The festivals of  Midsummer’s Eve, known as Saint John’s Eve among Christians, have roots in ancient celebrations related to the summer solstice. Bonfires were lit to protect against evil spirits which were believed to roam freely when the sun was turning southward again. The Bonfires of Saint John’s (Hogueras de San Juan) is a traditional and popular festival, customary for many cities in Spain. The greatest bonfires though are those of Alicante. For this occasion AEGEE-Alicante has organised an event this year. We have talked with the instigators and local organisers of “Alicante on Fire” Elena Agulló, Melissa Carreres and Verónica Pérez. Here is what we have learned of this magical event.

“Alicant on Fire” was held from the 22th until the 25th of June in the coast city of Alicante and 35 participants were part of the group. They were coming from 18 different antennae, mostly Spanish, and they gathered together to celebrate the Hogueras and get to know the local traditions. This was the main aim of the organisers who were a total of eight people. The surprising thing is that inside the group of organisers, just three people were born in Alicante. “The rest of us didn’t have so many idea of Hogueras, but we all could say that we learned and enjoyed a lot these festivities as though we have been doing this for all our life!” says Melissa.

My main question to Melissa, though, was what’s this element that makes Hogueras unique among other festivals in Spain and other countries. The answer I got from all girls contributing to the intreview was simple: “The triplette that Alicante offers during Hogueras: sea, fire and party!”. A festival in essence that manages to combine its long tradition and reveal itself in harmony with the perfect scenery of Alicante. This is what the participants actually appreciated. They had the chance to see the authentic spots of the festival and live the rhythm of Hogueras close to the locals. As one participant says about the event “I am happy because I enjoyed this event so much. I met lots of good people from Alicante and other antennae. It was smart. I enjoyed all activities, thanks to the beach. First event of fogueres? Very good.”

And it was indeed an amazing job if you consider the fact that their motivation started flourishing during the Mini European School for SelfDevelopment which was organised by AEGEE-Oviedo. The local organisers of Hogueras came back with this willingness to deal with the lack of members available in that period -usually due to exams at university- and create something to develop their antenna and show their magic city during this time of the year. And they achieved their goal managing to engage their members and make the participants get the most out of it.

The programme though did not only include activities related to Hogueras. The participants had the chance to practise and learn new skills through various other activities, such for an example a very relaxing yoga workshop on the beach.

Of course, as every AEGEE event that focuses on the local history and tradition of the place where an antenna is located, “Alicante on Fire” managed to have an impact on the community of Alicante as well. Firstly, the organisers supported the local festivities by having them known in a wider range and by giving a refreshing touch through all these young participants that were in the city for the event. But this wasn’t a one-way relationship, as the organisers enjoyed a very fruitful collaboration with the local authorities. They had support from the University of Alicante, Diputación of Alicante and Alicante Municipal Tourist Board, that have all helped this event to reach another level of quality.

In conclusion I would like to leave you with the hidden promise that Melissa left us in the interview. “We are proud of all the hard work that was done and very happy to see that everybody has enjoyed a lot the event. Maybe next year we will have a second edition.. Would you apply?” We, definitely yes!!!

Written by Vasiliki Andrioti, AEGEE-Ioannina

Multimedia in AEGEE has been wide explored: we have an annual publication, we have, and had, several magazines, a TV channel and a radio channel. In every Agora, there is some time reserved for promotional videos, and after every Agora and EPM in the past few years we can watch and rewatch the aftermovie. How is it possible, then, that nobody has ever thought to shoot a movie about our organisation? Luca Giazzi from AEGEE-Bergamo  worked on this idea called ‘The Art of the Possible’. Here is what he told us!

The AEGEEan: Please introduce yourself.

Luca: I’m Luca Giazzi from AEGEE-Bergamo, born in 1994. I’m studying Communication Studies at the University of Bergamo, Italy. Video has always been a presence in my life: my grandfather was production manager at RAI, Italian national television, and I’ve always been surrounded by video cameras and films. I began working on this field too on 2012: mostly music videos and weddings. I joined AEGEE in April 2015.

What is “The Art of the Possible”?

The Art of the Possible is a 50-minute-long documentary about some members of our association. It’s a real trip through Europe led by me and my girlfriend Raquel Corbalan to discover seven Aegeeans really different from each other. From the very first day we thought about such a project, we have been very clear: we don’t want to make a TV commercial for AEGEE – she’s been into it for a long time, but for me it was just six months. So we decided only to show what AEGEE means to those members and what they got from it so far.

Why did you decide to create such a documentary?

It’s always very hard to explain to our non-Aegeean friends what AEGEE is. Words are not enough.

What will it talk about?

It’s the real story of me and Raquel going around Europe and giving the chance to a bunch of members to say what they want. Without filters, without anyone to judge them or any previously-made texts: they simply speak up their voices, and there cannot be anything more genuine.

Who are the protagonists of the documentary?

Characters are Jorge Sánchez from AEGEE-Dresden, Anna Smailikova from AEGEE-Kyiv, Philipp Blum and Lucia Gavulová from SUCT, and Benoît Guiche from AEGEE-Toulouse. We’re still looking for other two, we will see. 

How did you choose the interviewed?

Raquel has been in AEGEE since 2010, so of course she knew the right members who could fit into such a project.

Why did you decide to embark on this project?

Being a documentarist is not that easy: most of the time you’ve got a good story but no one who will listen to it, the audience is simply surrounded by too many video contents. When I first thought about ”The Art of the Possible”, it was clear that there could have been some members interested in watching it, even without knowing me.

Do you have a team or work alone? In case you have a team, please present them.

Raquel is the screenwriter – she basically worked on all the structure of the dialogues in the movie. Then there are Giacomo Corpino, audio engineer and composer; Marianna Lipinska from AEGEE-Kraków, fundraising manager; and Victor from AEGEE-Madrid who’s helping out with the shootings done in Spain.

What is the status of the production? What are/will be the phases?

We started working on the project in September 2015, and went shooting the first time on Christmas. Today only 2 people are missing in the movie, then in September we will start working on the editing, audio mastering and color grading.

You launched a crowdfunding on Indiegogo. Why? What will you use the money for?

As you can imagine, making movies requires money. In most cases, you’ll get back that money thanks to cinema tickets and DVDs; but as I told you, our plan is free streaming. I guarantee that we’re doing everything in order to save money but flights, food and insurance are impossible to avoid. Also, I’ve been working on the movie 10 hours per day since March, no matter if it’s weekend or not. For these reasons, we’re collecting money from friends, parents, and we kindly ask the help of every AEGEEan. Of course we know how much they love gadgets, so we’ve made t-shirts, postcards, stickers and many other things you can check on our fundraising campaign, ending on 24th June with a goal of 2500 euros. Today we’re at 65%, if you want to help out you can go here.

When will the film be released?

We’re planning to send the documentary to some indie-movie festivals around the world so it will take a few months before being public, but don’t worry: from the very first day we decided that it would be in free streaming with no limits of time. I’d love to launch it on next AEGEE Day.

How has the reaction been so far?

AEGEEans know that sharing is caring. During the first three days after the release of the fundraising trailer (the same we showed at AGORA Bergamo) we got 10k views, and our official page has been seen by 150’000 people, and they’re still rising!

Do you have any nice anecdotes during filming you can tell us ?

For the shootings in Cologne, Germany I managed to book the flights for two euros, so we decided not to spend more than two euros at time during all the two days on set. Surprisingly, we discovered that there are thousands of things available for cheap!

https://www.facebook.com/taotpmovie/videos/574573869391272/

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Verona

Somewhere in Brussels, near the European Commission, you can find a house that looks just like most other houses in the city from the outside, but contains a lot of rooms, people and ideas on the inside. What house am I talking about? The AEGEE house, which the new Comité Directeur has been calling their home since the 1st of August, when we moved in to start our work. “What is that work about?”, you may wonder, and probably other members wonder too. Read on to find out!

My alarm clock is set at 8:15 am. Fortunately, the distance from my bedroom to the office can be covered in less than one minute and there is not traffic jam that keeps me on my way to my desk – apart from some bathroom congestion. Once in the office I try to follow some sort of routine to make sure that the day will be fully effective: calendar-check; news-check; emails-check. Our life in the office gets basically full with meetings and more meetings, and emails and more emails so there is little time for the remaining creativity tasks that in some cases consume also our night and resting time.

In this Comité Directeur we have tried to divide our portfolios in a way that we share the workload and that the tasks are distributed according to our knowledge and motivations. In my case, I have quite a big field to cover which is Youth Employment that as one of our focus areas has a Working Group linked to it. I have to monitor the most relevant happenings related to Youth Employment in Europe and participate in activities to show what AEGEE stands for. Also, linked to this field, I’m the project manager of the MY-WAY project which is a Horizon2020 project funded by the European Commission striving at innovation in the web entrepreneurship ecosystem in Europe. Now we are in a phase where we have to develop an action plan for a city to improve the engagement and effectiveness of Student Support Centres.

Another big part of my time is spent on IT as I have to coordinate the development of MyAEGEE (the new cool name of the OMS) and in general, all the IT related things. In this sense, Anna Gumbau, the Communication Director, is also taking a piece of the puzzle as she is managing the content of the Members Portal and the aegee.org site and she is developing a brand new website that will hopefully be released soon. MyAEGEE will drastically change the way we work online in AEGEE so there is a pool of people led by Pavel Zbornik and Fabrizio Bellicano working on this.

The third pillar of my task distribution is the External impact overview. In this area I don’t play alone as it’s a task that is also distributed among the rest of the CD members. On the one hand, we have funding that can be corporated in which Ander Guerrero, the Financial Director, and me have to contact companies looking for sponsorship opportunities; and public funding that refers mainly to monitor grants as the EYF, Erasmus+, DEAR and others to later on help writing the applications. On the other hand, there is the soft external impact in which the main tasks are to advocate for AEGEE’s beliefs based on the approved papers and to be seen as an organisation to take into account for youth and students rights.

External Relations Director is a fancy name to say that I have to coordinate the different AEGEE bodies that are in touch with externals and also to have an overview on the different relations we have with other organisations. Therefore, we can differentiate two sides:

1 – The coordination of AEGEE bodies means that the Pool of Representatives, the Liaison Office and the Working Groups need to be briefed in the activities they participate in on behalf of AEGEE Europe. The new structure of the Working Groups has an external vocation having within the team a Policy Officer and a Working Group coordinator, so as External Relations director, I have to assess the development of Policy documents that they produce, their representation in events and the external outreach of their activities.

2 – The overview of AEGEE relations with other organisations is linked to the fact that the massive structure of AEGEE requires the entire board to get those organisations divided to increase our impact. My tasks as External Relations director is to structure and have an overview of which are the developments in the relations with those.

One of the highlights of the events I have participated in recently is the Council of Members of the European Youth Forum (COMEM of YFJ). AEGEE is full member of this association, and even represented in the board so it was a great experience for me to understand how the biggest umbrella organisation that gathers National Youth councils and International Youth NGOs works and how our voice can be heard.

On a playful side, this house every day is an adventure. Imagine that constantly you are living with eight other people who are almost non-stop travelling around Europe and you also receive almost every weekend a team of five or 10 people who increase the chaos in the house. It was very funny for me when we receive some members from AEGEE-Kyïv in the house and I got to know that they knew me as Mr. Fixer, because every time someone from the Ukranian local came in the house, I was repairing something as the fridge, computers, kitchen shelves… Maybe I’ll be a real handyman in the future.

You can read his interview part one here and part two here.

Written by Pablo Hernández Rodriguez, External Relations Director 2015 – 2016 

Pablo Hernandez Rodriguez is currently External Relations Director and he decided he wanted to continue his work for AEGEE by running as President. He has a Master Degree in Law but, as he think that ” AEGEE as a European Students’ Forum should keep the student perspective”, he is studying a second master in European Affairs. He will turn 25 in June and is from AEGEE-Alicante, but he studied also in Thessaloniki, Greece. Here is the question you asked. 

In your candidature you say that you were in charge of myAEGEE and it still needs to be finished. Who will do it?

MyAEGEE is a project that has been running in AEGEE for several years already. From the most recent history, Pavel Zbornik coordinated the part of the project were the discussions on the structure were held and he put them into strategic documents that have been taken over by the following CD responsibles. Last year Paul Smits and his team had to find someone to transform the papers into reality, so Fabrizio Bellicano was the one in charge of development of the founding of MyAEGEE. This year, my team and I have had to develop the part of the project that is visible to members, still counting on Fabrizio and other developers to do it. Pavel is still very involved in the development of MyAEGEE in order not to repeat the same discussions and to move forward as fast as possible.

According to the timeline that we proposed, we still have some time to continue working on the project before finishing our cycle. Once the first version of MyAEGEE will be released, the next chapter will open with the objective of making improvements to it. For that another developer and project manager will have to be found. If I’m elected I will be able to give full continuity to the project.

You wrote that you want to focus on knowledge transfer (KT) for the members. How as president would you be able to put it into practice?

When I referred to training and knowledge management, I was referring mainly to the fact that the time a person stays in the organisation is very limited, so that once that person has learned and luckily has performed in some position, this person leaves without, in many cases, passing the knowledge on to the next generation. This is a structural problem of a student-based organisation that, in my opinion, can be tackled by improving the amount and quality of our trainings, by using the already available resources (as the board roles KT) and by focusing on the validation of non-formal education.

The role of the president in this sense has two sides. First, regarding the internal side I (my team) would work together with the Academy to develop quality materials to be implemented in the Local Training Courses (LTC) that the antennae have to organise, the existing guidelines would be promoted and a task force would work on validation of soft skills in AEGEE. Second, regarding the external side, AEGEE has the duty to advocate for its main principles and in this sense, it should get more involved in projects and activities shaping the validation and certification of soft skills.

The Corporate & Institutional Relations Committee (CIRC) has not been active for a long time now. You said that the Committee will be in charge of the FR, how would you gather new people who are able and are interested to work in it?

I have to say that the CIRC is working really well for some months already. Mainly under Ander’s coordination, they are managing to undertake some challenging projects and the meeting in the house that they will have the weekend before the Agora will help them to keep doing a good job. Anyhow, new people is always needed in every AEGEE body to ensure sustainability and proper knowledge transfer so a recruitment campaign will have to be carried out.

How would you establish an online representation system? Who would take care of the technical realization? How much could it cost?

The pilot of the online representation system will be developed by the current Comité Directeur which means that next year we will be able to analyse and develop it further. The intention is that every local will not need to wait until the Agora to express their opinion on a certain topic but that the Comité Directeur can ask directly a remote delegate to give the opinion of his or her antennae. The results should be considered as not binding, but consultative so by the end of the term the Agora is able to judge better the performance of the Comité Directeur based on the attention paid to the answers. The idea is currently under development, so I’m unable to get more technical right now. Regarding the cost, we don’t expect it to have high human resources cost and zero financial costs.

How quick do you answer e-mails?

As the main communication channel among the different members of AEGEE, the e-mail communication has to be a top priority for all the board members. In my case, I try to stick to the rule that I use also for this year of answering within two days unless there is an event or any other cause that stops me from checking them.

Last year, you stated “I would like to strengthen the cooperation with other NGOs like ESN, BEST, AIESEC and JEF”. Can you tell us if this has happened, and if yes, in which sense?

To write in detail all the cooperation we have had with these organisations would be too long, so I also encourage you to drop me an e-mail once the activity report is sent to give more details in each case. In general, this is the status:

• With BEST our cooperation is excellent. They are attending our events and we are attending theirs. This year we have also co-organised trainings under the umbrella of the QUAT project.
• With ESN we are supporting each other in the development of our networks. In a practical example, they got a grant that AEGEE may be able to get in the future and they have helped us in understanding its terms. We also collaborate for the Structured Dialogue, the participation in the Exchange Group of the European Youth Forum and in other occasions such as in the incident with the bus in Tarragona recently.
• With AIESEC and IAESTE we are building up our collaboration and they have participated in some of our activities as the Stakeholders Meeting organised under the MY-WAY project.
• With ESTIEM we are formalizing a collaboration agreement based on training, employability projects and co-organisation of activities.
• With JADE we are finalizing an agreement based on dissemination of activities, participation in events and co-organisation of online courses.

If you could only make one big change in AEGEE’s current state, what would you want it to be and how would you contribute to it in the position you are running for?

The most important change that we have to face is to give added value to our current activities to improve our impact and our outreach. This is of course based on many small changes that AEGEE should do, for example developing a consolidated Secretariat to take administrative work out of the rest of the bodies of AEGEE, there should be an improvement of the training and knowledge management and of course, a development of a clear policy and advocacy strategy, etc.

The role of the president of this differs from topic to topic, for example in the implementation of the Secretariat strategy I would contribute, because I have experience in grant writing. In regards to policy and advocacy strategies, the president has the main responsibility of making AEGEE be heard externally and to put together the opinion of the network in the different aspects. In this sense I also have experience, as I was Policy Officer for 2 years, and this year I’m in charge of the coordination of the policy and advocacy activities carried out by the policy officers.

What part of your task did you manage to accomplish and fully fulfill during this year?

My portfolio, as any of the portfolios of my team mates, is quite large. After nine months in the office, there are some objectives that have been achieved and others that will be achieved by the end of the term. The full activity report will be presented at the Agora, but as an example, the objective of the team was to pilot the AEGEE day and some days ago we say more than 75 locals organising activities related to this project.

In your opinion, how can the network check and control the democratic processes and decisions of the CD ? To ensure that they are not based on your personal opinion, but that you try to be as objective as possible and take the best decision for the network and not for you. What is your plan to improve transparency for the CD?

My plan is to give continuity to the work done by the current CD and add some new ideas. For instance, as mentioned before, the remote representation system is one of the possibilities we have to bridge the gap between the CD and the locals, so in case of having to make a decision, the network can be asked about it, to better understand its opinion and take it into account.

Another idea, that I consider very positive, is to have time during the events to ask the CD about different issues that are of interest for the members. For example, during the Agora we will have a session to be more detailed in our activity reports allowing all the attendants to ask us direct questions in a more cozy atmosphere. As a complementary transparency habit, I would want to encourage the drafting of strategic documents to be implemented by the Comité Directeur, so we have a direction approved by the Agora and not just the direction set by ourselves for a various range of issues. As an example, this year I’m developing the White Paper in IT services, so the members have the possibility to influence how they want the IT services to be in the future.

Where do you see AEGEE in five years?

AEGEE has the task of looking ahead to society and challenge the status quo of things to shape Europe in the way we believe in. This vision has also implications towards our organisation and the way we function.

In five years I see that AEGEE will have to come up with a strategy to combat the decrease of the relevance of the Summer University and for that, the only solution is to give an added value to the young people to get involved in our organisation. I envision that to happen in different ways and responding to different needs:

• Personal development. Increasing the diversity of opportunities to participate in AEGEE. Not limiting it to attending a few events, but allowing people to carry out personal projects, that would allow us to captivate those that want to be active in a non-traditional way.
• Professional development. Increasing the quality and quantity of the trainings some students would want to have in the organisation. We would allow ourselves to organise better activities and we would also allow our members to join in order to develop certain skills.
• Focusing our target group and our thematic areas so that we become experts in the field and a reference to take into account when there is an activity linked to our goals.

In five years I would want to see that we have arranged a consistent Secretariat and that we are able to have an efficient knowledge transfer, so that the future generations don’t make the mistakes of the past. This would bring us a new window of opportunity, including better advocacy and focus on thematic activities.

What are your three biggest strengths and three biggest weaknesses?

Strengths:

• Analytical mind-set. I am a very structured person and that allows me to better understand the opportunities and respond to them efficiently.
• Perseverance. I am a person that keeps trying until I get the expected.
• Objective-oriented. In relation with the previous ones, I set the goals before starting work, so I can better distinguish what has to be done in order to get what was wanted.

Weaknesses:

• Learning to multitask. I like to work on only one project at a time, but this year I have proven to myself that I can carry out multiple tasks and get better results.
• Knowing my limitations. I have learned this year that all the ideas that I wanted to implement are simply impossible to do them myself and as I’m a persevering person, I don’t stop until those are done even if that requires a lot of energy.
• Perfectionism. I am learning to be more efficient in the sense that  perfection is not always needed and it’s more beneficial to allocate the time to other projects.

You said that we need “a mature culture of internal education”. How should it look like and what are the steps you will take to achieve it? What is the campaign to raise awareness about?

AEGEE needs to have a good learning and training system. I used deliberately these words to start referring to the changes that the previous CD started to implement to grow the quality of the knowledge in AEGEE all across the locals, based on the idea that a well-trained membership directly increases the quality of the results of their activities. Additionally, the project of the Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) should be re-open as it gives a lot of opportunities for members, and other organisations such as JADE, YEU or ESTIEM would be open to partner up for the design of those trainings.

Together with this, we have to move on to the next step when it comes to recognition of volunteering. We have been involved as AEGEE in projects and processes that aimed at developing the tool for validation of soft skills developed when doing non-formal education activities or volunteer and now is time to tailor those tools to our needs.

You said in your programme: ‘This next term we will have a unique opportunity to establish finally a secretariat that would be able to undertake some of the tasks of the CD improving its efficiency”. Did the CD get the money to have the secretariat already next term? How do you know it is a sustainable choice?

A short clarification to start with, the CD does not get the money, is AEGEE who does. So everything related to grants will be described in the next financial report, thus we encourage you to ask us about the Operating Grant or the Horizon2020 grants.

Regarding the grants for the Secretariat, already this year we have been trying to implement the Secretariat strategy that was improved some Agorae ago. Nevertheless, in the past we were rejected in a grant that can allow us to have the proper budget to have a Secretariat and we can only apply every three years, and in 2017 we will have the opportunity to apply again. Additionally, we are researching the possibility to be funded through other means but nothing is confirmed yet.

Having a Secretariat is something that AEGEE approved in the past and I would want to see implemented, so the technical parts as the finances, staff management or IT can be dealt by professionals, and not put the burden on volunteers, who if they have the wish to learn these technical areas, a system of job shadowing can be built up. People can also be trained to apply for grants and ensure the financial stability of the organisation.

You can read his candidature here, the first part of his interview here and his portfolio article here. 

Edited by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Verona

Guillermo Macia Diaz was also one of the organisers of the Spring Agora Alicante 2011 and a board member of his antenna. He tells us that AEGEE has changed his life completely by easing him to improve English language and to find a work thanks to the contacts he has cultivated inside the students association.

The AEGEEan:Can you tell us about your age, your current studies and your ideal work in the future?

Guillermo: Well, I am an adorable 30 year old guy who is finishing a master’s degree in Renewable Energies while working as an engineer. I am lucky and really happy with my job, but I am not sure about what my ideal job is… Probably being the President of the world, or even the Vice-President, but I don’t like it very much. You know, it is too much fame and I hate that. So I would prefer to work in something where I can help people to save energy and money in their bills, which I am good at. And I also love doing spreadsheets. I know, I am weird.

Why did you decide to join AEGEE?

At that time, in 2009, I didn’t have any interesting plans for summer, so when I heard about the SUs, I didn’t doubt it: I wanted adventures and tried. Fortunately, I wrote the worst motivation letter ever and I was rejected, and I say fortunately because thanks to that I was helper in our SU, living the most stunning days of my life, which changed me, and it was the beginning of everything.

Why did you leave the position as a board member in October 2015?

Simply because it was time to leave. In AEGEE at some point you notice that all the time you are talking about the things of the past, and you think future events are not going to be better than the ones you have already attended. You start to say that “Years ago AEGEE was better”, but it is not. AEGEE is not different at all. It is you who has changed, maybe it is because at some point, I just attend events just to be with my friends and I am not so interested in meeting new people. I do not want to say “I am too old for this”. Maybe I am, but my plans now are to focus on being a great engineer and travelling beyond Europe with my AEGEE selected friends like expensive and VIPs SU [he smiles, ed.].

How are you helping the new generations in your Antenna?

Nowadays, I just write in the mailing list when I see that I can help or when they ask me something. Apart from that, in order to help new generations, you just need to create a strong group of friends in your local, which is the most important thing. Right now they are doing it great by themselves, so now I spend my time being a pain in their asses, which is funnier [he smiles, ed.].

Can you tell us about your feelings in covering the position of President in AEGEE-Alicante?                                                                                                                                                               

I am glad of my work. I had enough knowledge (there is not better way to know everything you need about your Antenna than being a secretary, and I was the secretary before being the president). I was obsessed with AEGEE and I had plenty of new ideas. Four years after that, the Antenna keeps working in the way I introduced, so I guess that I did it well.

What has AEGEE given you? Have you improved your language skills with AEGEE? Have you found a work because you are an AEGEE member?

The right question would be what it has not given me! Thanks to AEGEE I decided to be an Erasmus student (I was not interested before), I have improved in public speaking, online tools, in English (my arch enemy at school). Most importantly, all of my friends are from AEGEE. I am more mature thanks to AEGEE, and I got my job thanks to an AEGEE friend! Everything I have lived in the past seven years has been thanks to AEGEE.

How can you invest energy in keeping your local alive?

When you have had so much responsibility in your Antenna, you just cannot leave it without taking care of it. AEGEE-Alicante is part of me and I would never allow its death.

Have you ever thought to candidate as a member of the Comitè Directeur? 

Not really. I have always been skeptical about the European bodies and their goals. European bodies are for politicians and dreamers, and I am not one of them. If I had been in a European position, I would have tried to change everything, and when I say everything I mean it. I could not do it, I could not have changed all the minds I need to change to get it.

Why do not you organise another Agora or an EPM with your Antenna?

No, please [he laughs, ed.]!! I was part of the team of the Spring Agora Alicante 2011 and it was really hard and I don’t recommend to organise one! Of course, I am glad of what we did there, but when you organise an Agora, you do not have real contact with the participants because there are too many and a lot of them are ungrateful. Of course it is because they do not know all you need to do to organise it but, anyway, you feel more rewarded in a small event.

Written by Matteo Lai, AEGEE-Cagliari

Miguel Gallardo Albajar, former Comité Directeur member, Carmen María López, former Network Commissioner, Pablo Hernández, Policy Officer and former President are just some of the names immediately crossing our mind when we think about this amazing local. Another interesting fact is that two members of AEGEE-Alicante, Jorge Sánchez Hernández and Pablo Palazón have founded new contacts in Dresden and Manchester. For all these and many more reasons, The AEGEEan tried to reveal the secrets of their success by talking to Melissa Carreres and Mar Valero, current board members, and Sora Chung, current Subcommissioner to NetCom Olga Rivero Menéndez.

The AEGEEan: Tell us something about the history of AEGEE-Alicante. When was the local founded? What makes you stand out from other antennae?

AEGEE-Alicante: It was founded in 2002, becoming an antenna in 2003. What makes us unique is that we work differently than other antennas, we are a group of friends who work in a singular way, AEGEE-Alicante is someway known for great events. As Lucius Annaeus Seneca once said: “It is quality rather than quantity that matters.”

How many active members do you have? We know many of them are active on the European level. Is it hard to motivate them to work on the local level too?

We have around 30 active members and, as you pointed out, some of them are active on the European level, too. Sometimes, it is hard to combine the local and European level, because both of them require a lot of time, but these members are motivated enough and manage to also work hard on the local level. It is a pleasure to have so many people involved on the European level because their achievements and knowledge help AEGEE-Alicante a lot to grow as an antenna.

Do you have any special activities for team building or traditional local events you want to share with Network?

Our philosophy for a good team is that it has to be formed by friends or at least by people who get along well. We are a big diverse group with lots of things in common, often proposing informal meetings and different activities just because we want to meet up. A traditional event is our symbolic Christmas dinner, which is very special for us since it is the opportunity for most of us to meet. We have some members who are living abroad and Christmas is the perfect time to come back home and the best opportunity for AEGEE-Alicante members to gather. During the last Christmas dinner, we were with almost 40 members, and it was awesome!

This is the second year you are organising the Buddy Program. Please tell us what the main aim of the project is and what the program means to your local?

We are organizing an edition every semester, and we are currently working hard on the fourth edition.The Buddy Program is a mentorship program whose aim is to provide support to international students by pairing them with local students, who help them to settle in during their stay in Alicante. The program is offered to all students, not only to AEGEE members. The University of Alicante collaborates with us, contacting and offering the program to all the international students. At the beginning, we only had a small group of 25 internationals but during the last edition we managed to have 260 matches. The Buddy Program has brought lots of benefits to our antenna, such as gaining more visibility and improving the institutional relationships with the university. Besides that, some of the local students have become members of AEGEE-Alicante and what is more important; we acquired loads of experience and knowledge by working on the program.

First of all, congratulations for the 2nd best Summer University of 2014. Can you tell us something about that experience? What are your plans for the next SU?

Mar Valero: Personally, it was one the most amazing experiences of my life. I was very enthusiastic about the project, all thanks to Rocío Calvente, the Incoming Responsible and with motivation, hard-work and a team willing to do it,  the results show that we did not do it that bad, right? For the next Summer University, we would like “newbies” to take over. We think it is a good opportunity for them to learn about the organisational part, but the most experienced members will be helping for sure!

AEGEE-Alicante is famous for its creating awareness for charities. On the Human Rights Day and International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women you shared pictures on social media. Do you have any more ideas for raising awareness of similar issues on the European level?  

Last November we participated in a cycling meeting to defend the fights against climate change and the poles melting. We also participated in a blood donation marathon that was held by the University of Alicante.  Furthermore, AEGEE-Alicante is going to donate 20% of the sales of their promotional t-shirts to beneficial projects. Our first donation was 50€ for the Election Observation Project of Moldova. We really love doing this kind of activities; you get more than you give.  We try to collaborate by means of small contributions. And sometimes we say: Make others change by your example!

To be or not to be? That is really not a question. The question is how to transform 12 awesome days into just two pages. Well I will try. I know. I am probably not the only one who thinks this, but I really believe that we have experienced something special in Alicante this summer. Do you want to know why? Then you should continue with reading!

For me it was the first time I have ever been to Spain, so I was very excited about the whole trip. Last year I was organizing SU in Prague so I I knew that I would have a great time. And it was also the last summer as a student for me, so I was ready to make the most of it. However the two weeks in Alicante totally exceeded my expectations. And not only mine. I am pretty sure that our SU is going to attack the front ranking positions because our organizers did a really great job! And you should also know that I was writing a “SU diary” every day. That’s basically the reason why it was natural for me to sign up for writing this article. I recommend it to everyone. I still have smile on my face as I was reading those pages.

Unfortunately this article is not long enough to tell you about all the experiences and crazy nights we had. So I am going to focus on a few things which were special to me.

I have to admit that I really hate getting up early in the morning – who does not? However I loved to wake up in Alicante. Even though my average sleep time was around 4 hours per night, I must appreciate Melissa as the best morning DJ ever. Her songs always brought a smile one my face no matter how bad my hangover was. We were all sleeping in the local high school gym together which was another thing I liked a lot. There were only us in the whole school area so we could party/chill/do whatever we wanted and nobody was bothering us. That was really great.

Another thing I really appreciated was that even though it was not a traveling SU we were traveling a lot. Although it was probably not easy, organizers ensured enough cars so we were able to visit many beautiful places around Alicante. When I was told that we traveled more than 1200 km in 12 days I was not surprised at all. It is impossible to tell you about all those places but believe me – it was totally worthy. My favourite ones were probably Penon de Ifach ( a mountain on the sea shore where we climbed up to the top of) and Tabarca island. Why? Just google it. And visit those places if you will ever be on Costa Blanca. You will not regret it.

However all those places we visited were not the reason why our SU was so special. The special ones were the people and the atmosphere we created together. The first day you don’t know anybody and in 12 days you are like a family. This is something what is very difficult to describe to somebody who is not in AEGEE. And I am really grateful that I had a chance to experience this. I am pretty sure that the people I met in Alicante this summer and the moments we shared together we will never forget. I would like to say MUCHAS GRACIAS to our “Hey Guuuuuuuuuys SU mum” Mar and her team that they made this happen. You guys rock! I would also like to thank our “AEGEE peopoooool man” Brauli for spreading the good energy. I loved it maaaaaan! Your positive attitude was really addictive! And I would also like to thank all the participants because you really made this summer #thesummerofmylife! Stay awesome! Let the AEGEE spirit stay forever in your hearts.

With love from Prague, Peter “the one who knows how to dance in a skirt”

Written by Petr Langer, AEGEE-Praha

Pauline Létard has been working hard as a Network Commissioner since Autumn Agora Zaragoza and it is certainly appreciated not only by the Network Commission in which she was part of the speaker team but also all the antennae she was responsible for. Due to personal reasons she chose to resign and Carmen María López Banegas from AEGEE-Alicante has become her replacement as a NetCom assistant until Agora Cagliari.

It has recently become public that the Autumn Network Meeting of La Nave (the name of French, Spanish and Portuguese Network ed.) will be hosted by AEGEE-Zaragoza and Renove 4.0 will be in Madrid. That, together with loads of Summer Universities across Spain, Portugal and France, this new NetCom assistant Carmen Maria has plenty of tasks on the to-do-list. The AEGEEan interviewed Carmen Maria about her motivation to join the Network Commission, and her plans for her term now over the summer.

The AEGEEan: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Carmen Maria: I studied International Business and I have been working on that field for more than six years. I am the Overseas Dept. manager of my company and I love my job. I live in the more than sunny Murcia. I enjoy nearly all kinds of music and I am some sort of keen on films.

I joined AEGEE because I missed international atmosphere after living in the United Kingdom for a year and a friend of mine told me about his great experience during a Summer Course and ended his explanation with “CM, that’s your association” so I searched for it on the Internet and immediately joined AEGEE-Alicante. That was back in 2011.

The AEGEEan: What have you done in AEGEE?

Carmen Maria: I was a board member of my beloved antenna during 2012-2013, 2013-2014. I help with everything I can since I am not pigeonholed and do not mind carrying out new and different tasks.

I have been organiser of a Summer University, two Network Meetings (one in the NetCom team and the other in both local and NetCom team) and thematic events as Tabarca, Starts Under the Sea, 10th Anniversary and Mediterraneanly in Alicante.

Other than that I have been a Participant in two Summer Universities, four Network Meetings (we are going for the fifth!), one Agora and three RENOVEs (first as member of the NetCom team and going for the forth), many local events/activities and a few thematic events (New Year Events, anniversary) in other antennae.

The AEGEEan: What has been your favorite moment(s) in AEGEE?

Carmen Maria: This is a tricky question. I have loads of great moments in AEGEE… Maybe I fondly remember the Network Meeting in Gijón as I became more active right after it. I always come back home full of energy and motivation after every event. The very best for me is when people are happy about the result of any event, sharing with others the joy.

The AEGEEan: Why did you decide to apply to become NetCom assistant? 

Carmen Maria: I was already in the NetCom team of Pauline; we talked about it and considered it was a good idea to keep on working with this area since knowing the field makes it easier. I think I have the motivation and commitment needed to do so. Let’s see!

How has it helped prepare you for the task as NetCom assistant being a subcommie for quite a while? 

Carmen Maria: I guess so. I have been working with two NetComs (Pilar Lop and Pauline Létard) and with many different team members. Maybe the work is different now, of course, but I already enjoyed what I did helping some antennae and trying to do so with our area so I hope it keeps this way at least.

The AEGEEan: How will you work with subcommies?

Carmen Maria: We will probably keep working in a similar style as before. The team is very consultative and democratic. I like having different opinions and backgrounds on the team because it helps to solve problems easier and makes the team more versatile and efficient.

The AEGEEan: What is on your agenda for the upcoming months in the area of La Tripulación?

Carmen Maria: We have fourteen Summer Universities all over Spain, two in France and one in Portugal, some Summer Events around as well as Castelló and, of course, RENOVE in Madrid. Later on, we will start focusing in our NWM in Zaragoza.

 The AEGEEan: Will you be at the NetCom meeting in Budapest? If not, how do you think this affects your upcoming tasks as NetCom assistant?

Carmen: Being in a physical meeting is always significant but everything went so fast I could not make it. Working online is not a problem for me and with the help of the other NetComs I guess I will manage.

The AEGEEan: Do you think that it will affect your work that it is now the summer time and usually things go more slowly in AEGEE?

Carmen Maria: I believe it does not have to affect more than to any other task. Just the normal problems because everyone is on holiday but nothing out of the ordinary. If people commit and work a bit, there won’t be any important problems.

The AEGEEan: Would you like to candidate for NetCom at Agora Cagliari?

Carmen Maria: Maybe yes, as I wouldn’t  really have considered joining the Network Commission already now but wanted to wait until after Pauline’s period. I guess I will but better to wait at the right time to decide it.

The AEGEEan: When you don’t do AEGEE stuff, what do you like to do in your free time?

Carmen Maria:  I go on other trips with friends, do sports (not much) read and watch films, listen to music and dance, spend time with my family and friends…

The AEGEEan: What could you add that most people probably doesn’t know about you?

Carmen Maria: I am a bit shy at the beginning but after some time I am quite extroverted. At work I am really serious minded; maybe a bit strict and demanding but fair and sincere. I am really cheerful when it comes to leisure and partying.

Written by Patricia Anthony, AEGEE-Zaragoza

The Network Commissioners are currently choosing where they will host the autumn Network Meetings. It is already known that AEGEE-Brescia will host for the Rainbow area but others are still in the application process. What do antennae get out of organizing Network Meetings? The AEGEEan interviewed two different antennae about this.

Carmen María and Sora Chung from AEGEE-Alicante as well as Paulina Galas from AEGEE-Gliwice spoke with The AEGEEan about the two different Network Meetings that they helped organizing this spring. Two different events with few things in common. Network Meetings are usually organized twice a year in the areas of the different Network Commissioners and therefore it is done in close collaboration with the Network Commission. Gathering board and active members of antennae to  talk especially about cooperation between the antennae and the usual fruitful outcome of the event makes it very important in many members’ perspective. That’s why The AEGEEan interviewed the two different antennae about their interest in hosting the Spring NWM Alicante & NWM Silesia and how it went.

The AEGEEan: Why did you apply to organize the Spring NWM?

AEGEE-Alicante: It was something we wanted to do for a while. We applied two years ago, but we didn’t get it. This time, we knew we had to, some of us had enough experience organizing events and the team was very motivated to host the event.

AEGEE-Gliwice: Before the applications for organizing the Spring NWM, we got a proposition to take on this task together with AEGEE Katowice. At this time, we had a small number of members to take on this challenge alone. We agreed. And so began our joint adventure over the work on the project. It was a great opportunity for us to check our ability and demonstrate strong commitment and work, be able to develop our skills and learn something new from each other.

The AEGEEan: How did it go with the organization of the NWM?

AEGEE-Alicante: It was simple but complicated at the same time, we didn’t need to worry about the program, the accommodation and meals were provided by the lodging, so, we “only” had to work on the logistics for workshops, coffee breaks and social program for almost 80 people. We wanted to give this NWM a special touch and take care of every detail, so we even prepared some surprises for the three participants who were celebrating their birthday during the weekend.

We also worked hard on the fundraising and step by step, we were getting everything: we needed, notebooks, pens, bags, snacks for coffee breaks. Even a transport company collaborated with us by bringing the notebooks from Girona (Barcelona) to Alicante. Thanks to this, we were able to offer better coffee breaks and prepare all the surprises.

AEGEE-Gliwice: Initially it was hard because of the fact that the entire board of AEGEE-Gliwice was involved in organizing the Network Meeting Silesia, but the common sharing of responsibilities and the support of members of the antenna. We acted together with AEGEE-Katowice, but also together with those who from the beginning were not involved in the project. This makes that the entire antenna identified with the project with each enjoying its success and it gives a lot of satisfaction.

The AEGEEan: What challenges did you have?

Organizers of NWM Alicante in Moraira

AEGEE-Alicante: Maybe, organising an event in a town where none of us were there before. We only knew what “oldies” told us from the last event held in Moraira about four years ago and the info we could find through internet. Until the day we went to visit Moraira, we didn’t really know for sure what we could offer for workshops, social program, and all the logistics. The City Hall of Teulada-Moraira helped us a lot with it, they even lent us a projector in order to be able to have parallel sessions.

AEGEE-Gliwice: Selecting the appropriate deadline for project meetings caused us a big problem due to the large number of people working on the project in each  locals. We came together for a solution that the meeting may be held alternately in Katowice and Gliwice, which gave us the opportunity to better know the area and the city in which we operate. The big challenge for us was to obtain the project partners due to the relatively large number of student organizations operating at the Silesian University of Technology directed to technical aspects. However, by working together with AEGEE-Katowice managed to gain the support of several companies.

NWM Silesia

The AEGEEan: What was your favorite part of organising the NWM?

AEGEE-Alicante: Everything, our motivation since we saw the open call to host this NWM, the moment when we decided to apply, the excitement we felt when we sent our application, the joy when we knew we were chosen, our first organizers’ meeting, designing the official images of the NWM, contacting companies and public institutions and receiving positive answers from them, knowing the list of participants and starting the incoming, witnessing how this NWM was becoming real step by step, day by day, the stress of the logistics on the first day of the event, the NWM itself, the team, the participants, La Tripulación (our NetCom team), the trainers, the lodging and its staff, the parties, the meals, the evaluation post-event of the participants… just… everything…

AEGEE-Gliwice: In our opinion, when so many people where with us in Zabrze, was the favorite part of organizing this event. It was an amazing experience seeing people having a good time which appreciated our job. Nothing can replace that feeling, when you see that all your work has brought positive results. It is also worth mentioning that the best thing that happened to us is that we could learn from each other.

NWM Alicante

The AEGEEan: What do you think is essential for an antenna to have when committing to organising such an important event?

AEGEE-Alicante: A committed team and experienced people on the core team to guide and manage the event properly. People must be motivated to do such work and always willing to learn and improve personally and for the antenna.

AEGEE-Gliwice: Brigade of people full of willingness to act! It is true that without human resource we would not have been able to organize such a big event. It is not a secret that during the period preceding the NWM lots of us have their morale fallen. It is important to motivate each other and to keep up the positive AEGEE spirit in the teammates. People must have designated one major aim: “To organize a magnificent NWM what will not disappear from people’s mouths for a long time. An event that will be called as “so far the best NWM that ever happened.” Having that goal specified and working as a team are two fundamental things to achieve your ambitions.

The AEGEEan: Since both of you mention the importance of members, how do you work on keeping a high level of active members?

AEGEE-Alicante: We try to do local activities and meetings to facilitate teambuilding and knowledge transfer. We want to involve our members from the very beginning so they feel comfortable to participate and contribute.

AEGEE-Gliwice: To keep a high level of active members we are trying to conduct the integration projects in which we can meet each other closer. Twice a year we have Local Training Courses with two levels of education programs. After each meeting for all the members of AEGEE-Gliwice, we go to integrate with each other or we play funny games. What is more, we have volleyball games or movie marathons for our members.

NWM Silesia

The AEGEEan: How did you collaborate with the Network Commission?

AEGEE-Alicante: It was very good. We had Carmen María as link (she was in both teams) so we think the communication flow worked out quite well. We were pretty accessible and comprehensive with changes and so they did with our local needs.

AEGEE-Gliwice: The very first task in working as a group is to divide the responsibilities between members. That’s how we started. Some of us were assigned to work with the accommodation issue. Others got the ‘burden’ to organize food, parties, place for workshops and other, less significant stuff but still connected with NWM, which makes all these responsibilities important. While we were focused on our job, the Network Commissioner was absorbed in the organization of the workshops – preparing schedule. It should be taken into account that they are divided into thematic paths: European, Adventure, Local, Personal Development and Board. In addition, he has created the application form that after being fulfilled by applicants was essential in our decision whether someone qualifies or not.

The AEGEEan: Why would you encourage other antennae to organize a NWM?

AEGEE-Alicante: For us it is an important event and it can help newbies to understand the importance of the statutory events, to get to know more members from our area and to motivate themselves to keep participating and become more active.

AEGEE-Gliwice: Organizing this kind of event may be, and usually is, exhausting for whole team. However, the satisfaction from being a cog of a machine responsible for making the NWM possible gives extra power and rises spirit to do even more and keep up with work vortex. According to someone’s words: “No risk, no fun”, we should all follow this quotation trying to take risks, because they may bring more benefits than cons to us. If you are longing for a chance to develop yourself and to spend great time with many inspiring people, don’t hesitate to apply for this challenging position. Become a member of group that is working on such an incredible event like NWM!

NWM Alicante

The AEGEEan: What else are you working on in your antenna now after the Network Meeting?

AEGEE-Alicante: We are currently working on organizing our Summer University, we have implemented the Buddy program for the first time in the University of Alicante, we are also working together with ESN-Alicante in a booklet for Erasmus incoming. And we have applied to host the Fundraising European School. Apart fromthat we have local activities and meetings to facilitate teambuilding and knowledge transfer.

AEGEE-Gliwice: We would like to increase the activity of our working groups: HR, FR, PR, Cooking, Sport and Film WG. We also have integration trips like a three days tour in the mountains.  We organized a Summer University in 2012 and we would like to do it once again in 2015.

Written by Patricia Anthony, AEGEE-Zaragoza

During Spring Agora Patra two new Contacts were announced to the Network, namely the Contacts in Dresden and Podgorica. The AEGEEan spoke with the founders of the new Contacts, Jorge Sánchez Hernández and Filip Rasovic to find out more about these new additions to the AEGEE network.

Jorge Sánchez Hernández became a member of AEGEE-Alicante in April 2013 to go on a Summer University, without knowing anything about AEGEE, but during the Summer University he quickly fell in love with it. “But when I moved to Dresden last October, there was no AEGEE here”, Jorge says. “I wanted to meet more ‘AEGEE kind of people’, so with the help of the old board, some friends and a lot of time we revived AEGEE in Dresden again.”

At the moment two people are involved in AEGEE-Dresden, and another four are helping out with a project that is planned to be launched in the next summer semester. Through local trainings, activities with other non-governmental organisations (NGOs), a buddy program and exchanges the team wants to promote AEGEE in Dresden. “We want to reach a group of motivated, fun and hardworking people, who are willing to grow and learn”, Jorge says. The new contact is not alone in this search, since the local gets support from both AEGEE-Aachen and AEGEE-Alicante. “Next to this, we cooperate with Erfurt, Leipzig and München and the rest of the German locals are also helping out wherever they can”, Jorge says. “I did not know that the German network of active members is so good!”

Filip Rasovic had been a member of AEGEE-Novi Sad for a few years, where he organised a number of different workshops, motivation weekends and Summer Universities. Next to this, he was also PR Responsible in the board. “I come from Podgorica myself”, Filip says, “and I think that students in Montenegro should be acquainted with AEGEE too. In my opinion, Podgorica is AEGEE in small. Montenegro is very multi-ethnic as well as multicultural, and especially Podgorica is basically a student’s town. It’s the essence of AEGEE in a city.”

At the moment twelve students are involved in the contact, by working on a promotion campaign. “Our first plan is to have an official call for interested students that want to become a part of the AEGEE-family”, Filip says. “To attract as many students as possible, we will hold introduction panels at the different universities in Podgorica, make good use of promotion material and social media, collaborate with the media scene in Montenegro and other NGOs.” Next to this, the contact is also planning to organise an interdisciplinary panel discussion in Podgorica. To fulfill their plans, support has been offered by AEGEE-Leiden and locals in Serbia and Croatia. “We will meet the members of AEGEE-Leiden in June”, Filip says. “And we are hoping to get in contact with many more AEGEE locals!”

Written by Svenja van der Tol, AEGEE-Nijmegen