They were a perfect model for what AEGEE stands for, breaking stereotypes and organising an amazing and inclusive event, ensuring that everyone felt safe. As often with events of this scale, a crisis is just around the corner, but the team managed to have a successful event despite the difficulties. We, the HRC, NetCom, and The AEGEEan are happy to announce the Local of the Month, December 2019, AEGEE Sankt Peterburg!

Congratulations on being awarded the Local of the Month! We’re to hear more about you!

Hi, we are AEGEE-Sankt-Peterburg, and we are extremely proud to become the local of the Month! Thank you everyone who supported us! Our antenna is located in the cultural capital of Russia, magnificent Saint-Petersburg, which we love and are always ready to show to our guests.

Right now, we have 102 members (approximately 20 of them are active), and we are working hard to attract new members and involve the oldies more. Our main activities on European level are Summer Universities and NYEs. We organize them every year and always experiment with the format, trying out different things to add new flavor to our events. For example, last year we focused more on training, while this year we would like to make a big travelling event (stay tuned!). We also have some “branded” activities which we do at almost every event, and we are surely proud of them. You probably have heard about our legendary pub crawl (cause St Petersburg is the city of bars with absolutely different atmospheres and levels of craziness) – if not, you definitely have to visit us and experience it by yourself! Our other activity is a boat party, where we rent a boat, follow Neva river and watch drawbridges. Unfortunately, we can only do it in summer, but it’s totally worth it. On a regular basis we organise speaking clubs in English, social meetings where we can just sit in a bar and talk, and trainings on soft skills. We are in the process of developing a new strategy for acquiring new members; we want to show people that AEGEE is a unique place both for self-development and having fun.

What are some of the most memorable moments you’ve had in your local?

In 2018 we’ve celebrated the 25th Birthday of our antenna on the first day of Spring Agora Krakow (24th of April, don’t forget to congratulate us!). It was the moment when we’ve felt this magical sense of unity with the whole Agora! Another highlight is the real winter ball we organized less than a month ago within our NYE “Russian Salad”. More than 120 people participated! As you can imagine, it was a very important event for us, so we are extremely happy that it turned to life. And of course, becoming the local of the Month is quite memorable as well… For sure takes the third place in this list! ;)

What has been the key to your success. In which areas have you needed more help and development?

We would say that the main key to our success is the hard work. Our members are highly motivated and ready to spend almost all their free time in order to make our antenna stronger and bigger. We do hope that this title will give them even more motivation to keep on that level, so they will always remember how appreciated their achievements are. We want to wholeheartedly thank those who put their souls and patience into the antenna during all these almost 27 years, especially when the times were tougher. You also participated in receiving this award. Of course, nothing is perfect, and we are still trying to make our antenna more sustainable and increase the number of active members who are not afraid to organise events on the local and European level.

Some words of wisdom to other locals?

A: You’ve probably seen our wisdom words on our hoodies already: “Think big. Train your skills. Taste the difference. Travel often. Take a risk. Be AEGEEan!” (available in different sizes, text us for preordering!)

Any closing remarks?

Once again, thank you for choosing us! This is a great achievement for our antenna and our recently elected board, we are extremely happy and honored. Don’t forget that all AEGEEans are welcome in our city, so don’t hesitate to contact us if you are in Saint Petersburg. Hope you will feel the family atmosphere because we consider our antenna a big family!

Moldova, a modest country of Eastern Europe in which Romania and Russia had a strong influence on it. After being part of the Soviet Union until its independence in 1991, the first and only AEGEE antenna of the land was established in the capital city, Chișinău, in 1994. Except for the period between 2011 and 2012, it has always been active, reaching the goal of organizing an Autumn Agora in May 2016. Since then, as being part of the Central European Dragons area in the Network and being in Eastern Partnership Project, AEGEE-Chișinău works on making real the goal of a borderless Europe a complete reality. And continuing with this momentum, a Network Meeting (NWM) took place on December 2019 with the title ‘Welcome Back to Casa Mare’. The AEGEEan decided to speak to the organising team to get an insight into what the event was all about.

Hello, and thank you so much for giving to the magazine a bit of your time for this interview. To start of, we’d like to know how it all started, the idea of organizing an NWM at the end of the year.

Hello, thank you for having us in this interview! Well, we just felt the lack of a real AEGEE-Chișinău event, which will help us grow as a local, and at the same time will be able to help the Region, the locals, and keep the AEGEEans interested. And we wanted to show to the members that did not get the chance to go to a European event how it works, and how amazing they are! 

What kind of activities and workshops did the participants engage in in this event?

This year we focused on human resources, practice sharing, and thanks to our friends from the EaP Working Group, we will host an EaP workshop – also since it is the 10th year anniversary the timing is amazing!

Is this the first time that this antenna organizes an event of that kind? How were the previous experiences?

Well, from what we know, yes, or it happened a long time ago and we are too young to remember a NWM in Chișinău.

AEGEE-Chișinău, as many other antennae of the Network, has some advantages and disadvantages. What are the challenges that this local antenna has to deal with?

I would say the biggest disadvantages are constant competition with other international NGOs and the migration situation in Moldova overall, since most of the young people leave for studies and work abroad. Advantages? We are a small team, but we dream big, we are learning from our mistakes and try to become better and improve ourselves as much as we can! 

Finally, what are the objectives of AEGEE-Chișinău in the future after this  NWM?

We want to help AEGEE-Chișinău develop, become a big and sustainable NGO, but more than that we want to become a second family to the members that are to come and show them how amazing it feels to be an AEGEEan and all the opportunities you can get with AEGEE! And of course we want another Agora, but there are at least 7 years until that :)

Who doesn’t like trains! They are fast, comfortable, and sustainable compared to flying. Our member, Leon Kogel, supported one of AEGEE’s biggest projects, Europe on Track, and won an interrail ticket. And here’s the story of his summer adventure!

Hi, my name is Leon. I am a 22-year-old chemistry student and a member of AEGEE-Aachen. This summer I had the chance to travel through Europe with an interrail ticket because I participated in a crowdfunding campaign for one of AEGEE-Europe’s biggest external projects called Europe on Track. In this project, multiple young ambassadors travel to different cities within the AEGEE network, to deliver workshops and collect the input of civil society on an overall topic like climate change or social inclusion. As a thank you, everyone who donated for the crowdfunding was entered into a lottery for one Interrail Global Pass and I was the lucky person who won it. This is the story of my summer adventure. 

On the 10th June 2019 I got a message of a friend reading: congratulations on winning an interrail ticket. At first, I could not believe it, I did not win anything ever before. I was at a festival at that time and did not check my mails. Opening my inbox, I discovered that I was indeed not being pranked. Now the only problem was in choosing one of the endless possibilities my prize offered. Should I go to France? Italy? Maybe Spain? In the end I decided to clear the blank spot on my travel map and venture through the central European capitals and to my favourite city in all of Europe; Lviv. 

Throughout my three years in AEGEE I met so many amazing people, that I could probably travel 3 months straight and not be able to visit them all. Before I went on my interrail adventure I arranged with a good friend from AEGEE-Erfurt that we would meet in Prague. We spent an awesome time there between nice cafes, the cosy old town and our very lively hostel where we met a bunch of crazy but friendly people like us. In addition, I had published my route upfront so I could meet up with people along the way, which worked out great. For my next stop in Vienna I was hosted by a friend from Rome I met during his stay at our Summer University in Aachen in 2017. Through him I learned that another participant of this event now works in Vienna, so we joined his birthday party.

Having indulged in drinking some mysterious local drink made of water, malt, yeast and hops, I certainly had some difficulty reaching an early train to my next stop; Budapest. There I was greeted by the central European summer heat, so I naturally had some goulash to balance my body with the outside temperature. The weekend in Budapest went by way too fast for me to even see half of its

wonders, but nevertheless I really enjoyed it. On my way to Košice on the Slovak-Ukrainian border, I made a quick stop in Bratislava. Eating in a local soup restaurant and drinking the favourite Slovakian tea from the tatra mountains gave me the strength to climb up to the castle, where I admired the view of the famous bridge over the Danube river and beautiful soviet style apartment buildings. The train ride took me the better part of the day and I was very happy to finally reach my hostel at midnight. 

The next morning, I went to have breakfast in the city centre, where I found a fountain that coordinated with music. Crossing the EU frontier into Ukraine was as delightful as ever (although I must admit nothing compared to the Polish-Ukrainian border). In the evening I boarded my night train from Uschgorod to Lviv. Sadly, the Interrail pass does not cover Ukraine yet, but if you have never travelled by train before in Ukraine, I can recommend you try it if you should visit (which you definitely should). It is a true adventure. In my case, I was sharing a compartment with a woman and her son aged eight or nine years old. When he got to know that I am a foreign student from Germany, he was super excited and asked me a lot of questions. Unfortunately, my knowledge of Ukrainian was as limited as his English. He even tried to use google translate on the phone of his mum, but the rural Ukrainian internet was not fast enough, so we communicated with the minimal language resources we had. After we reached our destination at two o’clock in the morning and a long sleep at my favourite hostel, I spend three amazing sunny days in Lviv. There is really no better way to spend a hot summer day then to meet up with friends and sit outside, while sipping a drink of your choice and just watch life go on. 

Alas my summer paradise could not last because exams were calling me back to Aachen. The thirty-six hours trip back home via Warszawa, Wroclaw, Berlin, and Cologne was exhausting but overall uneventful. It was an amazing trip and even with the year ending, I still love to flip through the pictures I took during my summer adventure. Thank you interrail and Europe on Track for making it possible.

As the Christmas holidays are here, this is a good occasion for AEGEE members to get to know the Comité Directeur a bit better and have a look behind the curtains of what’s happening in the AEGEE House!

2020 marks almost half of a term challenging and intense, yes, but also greatly rewarding and full of all sorts of experiences. To get you an idea of what we have been doing so far from our own perspective, we decided to provide you with a personalised sneak peek of some of the experiences and memories we hold dearest, by each of the members of the CD!

Álvaro, Vice-President, External Relations Director

• In mid-September I attended an event that I started to organise on behalf of AEGEE even before beginning my term: the University on Youth and Development. Attending it and helping on its organisation was one of the most remarkable and empowering experiences I’ve lived so far in terms of non-formal education.
• Not so related to the CD life but still close to my heart: seeing AEGEE-Brussels flourish after introducing the current board members to each other is something that I defo need to mention. I have very high hopes for the whole team, and am sure you will hear about them very soon, so remember these names: Ismael, Valentina, Paul, Antonia, Ema, and Juan!
• We got approved two grants of the Council of Europe for the same call, which had never happened before. This is rewarding for me not only because I was coordinating one of them, but also because these grants allow us to increasingly involve locals and members that are out of the European Union.
• At the beginning of our term AEGEE co-founded the coalition Generation Climate Europe. In this short time we have advanced so much that last month I even had a meeting along with two other members of the coalition with the cabinet of the Executive Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of the European Green Deal, Frans Timmermans, on how to further involve young people in climate change policy-making.
• Those small details with the rest of the team such as for instance vandalising and trolling each other’s part of this article on Google docs with the most shameful stories since the term began (believe me, there are). It’s those moments that make me realise that I am not living the CD experience with mere colleagues or just fellow AEGEEans, but with friends.

Barıs, Financial Director

• As a proud main interior designer of the attic of the AEGEE House, I feel like we spend 100+ hours to just thinking about it, gathering stuff and fixing everything we managed to create a space where CD people can be there daily to relax and I think it makes living/working in the same house a bit more tolerable, S/O to everyone who contributed to it. 
• Attending to World Non Formal Education Forum in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil and representing AEGEE there was really an amazing experience for me. Also in my free time I discovered that Caipirinha is the best beverage in the entire universe.
• I actually tripled or quadrupled the number of vegetables I am eating regularly, thanks to Hanna, it all started with the raw cauliflower that I ate in the transition cocktail because there was no other food left.

• I am trying to migrate all of our finances to online systems, so far I managed to move the bookkeeping of AEGEE Europe and reimbursements to online platforms which helped me increasing the efficiency of our financial office (surprise, surprise, it’s just me) and have a better overview over finances of our association and better management of our scarce resources. Also a side note, APPLY FOR FD ASSISTANT IT’S A COOL JOB!!!
• The most amazing highlight of this year for me is having the best team I could ever wish for, I can already see us 20 years later throwing a barbeque party we will also have vegan sausages for Hanna, gluten free stuff for Momo and kriek for Oksi, other guys literally eat/drink everything, literally.  

Batu, Communications Director

• Decorating the whole attic with my teammates with the stuff that we found on the streets made me feel like we are in a Discovery Channel documentary! 
• With NWM Leon, I paid my first ever visit to Spain. It was such a productive event and the hospitality of people amazed me so much! 
• I’m really happy that we have an AEGEE Day Team this year, and already looking forward to the celebration(s) of the 35th birthday of our beloved organization in Brussels and all around the network! 
• Preparation and double-checking of around 200 pages of Agora Salerno documents/booklets in last 4 hours before the submission deadline was a truly exciting marathon! The last one was submitted in the very last minute and I was about to break the computer at that moment! (laughing)
• Playing a football match with local organizers in the end of NWM Isparta reminded me so much of my old days on green fields, we should do those kind of activities more often!
  
  

Daniël, President

• It was a very weird and interesting experience to become an employer overnight on the 1st of August. Suddenly secretariat members came to me to ask if it was alright they’d leave at 17 o’clock. Strange after only working with volunteers for so long!
• One of the busiest moments in my life so far was the week leading up to organising the SMASH final conference in the European Parliament, while also going to NWM Athina right before that. Both events turned out to be amazing!
• We were quite lucky that the CD before us made several big renovations to the AEGEE house, but there is always something else to fix. When running for CD, I did not expect that it would also teach me so many DIY house fixing skills haha.
• Writing and presenting our Activity Plan has been a rollercoaster ride of several months. From the earliest brainstorm discussions all the way to the ratification during the Agora has been a great experience. It was a joy to discuss with my team members about what we wanted to do and it was great to receive feedback and input from the network. 
• Finally, it has been really cool to represent AEGEE externally in Brussels at different receptions. Although I had explained AEGEE to potential new members thousands of times, I had to get used to explaining what we and specifically the head office does to potential partners. After some practice it goes smoothly and it’s a lot of fun!
  
  

Hanna, Projects Director

• Having 3 European Bodies live meetings at the same weekend in Brussels and finishing it with submitting a project for the European Youth Foundation. After that weekend I needed to sleep for 15h (keyword “needed” not “slept”), but the project was accepted! 
• I clearly remember the moment we invited the new renter in the AEGEE house to have a beer with us. After half an hour, she said she would like to join AEGEE-Brussels… she is now the Vice-President of the newly elected board! 
• Reporting two grants at the same time took, 1. 49h of work in 3 days, 2. Baris, who doesn’t eat vegetables, cooking vegan for me, 3. Dance Monkey dance parties at the office with Elitsa at 2am, 4. 4am proud presentation of a job well done to the sleepy teammates.
• How we had to move KT to the basement as it was too hot outside in July (Belgian history’s hottest days!) and having to move guests to the attic a few months later as the heating didn’t work and it was too cold in the basement – the house really fits every occasion 
•  Visiting 3 locals in the week before Agora, attending the constitutional drink of two other locals, working with my eight sweet European Bodies, making urgent phone calls to the volunteers and having them step up to help me and of course my ever supporting teammates – thank you to all the lovely and inspiring people who make all of this worth it!
  
  

Monika, former Interim Secretary General

• After living in the house for almost one year and a half, I guess it somehow happened in a natural way that I became a “mommy” that is not only supervising the head office and making sure that all the administrative part of the work is done properly, but I spend quite a lot of time cooking and baking for my lovely team, housemates and other AEGEEans that stop by in the house, as there is nothing better in the world than full and happy  bellies.
• For me, the first months of my second term were in large part dedicated to Agora Salerno preparations and supervising the whole process from CD side. I especially enjoyed coordinating weekly meetings with CT, JC and LOs when we were planning the whole Agora, solving issues, supporting each other in tough moments, getting excited about what was coming and just having fun together 
• This year we had the first Chair Team meeting that took place outside AEGEE house. Veva, Timo, Yusuf, Quentin, and I went to Salerno to meet with the whole core team of AEGEE- Salerno in the middle of September. It was super nice, as besides working hard we could enjoy sun, nice food, sea and amazing hospitality of our lovely friends from AEGEE-Salerno. For me it was special also because of personal reasons, as I came back to Salerno after three years and I could see again all awesome people that I meet at SU there in 2016.
• Legendary booklets night. As I was travelling on the evening we had a deadline to publish Agora booklets, I was freaking out if I land on time to upload all the documents before midnight. When I got out of the plane it was only half an hour until midnight, so I was praying that my battery in the laptop wouldn’t die and the internet would be fast enough to upload everything before the deadline. I had my command center at the airport trying to coordinate with Batu and Baris that were on their toes in our Brussels office, preparing last covers and documents. It was super stressful and funny experience for the three of us, but we managed to be on time!
• We had a lot of fun preparing General Mailing with Daniel, Elitsa and Florian from the Y Vote Team. We had a few hundred envelopes to prepare, but with a nice spotify playlist and mulled wine it went surprisingly fast and in a lovely atmosphere. I could also practice my design skills preparing christmas card together with Daniel, that we attached to every envelope. Later on Alvaro and me spent the night sealing the envelopes and gossiping in the office. 
• When you join CD it’s important not to only keep good working relations with your team, but also to stay close friends. Of course it’s not easy when there are seven different personalities living and working together, but with these people it works well. I like our team dinner every Wednesday, activities and small trips we have together, chilling in the attic during the nights with movies, good music, life conversations and big issues to wake up to work the next morning.

Oksana, Network & Human Resources Director

• I do a lot of brainstorming on new ways of dealing with our internal affairs; all the fun stuff like internal communication, HR management, network development and so on. And when I have an idea, and feel ready, I come to Daniel and ask him to criticise it as much as he can to check its feasibility. Thanks Daniel, I love and hate that you destroy them ideas so well!
• One great way to stay close to the team while being in exile; social skypes! People in Brussels put on a video call during a team dinner and we talk about the latest news and gossip, it’s really sweet. 
• The amount of memes and jokes I saw about my Network Status Update.. Oh boy, the creativity of AEGEE people! I just hope that everyone sees the reason behind it – promise, I don’t want to delete half of the network (laughing). For me the work on network development means also being honest and not pretending that dead locals are not dead, – otherwise we cannot see the reality and do something to change it. And a huge thank you to NetCommies for enduring all my requests and supporting locals in the best way possible! 
• Never could I ever imagine when candidating for CD that I would be called “IT boss” or “IT specialist”! It’s really a delight to work with the ITC and see their devotion, and now with the new helpdesk team we have a chance to see all the cogs of the organisation behind the screen, and support any AEGEEan in need of tech help.
• What I love about our dream team is that in the midst of never-ending work we always find space for silly and fun things. Like shooting a video for NetCom mascot punishment, or dancing in the dining room with disco lights on the laptop, or starting a night-shop-street-gang in the middle of the road at night. These people just make CD experience incredibly special.

What each of us is gonna do during Christmas and NYE

I will be filling my belly with amazing Spanish food along with my family in cold and windy Galicia, showing them that I am indeed alive. For New Year’s Eve I will be going to Ukraine, where I will celebrate along with some friends, including my lovelies Oksi and Hanna ~ Álvaro

I’ll be spending my time in Izmir and Istanbul trying to rest as much as I can, not think about the work at all, and enjoy my time with loved ones and proper food ~ Barış

I will be travelling from the most-western point to most-eastern point of Turkey! It is a trip of 1700 kilometers in one-way. I will start in İzmir, then Kapadokya-Kayseri-Erzincan-Erzurum-Kars and will finish my trip near the highest mountain of Turkey, Ağrı Dağı/Ararat which is 5137 meters high! ~
Batu

For me these holidays are all about the three big F’s: family, friends and food. My entire Christmas holiday is packed with meeting up with people and I have a tight schedule with different groups every day haha. Brunches, lunches and dinners will probably make me a bit heavier, but it’s all worth it ~ Daniel

I will spend my holidays travelling to meet different friends and family around Estonia, cooking tons of Christmas food for them and enjoying the cold air. However, the New Year’s Eve will be spent with some other AEGEEans, including 2 of my dear teammates! ~ Hanna

For me Christmas time will be a pretty busy period, with a lot of preparations, planning, cooking and baking, looking for gifts at a very last moment, family gatherings with amazing food and cosy evenings with mulled wine, sweets and Christmas movies, as well as some activities outside like ice-skating or sleigh party. This is also a perfect opportunity to catch up with all friends and spend time together enjoying Christmas atmosphere. NYE I will spend with my best friends at the party in Warsaw. It’s the first time since a couple of years when we will celebrate all together, so I’m really looking forward to that night! ~ Monika

I’ll spend the New Year’s in the company of some of the loveliest AEGEE people (including Alvaro and Hanna!) in Kyiv. The Christmas in January will be all about family, homemade food and cosiness. Otherwise hoping to get all the rest and gather energy for the successful second part of the term! ~ Oksana

The first 5 months of our term passed incredibly quickly, but were a true roller coaster. Before going to the Christmas break, it was great to take a moment to reflect on our experience so far and remember the highlights of the past year that made it really special for us. We had a lot of fun writing this for you, and we hope you will enjoy the reading!

CD57 is wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Thank you for your work and passion, for your ideas and curiosity, for inspiring us and making us love AEGEE even more. Enjoy your well-deserved holidays and see you in 2020! Feliz año nuevo! Urte berri on! Mutlu yıllar! Gelukkig nieuwjaar! Head uut aastat! Szczęśliwego nowego roku! З Новим Роком! С Новым Годом!

“The fireplace is burning bright, shining along me
I see the presents underneath the good old Christmas tree
And I wait all night ’til Santa comes to wake me from my dreams
Oh, why? ‘Cause that’s Christmas to me” ~ Pentatonix 

With the holidays right around the corner, The AEGEEan decided to have a glimpse into the holiday traditions in different parts of Europe. Surely, Europe, a land of diverse colourful cultures has some interesting holiday traditions and stories. So buckle up and as Frank Sinatra said, “Come fly with me, we’ll fly, we’ll fly away”. Next stop; Georgia!

Georgia is a country where the people love holidays and festive times. As most of the population in the world, Georgian people also look forward to New Year’s Eve and Christmas. It is typically celebrated with families or friends. We love festivals so much that we even celebrate New Year twice a year. Am I joking? Not at all and let me tell you the story behind this tradition.

Georgian people celebrate New Year’s Eve more than Christmas. Apart from Catholic traditions Georgian people do not celebrate Christmas on the 25th of December but on the 7th of January. In Georgia Christmas has more religious meaning than traditional celebration of some holiday. As for New Year’s Eve, it is celebrated on the 31^st of December. But Georgian people also celebrate the Old New Year that is after Orthodox Christmas. It is celebrated on 14^th of January. It’s not as festival as 1^st of January but people still prepare Supra. 2^nd of January is called “Bedoba” Day by Georgians. According to the tradition, how you spend a day on the 2nd of January influences the whole year. That’s why people try to have joy with their beloved ones and bring a little luck in their life.

As we mentioned above Georgian people love holidays and especially New Year’s Eve. Every family takes care of New Year’s Supra (Supra is a general name of Georgian feast) that is significant and traditional part of holiday. There are some essential dishes that should be on the table like Gozinaki, Churchkhela, Satsivi and Khachapuri. New Year’s special and traditional sweet is Gozinaki that is made with honey and nuts. Churchkhela is also sweet and made with nuts/walnuts and grapes juice. Satsivi is cooked with turkey and some walnuts sauce.

Georgian people believe it is super important who steps into the house for the first time at New Year. This person is called “Mekvle”. “Mekvle” should be a significant guest for the Georgian traditional family and he is the one who brings luck, happiness and joy to the family for the whole year. “Mekvle” brings some sweeties and presents for the family and then they together celebrate New Year’s Eve.

One of the traditional things for New Year there is a special New Year tree in Georgia. It is called Chichilaki and is an ancient traditional tree made from hazelnut branches. As it is said, the origin of Chichilaki is pre-Christian and it is believed that the Chichilakis represent the tree of life. Georgian people buy Chichilakis and usually have them with traditional New Year’s tree. After Christmas the Chichilakis are burned before the Orthodox Epiphany on January 19. The burning tree symbolize the passing of the previous year’s troubles.

There is another tradition for Christmas in Georgia that is often compared to a trick-and-treat tradition. Georgian people call it Alilo. Alilo is a special traditional Georgian Christmas song that is performed on Christmas Day on 7^th of January. During Alilo people process in the streets wearing religious costumes. They collect food, sweets, and gifts, singing traditional Georgian Christmas songs. The presents are gathered in a church for homeless and poor people. Additionally, there are various traditions in different parts of Georgia (for example Kalandoba that takes place in Guria) but they are not as common as the ones described above.

გილოცავთ შობა-ახალ წელს!

Gilotsavt Shoba-Akhal Tsels!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

“The fireplace is burning bright, shining along me
I see the presents underneath the good old Christmas tree
And I wait all night ’til Santa comes to wake me from my dreams
Oh, why? ‘Cause that’s Christmas to me” ~ Pentatonix 

With the holidays right around the corner, The AEGEEan decided to have a glimpse into the holiday traditions in different parts of Europe. Surely, Europe, a land of diverse colourful cultures has some interesting holiday traditions and stories. So buckle up and as Frank Sinatra said, “Come fly with me, we’ll fly, we’ll fly away”. Next stop; France!

End of year celebrations is mostly spent with the family in France. We get the opportunity to gather our family together and celebrate Christmas (usually many times, with the different parts of your big family). Of course, traditions vary depending on which region you are from, but I will tell you about my version here  (a regular one I guess). 

The typical Christmas season starts on December 1st when you start eating a piece of chocolate from your Christmas calendar. One day, one chocolate. But you need to wait until the end of December before the real holidays start. 

Before the holidays, at some point in December, one afternoon (or morning), is dedicated to decorating the house. The main element is, of course, the Christmas tree. It can be a plastic one or a natural one. The plastic one will be kept and reused every year when the natural one (that you bought at a supermarket or a street market) will either be thrown away in January or planted in your garden to be reused. You will decorate it with garlands (those with lights and normal ones), bauble, figurines and of course a star at the top. You will also hang some decorations in other places around your house (garlands and bauble, images on the windows, figurines on the tables…). 

You may also decorate the outside of your house with lights decorations, and put a fake Santa Claus trying to enter through the chimney or a window. Some places even organise contests of the most decorated house. Another tradition is the crown on the door. You will create one with the ornaments you didn’t use yet and hang it on the door. 

Finally, most of the families also make a Christmas crib. You need to find a small and cosy place in your home (in general in the living room), and build a miniature barn (actually, you will just add some straw to pretend it is one). You will then spread the traditional little figurines called “santon”, that represent the different characters of a village (fisherman, miller, baker, …) and the compulsory ones (Jesus, Mary, Joseph, the donkey and the bullock, the shepherds, an angel and the Three Wise Men). Don’t forget to wait for Christmas to add Jesus in the scene, and put the Three Wise Men far away (they are still on their way to meet Jesus, you will put them close to him on the second Sunday after Christmas for the Epiphany). 

At this time of the year, there are two official public holidays: 25th of December, and 1st of January, but most people take two weeks holidays. First, you will go back to your parents’ home (usually by train if you are a student). There, you have a little time to buy your last presents before Christmas. You can also visit your hometown to see all the Christmas lights put by the municipality. If you are in Paris, you may also go to “les grands magasins” (Printemps, Galeries Lafayette,…) and enjoy the window display.

Be sure to be in a good shape, because you are about to gain some weight… you will not only eat a celebration meal on Christmas Eve, but also on Christmas day, and you will probably repeat this with your grandparents. On the 24th, you prepare the food for that evening with your family. When its 5:00 pm, everything is ready, including food and the table is decorated, then you can relax and enjoy time with your family. Many families go to a Christmas mass (or midnight mass), so when it’s time you dress up and walk or drive to your Church. For many people, it’s the only time they will go to a church this year. When you are back from the Church, you are now hungry and ready to start the Christmas Eve dinner.

A traditional Christmas meal contains appetizers (amuse bouche and salty biscuits), entrance (cold meal, usually a salad and the famous “foie gras”), main dishes (usually divided in two, with a mix of vegetables and meat), cheese (you are usually offered 5 to 7 different pieces of cheese, you eat as much as you want), dessert (usually a cake called “bûche”, or the ice cream version), and a coffee. Each part of the meal has its own wine, and bread is available all the time (a person will go from time to time to the kitchen to refill the bread basket). This meal can be very long, so children are usually allowed to leave the table and go to play between the meals. 

After dinner, you will stay together with your family to talk or play board games. Now is the time to give each other the presents, but two traditions are in competition. The most common one is the opening on the morning of the 25th, the other one is the opening at midnight between the 24th and the 25th. In both cases, you will put one of your shoes at the bottom of the Christmas tree, this will determine your territory for your presents. Usually, when children are asleep, adults spread the presents in a pile close to the correct shoe. 

On the 25th of December, when all of the Christmas presents are opened, you will have plenty of time to start enjoying your new presents but remember that another celebration meal is coming! Between the 25th and the 31st, you will probably travel with your family to visit your relatives (and eat!). It’s also a great opportunity to celebrate all the birthdays of people born in December or January (more food…). You will, however, spend most of your time relaxing with your parents, siblings, cousins… 

While Christmas time is mostly a family holiday, if you are a student, New Year’s Eve is the time to spend with friends. You already know for weeks where you will celebrate that night, everything is decided in advance. It can be in one of your friend’s house, in a place you rented or in a club. You will spend the night drinking and partying. You can also have a celebration meal if you and your friends decide to cook. Another possibility is to spend it with your loved one. You will then probably travel to a nice place and spend a romantic night. On January 1st, you may also go back to your family, and have a… guess what? Celebration meal… Hopefully, this will be probably the last one. You will soon leave your family and go back to your city with many presents and a few kilos. But get ready for January traditions: during this time, you will receive and offer many epiphany cakes (or “galettes”) to share with your friends, family and colleagues. Every “galette” contains a charm (a small hidden figurine), so be careful when you eat it! If you are the one who gets the charm, it means you are supposed to bring the next epiphany cake. Finally, don’t be surprised if people you haven’t seen wish you a happy new year in January, in France you have till February to wish your relative a nice healthy year.

“The fireplace is burning bright, shining along me
I see the presents underneath the good old Christmas tree
And I wait all night ’til Santa comes to wake me from my dreams
Oh, why? ‘Cause that’s Christmas to me” ~ Pentatonix 

With the holidays right around the corner, The AEGEEan decided to have a glimpse into the holiday traditions in different parts of Europe. Surely, Europe, a land of diverse colourful cultures has some interesting holiday traditions and stories. So buckle up and as Frank Sinatra said, “Come fly with me, we’ll fly, we’ll fly away”. Next stop; Germany!

Christmas time in Germany officially begins with a hot cup of Glühwein (mulled wine) at one of the few thousand Christmas markets in the country, which already open at the end of November. As soon as it gets dark, hundreds of lights start to glow and squares fill up with people whose cheeks and noses will be reddened soon – either because of the chilling cold or the third cup of hot wine. The smell of roasted almonds is in the air and through the babble of a thousand voices, you will sometimes hear people singing Christmas carols.

As soon as you visit the Christmas market, you probably already have your Advent Calendar ready at home. As an important countdown to Christmas, the Advent Calendar is not only popular among children but also an important part of the pre-Christmas period for adults. Every day of December before the 24th., a window in the Advent Calendar is opened to reveal a poem, a picture or a piece of candy. It is quite common as well that people give gifts to their loved ones with a self-made calendar filled with small gifts or letters.

Another major ritual before Christmas is the lighting of the candles of the Advent wreath, which takes place every week from the first Sunday of Advent. The wreath usually consists of four candles in a bed of pine cones, berries and Christmas ornaments. Many families use the lightning of the candles on the four Advent Sundays until Christmas as an occasion to come together, listen to some Christmas songs and have some Lebkuchen (gingerbread). Speaking of Lebkuchen: Germans love baking and eating numerous kinds of sweets during Christmas time. An important tradition is the baking of Christmas pastries, which – regardless of whether you do it with your family, your flatmates or your friends – is always fun and brings some Christmas spirit with it. This is especially the case when you do it accompanied by some fitting songs like for example „In der Weihnachtsbäckerei“ („in the Christmas bakery“), a song which probably every German knows – a lot of them already from their early childhood. Famous pastries are for example Vanillegipferl (vanilla-flavoured crescent cookies) and Zimtsterne (cinnamon star-shaped cookies). Another tasty traditional Christmas sweet is „Stollen“, a cake made of flour, dried fruits, nuts and spices.

Besides Glühwein there is another hot drink, which is typical for Christmas time and not only brings convivial evenings, but also a severe headache with it. Feuerzangenbowle, as it is called, is prepared by setting a rum-soaked sugar leaf on fire and letting it drip into mulled wine. Due to this specific way of preparation, for some people the ceremony is more important than the drink itself.

There is also an old German film, which is called „Die Feuerzangenbowle“ and is very popular during Christmas time. Another typical Christmas movie is „Drei Haselnüsse für Aschenbrödel“ (a bohemian variation of the classic Cinderella fairytale), a Czechoslovak/East German fairy-tale film from 1973. An important date during Advent is the 6th of December, which is Nikolaustag. This day is dedicated to St. Nikolaus of Myra, an early Christian Saint. Though Santa Claus has also become popular in Germany, the Nikolaus tradition is still kept alive annually. This is especially the case in the more Catholic parts of Germany, where St. Nikolaus is usually portrayed as being dressed like a bishop and riding a horse. It is common within many German families that children either put their boots outside on the night of the 5th of December in expectation of sweets or Nikolaus himself – for example in the form of a disguised family member or a neighbour – comes to visit in order to bring small gifts. Sometimes St. Nikolaus also asks the children if they have been good in the past year while ostensibly checking his golden book for their record.

Having consumed a noteworthy amount of Glühwein, Stollen and Vanillekipferl, it is finally time to light up the fourth candle on the Advent wreath. With Heiligabend (Christmas Eve) around the corner, most of the families start decorating their Christmas tree with shiny Christmas baubles, golden candles or light strings and wooden stars. In the afternoon or the night of the 24th of

December, many families go to church to listen to the biblical Christmas story and to sing Christmas carols before having dinner. Even though a steadily decreasing amount of Germans identify themselves as religious, churches are usually really crowded on the 24. of December. Many people also attend midnight masses, which often hold an especially festive atmosphere. Dinner is different within every family: Some families serve potato salad with sausages, while others eat roasted meat or raclette. Gifts for the children, which are put beneath the richly decorated tree are -especially in the southern parts of Germany – usually brought by Christkind (little Christ Child), which rings a small bell when it put the gifts underneath the tree and then disappears without a sound. In the next morning, when it still smells like candles, the branches of the Christmas tree and gingerbread in the living room, children are usually awake early dedicating themselves to their new acquisitions. The rest of the festive season is usually spent visiting the rest of the family, eating, watching Christmas movies, eating, trying to reflect on the past year and eating.

After some quiet days of contemplation, New Year’s Eve is usually spent with family or with friends. Often Raclette or Fondue are served. A lot of people like to go to buy firecrackers or make fireworks themselves, while others prefer watching the official countdown from Brandenburg Gate live on TV. Regardless of whether one spends the night at home or goes to a huge New Years Party: A tradition most Germans don‘t like to miss is watching Dinner for One, a British black-and- white-sketch, which is hilarious and somehow became a tradition in Germany. This way, a lot of Germans start with laughter into the new year. When you celebrate New Year’s Eve in Germany, you will probably hear people say „Guten Rutsch ins neue Jahr!“, which literally means „Good slide into the new year“. In this way, people wish you a smooth transition from the old year in the new one.

In this spirit: Frohe Weihnachten und einen guten Rutsch!

She was one of the organisers of the European School on Leadership in Delft, a safe person in the local, and as a pioneer of the project in Delft she is continuing to develop the safe person body in the local. She is one of the initiators of an AEGEE-Delft event that will connect the youth and the elderly later this year. She brings positive energy to the members, enthusing them for events and work the network, while also providing a sharp mind and constructive criticism. And now for some much deserved recognisation, we present the Member of the Month, Marlijn Mulder!

Congratulations on being awarded the Local of the Month! We’re all eager to hear your AEGEE story!

First, thank you very much for this award, I didn’t expect it, so I am very surprised that one way or another I got this. My AEGEE story starts three years ago when I decided that I wanted to meet new people that were also really engaged in society and wanted to discuss that with me. I was already a third year student that time and just finished my first year of my bachelor in philosophy, so I was eager to meet people to have good conversations with. Then I joined AEGEE. Although I was not very active the first half year, the second half I did two committees, one that is the introduction week committee (I will do this for three years in a row).  The year after that I became more active, joined hitchhiking trips and most importantly, which changed my engagement in AEGEE is that Jeroen Roseboom convinced me to go to EPM Yerevan. Then I was sold. I enjoyed a lot to get to know other people from all over Europe, to talk about common issues that were experienced so differently and to find ‘solutions’ for those problems. I think I got a sense of what we as AEGEE are capable of, and I wanted to contribute. My third year I became president of my local, I had an amazing secretary and treasurer and I think I can say we had a good year. I went to EPM Izmir and to my first agora in Bucuresti, that was intense, but I would do it again anytime. When I came back there was the ‘Week van Europa’ that my team and I organized to get more young people to vote in the EP elections (side note: we had a plan for a week, but it ended up in 3 months of different activities). I joined the SMASH training in Tblisi, which also had a great impact on who I am as a person and had an impact on local and area-level. And, of course Agora Salerno, where there were a lot of memes made about my questions. I mean, that’s great, it really keeps me motivated to continue because apparently, it helps people that I do so, which I think is one of the most important things in AEGEE, that we are there for each other. I organized my first European Event this November, the European School on Leadership, that was also a completely different experience. Well, we can say I guess that I did a lot, I surely forgot to mention a lot of things. Point is, I enjoy my time in AEGEE and I plan to continue to contribute actively, on local and European level. 

What has been the highlight of your time in AEGEE? 

This was the ‘Week van Europa’. Chris, Thorben, Jelle, Maarten and I worked really hard to make this happen. I think we all learned so much! We learned about working together with different parties, organizing events for big groups, how to promote stuff, and mainly, we learned a lot about ourselves and what we can improve to become better in life in general. I am really really proud of all of us and what we did with the little manpower we had. 

What are some of the most memorable moments you’ve in AEGEE? 

One moment I will never forget, it is not really a fun moment, but it was an important moment, was the statement about proxy voting at Agora Bucuresti. I think we managed to make a clear statement about why this is important to do: because it is up to us to find ways to do what we do without letting politics between countries dictate how we act towards each other. I think it is one of the main powers of AEGEE that we have the possibility to change things the way we want them to fit to our ideals. One condition: we have to be creative. That’s what I felt when I stood there, speaking for a lot of locals in front of the rest of the network about an emotional topic. These kinds of problems we will still be facing in the future, and it is up to us to find solutions for it. And what is AEGEE without a challenge? 

What are some ways in which AEGEE helped you in your life? 

The main thing I learned is that my vision on things is not always representative for everyone’s and it is challenging to bring all those visions together in policy. I learned to listen to other arguments, think about them and respond, but most importantly I learned to try to understand the situation from the other and act upon that. 

What are your words of wisdom to your fellow AEGEEans? 

‘It is always a good time to wear a suit’ (winks) and besides that, you can never be overdressed or overeducated. Stay curious of the world and you will find wisdom within. 

Any closing remarks? 

I think a ‘thank you’ is a good start. Thanks to all of the people that made my time in AEGEE memorable, I hope to meet and talk with you again. Secondly, a small reminder that even if we don’t always feel that way, I doubt it too a lot of the time, we can be the change we want to see; we just have to act upon it.  

“The fireplace is burning bright, shining along me
I see the presents underneath the good old Christmas tree
And I wait all night ’til Santa comes to wake me from my dreams
Oh, why? ‘Cause that’s Christmas to me” ~ Pentatonix 

With the holidays right around the corner, The AEGEEan decided to have a glimpse into the holiday traditions in different parts of Europe. Surely, Europe, a land of diverse colourful cultures has some interesting holiday traditions and stories. So buckle up and as Frank Sinatra said, “Come fly with me, we’ll fly, we’ll fly away”. Next stop; Ukraine!

New Year and especially Christmas are the most popular holidays in Ukraine, both have a long history and a special set of traditions, all of which allow us to explore a unique Ukrainian culture. But when we say winter holidays, we do not mean just Christmas and New Year but a lot of other fests that last for more than a month, and we jokingly call this period “Ukrainian Ramadan”. It all starts on the 1st of December when we celebrate St. Roman day, and then comes St. Andrews day on the 13th of December. This day is considered to be a holiday of young men, because on St. Andrew’s night they were allowed to behave disgracefully. It was believed that girls could find out their fate at night, so the evening before girls would gather together late in the evening to do fortune-telling and to predict their future husbands. Meanwhile, boys would prank their beloved, the most hilarious being putting a plough on a house roof or taking a gate off its hinges and hiding it somewhere. Sounds funny, but in villages and small towns this tradition is still kept.

At the end of December It’s time to decorate the Christmas tree and buy presents to give one another. In Ukraine it’s not Santa Claus or Father Frost who gives presents, it’s Saint Nicolas. In some countries in Europe this day is celebrated through cultural and religious traditions on the 5th or 6th of December,  in Western Ukraine St. Nicholas Day is on December 19. 

New Year’s Day on January 1 marks the start of a new year according to the Gregorian calendar. While New Year’s Day is a public holiday on January 1, many Ukrainians still celebrate the “Old New Year”, which is on January 14 in the old Gregorian calendar. Ukrainians like to celebrate New Year’s Eve with friends and family, they often celebrate the New Year outdoors near the Christmas tree with sparkles of fireworks. Those who stay at home listen to the presidential speech and gather together by the table with special dishes such as Olivier salad and champagne. 

Christmas celebration in Ukraine has a long history and a vivid set of traditions and rituals. Interesting fact: Ukraine celebrates two Christmases. How’s that you ask? Some Ukrainians (mostly in Western Ukraine) celebrate Christmas on December 25 in accordance with the Roman Catholic tradition (Gregorian Calendar), but still most of Ukraine celebrates Christmas on the 7th of January according to the Julian calendar. Traditional Ukrainian Christmas festivities begin on Christmas Eve and end on the Feast of the Epiphany. The Christmas Eve Supper or Holy Supper (Sviata Vecheria) brings the family together to partake in special foods and begins the holiday with many customs and traditions, which go back to ancient times. 

The rituals of Christmas Eve are dedicated to God, to the welfare of the family, and to the remembrance of the ancestors. You can’t start eating the meal until the first star is seen in the sky. So people go outside as soon as it starts getting dark in the afternoon to try and spot the first star. The star represents the journey of the Wise Men to find Jesus, and Jesus has to be born so Christmas can start. The meal normally has 12 dishes that represent Jesus’ 12 disciples. Kutya is the most important Christmas dish in Ukraine, it’s cooked wheat porridge, mixed with poppy seeds, honey, raisins, and sometimes dried apricots or candied fruits. Other dishes are ‘borsch’ (traditional beet soup), ‘varenyky’ (dumplings) with potatoes and cheese, mushrooms, pickled herring and ‘kolach’ (special Christmas bread) and “pampukhy” for dessert – sweet dough donuts with jam or poppy seed filling. 

Carol singing is an interesting and authentic Ukrainian tradition well preserved till today.  It is still common for children to go from house to house and sing carols for family, friends, and even strangers. Some traditional Ukrainian carols became world-famous, for example, the Ukrainian “Shchedryk” is the basis for the Christmas carol, “Carol of the Bells“. Vertep, a Ukrainian Christmas theater, is a group of dressed-up people going from house to house presenting short scenes and carol singing, following old Ukrainian traditions. Usually, the scenes are Biblical themed and the most popular is about Christ’s birth but some of them can be really funny or even have a political implication. Vertep always carries a big, handmade, decorated star that represents a star that heralded the birth of Jesus.

Right before Epiphany Ukraine celebrates the second Holy Evening, called Generous. The table on this day should be really generous, according to the belief that the more generous and richer the table is, the happier and more successful will the next year be. In the festive menu, there must be pork dishes for the cattle to grow, and peace and mutual understanding prevail in the family.  Epiphany, or Feast of Yordan happens on January 19 and completes the winter festivities cycle. It is a celebration of the baptism of Christ, all Churches have long services in the morning, and after the service the priests bless the water. On this day there is a tradition of dipping into the water, so many take a swim in the cold water. Since this particular day of the year is thought to be the coldest, the lakes and rivers are typically frozen over. In the morning volunteers cut an opening in the ice for people to sink into. The water is blessed by a priest, and the participants of the ceremony take a swim in the icy cold water. Amazingly, people hardly ever get sick after such a chilling experience. Some believe it’s a  cleansing from sins and you can heal many illnesses by swimming in the river on this particularly holy day.

Ukraine has a long and complicated history of being subjugated by foreign powers. That explains why the traditions and customs in all parts of the country may differ. During the Soviet Union any religious and even traditional celebrations were prohibited. Nevertheless, our ancestors managed to remember and keep this important cultural heritage safe, and through all Ukrainian traditions, we can get a glimpse of a unique cultural identity that miraculously survived through many centuries.

“The fireplace is burning bright, shining along me
I see the presents underneath the good old Christmas tree
And I wait all night ’til Santa comes to wake me from my dreams
Oh, why? ‘Cause that’s Christmas to me” ~ Pentatonix 

With the holidays right around the corner, The AEGEEan decided to have a glimpse into the holiday traditions in different parts of Europe. Surely, Europe, a land of diverse colourful cultures has some interesting holiday traditions and stories. So buckle up and as Frank Sinatra said, “Come fly with me, we’ll fly, we’ll fly away”. Next stop; Armenia!

Winter holidays are the most favorite season of all Armenians. We start preparations for the holidays at the beginning of December; we buy and store food, we cook different dishes, and put up a Christmas tree. In fact, in Armenia, the New Year is celebrated more than Christmas. According to tradition and the Armenian church, our Christmas is celebrated on January 6th, unlike tthe Roman Catholic on the 25th. The New Year’s table must be very plentiful, with many different types of meat, sweets, and salads. This shows the hospitality of the family. Usually we serve rabbit, chicken, turkey, and pork at our holiday tables. The traditional Tolma (ground spiced meat stuffed with grape vines) and Qufta (a meat dish served with butter) are mandatory for any Armenian family.

Armenians do not give presents on Christmas, but instead we give all the gifts on New Year’s Eve. Usually we place them under the Christmas tree and open them after midnight. At midnight, we listen to the message of the Prime Minister and the Catholicos on television, and then we toast for the New Year. It is followed by long and wonderful fireworks shows all over Armenia. Once this family moment is over, some people start to visit each other and spend the festive night together. And do not be surprised if one of your relatives visits you at 4am. The table must be ready!

Christmas is usually the time to be with the family. After a heavy New Year’s table with a pile of meat and sweets, the Christmas table is very refreshing and light. Every Armenian must have two important dishes on the table – the plov with dried fruits and nuts, and a cooked ishkhan (a fish) with tarragon and lemon. Some people also prepare avelouk, a typical Armenian herb.

All these traditions were very well preserved 10 years ago. Armenian mothers could not wash the dishes and refresh the table before other guests arrived. Very often, 10 to 15 people who do not know each other would gather around a table. And this cycle continued from December 31 to January 6. It was a time of love, connection and family warmth.

Unfortunately, times change. Young families do not prefer big tables, but they value holidays with their families outside Yerevan or Armenia. People do not visit each other as often anymore. And thus the New Year and Christmas have become purely family celebrations in Armenia.