A little known fact among AEGEEans: they all travel a lot, which means that the majority has probably sorted out both the content of their luggage, as well as the best tips, tricks and techniques to pack efficiently. Since the Agora is coming, most of them already have their packing plan, but what are the ten things that most of them will bring to such an event?

Stickers

It doesn’t matter if one is a board member or not; everyone is entitled to be proud of their heritage, in this case their antenna, which means that a statutory event is the best opportunity for shameless promotion and the distribution of the latest batch of cool stickers from locals, European bodies, Summer Universities and many more!

A flag (stolen or not)

Although having a flag in your luggage in order to carry it to the location of the event is perfectly acceptable, keeping it there unguarded is probably not the wisest option. If we’re talking about a previously stolen one though, make sure to come prepared! A meeting among the board and members of an antenna is mandatory in order to find the best punishment for the “victims”.

Sleeping Gear

Although this is an obvious one for most AEGEEans, the majority tends to forget about how much of a necessity it is! Sleeping bags, blankets, mattresses; even if AEGEE events are the synonym of almost sleepless nights, having the equipment for the much needed two-hour sleep is a must!

Outfits for the thematic parties

Other than plenaries, prytania & other long sessions, the Agorae are known for their epic thematic parties. From the first formal party up until the European Night, AEGEEans always dress to impress, with impeccable and creative attires! The organizers of Spring Agora Bergamo 2016 have already announced the thematic parties: an Opera Night on Wednesday, Thursday’s Full Moon party, the ABC Friday (Anything But Clothes) and, last but not least, the much anticipated European Night on Saturday!    

Alcohol

And since we’re in the topic of parties and European Nights, let’s not forget one of their main ingredients: alcohol. Local, European, International: it’s a must in every party along with AEGEE spirit and good company!

Event or Antenna T-shirt

But what if one is not really into dressing up for parties? Thankfully, AEGEE once again holds the key, because the people, who are dealing with PR Material, never seize to amaze, while coming up with different designs for T-shirts.

Practical Shoes (Especially recommended for visitors)

Talking about practical clothing, since the visitors usually have more time to explore the beauties around the Agora’s location they’re indeed in need for a good pair of walking shoes! From the biggest cities to the small picturesque towns across Europe, every single one has proven to be beautiful one way or another; So don’t forget to be prepared in order to discover all these sights that make each place unique!

An electronic device with Internet Access (Especially recommended for delegates & envoys)

Online voting systems, updates or liking group photos on facebook. As you can see, having access to the internet during these days is a necessity for most people and especially for delegates who need to be up-to-date with everything that’s happening.

Other miscellaneous electronics

Chargers, power banks, mattress pumps, you name it -and an AEGEEan has them all-. Especially the oldies and the
travellers, who are, nowadays, ready to face everything that comes in their way, will always have you sorted for any occasion when it comes to random, but very much needed, pieces of technology.

Room for trophies

Last but not least, don’t forget that the Agora is the best occasion to steal flags & mascots, so if that’s in the plans just leave some space for them or any other souvenirs you may bring back home!

If you’re a real AEGEEan, whatever you do, don’t forget to wait and leave the packing for the very last minute!

Written by Theodora Giakoumelou, AEGEE-Athina

Agora Bergamo is less than a week away and all the participants from all over the network have already started checking out the booklets in order to find out what exactly will be happening during this general assembly. Other than deciding for the future of the organisation, the Agora is one of the best opportunities for attending workshops which can become the motive for further personal developments of members inside & out of the organisation. Part of Friday’s full agenda, consists of a slot of workshops which will be taking place from 11:45 until 13:45, in various locations, parallel to the Prytania.

Learning in AEGEE with AEGEE!

To begin with, Reka Salamon, on behalf of the Comité Directeur (CD) & Ana Potocnik one of the home-based CD Assistants will be delivering a workshop in the “S.Giacomo” room, about the self development opportunities members get through AEGEE. The discussions will be based on the idea, that the organisation can help its members develop skills that are not necessarily a part of typical education programs & policies, because AEGEE, among other things, can be a mean on which members can rely, in order to explore and unfold their abilities.

EU & Turkey: A Common Future?

Parallel to this, based on the tragic incidents and the ideas behind the statement of AEGEE-Ankara during the EPM Leiden 2016, Luca Bisighini, the Policy Officer on Migration, along with Antonis Triantafyllakis, Suzan Dilara Tokaç, on behalf of the Youth Mobility Working Group and Ilayda Berberoglu, on behalf of AEGEE-Ankara, will be delivering a workshop in the “S. Alessandro” room. As the discussion will unfold, the members who will be attending will have the opportunity to discuss potential solutions, as well as the possibilities that AEGEEans have in order to take an active role in the matter. Finally, there will be a debate on the current state of Turkey and the different perspectives on impending matters.

Global Cooperations of AEGEE

Last but not least, Aleksandra Kluczka, on behalf of the Comité Directeur, will be delivering a Progress Meeting in
the “S.Lorenzo“ room on the external collaboration possibilities that AEGEE has, outside the European sphere. As it is stated, “AEGEE […] in a wider international concept” which has been proven already by various projects and initiatives about strengthening relations and collaborations outside of Europe. Join the discussion to share your ideas & opinions and find out more about potential external opportunities.

For more information you can download the Agora Agenda and the Workshops and Progress Meetings booklet.

Written by Theodora Giakoumelou, AEGEE-Athina

Elisa has been a member of AEGEE-Catania for three years now. The experience that she gained from her antenna and the European bodies that she has been involved with so far, motivated her to take the next step and become a member of the Juridical Commission (JC) for the upcoming term. Here are all the questions the AEGEEan and its readers had for the current JC SubCommissioner: 

The AEGEEan: Can you tell us a few things about yourself?

Elisa: I’m in my last year, studying Law, at the University of Catania and I hope I will be getting my degree this summer, right before the beginning of the term. I’m a very enthusiastic person and, since I like what I study, I want to put my knowledge into practice!  

What is your relevant experience for this position?

As I explained in my candidature I’ve been helping the Juridical Commission as SubCommissioner this year (term 2015/2016). My collaboration with the current members gave me a lot of valuable experience for this position.

Why did you choose to become a candidate for the Juridical Commission?

During this year I came to the conclusion, that I gained the right knowledge to continue and improve the job of the current commissioners, therefore at the moment, I have the right motivation to carry out this mission!

What is the thing that makes the Juridical Commission important according to you?

The thing that makes the JC important, is that AEGEE, beyond an association, is a real community of people, in this case European students. As every community, it needs regulations (in this case, the ones mentioned in the Corpus Iudiricum Aeegense (CIA)), which will always be evolving and be shaped along with the people. So, to me, this European body is supposed to connect students with rules, help them apply them in the right way and take care of their adaptation during the evolution of this big community!

How would you raise awareness about the CIA among the members?

Raising awareness about regulations is hard in every community. Maybe people could be bored in reading all the articles, but the fact that at every Agora there are many members who submit proposals is a proof that not all members ignore the importance of the process. In any case,  it is a reality that many members have not read it once. Maybe, the word could be spread through a brief workshop about the CIA, during a Local Training Course (LTC) or an Regional Training Course (RTC) for example, just to make people aware of the main rules of the association!

Is there something that you would like to improve in the current version (v.26.1)?

I think that CIA is constantly evolving together with the association and the changing of its needs, so yes, there’s always room for improvement.

Do you think that there’s somehow room for collaboration between other European bodies and the Juridical Commission?

Yes of course, and I think that there must be and it has to be reinforced: the JC is always open to give support and advice to every member, local and European body.

If you were elected tomorrow, what would be the first thing that you would do?

Maybe I’ll make the most recent version of the CIA more accessible: some people said that they have not read the CIA once, because they don’t really know where to find it.

What is the thing that makes you the most excited as a candidate?

Probably the challenge of answering all the questions people will ask me. I think this process is really important in order to understand what people want to see from the JC, but I also consider this as a personal feedback for my future job.

Questions from our readers:

Have you read the whole CIA? If so, what is its role in the network?

Yes, I did. The CIA is the Corpus Iuridicum Aegeense, it contains the structure of the association, all the working formats of all bodies, the Agora and all the rules to make the entire association work,  i.e. it’s the main pillar of AEGEE, because without regulations, no community can exist!

In your program, you’re mostly referring to continuing the work of the current Juridical Commission, what are some of your own ideas that could to improve the work of this European body?

Improving the work of the current Commissioners will be hard, but everything can be improved in terms of efficiency on solving issues and so on.  

How do you place yourself towards the proposals about removing the current Comité Directeur from the work of the Commission?

I think that as European bodies, we can continue with the model of “check and balances”, but sometimes more neutrality in the decisions of the Commission is needed, which in my opinion, was the aim of the proposal.

Would you continue with the idea of presenting proposals only during the Autumn Agora?

The proposal was submitted with the intention of avoiding using a lot of the time of both Agorae just for discussion on proposals. But it’s just a proposal, and it has to be voted, so it’s up to the Agora to decide!

Why do you think you’re the most eligible candidate for this position?

Because I know the work, I’m motivated, I’m enthusiastic and I can give all my time to improve and preserve the CIA, as well as, to help whoever is seeking advice. In other words: I’m ready!

You can read the full candidature here. 

Written by Theodora Giakoumelou, AEGEE-Athina

Matteo Lai has been a journalist in the AEGEEan magazine since October 2015, but he is also active locally by serving his antenna, AEGEE-Cagliary, as its IT Responsible. His experience and passion for Law, though, motivated him to run as a member of the Juridical Commission for the upcoming term. Here are all the questions, that the AEGEEan and the Network had regarding his candidature.

The AEGEEan: Can you tell us a few things about yourself?

Matteo: I have been an AEGEE member since April 2015, when I decided to spend a vacation outside of Sardinia, because I wanted to try new experiences. Then I saw a Facebook the advertisement about Summer Universities, so after getting information from different websites, I went to the Faculty of Economy in Cagliari and joined AEGEE-Cagliari. Becoming an AEGEE member has been one of the choices, which have revolutionised my life. I am a 27-year-old Sardinian guy, who obtained a Master’s Degree in Law from the University of Cagliari back in October 2012. I love speaking foreign languages because I think they represent a way to open your mind and to meet new people. I also like football very much. In Italy, like in many European countries, it is the most followed sport and also a good conversation subject among young people. When I was 14 years old, I played in a local football team as a midfielder, and after two years the President of that team proposed me to sign a contract. Unfortunately for the President, I chose to stay focused exclusively on the school studies and left the team. During the following years I practiced many other sports, such as volleyball, basketball and karate. At the age of 22, I discovered my passion for dance and, in particular, for Salsa. Then I met a Brazilian girl, Alessandra, who helped me to learn that dance. I like to hang out with my friends during every weekend and have a lot of fun, as most of the guys at my age. Another hobby I cultivate is informatics, even if I am not an hacker, but not for case I am the IT Responsible in my Antenna.

What is your relevant experience to this position? 

I don’t have any relevant AEGEE experience to the position as a member of the JC, but I have studied Law since I was 19, I have done a traineeship in a Law firm and, currently, I am preparing for a competition to become a judge, so you could say that I have quite an experience in the field, especially considering that you need a very deep juridical knowledge to be successful in that completion. The written rules quite often can not regulate every actual case, making it hard for the jurist to understand which rule is better to be applied in each specific case. Previously, I have been a scrutineer in the European Parliament elections in 2014. Lastly, in collaboration with the law firm where I made the traineeship, I have been the first legal advisor in Cagliari to have managed to sign a divorce contract without the homologation of a civil judge.

Why did you choose to become a candidate for the Juridical Commission?

I chose to become a candidate for the Juridical Commission, because I love my association and I would like to contribute by putting together my passions for Law and AEGEE. A friend of mine, who was a helper for the last Summer University in Cagliari, suggested that I should present my candidature for the JC, because I have a doctorate in Law so I, probably, wouldn’t find any difficulties in solving some juridical problems. I think an eventual experience as a member of the JC (maybe also a President) would increase my knowledge of legal English and it would also allow me to do the job I normally do every day, but this time, for thousands of people from a lot of different European countries. Don’t you think it’s amazing?

In your opinion, what is the most crucial thing in the work of the Juridical Commission and why?

In my opinion, it is not very easy to transmit the importance of a set of rules for a very big students association like AEGEE, mostly because within the association you can find not only Law students, but also young people from various academic backgrounds. Law is often considered as a very boring subject, but as you can imagine, an association, other than people, also needs a set of rules. An example of rules is represented by our Corpus Iuridicum Aegeense. These rules are not unrelated to us, because they deal with our volunteering activity inside the association. Without a set of rules, we could not do anything because the CIA tells us, in the articles 2 and 3, the purposes of the same association.

Have you actually read the whole CIA? If so, what does it mean to you?

I have read the whole CIA and I think that it sets a good example of democracy, simply because it is voted upon by the antennae representatives. The CIA has got the same value as the rules of a town, a city, a region or a country. The association cannot work without rules. Without rules, we would be in a state of nature and in that state, each person would have the freedom to do anything in the world, which would lead to a “war of all against all”.

How would you make it more friendly to the members?

To make the CIA more friendly to the members I have thought about a collaboration between the JC, antennae, Working and Interest Groups (such as the Language Interest Group), mostly for the translation of the CIA into other European languages. I think it would be a great way to involve the entire network in the work of the JC. To begin with, we could try with French, Spanish and Italian.

Is there something that you would like to improve in the current version (v.26.1)?

Yes, as always things can be improved. Once I will start my term, I will discuss it with my team and, of course, with inputs from the Network.

Do you think that there’s somehow room for collaboration between other European Bodies and the Juridical Commission?

I think the JC should not work by itself, but it can enjoy the knowledge and experience of all European Bodies. I think, that one of our aims is to promote the collaboration with every European Body, which wants to make a contribution into our awesome association. We are open to all collaborations which can support the growth of AEGEE.

If you were elected tomorrow, what would be the first thing that you would do?

I would start with the preliminary activities in order to bring my program to life.

Questions from our readers:

In your program you’re saying that you want to translate the CIA into 3 other languages, one of them being French, which is already used since 1992. According to which criteria you want to translate it into the other two, Spanish and Italian? What about the other languages?

We will begin the translation of the CIA into Italian, French and Spanish. If the plan goes well, we can think about the translation into other languages, such as German or Russian. To make the procedure clear, I came up with an example: if I have to translate the CIA into Spanish, the JC sends a different number of articles to all the spanish antennae. To verify the authenticity, after each antenna (or the Spanish Subcommissioners) has sent its translation to the JC, the commission will be sending the already translated parts to different antennae, in order to make the comparison. In every case, we are ready to receive any suggestions from the Network.

In your opinion, what makes you the best candidate for this position?

Up until now, I have spent eight years studying Law, so I think I can execute the tasks of the JC, because I know the Law in theory and in practice. In addition to that, I am also used to a huge amount of work.

What is the thing that makes you the most excited as a candidate?

Becoming a member of the JC would allow me to be in contact with many people from different European countries, whom I would not have a chance to meet otherwise.

You can read his full candidature here

Written by Theodora Giakoumelou, AEGEE-Athina

As February is getting closer, everyone is getting more and more excited for the upcoming European Planning Meeting (EPM)  2016 hosted by AEGEE-Leiden. With a very hot topic as the “Refugees in Europe – Europe vs. the Rest: Change of Perspective?” the Core-Team in Leiden is almost ready to present their participants with an unforgettable experience including some very important sessions and, as always, amazing parties. We had the chance to talk with Casper Renting the Vice-Organiser and PR & IT responsible of this EPM who gave us a bit of insight for the organisation and the city life.

The AEGEEan: AEGEE-Leiden has already hosted some great statutory events. Could you tell us a bit more about the history of your local?

Casper: We were founded on the 31st of October 1985, so we have been there since the very beginning. There has always been someone from Leiden in the Comité Directeur during the first 9 years of AEGEE, something we are quite proud of. We have also continuously organised Summer Universities since the early nineties. For most of its history, however, AEGEE-Leiden was a very small antenna, with only around 15 members, until the year 2000. Since then we have been steadily growing up to the around 300 members we currently have.

Why did you decide to organise an EPM?

We hosted EGEE-3 in 1987 and the 49th Agora in 2010, but we had never organised an EPM/EBM. What better reason could you have? Anyway, that is why, in 2014, some senior members of our antenna started thinking about the idea. After initially losing the 2015 bid to Burgos, we improved our application considerably and won the year after.

How is the organisation going so far? Is everything running as expected?

Haha, mostly! Jokes aprt, we are doing fine. We meet every Monday evening with the Core Team to update each other. We have just found our coordinators and we will soon select helpers. We have applied for various funds and are confident that we will get a positive response. All party locations and almost all meeting locations are definitive. As IJsbrand, our Logistics Responsible said: “If the EPM was tomorrow, it could go through. It would be very stressful for us as CT, but it could work.” Still being two and a half months away from the 25th of February, we are sure we will manage everything in time.

What is that thing that would make this EPM more special than the previous ones?

That is a difficult one. Every EPM or Agora is of course a unique experience and we do not want to sound like Burgos or Lublin were nothing special. But, to name a thing, as well as Bergamo could host the biggest Agora ever, we could host the biggest EPM ever. We can accommodate 350 people, if we will, that is up to whoever is reading this now.

Oh and the legendary European Night will be back on this EPM, so make sure to bring your national cuisine!

How did you come up with the postcard challenge? How is it going?

Every summer, members of AEGEE-Leiden send postcards to the AEGEE-office from wherever they are, and there is of course the Christmas-Postcrossing by AEGEE-Warszawa. AEGEE has some nice traditions involving postcards and we wanted to honour that tradition with this competition. We have now received only 5-10 cards, but as AEGEE people love being close to deadlines I am sure, more will arrive. Besides the big prize, there will be a small prize for every participant and of course we will display the cards during the EPM.

Any spoilers on how do you plan on delivering such a burning topic?

Well, as organisers we are only facilitating. How to deal with this interesting but difficult topic is up to the content managers. We can say, however, that we see the relevance of this topic every day. Our sleeping location was a temporary refugee shelter some time ago. AEGEE-Leiden people organised a day full of activities for the refugees at that time.

What is the one thing that participants must see or visit when they come to Leiden?

There is so much to see! We posted some inspiration on our website, but as an anthropologist I can reccommend the National Museum of Ethnology and the National Museum of Antiquities. A free tourist attraction is the Burcht, a 10th century fortified building in the middle of the city, from which you have a great view over the city.

Is there any advice you would give to antennas that plan on hosting a future European Planning Meeting?

Just go for it, it is a great experience for organizers personally and for the antenna as a whole. However, make sure you have full support from your university and/or local government. We would not have been able to do it without them and I think the same is true for Burgos and Lublin. Furthermore, do not abandon the local level, make sure there are still people organising and visiting local activities. Organising a statutory event, doing something for the network, is wonderful, but it is an (unnecessary) shame if it harms your antenna and the HR it heavily relies on.

What should the participants expect after their experience from the EPM and the city of Leiden?

Well, there is of course the common things. You will be drained from energy because of all the parties and discussions. You will have made new friends and reconnected with old ones. If you were smart you have seen a lot of Leiden and surrounding cities because you visited a Pre-Event in Amsterdam, Enschede or Heidelberg, or stayed a bit longer to see historical cities like The Hague, Delft or Utrecht. You will have found out that the Netherlands is quite affordable if you know the right places (and we do!) and that Leiden is rich in student traditions. Lastly, you will have many great memories that have one thing in common, they all start with: “Remember that time in Leiden…”

You can visit EPM Leiden 2016 here

You can apply here until the 17th of December 23.59 CET (Login Required).

Written by Theodora Giakoumelou, AEGEE-Athina