and mobility students and some others don’t. Some have members that are also involved in European Bodies and some don’t. But something I’ve learnt from experience is that most locals seem to have something in common; I have seen our Network confused with so many activities and events and happenings…and so many European Bodies and ideas with which many members just don’t feel connected to. So it seems that the problem resides in this gap that we have: Locals vs. AEGEE-Europe and European bodies.

They are all part of the same organisation, have motivated and hard-working devoted members and are depending on each other to maintain a balance. Not only is it one of my aims, but part of the tasks at the core of the Network Commission to maintain that balance and be this “bridge” that connects them.

How will I improve their communication? AEGEE is a mixture of self-development, contribution to society and fun -best definition of AEGEE I have ever heard-. All of this is why Locals, AEGEE-Europe and European Bodies are really all in this together. By managing to make our members aware of this reality, we could reconnect both “levels”, shorten this distance and, therefore, help them to improve communication between them. Also, more concrete actions and very important ones for me in order to be able to support locals and European Bodies on issues related with communication will be:

A) Knowing by heart what is going on on both sides of the river; realising the realities of all the locals and staying updated on what is happening with European Bodies.

B) Staying in touch personally with both, and helping in whatever way that I can: sharing materials or anything that will benefit locals, helping to collect data or any other information European Bodies need, encouraging locals to send their members to European events… And reminders, lots of reminders.

Also, you mention something about working (more) with the NetCom archives, could you give one or more examples of possible uses of these archives?

I’ve always been curious about AEGEE history: data, facts, contacts, ideas and projects that have been happening since our organisation was created. How is all of this useful? Learning more always is! I think that you can always use a good written knowledge transfer and some background information. Since I became SubCommissioner and I had access to La Tripu shared files, I have found out so much about those locals I am responsible for, and about the deep functioning of AEGEE in general, that I do believe it has helped me improve not only as SubCommissioner but also as president and active AEGEEan. More examples of concrete uses: having stored data and reports of previous NWMs can help to organise a better one in the future, due to having an overview of what worked and what didn’t (or even which topics should or should not be tackled) and maybe even the feedback given by the participants. Having information on all projects that the Commission has developed up until now can indicate which direction should future projects follow.

Questions from the Network

What is the area of the Network you would like to work with?

Our Network is not supposed to be divided in static fixed areas neither I find long term benefits in having a non-flexible distribution of locals between NetCommies, so that is how I would be with the locals’ distribution in case of being elected: flexible. Right now I am excited for it and I would love to work with ANY local of our Network.
Going from having ten members in the commission to (most likely) eleven, will change the current distribution so I don’t see the point in choosing one or another area. Still, I can share a bit more information if it serves as clarification: currently my local is León (where I’m living), however, next August I will move to Den Haag and join AEGEE-Delft. I do have the most experience working with the locals that are currently assigned to NetCommie Alejandra.  As for geographical proximity, and as you can guess, I will be living closer to those locals in the UK, The Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.

What is your experience in writing grants?

I only have some experience applying for grants locally since in the last two years I’ve had to write and justify different grants for the Youth Council, City Hall and University of León.

You can read her full candidature here.

Written by Susan Nijsten, AEGEE-Groningen

Daniël Amesz from AEGEE-Leiden candidates for the Mediation Commission. He was interested in the Mediation Commission from the beginning, but he feels that the perfect time to apply is right now. He explains why and answers other questions regarding his application.

The AEGEEan: How would you describe yourself in three words, and why?

Daniël: The three words I’d use are dedication, enthusiasm and hugs. Starting with the last, everyone that knows me will immediately understand what I mean. I am a big fan of hugging and what it represents: close friendships and feeling comfortable with other people. Basically I’m a permanent free hugs dispenser. I realise that almost everyone can be enthusiastic, but the reason I chose this word is that most of my friends will agree that I am often a little bit too enthusiastic about things they might completely not care about. It happens quite a lot that I’m talking about, for example, a random European monarch from the 17^th century and halfway through my story I notice that people are clearly not as interested as I am… Finally, I don’t quit something once I’ve started it and put in a lot of effort to make it as good as possible, that is also why I did not apply in Chișinău, because at the time I wouldn’t have been able to invest the time that I now can.

Why are you interested in the Mediation Commission?

As I said in my application, the MedCom fascinated me from the moment I learnt what they did during Agora Cagliari. Both the theory and practice of mediation is something I find very interesting and would like to become better at. Also, it is one of the most people orientated commissions within AEGEE and you really focus on helping people that have a problem. I find it very motivating to be constantly challenged to find the best possible solution for everyone involved and hopefully make a positive change in every situation.

During your board year, did you have direct experience with conflicts between committees? If so, in what way did you solve these conflicts? If not, what things did you do to prevent conflicts?

Luckily there weren’t any conflicts between different committees. Communication is the magic word here. To prevent problems between groups it is important that they are aware of each other’s tasks and goals to make sure there is an understanding of why. Then it’s important to keep everybody informed about areas where tasks or goals may overlap so that there is an understanding of how. An example would be to coordinate when committees are allowed to promote their activities, to prevent them from being in each other’s way. There were, however, conflicts within committees between the different members. In these cases I would try to mediate and solve the problem. Organising a meeting to discuss the issues or calling those involved to hear the different stories. Team-building is very important in trying to prevent internal conflicts.

You mention regarding your programme that you want to establish frameworks to prevent possible disputes and conflicts such as a training in communication. How do you see these trainings being implemented more concretely?

The MedCom could work on a written guide that explains communication techniques, specifically designed for AEGEE’s structure and culture. This could include tips and tricks on listening, academic theory on team roles and a sort of checklist on how to give feedback. This could then also be adapted into an LTC template that locals can use to train their members and into workshops that can be given during NWM’s and/or even Agora.

You mentioned that you first wanted to gain more AEGEE experience, before applying for this Commission. What kind of valuable experiences did you gain in the past years so that you feel comfortable now to apply?

A lot of it has to do with knowledge about the association and how it works. During a board year you learn so much about the different aspects and relations of both a local and the Network as a whole. This is also aided by just going to a lot of different (statutory) events. Besides that, I have gained a lot of experience in the processes of team work and communication, exactly the type of knowledge that I want to help spread throughout the network as MedCom. Finally, during my board year, but also very much during my time as Chair of the local Agora, I became very aware of the different types of rules and regulations that AEGEE locals and bodies deal with. Getting to know all of these and making sure they are followed in the correct way can be a lot harder than it seems. Especially for a body like the MedCom it is important that you know your way around the rules and have experience with interpreting vague lines of text into a world that is much more complex than the rules can cover.

You would like to learn more about privacy issues within AEGEE and what is possible to improve in this field. Do you think the Mediation Commission is the right platform to do so?

To be honest, I think the MedCom is quite a weird body to be responsible for so much regarding the Data Privacy Policy Statement. Whenever I explain to outsiders what I’m applying for, they go “What?” when I start talking about the privacy part. This might be because I’m not good enough at explaining it yet, but there is some strangeness to it. Regardless, as Ombudsman of the data of our members it is important to know as much as possible about how it works and I always aim to improve things where possible.

Which skill do you think you will develop being active in the Mediation Commission?

I hope to learn more on (inter)cultural conflict resolution. One of the greatest benefits of AEGEE is the diversity of our members. At some points however, this can also lead to challenges. Sometimes a cultural difference between two members or between a member and the Mediation Commission can lead to misunderstandings. Recognising these differences and understanding each other is a skill I would look forward to further develop.

You can read his full candidature here.

Written by Susan Nijsten, AEGEE-Groningen

Supporting and loving each other, that is what AEGEE-Skopje is all about. President of AEGEE-Skopje Stefani Stevanovska tells us how being a member of AEGEE-Skopje changes the view towards Europe, how they keep new members active and about their plans for the future.

The AEGEEan: Could you tell us a bit about the establishment of AEGEE-Skopje?

Stefani : AEGEE–Skopje officially became an antenna in 1993, and during the years, it became one of the most active antenna in the network. This year we had a 25th anniversary, which we celebrated with the participants from the SUPS – Secret recipe for an epic Summer, as well as many active members and alumni. Currently, we have around sixty members. We focus on organising as many events we can, both locally as European ones. We believe that this is the best way to keep members motivated and to spread the AEGEE Spirit. This year, one of the best events we organised was the NYE event, in which we had around forty participants, who all left amazingly positive beginning. Also, SUPS was great, since the trainers gave interesting workshops and the participants left feeling accomplished and ready to organise a great Summer University.

Which typical, local traditions do you have?

We love to organise a motivational weekend yearly, to train and activate the newbies, as well as to get together with the active and older members. We have many teambuilding activities, games and workshops specially designed for the needs of the antenna, but we also have barbecue,  drinking games and much more. We strongly recommend this motivational weekend event to many other locals since the overall impact is very positive. On a local level, we try to co-operate with other organisations such as the Red Cross, because we love to help the community in Skopje. In the past months, we helped to organise a humanitarian folk dance concert and a blood donation action. Also, we co-operated with a NGO that works with autistic children to celebrate the World’s Autism day. Moreover, we promoted the Summer Universities in a very creative way, and a lot of people applied.

Which skills do you think that members of AEGEE-Skopje develop and how?

The best skills that AEGEE Skopje members have developed are organisational skills. Since we train new members from the beginning and we help them with organising some activities on both a European and local level. This really motivates them to keep on moving forward in our antenna and in their personal lives. Unfortunately, our educational system does not really offer many opportunities to do practical work, so this is a great opportunity for everyone. One example is the year when we organised two traveling SU’s: one with AEGEE-Istanbul and one with AEGEE-Beograd.

 How do you think that the view towards Europe changes by participating in AEGEE-Skopje?

At first, most of the people that join AEGEE-Skopje do not feel that connected to Europe, because we identify Europe with the European Union, which Macedonia is not a part of. However, their opinion quickly changes when they participate in an event outside of our borders and feel how welcoming and open-minded everyone in AEGEE is. Also, they see that our opportunities are almost equal to the opportunities that other young people in countries from the European Union have.

AEGEE-Skopje has a long history of organising exchanges with other locals. What are your tips for other locals who also want to organise an exchange?

The most important thing is good communication and teambuilding. For example, regarding a SU we organised in collaboration with AEGEE-Istanbul, we first had an exchange with them, where we met the whole team. We all had great time together and then  decided to organse a Summer University together. Also, it really helps if you have a motivated team that will work enthusiastically organising the exchanges and events. All in all, it is important to keep an open mind, help each other, know the weakness and strangest of oneself as well as of the entire team, try to work out the differences and find a middle ground for everyone.

The magazine produced by AEGEE-Skopje, ‘’Europe – No borders no limits’’ has been well received. However, currently it is no longer published, could you tell us the reason for this?

AEGEE-Skopje has been publishing every second month the magazine ‘’Europe – No borders no limits ‘’, but unfortunately, we no longer publish it. The magazine was awarded for “the best European student publication in the AEGEE Network”  in 1994 and 2000/2001. However, in the past we had more members that studied Journalism and creative writing than currently, so there are not that many students that could help publishing this magazine.

What are your plans for AEGEE-Skopje?

Our short term plan is to organise an epic Summer University – “Yes, I do!”. In a way, it is our baby because, since a couple of years, we decided to organise a SU alone, instead of in collaboration with another AEGEE local. We added new amazing things to the programme such as a Galichka wedding [An annual festival held in Galičnik in which selected couple get married in the traditional Galichka style, ed].This SU is entirely designed to show the culture, history and beauty that our country has to offer and to teach the participants our amazing traditions. Macedonia has been going through a difficult time and we think that this SU will also help the organsers to go back to our roots and focus on the positive things.  On a long term, we plan to organise a NWM, another winter or NYE event, motivational weekend and other surprises, just follow us on Facebook to see…!

AEGEE-Skopje is awesome because…

We love and support each other in every possible way, so that in the end we become like a family.

Is there anything you’d like to add?

Come and visit us anytime, during an event or any other occasion. We love to host members and to show them our city, it truly brings us great joy!

Written by Susan Nijsten, AEGEE-Groningen

This November AEGEE-Leiden is organising the Network Meeting (NWM) ”Lexit: Break away from your regular life”. Saramijn Luyken, European Affairs Officer, took the time to explain why this NWM will surely be a memorable one.  

Could you tell us a bit about the history AEGEE-Leiden has with NWM?

Saramijn: This is the third NWM we will be hosting in five years. It’s not a tradition within AEGEE-Leiden, but our former board was very excited to host a NWM and managed to pull it off! The core team is made up of experienced members that were involved in the organisation of the European Planning Meeting Leiden this year.

What is the difference of this year’s NWM compared to the ones before?

None of our current core team members were there during the last NWM in Leiden, so we will be mostly doing new things. Although we obviously still want the participants to learn about AEGEE, learn new skills and get to know the city of Leiden. So in that sense this NWM will probably be similar to the last NWM.

You are telling the future participants about possibly finding the ‘Kim to their Kanye’ or the ‘Tom to their Jerry’, sounds good! Did a lot of flings arose during previous events in Leiden?

Not that we know of, but we’ll definitely encourage the interaction between participants and hope everyone gets to know each other. Like Robert ten Brink [red: a Dutch host of a TV show helping people find love] we just want to spread the love! It doesn’t matter if it’s love for the city, love for AEGEE or love for each other… Hopefully all three!

If you could invite any person to join this NWM, who would it be?

Robert ten Brink, as he is our mascot and was part of our inspiration with this event. We do agree with his message: all you need is love [red: the name of his TV-show].

With which feelings would you like the participants to go home with at the end of this NWM?

A warm fuzzy feeling of newly found friends, fond memories, some newly acquired skills and stories for their future grandchildren.

What will make this NWM amazing?

Leiden will be the place to be this autumn. We are preparing a very exciting programme in which participants will need to take an active stance, as some of the workshops will take place outside. We also have ‘Dudley and Steven’, the dynamic duo of AEGEE-Leiden, taking care of the social program. They are preparing an overarching competition for the participants, an awesome European Night and to top it all off…a pool party! So, our NWM has to a lot to offer our participants, including a very enthusiastic organising team who are looking forward to receiving all of you.

Is there anything you’d like to add?

We are hosting a one-of-a-kind, amazing, indoor (because, you know, it’s in November), POOL PARTY! And we’re very excited about it!

Written by Susan Nijsten, AEGEE-Groningen