+++ SPOILER ALERT!+++

This article contains high doses of sarcasm and hilarity. The author assures that no Santa’s little helpers were harmed in the process of writing this article. 

Christmas is coming and the most difficult time of the year starts for me. Well. One of.

The world is full of twinkling lights, snow is invading the streets, the air smells like gingerbread and everyone feels this festive atmosphere and tries to be nicer. Then there is me, totally out of love for December, who can hardly bear the stress of picking up presents, seeing red everywhere, eating so much, smiling and walking in the humid, cold, freezing weather. Therefore, it comes to no surprise that one of my nicknames within my family is the Grinch. I am aware that most of you will roll your eyes and call the stone-cold heart police, but I will try to explain my point of view, trying to find some allies too. I know that out there there are some We (H)ate Santa clubs and, confident to find some pals, here is the list of reasons why I hate Christmas.

Presents. When I was a child, I thought that all the letters I was sending to Santa’s home in Rovaniemi got lost. I mean. I was asking for Barbie’s camper, a pony and a telescope and I always received clothes, clever games, puzzles. Growing up, I thought I had put behind my bad relationship with the fat bearded guy, but I did not take into account how bad people are at gift-giving. Actually, it is really easy. You think about the person, you visualize what s/he likes the most, you find/create/buy it, you wrap it, you give it to the person, the person is happy. No rocket science, one may think. Then, how can you explain the fact that I am still receiving books I will never read, clothes I will never wear or weird memorabilia destined to be covered in dust?

Breakups. Statistically*, the best moment to break up with someone is a couple of weeks before Christmas. Why? Because the money you would have spent with/for your better half, you can spend for yourself. Imagine instead being left in front of the vegetables section of a mall on the 24th of December because your soon-to-be-ex boyfriend is a vegan and he wants to spend Christmas alone (read: no strings attached). Or to declare your love for the first time to another soon-to-be-ex boyfriend and the guy, instead of romantically jumping towards you for a kiss, answers that he has been seeing someone else for quite some time. No wonder I have spent some major depressing Christmases eating gelato and listening to Damien Rice’s Delicate in loop. Now I live in terror of being left on the altar right before Christmas’ Eve. What do you mean, I don’t have a boyfriend?

*By statistically, of course we mean our second reality: Facebook.

Family dinners. When are you graduating? When are you getting married? When are you going to introduce us your boyfriend/girlfriend? When are you going to move out of your parents’ house? Have you ever received one of these questions? If the answer is yes, congratulations: you are part of the 99% of youngsters who are constantly oppressed by relatives. The only solution to avoid these (and more) questions is to avoid family dinners, with the only result to add more and more questions the very next time you will seat together. Obviously, if you never received those questions, you are not the “black sheep” of the family and you should help your relatives in peril and not laugh at them. In 20-something years of my life, I have never found some plausible excuses to use in order to avoid spending the entire lunch mumbling something even remotely intelligible. Dear readers, any suggestion is welcome. XOXO, a single girl from Italy.

Michael Boublé is coming to  town. There was a time when Michael Bublé was famous because he was a singer even besides Christmas. Or maybe not. We will never know. But during Christmas time, he probably holds the record for the highest number of copies sold. In fact, during the whole month of December, apparently the entire archives of all the radios in the world misteriously disappear and they are replaced with only festivities-themed songs. Everybody, and when I say everybody I literally mean everybody, recorded a Christmas song. From the usual All I want for Christmas is you by Mariah Carey to the usual Last Christmas by Wham!. But there are some hidden gems that are more suitable for destroying someone’s joyful day than for creating the right mood. Some example? It’s Christmas time again by Backstreet Boys, Mistletoe or Santa Claus is coming to town by Justin Bieber, The Christmas Shoes by NewSong, Don’t shoot me Santa from The Killers and, dulcis in fundo, Santa Claus goes straight to the getto by Snoop Doggy Dogg. One might say that Bublé is not the worst medicine after all. Well… try to fly from Warszawa to Rome with his greatest hits album on repeat because some nice hostess forgot to press stop, and then we can talk about it; provided you did not jump off the plane at 33,000 ft. Which is more or less the reaction I have when listening to Christmas songs.

Christmas is during winter. I am a daughter of Spring, when the nice weather is bringing new lymph to the world; which is exactly the antithesis of the cold, freezing, foggy season normally called winter. Look at Australians or New Zealanders who understood everything in life, placing Christmas during the hot season. No snow, no ice, just sand, beaches and a mojito with Santa in a swimsuit. Instead, we are forced to cover ourselves like onions, spending at least one hour to remove every single layer of clothes.  To make things worse, when I try to go out of my house I am bombed by so many lights that it is a miracle half of the population is not blind. Other senses are challenged as well, like taste and smell, mostly with a common enemy: cinnamon and ginger. Is someone able to explain to me why those two spices are blooming during Christmas season? What is wrong with sage or rosmary?

On a deeper level, though, Christmas is also the moment when all the family gets together, when I get to see long-distance friends, when it is time to think back on the year that just passed, when you are never alone because there is always someone by your side, when it is time to go to the cinema with you brother and your sister, when the heart is lighter, when grandpa is giving you a Christmas gift from his hospital bed and his smile is just heaven, when you eat so much you can die, when you can give to the poor something you will not use anymore, when you are just happy with your loved ones.

Ok… all in all, I think I can survive this Christmas too. Hopefully, next year I will be surfing with Santa.

Merry Christmas to all!

Written by Ebenezer Scroogerika Bettin, AEGEE-Verona

Regardless of whether you celebrate Halloween in your country or not, you cannot help but be confronted with all kinds of creepy stories, movies and pictures. To share in the spooky atmosphere of the season, The AEGEEan has made a list of the top 10 scariest creatures in European folklore.

10. Wolpertinger, Germany

Legend has it that a mysterious creature roams the alpine forests of Bavaria. This animal is not particularly large or vicious, but nonetheless it can be quite scary to some people, because it looks incredibly uncanny.

There is no single definition of a Wolpertinger, except that it is amalgamation of different body parts of various animals. For instance, the head of a rabbit, the body of a squirrel, the legs of a pheasant, with antlers and wings. However, perhaps the most disturbing aspect of the Wolpertinger, is that some people have actually hunted down various woodland critters to create their own stuffed Wolpertingers.

9. Tatzelwurm, Austria

The Tatzelwurm is a man-size worm or snake with a feline face and a reptilian tale that lives underground in the eastern alps (in Switzerland, Lichtenstein, Italy, Bavaria, and Austria). In stories, it is not reported to be violent against people, unless you disturb it or its burrow. It is basically a Wolpertinger that is big enough to fight back, should you pose a threat.

8. Black Shuck, England

This creature is a ghostly, huge black dog with devilish red or green eyes that roams the countryside of East Anglia. Should you ever have the misfortune of encountering it, you will soon die, or at least become seriously ill. Looking the creature directly in the eyes means certain death.

Some say that the legend of Black Shuck may have been the inspiration for a similar creature in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskervilles. However, before you go to the East Anglian countryside with a shotgun, beware that there are also numerous stories in the region about large black dogs that actually help travellers get back home safely.

7. Basilisk, Southern Europe

Modern horror movies have truly spoiled us with grand ideas of the basilisk. When this creature was first described by Pliny the Elder in the 1st century A.D., it was nothing more than a very venomous snake, no more than twelve fingers in length.

Additionally, because legend says that a basilisk is created when a cockerel broods on a serpent’s or toad’s egg, the basilisk got drawn with more features of a rooster during the Middle Ages. Over time, the basilisk became larger and deadlier in many stories. Its corrosive venom, for instance, got replaced by a deadly gaze.

6. Koschei the Deathless, Ukraine & Russia

This creature is pretty much the Voldemort of Slavic Folklore. Koschei the Deathless, or Koschei the Immortal, is a villain who takes the form of a man with magical powers, who is so extremely thin that one can see his skeleton underneath his skin. It therefore, comes as no surprise that his name is derived from the Slavic word for bone, hinting at his skeletal appearance.

Just like Voldemort, you cannot kill him unless you destroy the needle that holds his soul, which is hidden in another object, which in turn is hidden in another etc. This, in true Slavic fashion, can only be described as Matryoshka Horcruxes.

5. White Wights, the Netherlands

Woe is he, who wanders the moors of the northern and eastern Netherlands at night. Stay away from the burial mounts, when a fog descends from them, for it is actually the White Wights (Witte Wieven in Dutch), the spirits of deceased woman, who roam the countryside at night.

In some stories, they are fortune tellers, who will be of service to anyone who seeks them out. In others, nobody who has ventured into the fog has ever been seen again.

4. Nuckelavee, Scotland

According to legend, the Nuckelavee is the scourge of the Orkney Islands. It is a devilish man, who like the creature in Frankenstein, is sewn onto the rotting corpse of a horse, and rises from the sea to terrorise and exterminate the people of the Orkney Islands.

The breath of this creature was reportedly so bad that it alone could wither entire crops and sicken livestock.

3. Strigoi, Romania

The Strigoi can best be described as ‘proto vampires’ when compared to beings such as Dracula or Carmilla. They are on the very crossroads of being vampires, spirits, and warlocks, because of their diverse nature.

Strigoi can roughly be divided into two categories: the “strigoi viu”, or living strigoi, and the “strigoi mort”, the dead strigoi. The living strigoi are sorcerers that, according to legend plague the countryside with deceased and death. The death strigoi, however, are more vampiric. They are the corpses that rise again from the grave after death in search of their victims.

2. Baubas, Lithuania

This creature is like the bogeyman on steroids: it’s a dark demon with piercing red eyes, long, thin arms, and wrinkly fingers, who will come and kidnap children who misbehave.

Nevertheless, what makes the Baubas truly horrific, is that this proverbial enemy is already inside the home, for the Baubas likes to hide under carpets or inside the dark crevices of your house.

1. Külmking, Estonia

The scariest creature on this list has to be the Külmking. This creature from Estonian mythology is something like the evil protector of the forest, eating children alive when they bother forest spirits. This creature, however, isn’t a good spirit on a bad day. It is the restless ghost of an unholy dead.

Because of this, you are running the risk of being harassed everywhere in the wild, for the Külmking does not have a fixed haunting place. To make matters worse, some stories tell that, if the Külmking goes through the body of someone, this person becomes evil. Thus potentially creating a legion of serial killers.

Written by Willem Laurentzen, AEGEE-Nijmegen

A couple of days ago, we published an opinionated and argumentative article on the benefits of censorship. We hoped you liked, and, to follow it up, we have another one for you right here. Use it in every group, in which you find yourself in AEGEE, or even in your personal life, because you should not take what you adore seriously; sacrality is evil.

Like in the previous article, we do not mean that all worship is morally objective, merely one small aspect of veneration, both religious and secular, that can have calamitous consequences. When worshipping, when venerating someone, something, or even yourself, it is extremely important that you do not become or think you cannot become immune to criticism; this is the fundamental danger of sacralisation.

This is a phenomenon that you are all familiar with; if not in yourself, you will have seen it in others. In the case of worshipping someone or something, you may have seen a situation in which, let’s say, a friend of yours has been obsessed with someone, for example, their romantic partner or their hobby. Let’s be clear here, there is nothing wrong with really liking the person with whom you’re in a relationship, but at a certain point the adoration can go so far that you cannot say anything critical about this person.

Some people like their partner so much that you cannot say stuff like that their significant other has behaved appallingly recently. The adoration of your friend for their significant other is so strong that they will not condone any criticism or any phrasing that deviates from the image of the significant other that your friend has created inside head. If your friend sees their partner as beautiful, kind and friendly, then every factual statement that you use to contradict that statement will not be excepted and will be seen as a secular equivalent of a sacrilege.

The main problem with sacralising someone or something happens when you take the sacralised person or object too seriously and start to project it in your head as infallible. The problem with infallibility is that it cannot be wrong in any way, and therefore cannot logically be critiqued for being flawed, even most minutely flawed. One of the best solutions to counter this problem is to accept that nothing is sacred, or at least not too sacred to be flawed.

To use a real life example: the paedophilia scandal in the catholic church was very hard to address for years, because the Church was too sacred to be investigated, until the reporters at the Boston Globe broke with the sacrality of the church. In order to address a negative aspect of a sacred person, object or institution, in this case the catholic Church, it was important to first acknowledge that the sacred could be flawed.

Another example can be seen in Bill Cosby’s rape scandal. For years, nobody dared to confront the alleged rapist, because he was too much adored to be criticised, until one woman came forward. Because she accused Cosby, he was no longer to sacred to accuse, and multiple other victims followed suit.

The idea of the sacred, however, is more banal than just the divine, celebrities or your person for intimate stuff; there are, arguably, also things in AEGEE that are venerated too much to touch. To name only one example, I once met a board of a local, and one of its members venerated the position of board member a bit too much.

The problem with this board member was that they reasoned that, because the board of this local was really actively engaged with its members, and, because the board spend a lot of time and resources on improving the local, they, as the centre of the local, were best to make decisions. And one could certainly construct a case for this reasoning.

The problem with this board member was that this person had become convinced of the sacrality of a board members infallibility that every decision a board member made or every opinion a board member had, was always better than what anyone else of a ‘lower rank’ made or had.

At the event that I was attending, this board member incessantly tried to change, although this person said “improve”, things that the organising committee had worked on for months. That is not to say that a board member is not allowed to comment on the work of a committee member, but it is not productive to try to fix something that is not broken, when the event is currently happening, in front of all the participants.

Nevertheless, because the position of board member was so sacred to this person, this board member continued to see any deviating opinion from this person as a sacrilege; humiliating the committee members and stonewalling and verbally bitch-slapping everyone who voiced their own thoughts. This included things like where to eat, if the group could split up during the group’s free time, or even whether a joke was funny.

The general take away from this article is simple and comes in three parts. One: worshipping or venerating someone, something or even yourself, to a point where the venerated person, object or institution becomes infallible, or too sacred to critique, is detrimental. Two: one way to counter an institution, object, person, or even yourself that has become immune to criticism, is to acknowledge that this thing, person or self is not too sacred to be flawed. Three: concepts, people, et cetera that are too sacred to critique are not limited to the divine or celebrities; it also happens in AEGEE.

Not everything is sacred, but everything is flawed, and this article is no exception. Would you like to respond to the arguments of this article or would you like to write your very own opinionated article about AEGEE or Europe? Ask about the possibilities at aegeean@aegee.org.

Written by Willem Laurentzen, AEGEE-Nijmegen

It is said that , on this Earth , there are never two people that experience exactly the same thing, but one fact is for certain: AEGEE is a whole new world, where you can find the most amazing experiences, meet extraordinary people, discover new countries, gain priceless memories and it all starts with a small step.

A few days ago somebody asked me about my best experience in AEGEE and I was completely lost for words (and this is not so usual for a law student that loves to talk). So, I decided to go for a walk down “memory lane”, hoping to find the answer to this question. The conclusion was a big surprise for me as well, but now I can say that my best experience in AEGEE was:

My first workshop as a trainer for Human Rights Day

Considering the fact that I am a law student, Human Rights Day was the perfect opportunity to share my legal knowledge and to raise awareness about the importance of proper information when it comes to our fundamental rights and how a democratic system should look like. But there was a big problem: my shyness and fear of public speaking didn’t fit the fact that I was supposed to speak in front of fifteen people for about one hour-and-a-half. At the end of the day, the message I wanted to convey was more important, and all of my shyness jumped out he window, making the event a real success. I can honestly say that this project made me fall in love with AEGEE, but…no, this was only the beginning! My actual best experience in AEGEE was:

Regional Training Course organised by AEGEE-Chișinău

The amazing people from AEGEE-Chișinău were the first AEGEEans that I was meeting outside my own antenna, and I was really impressed to see that they were treating us like family. Moreover we had the chance to exchange ideas, to meet people from other Romanian antennae and to talk about the upcoming Agora Chișinău. The fact that I was in the middle of the planning for the biggest AEGEE event, the Agora, was really overwhelming and exciting. Not to mention the fact that Agora Chișinău was supposed to be my first Agora… but it wasn’t and this makes me think that my absolute best experience was:

AEGEE Day Celebration

I saw one of my dreams come true: me and my team made AEGEE history, because 2016 was the first time when AEGEEans celebrated AEGEE day. This project was my best experience in AEGEE, because it showed me that I only need one thing to create amazing events, amazing memories and that thing is a well-kept secret: passion. One of my favourite quotes is “Passion changes everything” and it is 100% true, because I was still a newbie in organising a big event, but I had passion and this is what AEGEE does to you in the end: it pushes you outside your comfort zone and gives you confidence in yourself… speaking of confidence, now I wonder if perhaps the next experience was my best experience in AEGEE. I am thinking about:

The Conference named: “A Borderless Europe: A blessing or a burden?” 

The people, the topic, the discussions, making new friends or the fact that an amazing European conference was taking place in my own country. I do not know what made it a memory that always puts a smile on my face. This conference was a perfect way to practice my English and to share my ideas, my solutions about Europe and the European Union, because this event was really challenging from the beginning until the end. Once again I was meeting extraordinary people, with captivating life stories and funny, addictive AEGEE stories. I was sitting in a room, on a basic blue chair, but at the same time I was traveling around Europe, because a German guy was telling me about the economical situation in his country, an Italian girl was describing the famous Italian food and a Croatian girl was sharing a small part of her Croatian sense of humour. Events like this bring the following phrase to life: “I was like a kid in the candy store”, because I wanted to hear more stories, to discover more countries and cultures, to meet new people, to make new friends and to get more involved in AEGEE. And I did it. Five days after the conference, I was traveling to Bergamo and I think that this was truly my best experience in AEGEE.

Helper at Agora Bergamo

A thousand people were walking into a gym. No, this is not the beginning of a joke, it was the Spring Agora 2016. Bergamo was the place were the word “overwhelming” was not enough to describe the feeling that I had as an Agora newbie. The story started like this: I got accepted as a helper, booked a flight alone, in a country I never visited before, at the biggest AEGEE event… a normal day, right? I am a person that likes to talk and to write, so words are like my super power, but when it comes to expressing my gratitude towards AEGEE-Bergamo, I am at a loss for words. From the first moment, I was considered a member of the AEGEE-Bergamo family and those ten days spent there were the funniest, most challenging , crazy, extraordinary days so far… but this is still not my best experience in AEGEE.

In the past year , since I’ve joined AEGEE, I am sure of the fact that my best experience is AEGEE is a puzzle made from the small moments, the small steps outside my comfort zone, and the new friendships. The best experience for any of us can be just around the corner. Take any opportunity, book a flight to a new country, dare to experience a new culture, because a small thing can make a big difference!

What about your best experience in AEGEE?

Written by Violeta Croitoru, AEGEE-Iași

During some of our earlier years, we used to publish some opinionated and argumentative articles. Starting today, we are back with a brand new series of such articles with a topic that cannot but catch your attention by virtue of its controversial statement coming from a magazine; in defence of censorship. And yes… at times we have to censor things; sometimes necessarily, sometimes sadly so.

For this article, I am only going to talk in particular about the regulated censorship on profanity, because it is, in my opinion, the only kind that can arguably be defended. It is, however, also because it is the most publicly acknowledged and the most abundant kind of censorship in the Western media in the present and in the recent past.

With ‘regulated censorship on profanity’ is meant a certain set of rules that creators, editors, producers, et cetera of, for instance, media must follow as to not produce any content that would include, for example, curse words or references to addictive substances, sex or violence. Regulated, furthermore, means that a network or society has democratically decided to censor certain elements, generally, equally and in all circumstances.

The Beatles

I remain, however, resolutely opposed to any arbitrary censorship of any subject. Nevertheless, the main reason why I am not entirely inclined to universally condemn the regulated censorship on profanity, is because it led to people creatively and humorously bypass this censorship.

Firstly, it is important to realise that the prohibition of speaking about something, does not mean the prevention or restriction of that topic being spoken. Not being allowed to specifically sing about sex did not stop The Beatles from singing about sex. Whenever they sang lyrics like “happiness is like a ‘warm gun’. Bang bang, shoot shoot”, “baby, you can drive ‘my car’” or “and when I ‘touch’ you. I ‘feel happy’ inside”, one can easily see the sexual innuendos.

Alfred Hitchcock did something similar with his films. In North by Northwest (1959), there is a final scene where two characters are going to make love in a train. Around the moment of penetration, however, Hitchcock shows his audience a shot of the train entering a tunnel.

Final Scene from North by Northwest

This does not mean, however, that I think all media should be censored; especially if the profanity is in support of its content. In the song, Stan, by Eminem, for instance, I firmly believe that the lyrics “shut up bitch! I’m tryin’ to talk! Hey Slim, that’s my girlfriend screamin’ in the trunk. But I didn’t slit her throat, I just tied her up” are integral to the deranged persona of the character of Stan. Prohibiting this character from saying any profanities would make him, or at least his derangement, seem unbelievable, and it would, furthermore, lessen the song’s impact.

Nevertheless, I would argue that, while it might very well be frustrating to have to censor your work, it makes a creative product seem much more elegant than when the artist freely expresses, for instance, sexual content. Sex and violence should be able to be expressed in the media, but I would also like to point out that Hitchcock’s movies, to me, seem much more elegant -sometimes even more pleasant to watch- than, for instance, the overkill of titillating private parts in Game of Thrones.

Craig Ferguson

Secondly, it should be said that the regulated censorship of profanity, at times, can be quite silly and comedians have humorously pointed this out. One example is of Craig Ferguson, who, on television, announced that he would “draw something rude”. He then proceeded to slowly draw a penis, but in the end drew facial features and turned it into a silly-looking face.

Another time, Ferguson tested the censor again by turning his hand into a fist and by moving his arm back and forth, but with his knuckles pointing down; as if handling a frying pan. This was completely fine, until he proceeded with this same motion, but with the knuckles now pointing up.

Stephen Colbert similarly explored the silliness of this kind of censorship, drawing “two female breasts”  (two encircled dots). The image was blurred until he drew a nose and mouth underneath, and blurred again as he covered the nose and mouth with his hand.

Stephen Colbert

Colbert, furthermore, repeatedly explored the silliness of this kind of censorship by using witty wordplays, such as “clock block”, “now, it’s JAG-ed off”, “John McCain P.O.W., Donald Trump P.O.S.” The latter abbreviation being implied to stand for Piece Of Shit.

The fact that the regulated censorship of profanity gives comedians the opportunity to create silly sketches about it, seems, to me, a boon rather than a punishment. One might say that, even without the silliness of the censorship, comedians still have plenty enough material to work with. However, I would then like to point out that entire comedy groups have made a living on the silliness of society. Monty Python immediately comes to mind, but also A Bit of Fry and Laurie, in which Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie often made fun of the silliness of language. This includes one sketch where they, almost impossibly, had to describe an action without any innuendos.

The freedom of speech is one of our greatest assets. Yet, I would say that if, in certain cases, we can only indirectly speak freely, without any bit of information being lost, and add a lot of creative material about the silliness of our media because of the regulated censorship of profanity, I am all for it. I would not like to abridge the freedom of speech, but I think that we would collectively be poorer as a culture without the comedic material about how silly our lives and society are, including how silly censorship can be.

In short, while I believe that most censorship would obstruct (creative) speech, the regulated censorship on profanity does the opposite. Instead of stifling creativity, I would argue that it leads to an even greater creative output of delivering a message, which, in my opinion, thus becomes even more elegant.

Would you also like your opinion piece about AEGEE or Europe to be published? Ask about the possibilities at aegeean@aegee.org.

Written by Willem Laurentzen, AEGEE-Nijmegen

A while ago, we got a suggestion to write an article about how-to-choose certain items for an event. Here, at The AEGEEan, we have some experience with drinking, sleeping and travelling, so we might provide an entertaining guide in choosing the following items for an event.

Booze

At a European event, you might want to bring some of your own booze. What you want is something nice, something original, something strong; essentially, you want the twenty-six-years-aged-single-malt Old Pulteney from Scotland. But you can’t, cause it’s for a European Night, and you’re not from Glasgow or AEGEE-Aberdeen, or  just because you couldn’t afford it anyway.

What you need is something affordable, so go to your local liquor store and look for something with a nice taste, preferably something sweet -people like sweet stuff, that’s why obesity is all the rage right now-. Try something original, like something with the taste of cinnamon or chocolate, and avoid most herb-based alcohols, like Jenever or discount Jägermeisters, cause it’s like drinking a field of grass and you’re not a cow… you might be fat because of all the sweet stuff, but you’re not a cow. And remember, if anything else fails, try to get your hands on some homemade Pálinka: it’s so good, you’ll cough your lungs out.

Sleeping bag

Choosing a sleeping bag is simple: all you need to do is buy the regular sized one. It doesn’t matter if you’re too tall or too short for your sleeping bag, cause the great benefit of a regular-sized-sleeping-bag, is that most other people have regular-sized-sleeping-bags and that you can easily zip yours to his or hers for… let’s call it ‘a fifteen minute shared, intimate ‘sleeping’ experience’. Just don’t have one of those in the same room as me, cause… otherwise… see picture:

Travel Tickets

To go to an event is easy, to get there is… well it’s pretty easy nonetheless. However, for a couple of complications and a minimal amount of stress, you can get your travel tickets a lot cheaper. First of all, go online, check all of the airline services and then pick the one you already knew was the cheapest from the start. Better yet, let some poor sod do this for you and book as a group: this way you have time to play Candy Crush.

Seriously though, book tickets in a group: sometimes you get a group discount and everyone pays the same price for their tickets. If you book them one by one, then each next ticket may cost more than that of the previous guy. Furthermore, you can’t always stuff everything in your handbag, but paying extra for an extra large bag is simply not worth the price. If you book tickets in a group, you can pool together for just one extra large bag for the entire group. What you’re then going to do, is to fill it with your own stuff and let somebody else pay for it. #makeamercementsgreatagain

A real way to save money though is to not fly directly to your destination, but ponder different travel options: pool together in a car, or use trains and busses. You’re mostly going to have to fly anyway, but you can save a lot of money by flying to another airport and take a bus or train to your final destination. For example, if you need to go to Vienna, take the aeroplane to Brno and proceed by bus (it might cut your ticket price in half). If you have to go to Chișinău, travel to Bucharest and proceed by train, and, if you have to go to Brussels, just don’t… or bring Kevlar. Seriously, there are so many people with machine guns patrolling the streets of Brussels right now; even Texas thinks it’s too much.

On a final note, bring clothes; light clothes for warm weather, a vest for when it’s cold, a jacket for when it rains… basically, just a suitcase full of jackets when you go to England. In short, pack enough fresh clothes to last the entire event; you don’t want to be the smelly-underwear guy. In short, bring clothing and you can’t go wrong… except at that one party at Agora Bergamo.

Written by Willem Laurentzen, AEGEE-Nijmegen

Most of you, during the Agora, watch the Chairperson and the Vice-Chairperson preside over the meeting. But how about the Secretary of the Agora? The only thing people witness of him/her, is them typing during the Agora, but being Secretary of the Agora has some privileges!

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1. You are in the spotlight.
Together with the rest of the Chair Team, you are the centre of the attention for a couple of days. You are the one who creates and revise the agenda. So, when people have questions or what to change something, they will come to your table and ask you for assistance.

2. You cannot miss a Plenary.
You are on stage during (almost) all Plenaries, cause it’s kind of your duty to record all the minutes of the Agora. But, if it’s your thing, you have the added benefit of not having to speak. Speaking of standing in the centre of a spotlight, sometimes they literally shine too brightly onto the stage. Luckily, that’s just an opportunity to put on some cool shades.

3. You can skip the queues for meals.
This might sound like something form George Orwell’s Animal Farm: ‘all AEGEEans are equal, but the Chair Team is a bit more equal than others’, but it actually has an important function. As a Secretary of the Agora, you have to be present at a Prytanium before it even starts, and since queuing up for food might take forever, you might not be able to finish you meal, or not have any food at all. Therefore, it becomes sort of necessary to queue barge… sorry, hopefully everyone can understand.

4. You have your own assistants.

You may be important, but you’re not all-powerful. During the Prytania slots, there are three parallel sessions and it is impossible to cover them alone. That’s why you need assistants to help you during the Agora. Also, after the Agora the assistants need to finish their sessions and you might need some proofreaders to help you. Thanks you guys!

5. You have internet access most of the times.

The internet is pretty great; the U.N. even deemed it a basic human necessity. However, while some people will even ask you for the WiFi-password for… personal things, you need an internet connection to access the agenda, which might change considerably during an Agora. You also need the internet to constantly communicate with the rest of the Chair Team and with your assistants. It’s kind of an important tool for chaos prevention; the internet, to a secretary, it’s more than just Tumblr.

6. You know everything that happened during the Agora.

You have recordings, and sometimes video footage, of all the Plenaries and Prytania.
After the Agora, can listen to the recordings or watch the videos in order to deliver accurate minutes of the Agora. You know, for everyone who doesn’t have the photographic memory of BBC’s Sherlock.

7. You don’t  pay the Agora fee.
Also, after you deliver the minutes, you get reimbursed for your trip. A lovely ‘thank you’ for doing a nice, good job.

If you are interested, you can apply for Secretary of Agora Chişinău till the 20th of June.

Written by Lia Tuska, AEGEE-Kastoria/Sofia

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

We already gave you some tips on how to be a good visitor, but how should you be a good delegate (according to us)? The Agora is a magnificent creature, but it is also very complicated to follow every single thing that happens, especially if you are a newbie. But also experienced members has some troubles from time to time. It can be long, it can be boring, but it is also an engaging opportunity to share your knowledge and to learn new things. 

Prepare yourself before the Agora. JC, CD, CT, AR, KT, SP, AA, FR, FP, MedCom, NetCom… Should we continue? Those are just some of the acronyms we use and you will hear them a lot. But also proposals, CIA, candidates… The content of an Agora can be overwhelming. Especially if there isn’t a proper preparation beforehand. Two weeks before the Agora, the Secretary General sends out booklets in which you can find all sort of information you might need. The Chair Team is also sending delegates a quiz, which you can take to test your knowledge, or an Agora for Dummies booklet. You should also organise an Agora preparation with your local, where you can study the items on the agenda and share your thoughts on what will be discussed and what will be voted.

Plenaries, prytannia and attendance. Delegates represent a local during the Agora and they are required to be present at plenaries and prytannia. If you ask, ‘what are those’, you either are at your first Agora or you never attended either of them. Plenaries are the moments when all the members of the Agora gather together, for instance, the opening plenary, the candidatures, the ratification of projects and other. Prytannia are smaller gatherings, normally used to discuss proposals or papers, which will be voted on. Delegates should be there all the time because in those moments, we discuss the present abd future of our organisation. And because your time will be counted as participation during the Agora. Be careful to scan your badge every morning before entering the plenary and state your local at the beginning of each prytanium. But most of all, make sure to be there because you want to, not because you have to.

Ask questions (to oldies). If you are at your first Agora or if you are the sole delegate of your local, and you don’t understand something, just look around and approach some more experienced members. Normally you can recognize them, because they speak a language you don’t understand or they clearly declare to have attended 10+ Agorae. They will be more than willing to listen to all your questions and to explain to you all the procedures that are obscure to you. Don’t be afraid if you don’t know them! We are AEGEEans, we simply talk to everyone.

Ask questions (on stage). If you have some doubts, another thing that can actually be very handy for you is to ask your questions straight at the source. If you like numbers and there are some figures that don’t match, or if you read a candidature and you are not entirely sure on how that thing will be implemented, take the chance to go on stage and ask a question (or more). Maybe your doubts are shared by other delegates and the discussion can be benefit by everyone. And if you are telling yourself “My English is not the best”, don’t worry! A native English speaker in AEGEE is very rare and we, generally, all speak European English, with different accents and vocabulary. As long as you can make a sentence with a subject, a verb and an object, everybody will be able to understand you.

Don’t sleep. Lack of sleep is the most common disease during the Agora and it is physiological. We sleep around three hours per night and our brains are constantly bombarded with new information in a language that is not our mother tongue. That’s why we often enable the automatic pilot and fall in the sweet arms of Morpheus. The truth is that it is not pleasant to present something you worked towards for months in front of hundreds of “sleeping beauties”. Therefore you can drink zillion of liters of coffee, energy drinks or be a rebel: skip some parties. You will find yourself rested and ready to rock.

Vote properly. Delegates have the honour to vote and give direction to the Network. Delegates should represent the will of their locals, but also they should have the future of the organisation in mind. When voting for candidates, you should focus less on the appearance, and rather on their experience and their program. When voting for a proposal, try to understand whether the entire Network can benefit from its outcome. Voting is harder than it seems, because it is not enough to just fill in a ballot or to click on ‘in favour’. Follow your conscience.

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Verona

Agora Bergamo is approaching day by day and you’d better prepare yourself both physically and mentally for it, because it’s about to become real in less than a week! Beside the necessary things you need to take with you undoubtedly, we want to help you with a few cool tips which you have to take into account once you are there in order to survive! So, take notes because you will need them! Especially if you are a newbie at your first Agora! 

#1 Tip: Drink A LOT of Coffee!

Every oldie in AEGEE knows that at each Agora, during morning plenaries, half of the people in the room are sleeping, or are half asleep because of last night’s party, of course. Whether it’s on the floor, on the chairs, on someone’s lap, it’s the same scenery. The “Sleeping AEGEEans” Facebook page is full after each statutory events with weird sleeping faces on weird positions or even places. Yeah, we have seen a lot of creativity among those people! So, as you can already imagine, the most essential thing to do at an Agora is drink COFFEE and A LOT OF IT! There are lots of intensive activities which require your attention and full cooperation sometimes. So drink a cup or ten or you might lose a lot of insightful information or the key moments of this event!

#2 Tip: Take an External Battery everywhere with you!

That’s right. You will need it to charge your phone during the event, so as be able to use it during boring times or if you need to check some important issues. If you don’t own an external battery, you can also buy one from the Summer University Coordination Team (SUCT) who are selling them during the Agora! Dibs!

#Tip 3: Take Vitamin C every morning! 

It’s well known the fact that if you take vitamin C after a long night of party and alcohol, it kills off the hangover. It couldn’t be more true! Vitamin C is an antioxidant. Alcohol depresses your immune system, leaving you wide open to colds and other viruses. As alcohol metabolizes and our body detoxifies itself, a substantial number of free radicals are released into our body. Vitamin C’s antioxidant qualities help fight free radicals in our body and generally alleviates headaches. So, you can say it’s also a good way to prevent getting the flu or other illness. It’s a win-win!

#Tip 4: Take earlier showers in the morning or later during night! 

It’s not a surprise that during every Agora there is a queue of people starting from the gym and all the way to the bathrooms. People in their towels wait in line for their limited time to use the showers. It’s crazy. It’s messy. It’s hot. It’s Agora’s most often problem, not enough showers, not enough time. However, it has been said since “ancient times” that you would have a better chance at taking a normal shower, if you wake up in the morning earlier than the others, or during the night when everyone is at the party or even sleeping.

#Tip 5: Don’t come late to the European Night!

Yes, we have arrived to the most important tip of an AEGEE event. European Night! It’s always great when people bring a little bit of taste from their own culture and nation during a nice small event organised in AEGEE. However, when it comes to an Agora, it’s the mother of all European Nights in one place! With large quantities of alcohol and all kinds of sweets, you cannot be late for this party! No, sir! Everyone knows that the best drinks finish first and fast! Come late and you will also miss the chance to enjoy your time with others at the same time and it will be sad for you when everyone is really enjoying themselves and you are still sipping some weird drink from Finland.

We gave you some tips, now you figure out the rest! See you at Agora Bergamo!

Written by Gabriela Geană, AEGEE-București