In the occasion of the Youth Development month, the Youth Development Working Group reached out to four AEGEE alumni and interviewed them, with the intention to connect past, present and future of AEGEE. Here’s the fourth and last interview of the series: Maria Nomikou (formerly) from AEGEE-Athina and AEGEE-Zaragoza. 

YDWG: Hello Maria, can you introduce yourself a bit?

Maria: I am Maria, I have studied theatre studies, stage management and international and European policies in education training and research and I joined AEGEE in 2002. Since then I have spent a lot of my time travelling for AEGEE, for pleasure or for delivering training courses. At the moment, I work at the British Council in the field of education, society and social economy. I love sewing, cooking and cinema. [she smiles, ed.]

And when did you become a member of AEGEE? How many years did you volunteer in it and what have you done during those years?

I joined AEGEE in 2002 and I was very active until 2009, but somehow I stayed involved as the last training I delivered for AEGEE was in 2013. Well, last year I facilitated the team building for the CD but it was just for a couple of days. What I have done… Member of AEGEE-Athina and AEGEE-Zaragoza, one year in the board of AEGEE-Athina, speaker of the Academy twice, president of the Members Commission (i think this doesn’t exist anymore [she smiles, ed.]), trainer in more than 15 European Schools, ES2 Oviedo Manager and chief editor of the NFE book: the impact of non-formal education on young people and society.

What does AEGEE mean for you?

Travelling like an executive, working in the middle of the night like in a multinational company, partying like an animal, having a friend in every single corner of Europe, thinking of the past and smiling for all the wonderful crazy experiences AEGEE gave me.

What was the biggest thing that AEGEE brought to you?

Confidence, the feeling that you have the power to make your dreams come true.

Which skills did you improve most during your very active years in AEGEE?

I feel that my whole personality was influenced by AEGEE. In my seven most active years in AEGEE I spent endless hours working for the organisation and I travelled to numerous places. This influences not only your skills and knowledge but your attitude towards life.

Did these skills help you to find a job easily? And what is your job now?

AEGEE first of all gave me a great opportunity to discover the world of youth work and youth training. Being nominated to the European Youth Forum Pool of Trainers for three mandates (2007-2013) I had the opportunity to work in very exciting projects with big institutions and NGOs. This influenced my future a lot and what I do now is as if I followed a natural path that started with AEGEE, continued with the Forum and other companies/experiences and brought me where I am, at the British Council in Athens.

What would you say is the biggest benefit of AEGEE for young people looking for a job?

It doesn’t matter what your job will be in five, 10 or 20 years, the biggest benefit is that it makes you feel a citizen of the world. It helps you improve basic soft skills such as collaboration, organisation, sense of responsibility, intercultural skills and many more that are useful for any job, even for the ones that maybe don’t exist yet. What you need to keep in mind is that this is not something that AEGEE offers you, but something you offer yourself, with AEGEE being just the vehicle.

Do you have any advice for newbies in AEGEE?

Grab the opportunities, try hard, follow your dreams and try to find out what makes you unique. AEGEE is a great and safe place to try new things, explore your strengths and weaknesses and find other crazy people that will join you in crazy journeys.

This is the fourth and last article of a series. You can find the first here, the second here and the third here. 

Written by Batuhan Çarıkçı, Youth Development Working Group

One event. 13 days. Six cities. 23 participants and almost 25 organisers. “Our Big Fat Greek Winter University” was the New Year Event organised by the greek speaking antennae of AEGEE-Athina, AEGEE-Peiraias, AEGEE-Patra, AEGEE-Ioannina, AEGEE-Thessaloniki and AEGEE-Kastoria, between the 28th of December 2016 and the 9th of January 2017.

This NYE was one of its kind! An ambitious plan and a profoundly challenging event with one and only aim: to emphasise the diverse beauty that Greece has to offer to its visitors during the winter. Usually, when people think about the country, the first thing that pops automatically in mind, is the S triplet: sun, sand and sea! The journey followed a different path this time. Participants got to travel and see both the urban everyday life of the big cities and harbours, as well as the picturesque, suburban areas with the vivid student life.

As for me, this was a self-discovering and an amazing experience. When I joined AEGEE a year ago, trying to find my footsteps aside from school and my comfort zone, I would never imagine that I would be mainly responsible for such a thing. This is why, when my antenna proposed to me to be in charge of AEGEE-Ioannina part in this event, I felt it like a challenge.

No matter the difficulties that the organisers had to face considering it was a collaboration between six antennae, we managed to make the dream of many people, even before us, come true. We definitely surpassed the Greek stereotypes that want many people when working together, arguing with each other with no result. The biggest proof is what one of our participants, Leyla Gasanova from AEGEE-Moskva, said:“In general I want to say big thanks for this event! We could see a reeeally good job and a lot of preparation”.

The NYE started in the Greek capital Athens, of course. During the time in Athens, the participants had the opportunity to see our cultural inheritance. They visited the National Archaeological Museum, the state-of-the-art Akropolis Museum and Akropolis Rock. This was a life dream for many AEGEEans, who added a check to their to-do lists. They also paid a visit to the Ancient Agora and Pnika, the place where the ancient Athenians were gathering to discuss and vote. As Athens is a modern city, which combines perfectly the old with the new style, we could not miss an opportunity to walk in the alleys of the centre with full of bazaars, as well as shops with a modern and alternative essence. Lastly, the organisers of AEGEE-Athina took a good care of the social nightlife and partied along with the participants in various clubs. Everybody agreed on the fact that Athens had the best and craziest parties of the event.

The participants left with a great first impression to move to Patras, the second biggest harbour in Greece. The most enjoyable moment was during the city tour and the city rally when they visited, among others, the orthodox church of Saint Andrew and closed the day in the lighthouse near the marina, where we saw the sunset by the sea! It was a serene moment during this trip, perfect to meditate, as one of our participants did. The NYE party in Patras was a typically Greek celebrating meal, late in the evening. After we welcomed 2017, we ate the New Year’s Pie, a custom in the country. The pie was cut into pieces and served to guests. In it, there is a coin and whoever has it in his piece, is the lucky one for the year that has just arrived. It is connected to the orthodox Santa Claus, who is called Saint Vassilios, and he was the first to offer such a pie to the poor. Foteini, president of AEGEE-Patra, was the winner. After the meal, it was time for the party in the local bars!

Following destination… Ioannina! It is the small town in the north-west of Greece, as known mostly for lake Pamvotis and the mountainous sceneries. The time here is like stuck in the past, in the era when the Ottomans ruled. This impression was increased by the byzantine castle, the remaining mosques and the legends still alive in every corner. Travelling through places of the Medieval Age astounded the participants. We also visited the island in the lake, the one with its permanent inhabitants. We had a dance workshop there with local dances from Epirus and the Ionian Islands.

Of course, we did not miss the chance to dance the syrtaki as well. It would not be a Big Fat Greek Winter University without it, anyway! The highlight of the day: other visitors were passing by and staring at us. However, who really cared at that moment? Another workshop given by Netcom Spyros Papadatos was both interesting and fun. It was about “An interactive way to introduce AEGEE so that both the new and the old members could contribute and enjoy”. Ioannina ended its part with the European Night, which was organised in accordance with the guidelines of the “Drink-wise Project”. As the main organiser on behalf of my antenna, I had the “Eurotrip” through all the tables of different nations and opened the night with Spyros. And yes! I am able to say we survived!

Next in the row was Thessaloniki, “The Nymph of the North”, as locals proudly call the city. Thessaloniki is the second largest city in Greece and an eternal competitor with Athens. The participants had an amazing time in the city tour. One of the highlights was the byzantine castle, which was built in the 4th century. It offers a breathtaking and panoramic view from the highest point of the city to the beach and to the White Tower. During the two nights that they spent there, they got a taste of the legendary nightlife in Greek style tavernas with local foods, drinks and music. The pub crawl was a social activity which they also enjoyed much. In Thessaloniki, the organisers from other locals gathered together, created a lovely feeling to be all together for the final days of the NYE.

The event was meant to finish in Kastoria. The phenomenal snowstorm, though, that stroke Greece this winter, had another opinion on this. Under extremely low temperatures, AEGEEans took part in Ragoutsaria, a carnival that has its origins to the bacchanalian ceremonies that were exercised in the area. In Kastoria, the organisers also introduced them a real Greek night. The best part was definitely the moment that the participants tried to sing the mainstream Greek music. Unfortunately, the weather was a constant enemy and Murphy’s law “If something can go wrong, it will”, worked exceptionally well. With the whole country entering in a freezer, problems in the accommodation came up and the event had to finish ingloriously. This made us all disappointed, as we were all looking forward to the three-days party with the wine and the unstoppable dancing with the rhythm of Balkan music all around the alleys. Yet, every bad situation comes out a good result…or at least a funny incident.

We made it to the news! Two brave AEGEEans, during their visits to the frozen lake, walked on a very thin sheet of ice. Next day they became viral as the Kastorians who walked on the lake! Of course, we knew otherwise!!! To sum up, this NYE has been a pleasure and an adventure for everybody. As all NYEs, it was the perfect start to a year with full of travelling, meeting new friends and getting to know another country. More specifically, it was a chance to visit many Greek cities from the north to the south, learn about the culture and the particular cultural characteristics. Even though it might have been a little tiring swapping between six destinations, we were very happy to be able to show a different and more representative aspect of Greece. This would have been impossible without the friendly atmosphere we managed to create among the group of organisers. It was a surprise to me to get closer with our fellow antennae in such a way. We also owe this all to the most challenging and patient group of experienced AEGEE members that helped us to make it happen. And as once said… why not? Let’s turn this into a tradition!!!

Written by Vasiliki Andrioti, AEGEE-Ioannina

In addition to the previous articles about the New Year’s Events, we would like to present you with some additional opportunities which are going to be organised by really experienced Antennae like AEGEE-Belgrade and the Greek Antennae. In this article, the journalist Matteo Lai will explain you why you can choose one of these events to spend the last hours of 2016, with the contributions of Vasiliki Andrioti and Aleksandra Icić.

Our Big Fat Greek Winter University

This NYE event is organised by Greek speaking Antennae (Athens, Peiraias, Patra, Ioannina, Thessaloniki and Kastoria). The general themes of this NYE are Greek history and culture, therefore they are also the focus of the social programme. Starting the journey from Athens, the participants will get to witness how the capital can perfectly combine its historical past with the present. Participants will visit the Akropolis and Parthenon, and stroll around the Plaka with its alleys and little shops. Moving to a nearby neighbourhood , members of AEGEE will see Peiraias, the biggest harbour of the country, with its own nautical and merchant tradition.

On New Year’s Eve, the participants will find themselves in Patra, the third biggest city of Greece, where the organisers are planning to have a party to welcome 2017. In Ioannina, the fourth destination, participants will visit the first of the two lake towns in their journey. A day trip will be set up to an island inside the lake, where everyone will get to know the local life. Thessaloniki, the so-called capital of the North, will reveal its stunning beauty from the top of its castles, which are the highest point in the entire city. And do not forget the must-do walk to the White Tower.

Last but not least, in Kastoria participants will attend “Ragoutsaria”, a local custom to welcome the new year. “Prepare yourselves for a different kind of carnival with much dance and alcohol!” adds Vasiliki Andrioti, from AEGEE-Ioannina. In addition, the social programme will involve traditional dances from different regions all around Greece, language and culture workshops, parties and many more.

A Winter University on this scale has never happened in the past. Participants will have the chance to travel through Greece, and the organisers from Athens, Peiraias, Patra, Ioannina, Thessaloniki and Kastoria await them to show them the original Greek spirit, six of the main cities of Greece and examples of Greek history and culture. It will be like a journey from the past to the present, meeting people from various regions and experiencing all the Greek customs, local life and hospitality.

So, if you have ever wanted to visit Athens and Akropolis, dance Syrtaki, eat Souvlaki and drink ouzo, get ready for a really “kefi” [fun, ed.] event! Vasiliki invites all members to apply on the intranet page here, and by filling in the Google form here. The deadline is the 20th of November. Thirty participants will be accepted.

Frozen in Belgrade: Oh deer, another year!

The topic of this NYE in Serbia is Tradition and Culture. Through workshops provided by AEGEE-Beograd, the participants will get the chance to explore Serbian traditions related to Serbian food and its preparation, and to the Serbian famous drink “Rakija” [a fruit brandy, ed.] and how it is made. During the city tours, the participants will see the most famous parts of Belgrade such as the Kalemegdan fortress, Saint Sava’s Temple, Skadarlija (the bohemian quarter), Knez Mihailova street and much more. Other activities include the Nikola Tesla museum, ice skating and trying to make it out of an Escape room on time.

Since Belgrade is famous for its night life, the organisers planned a pub crawl, an unforgettable European Night and, of course, something special for New Year’s Eve! “We are not going to tell you everything, you will just have to come and see for yourself”, adds Aleksandra Icić, the main organiser of the event.

“Balkan spirit is something you should experience – from our hospitality, warm and nice people who know how to enjoy life to our rich culture, monuments at every step and a buzzing nightlife” tells Aleksandra.

Twenty-five participants will be accepted for the event. The deadline is set for the 22th of November. Apply on the Intranet here and fill in the Google form here (both are required).

Written by Matteo Lai, AEGEE-Cagliari.

Incredible things always happen during an Agora. The AEGEEan checked old material and asked some old members for interesting stories about this issue, a funny way to approach the upcoming Spring Agora Bergamo and read some legends of the past. 

The Agora can be something legendary for those who have never been there, since they probably heard many stories before departure. For those who already experienced it at least once, it is something incredible: a thousand of people from all over Europe, a huge common commitment, great discussions, fabulous encounters, moments of sharing and great parties. For the people organising it, it is something very different. More than one year ago, I had the honour of being an organiser of Autumn Agora Cagliari. If you ask me to say what it looks like, I would probably say tiring, challenging and agitating. If you ask me why, the answer is easy: anything can happen, even if you planned it in detail.

For every organiser there is always a precise moment when s/he realises that the event started, in my case was the following episode:

On the 28^th of October 2014, a sponsor gave us two cars and a big van. They were quite big and none of us had used a van before. We drove them to pick up CD members at the airport and, after greeting them, we put the luggage inside the last one. Once ready to drive it, an alarm rang showing that the trunk was open, we closed it many times without any result and then we thought it was a van problem. Of course the reality was very different, because as soon as we had entered the highway we heard dozens of horns around us: two bags of our former president Paul Smits broke out in the street forcing uncountable cars to make extraordinary riggings and we had to walk in the middle of the street to take them back.

Anything can happen

After that moment, many stories I heard about disasters during previous Agorae came to my mind. Maybe you do not know but a lot of weird things happened during our statutory events in the past. Not all the things regarded only organisers or were bad, some of there were actually very positive. But of course at that moment I started thinking about the worst possible scenarios.

To start: one of the things to know about the Agora is that it didn’t always look like it does today, at the first ones there were not that many participants. During Agora Salerno 1989, about two or three hundred participants were present and local organisers picked them up at the train station by car! It was the very same Agora during which the Berlin wall fell down and a participant said: “We did not know about the fall of the Wall. There were no mobiles, no one saw the news. I read about it on Monday after the Agora”.

In 1994, Agora Montpellier started at a plenary hall but finished on the market square of the French city. Why? According to our source “the freshly re-elected President of AEGEE-Europe, Dorian Selz, did not accept the election result, because he got only 52% of the votes. Before a new candidate could be voted, all the members of the Agora had to leave the building since it was closing time. So they gathered in front of the building and elected the successor, Christina Thorsson, there”. Still, it was not the worst result ever for a presidential candidate. In 1998 Stefan Seidel from AEGEE-Augsburg was elected with a poor 38%. At first he did not want to accept it and said: “I will go home now”. But people convinced him to stay in office. A bad mistake since at the next Agora his CD got a vote of confidence and lost it.

The first day of the Agora in Athina in November 2002 was overshadowed by a blackout. Suddenly the plenary hall went dark. In this case, the reaction was amazing since organisers lightened a couple of hundreds of small candles and gave the Juridical Commission president, Yuriy Tokarsky, a flashlight which he held on the Agora booklet so that President Tomak Helbin could present the CD report. It was accepted with an overwhelming majority. The organisers of autumn Agora Zaragoza in 2003 had bad luck. They could not get the promised location and had to move the Agora to an old fair instead. The participants were sleeping inside that giant hall, when one of them turned on a switch, which he mistook for a light switch.

It was the switch for the ventilation and a dead bird, which had ended its life near the ventilator, fell down – right on the sleeping bag of a Dutch participant. The history had a revival in the last years when AEGEE-Zaragoza was chosen as host of the Autumn Agora 2013, some people in fact wondered if participants were going to stay in the same place again: it was not, the event was hosted in a brand new structure used for Expo Zaragoza 2008 and the organisation was simply amazing!

An incredible year: 2006!

If there is a year champion for incredible statutory events, that’s definitely 2006, since in both the Agorae which took place an incredible fact occured. At Agora Warsawa 2006, about twenty couples which found a lonely corner in a garage to spend some nice time with the respective partner: they got registered by a surveillance camera and watched live stream by the guards.

As this history can be familiar to the readers, not so known is the case of Agora Napoli 2006: in the late afternoon of the 1st of November the water boiler plant of the Fair broke down. It was the All Saint’s day, national holiday in Italy, and the same is the 2^nd of November (All Souls’ day). Organisers desperately tried to find a plumber but it resulted in an impossible mission! One of them said: “The only solution to find a plumber in Napoli on the 2^nd of November is to look for him at a cemetery”. The situation was not fixed and participants started a huge protest because of cold water in the showers.

Recent years

Lately there have not been such big cases if we exclude huge delays in the agenda, a vote of confidence, some locals which left the plenary for protest, a broken motorbike in Agora Patra 2014 or participants who had to move their luggage because of handball match (they were already informed about it). These can be considered as funny or sad thing things which happened. Except for two cases.

Most of us probably remember the 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland, which stopped the flight traffic from the 14^th till 23^rd of April of the same year. I guess you can imagine what happened: Agora Leiden was taking place from the 15^th till 18^th of the very same month: the perfect moment to destroy the travel plans of hundreds of AEGEEans, especially for their route back home, and create difficulties for organisers who had to take care of them.

If we also consider the CD members as organisers, since AEGEE-Europe is a partner organiser of the Agora, we cannot forget Agora Struga 2011 organised by AEGEE-Skopje. Because of an argue between the CD and local organisers, who increased the event fee one month before the event, for the last days of the event, the organisers disappeared leaving the CD and some other improvised helper managing the whole organisation – starting from the wake up till the welcome pack preparations!

The good God of AEGEE resides in Athina

It is possible that some organisers of Agora Bergamo or Autumn Agora Chisinau are getting scared while reading this article. In that case we should also remind them that AEGEE has a good God ready to solve every situation…and probably he is a member of AEGEE-Athina. Somehow the Greek local managed to solve not just a difficult situation but even two!

In the far 1992, this local organised an Agora which not took place in Athens but in Kōs, a Dodecanese island in front of the Turkish coast. You may wonder why they wanted to host the event there and the answer is quite easy: Agora was taking place in Spring, in Greece the weather is always nice so let’s gather all the participants in Athens to make a nice boat trip all together! While the organisation was running perfectly, only four days before the event an organiser switched on the TV and saw the sailor’s Labour Union president declaring started an unlimited duration strike because of high taxes. A panic attack caught the Greek organisers which started thinking about all the participants meandering around the Pireaus port and possible solutions to avoid it. One of them, was to meet the same president of the Union Labour – which they did but without results. The second solution, which now can sound very funny but probably in those moments was not, was to get an appointment with the Minister for Foreign Affairs and ask him to talk with the minister for the Defence to get a military vessel and transport all the participants to Kōs. Through some contact they succeeded to get the appointment.

At 11 am, two days before the Agora. The minister is taking part in a high level meeting with the Greek PM and the president of the Republic. Organisers are in front of the office ready to meet him, but at 11.05 they see everyone leaving the building and packing their things. They wonder why and they ask one of the officials “Is he coming?” – “No he is not coming at all, he just resigned 5 minutes ago because of disagreements on foreign policies”.

In case you wonder how participants reached the location, the story says that the greek minister of Finances (of course pure coincidence) accepted the requests of the labour union the day right before the boat departure. That’s how Agora Kōs could take place.

In case you do not believe to this story, you can download the 10th AEGEE anniversary booklet and read about it there (p. 92).

To end

Dear future Agora organisers, as you could see, also in the darkest situations there is always light and space for hope, and the people of AEGEE-Athina can confirm it for sure!

It has not been an isolated case since we also heard that while spring Agora in Barcelona 1999 was taking place overshadowed by the Nato air strikes against Serbia (with lots of people arriving late, because of many flights cancelled or rerouted), among the participants was Jasna Bogdanovic, President of AEGEE-Novi Sad. She took the opportunity to leave the country and was hosted by the President of AEGEE-Barcelona. They fell in love and got married.

So we wish you good luck and may the good God of AEGEE be with you!

Written by Mattia Abis, AEGEE-Cagliari

Recently the great job of another amazing antenna was recognised by being named Local of the Month: AEGEE-Athina. The AEGEEan met Chrysanthos Stergiopoulos, the President of this local, who actually confirmed the hard work of his antenna and the activities they have been doing. Curious? Then check this out!

The AEGEEan: AEGEE-Athina has been officially elected as local of the month. Congratulations! How do you feel about it?
Chrysanthos: The truth is that we feel really happy and rewarded. The whole board and the members of the antenna were working overtime in the last months and with a lot of enthusiasm in order to make their innovative ideas come true. That said, it is a decision that gives us a moral vindication.

Did you expect such an important title?
Honestly, yes! The first five months of this board’s term were highly active and everyone did what they could best. Local events, regular meetings, Summer University projects, exchanges, partnerships with other NGOs, participation in fairs and of course parties are only a few examples of what AEGEE-Athina organised during this time period. All topped off by a lot of hard work and devotion. Weren’t we worth the title?

Can you introduce briefly the history of your local?
AEGEE-Athina was founded in 1986 and was one of the first locals of the network. Since then, AEGEE-Athina plays an important role within the network, since it has been a considerably big and active antenna throughout the years. The events that were organised by AEGEE-Athina and stood out would be the Agoras of 1992, 1996 and 2002, as well as its participation as co-organiser of the very successful AEGEE project “Turkish-Greek Civic Dialogue”.

Who are the members of the current board?
Our current board consists of nine members. The President is Chrysanthos Stergiopoulos, the Secretary is Panos Spyrou, the Treasurer is George Mylonas, the Vice President and External Relations Responsible is Dimitris Bouloubassis, the Human Resources Responsible is Maria Dimitriou, the Public Relations and Information Technology Responsible is Simos Grivas, the Fundraising Responsible is Konstantina Anagnostopoulou, the Erasmus+ Responsible is Angeliki Achtypi and finally a general Board Member – Alice Kontogianni.

This year you organised many interesting activities like “AEGEE’s got Talent”. Could you explain our readers what is it about?
“AEGEE’s got talent” is exactly what is sounds to be. Inspired by the worldwide reality show, this year the members of AEGEE-Athina decided to show their talents during this special event. Talents and performances ranged from cooking to karaoke, to theatrical plays, music and dances, from which the jury of course could not be missing. The event had a great success and a part II is already in the making.

AEGEE-Athina also signed partnerships with other NGO’s…
This year we decided to make AEGEE in Athens more extroverted. Therefore, we signed many partnerships with other NGOs throughout Europe in the frame of Erasmus+ projects. More than 20 different collaborations where signed, giving the chance to many of our members to take part in different voluntary projects while travelling with a specific financial support. In this way we want to make AEGEE an organisation that is not being kept to itself, but that on the contrary plays an active role in terms of European citizenship and non-formal education.

What about your exchange programme?
Three different exchange programmes where held in a period of four months. These exchanges include the antennae of Istanbul, Bamberg and Gdansk. The exchanges took place in two parts, meaning that Athenians were hosted by the above-mentioned antennae, and people from these antennae were in return hosted by Athenians. The purpose of these exchanges was to strengthen the bonds between AEGEEans, something that was accomplished with success, as collaborative projects have been discussed, such as a Greek-Turkish dialogue and a Summer University cooperation. More exchanges are planned for autumn.

This year your local is organising a Summer University to. Is everything ready for your lucky participants? Introduce your SU to our readers.
This year AEGEE-Athina is going big. We are organising two amazing Summer Universities for our lucky participants.

The first one under the name of “Sunset Paradise Vol. III” has a thematic of history and local culture. The participants will have the chance to visit the capital of Greece, Athens, the cradle of democracy and western civilization, as well as the beautiful islands of Naxos and Santorini, where the Cycladic civilization, one of the very first in Greece, flourished around 3000 BC. And all this under the breathtaking sunsets of the Mediterranean sea. Pretty interesting, isn’t it?

The second one is for the first time attempted by our antenna. The title is “Summer Sportades: Born to be Wild \m/” and the theme is oriented towards eco-tourism and agro-tourism. Participants will have the chance to visit three islands of Northern Sporades with untouched nature and crystal clear water, where they will practice more alternative activities, like water sports, hiking, wild-life observation and workshops about local production and art.

Can you tell us about your future plans?
Our plan is to continue working for the best of our antenna and soon to become the first antenna to organise four Agorae.

Would you like to add something more?
I would like just to say that the success of the antenna this year is due to team work. However, I do not mean it with the plain term of just working in a team. It has to do with other things more substantial. It has to do with understanding and respecting one another through the process of voluntary work, where you have nothing to gain and nothing to lose. There, you get the chance to approach the others selflessly and accept them for what they are. Then, you get the meaning of real friendship, you get to enjoy the real company of  others. This is when you can create bonds that cannot be severed and with this strength you can build all things from nothing. This is the idea of my antenna this year and I am really proud to be the President of it.

Written by Larisa Smajlagic, AEGEE-Verona

Recently we published the article giving you an insight into the story behind 2^nd place winner of the Events Committee’s (EvC) Facebook competition. Now it is time to reveal the winner which includes not only AEGEE-Oviedo but also AEGEE-Yerevan and the Eastern Partnership Project Team.

The winning photo

The Peace Building in Europe took place in Gijón last year, and the EvC’s competition has granted us the opportunity to get to know more about the event, how it came about, and the significance of exchanges among AEGEE antennae. Several of the participants of the event took their time to contribute to an interesting interview which you can read below.

Congratulations on winning the competition, why did you take part in it?

Tereza Tokmajyan (AEGEE-Yerevan) Thanks! It all begins with checking the dozens of AEGEE-emails in my inbox. I know every AEGEEan feel this every day and every week.  And while I was reading the info about what we need for participating in this great competition, the photo of our crazy event came out. I just wanted everyone to know all the amazing people who have organised this project.

What does it make you feel that you managed to win?

Gerardo García Díaz (AEGEE-Oviedo): I’m really happy and also proud because we managed to win, and because we won just for “being ourselves”.

Panagiotis Barlampas (AEGEE-Athina): Friends from the Network  helped us spread the joy

Tereza: And it was like: HELL YES we did it.

Take us back to the event, who came up with the idea to organize a YiA project between AEGEE-Yerevan and AEGEE-Oviedo?

Tereza: As far as I know, it was not directly the idea of AEGEE-Yerevan or AEGEE-Oviedo. The project was proposed by the AEGEE Eastern Partnership Project Team (EaP) back in summer 2011. Armenak Minasyants, who at that time was member of that team, developed and reshaped the project with the AEGEE EaP Team. Later on AEGEE-Oviedo was approached and to be honest, for the first application in 2011 the guys failed and the project got the rejection and lots of people thought that it was the big ned of a cooperation that had not even really started yet. It was a big disappointment. Amazingly, Armenak,  AEGEE-Yerevan’s ex-president, and Alberto Cuesta Noriega, from AEGEE-Oviedo, with the big support of AEGEE EaP Project Manager Alla Resheten, found totally new motivation and inspiring hope for rechecking the whole application, making plenty new amendments to it, developing a new agenda and concept and of course applying for the EU Youth in Action funding. It took from the both of lots of hard work, patience and dedication but in the end of the day the result you may already see on your own.

When asked why the choice of AEGEE-Yerevan and AEGEE-Oviedo for the project Tereza said with a smile “Maybe we are the marvelous, absolutely fabulous antennae in AEGEE Network?” and continued “But if we talk more seriously, the partnership was firstly based on the big personal trust of our above mentioned main organisers. Additionally it should be mentioned that the participants were not only from AEGEE-Oviedo or AEGEE-Yerevan. The organisers have involved as the partner promoters AEGEE-Athina, AEGEE-Tbilisi, AEGEE-Kyiv, AEGEE-Budapest, and Moldavian National Youth Council. In the end we got totally crazy and motivated participants plus awesome trainers’ team”.

What did you do in Oviedo?

Gerardo: Actually the event took place in Gijón. Oviedo is the Capital of the Principality of Asturias and the University of Asturias is the University of Oviedo. But the largest city on the region and the biggest campus of this University in is Gijón.

Armenak Minasyants (AEGEE-Yerevan): It was a great selection of the location: Atlantic Ocean on your one side, beautiful Asturian forests and nature on the other side… What could be better place for making such a project?

Christos Gkagkas (AEGEE-Patra): We had trainings on conflicts and different stereotypes, we learn how to recognize them and work on them in order to be able and overcome them. I think we manage to see that each culture is important and respectful.

Tereza: Adding to that in spite of this was a YIA project and we had non-AEGEE members we did not forget to show them all what AEGEE Spirit is.

Panagiotis: Which is why in the end, we left everyone speechless by our awesomeness.

What did you like about the event?

Panagiotis: In seven days we made friends from six different countries and learned about their culture, conflicts (internal, external), and language!

Christos: I liked most the conversations we had after the trainings, in which we found out that each culture is sharing something with other cultures and some of them are strongly connected.

Tereza: We had super great trainers. Every session was interesting and unique itself, even the ice-breaking games were amazing.

Gerardo: It was an awesome group of awesome people, and we had a really good time together.

Gerardo from Oviedo

In AEGEE we focus a lot on cultural exchanges and this was indeed one of those. Would you encourage others to take part/organise exchanges?

Tereza: As a person who has directly participated to such type of the project, I would not only encourage but, as the Vice-President and HR of my local, even officially suggest on the behalf of AEGEE-Yerevan to organise such exchanges as much as possible! Through such exchanges we are getting a quite unique chance not only to get familiar with other people’s culture, but also to represent ours.

Gerardo: There’s no better way to get to know other cultures and ways of thinking than actually living with people from other places and getting immersed in their stuff. Even that this event was short in time, lessons learnt will last forever.

Christos: I will give you one example. Before the event in Gijon I did not know where Armenia was but I fell in love with my Armenian friends and after this event I wanted to learn more about their ways of living so I applied and went to another YiA in Yerevan.

Panagiotis: For sure when you will come home after an event like this you will be a little different, more open minded.

Written by Patricia Anthony, AEGEE-København

A story of how the sun brought AEGEE-Yerevan and AEGEE-Athina closer thogether and keeps shining on their cooperation.

It all started as a joke between Armenak Minasyants from AEGEE-Yerevan and me, Zoi, more than one year ago. We were in contact with each other for some AEGEE project and I was always finishing my emails with the phrase “Greetings from sunny Athens”. He was always responding “Greetings from sunny Yerevan”. And then a competition started to arise: which is the sunniest? Each one of us claimed that his city is the sunniest and we were “fighting” to defend our opinion in every email! Until one day, just like that, we took the whole matter quite seriously and we decided to cooperate and organise a youth exchange for the members of AEGEE-Athina and AEGEE-Yerevan. We wanted to bring Greeks and Armenians closer and build a stronger relationship because we do have lots in common after all. So, we applied for EU funds (Youth in Action programme) and after a lot of preparation and waiting, the event finally happened in October 2012. 15 Greeks arrived to Yerevan to meet another 15 Armenians and experience a week full of great adventures and unforgettable moments!

Our project was dedicated to the promotion of intercultural dialogue and healthy lifestyle. We wanted to encourage mutual understanding and respect of the history and culture of each other and in addition, we wanted to get people understand the great importance of sports and healthy lifestyle so that they become more active and improve their life quality. The day before the official opening of the project some members of AEGEE-Yerevan and also some of the Greek participants who had already arrived to the city, attended the World Cup 2014 Qualifier Game between the Armenian and Italian football teams. This was a unique chance for a first team-building activity and a good motivational start for the sporty week that would follow!

During the whole week we had many different workshops, team-building activities, ice-breakers, excursions, flashmobs, street celebrations for Yerevan’s birthday and many other creative activities. Αll days combined both theoretical sessions as well as sport activities, including volleyball, basketball and football. We visited the Cafesjian Modern Art Museum, Sergey Parajanov Museum and also some places in the countryside: Garni, Geghard, Lake Sevan, Dilijan, Khor Virap, Etchmiadzin. Surely there is no AEGEE-event, even within the frames of Youth in Action programme, which does not include a European (or Intercultural in this case) Night. Therefore we all presented our national dances, songs, food and drinks and shared one of the best intercultural experiences. The very last day of the project was also very full and emotional: we visited the Memorial of the Armenian Genocide and also the Genocide Museum. After the official closing and evaluation of the project we had farewell dinner in a traditional Armenian restaurant and then of course partied until late!

Without any doubt this programme has been a lifetime experience for all the participants. They learned a lot about a new culture, they broke stereotypes, they discussed common problems, they exhanged ideas, they became even more tolerant and respectful towards different cultures. AEGEE-Athina and AEGEE-Yerevan proved to be great partners and are willing to cooperate again in the future. So, was the question answered after all? Who is the sunniest? Well, I can tell you for sure that Yerevan is pretty sunny, in terms of weather and people as well. After all, everybody may be the same or a bit different but in the end, we are all sunny on our own way!

Written by Zoi, AEGEE-Athina

At the moment the Summer University 25 Booklet Team is working hard to prepare an amazing anniversary booklet for Summer University (SU) Project. The AEGEEan is happy to give you a unique insight into the booklet and publish a preview – interview with somebody, whose life has changed since he found his first Summer University…

Meet Angelos Pappas from AEGEE-Athina who went to his first SU two years ago and has since then become a true European. This year he even won European Commission’s “Generation 1992” competition and just some days ago was announced as the new Vice-President of AEGEE-Athina! Together with SU 25 Booklet, we asked Angelos a few questions.

Congrats with your new position! What else are you doing at the moment?
I am planning to go on an Erasmus exchange semester to The Hague – yes, my first SU experience played a huge part on this decision – and I am really excited!
Apart of that, as a board member of my antenna I will try to help them to organise a successful SU next summer, and when it comes to European level, I will try to contribute as much as possible to the Human Rights Working Group and the upcoming Y Vote campaign!

How exactly did you join AEGEE?
Back in 2010, just a couple of days before my university life began, I was desperately looking for a traveling community that is low in cost but rich in experiences. The CouchSurfing community seemed to be a decent answer to those needs, but I still felt like there was something missing. In a local CouchSurfing event in Athens, a completely random guy, in his early 30’s, approached me and told me about AEGEE and its wonders (Summer Universities of course, what else?). That was it! After minutes into that discussion (and a couple of ouzo shots as well), I was actually feeling guilty for not being a member of AEGEE already!
I officially joined AEGEE-Athina in April 2011, in order to apply for a specific Summer University I had in mind. And there I was, two months later – easy-riding around the Netherlands on a bicycle, along with thirty amazing friends from all over Europe! That was my first, unforgetable SU and no words can describe my feelings back then! So many different people, places, cultures, memories (and stroopwafels of course)!  That random guy back in September 2010 was right: it was a lifetime experience, there’s absolutely no doubt about that!

What have you learnt about AEGEE and Europe after joining the SU?
As a student of Economics and European Studies I was always interested in European history, politics and affairs. AEGEE managed to take that interest to a whole new level! Before my first SU I was just a Greek student observing Europe mainly because of my studies. After two and a half weeks abroad with a bunch of European youngsters, things had totally changed. I had managed to discover Europe from within, develop and adopt a valuable, active European identity.

You have also won the first place in the Smartphone application contest of 1992 generation. Could you tell me more about it?
Sure! As I told you, my first SU has had a lasting effect on my perception and stance on Europe. I became a board member of my antenna and tried to stay updated with many European youth issues that interested me. In late spring 2012 I discovered European Commission’s “Generation 1992” competition thanks to a post made by AEGEE-Europe in a social media network. European citizens born in 1992 were asked to express how they “live, see and experience the EU’s Single Market on its 20th anniversary.” Marisa Tosi from AEGEE-Passau and myself were among the finalists!
I developed a small smartphone application for Android, titled “European Union Quiz“, consisting of dozens of Europe-related questions (ranging from European culture, history and geography to citizens’ rights, institutions and politics) and won the first place in my category. The winners ceremony in Brussels last October was a hell of an experience!
If there’s any advice I could give to young people living in Europe, it would be to never stop looking for European contests like this one. There are way too many interesting contests and the competition is not as huge as you’d might expect! Nevertheless, I have to admit that without AEGEE there in the first place, none of these would have happened, and I’m grateful about this.

And last, but not least – What for you are the most important things about joining SU?
As a participant, making great friends from all over the continent, while discovering one of its corners in the best possible way!
As an organiser, there is nothing more rewarding than watching people enjoy what you’ve been working on for the past couple of months.
It doesn’t require any cunning marketing trick to promote the SU project. All it takes is simply describing what it really is about. Europe, traveling, cultural exchange and networking. Won’t take more than 10 seconds to gain one’s interest!

Written by Anita Kalmane, AEGEE-Ogre

Hello my dearest readers, and welcome to my article about my experiences participating in the AEGEE-Athina Summer University. In a minute I will tell you all about my time in Greece, visiting the cities of Athens and Nafplion and the beautiful island of Lefkada, but before I continue I would first like to state something else.

I could have written two very different versions of this article and, in fact, I did. I wrote one article about everything that I did not like about the Summer University I participated in and I wrote another one about the truly amazing time I have had despite these issues and downsides. I have deleted one and you are reading the other: The positive one, because one week after returning to my beloved city of Utrecht it is a lot harder to remember the negative parts than the positive. Enjoy!

Athens

When I got off my plane and first set foot onto Athenian soil I immediately cursed myself. Not because I just remembered I forgot to feed my fish back at home or because my foot slipped on the airplane stairs. No, I cursed myself because of the intense heat my body would have to get used to for the next 14 days. It was 37 degrees Celsius, a mild day by Greek standards, but it easily doubled the amount of degrees I encountered when I left The Netherlands.

Maybe it was because of this heat, but in my experience, time in Athens goes very slow. In just 48 hours I met 37 new young people from 18 countries all over the world, learned all of their sometimes very ‘interesting’ names (I can tell you ‘Fanni Kiss’ was one of the crowd favorites) and learned the sentence ‘Who are you, sleeping naked by my side???’ in Greek by heart.

On our third day in Athens we climbed the Acropolis. I think it is safe to say that this climb created more togetherness and group spirit than any introduction game in the world would be able to. But the reward after this ‘experience’ made up for all of : A beautiful ancient temple which we learned about in the Acropolis Museum and a magnificent view of the truly enormous city of Athens.

Nafplion

Of course there is a lot more to write about my time in Greece, but for the sake of convenience I will fast-forward to our bus-ride to Nafplion. After we left the current Greek capital, we traveled to the first capital of modern Greece: the seaport town of Nafplion. There, we had our first encounters with another one of the beautiful things Greece has to offer: the clear, deep blue ocean. While heroically risking the well-being of our hands and feet due to the all the sea urchins, we took our first dives in the fresh salt water, something we would do a lot more during our stay on the island of Lefkada. The next day, on a safer part of the sea  we had water sports, which was a lot of fun but unfortunately prematurely ended the Summer University of Marta Nowak, whom we of course wish all the best.

Lefkada

Lefkada is an island that is known for its beautiful beaches, and we have sure seen our fair share of them! After just one day there, in an instant we all believed in the mantra organiser Nikos Magounis was trying to indoctrinate us with on our daily bus-rides: Like here, nowhere.

We spent six days on Lefkada. Six days of lying on the beach, playing the odd game of volleyball and six nights of partying in togas, partying in regular clothes, laughing about the pronunciation of the word ‘water’ in Austria (‘wòdá’), the word ‘exactly’ in Romania and the word ‘cruise’ in Greece (‘Cru-iz’), drinking every time that we forgot to say ‘Kiss’ after somebody said ‘Funny’ and having a European Night that some of us might never forget and others might never remember. 35 students, great weather and a beautiful environment. What better way to spend a vacation?

Like there, nowhere

Our theater plays, the photography workshop and the Greek dances; the beautiful ocean, the archeological sites and the great people I’ve met.