After the most romantic city in the world, Firenze, it was time to visit the next city on my route, a city with the oldest university in Europe and the birth place of the current education system, the beautiful Bologna.  Thanks to Interrail I had a chance to take the famous Red Arrow high-speed train, which I could not enjoy more because it was a  35 minutes journey. When I arrived in cold but sun-bathed Bologna, I met with the President of AEGEE-Bologna Kabir. As the meeting with members was planned for the evening, he took me on a city tour and showed me part of the seven secrets of Bologna. If you want to find out what the secrets are, I am inviting you to apply to AEGEE-Bologna’s next events.

Kabir explained to me that AEGEE-Bologna was re-established in 2012, signed the Convention d’Adhésion in 2013 and then they gather around 50 members yearly. Even as a student organisation, AEGEE-Bologna is still not recognised by the University of Bologna, due to the strict rules that organisation need to reach in order to get acknowledgement. The institution that is supporting the local is the municipality, which is offering them support for local activities and logistical support. The Antenna is also a member of one bigger umbrella organisation that is offering additional individual benefits on the base of the membership.

The strongest activity of AEGEE-Bologna is the University Tandem-Language Exchange. They are organising it very often and it is slowly turning into a trademark of the local. In cooperation with the municipality, AEGEE-Bologna will start to organise tandems from the other members of the community. Tandems will happen ten times and every time they will have a different topic to discuss in order to get people active and interested in the project. This year, the local is also organising a Summer University with four more Italian locals, which will give them a new experience.

As for the problems that the local is facing, we discussed the lack of active members and some advice was shared with Kabir. So stay tuned, members of AEGEE-Bologna, as more activities are coming. We also discussed the monthly reports that need to be filled in for the Network Commission. The general opinion is that the form could be simpler, less demanding and that it would be good to receive some concrete feedback from the respective Netcommie. We concluded the day with the social programme with several members of AEGEE-Bologna. I am inviting you to check the interview with Kabir, and check what message he has for you, dear members. My next stop is AEGEE-Udine, so expect the article from there soon.

Hosting an Agora is as much excitement as it is a challenge for any local. In an ideal case, it builds generations together, by offering the chance for a fresh new team to take over the management of the local, and to a team of more experienced members to organise one of the biggest statutory events in AEGEE history. Excitement and challenge it is, but AEGEE-Bergamo managed to face this challenge and has been growing stronger, combining both a strong local presence, Erasmus activities and trust of city officials, and also the opening of the local to hosting thematic projects, international context, a new twin antenna and lots of great ideas.

Even during the too short visit, there was a chance to get a glimpse into AEGEE-Bergamo’s work with Erasmus students during a getaway to the mountains, to remember the spirit of the Erasmus programme and the celebration of 30 years of Erasmus in 2017, and the group was great!

In the following meetings with the board, we discussed the relations between the European level and the local level of AEGEE, and how to increase the number of active members in the local for the realisation of all the great ideas. Great ideas like a career fair, like the new project with high school students and like the Erasmus buddy system. With a new office, an old-new team of hard-working people and lots of great ideas – you will surely hear more from AEGEE-Bergamo, and you should not miss the chance to visit this wonderful city!

Written by Zvonimir Canjuga, Financial Director of AEGEE-Europe, and Réka Salamon, President of AEGEE-Europe

There are so many key moments that happened to me and I could share with you about the experience that lead to what I lived some weeks ago. Some of these moments include the one when I received a phone call from a friend of mine telling me that AEGEE is a must in terms of experiences that help develop young people or even the moment when, with a deep breath and a lot of courage, I signed up for my first AEGEE event: Improve your skills – AEGEE Bergamo’s NYE event.

How many things do we secretly dream of? We always know that we can do actions to ensure more than our daily comfort, but, oftentimes, we forget about our passion for travelling and we live in our daily routine, we follow our schedule and we do not dare going beyond the limits of our soul. One day we will all be old, we will look in the mirror and see that every wrinkle is a dream that was never fulfilled, a year that passed by without doing what we felt we had to, what defines us, what we once dreamed of doing.

My decision to apply for AEGEE focused on my desire to go out of the comfort zone that has enveloped me for a few years, out of the vicious cycle defined by the limits imposed by my university and the volunteering activities I participated in, but which restricted me and kept me within the borders of my country. Like many young people in Romania, I believed that in order to be professionally successful, all I had to do was study, but I forgot that all professional achievements do not mean anything as long as there is no fulfillment when it comes to the things that your soul desires. AEGEE was the experience that made me remember that there is no place in this world I would not want to visit with the people here.

Bergamo is a ravishing beauty. I believe many people view Italy through the prism of the most iconic touristic attractions of the country, while ignoring the beauty of the small towns that hide away and impress through their simplicity, order, good taste, warm people who blend in this fairytale environment, all of which, together with the people I had the opportunity to travel with, have made this trip unforgettable.

The event started out in the best possible way: an awesome party where I managed to talk to at least half of the participants. I did not believe my memory would manage to store all the names of those I talked to by the end of the event. This is why I took it upon myself to learn more about the people not through their names or their countries of origin, but through the things that bring us together and the things we have in common. I remember a game I played outside, before going in to the party, which required all the participants to spell out their name and I came to regret the fact that my name, Ana, is so short, and that I do not hold the world’s record for the longest name in the world. The evening ended with a sleeping session in our sleeping bags which were placed in the gym, something that made me want to repeat the experience. This may be the reason why, when I returned home in Romania, the first thing I did was taking out my sleeping bag and put it on the bed. Of course, this could also be thanks to a pattern that was ingrained in my memory during the experience.

My expectations regarding Bergamo came true the following day when I visited the city and came in contact with our guide’s humorous side, which kept us entertained throughout the day. The first major cultural difference hit me the following day, when we went out for a coffee with the Italian organisers and participants. Romanians ordered Americano, obviously, something that confused Italians who only drink espresso – a type of coffee that Romanians define, after several Italian lessons, “too piccolo” [small, ed.]. I am a food lover, which is why I could not miss the opportunity to go visit the place where stracciatella ice cream was first invented. The road from Bergamo to Temu was very useful and productive, as I managed to take Italian language lessons for three hours while reading through the news feed of all the Italian participants, thus learning all kinds of words which I only hope I could be able to form sentences with. The evening concluded with a big AEGEE style party, obviously. I discovered that AEGEE is made up of complex people, all of whom together create a sum of cultures and places that they visited.

The next two days were spent skiing. The organisers dedicated their time and energy to teach us and to practice the saying that defined this event: Improve your skills, something that made me realize that this word, ‘skills’, did not refer only to skiing, but to a lot more things that we managed to improve without realising. When it comes to me, I believe the purpose of the event was to go back home in a better version of yourself than the one you were prior to the event, at least regarding skiing. However, I am certain that I came back with much more than this: I came back with a luggage full of friends from the entire Europe.

European Glitter Night was the evening when Martina and Roby, the organisers of this event, won our entire admiration because they agreed to “sacrifice themselves” to taste all the traditional drinks and foods. I could even say that this helped me set a new AEGEE-like goal for future events. I was astonished to see that most of the participants were familiar with the traditional Romanian drink named palinca. I also found out that this was the drink with the highest alcohol concentration out of all the ones that were present that evening. In other words, if anything bad happened that evening, you can blame it on the palinca.

In the same evening, NYE also took place. This was the first NYE away from home, but not the first one away from my friends, because I felt like I was in the right place, surrounded by the right people, as well as the first NYE which I had the opportunity to celebrate three times, based on each time zone. This celebration based on each time zone reinvigorated this event, because people’s joy was also our joy.

During the last day (and also the first day without the wake-up call – which I never believed I would miss, but once I got home, I started hating my phone’s alarm clock because it was too mainstream and I began missing AEGEE), we went visiting the mountains with the so-called “ciaspolata” – a type of ski, small in size, but which make the climb easier. For three hours, I felt the need to take a picture every minute, something that drew the attention of the other participants who gave me the nickname “the Romanian girl who is more Chinese than Romanian”.

We ate pizza, but here I once again drew all the attention because of the way I chose to eat the pizza: with ketchup, same as the majority of the Romanians. This was my last experience of this kind and in order to prove myself, I decided to start an anti-ketchup campaign for my friends as a sign of respect for all my Italian friends. During the course of the same evening, I came to regret that Bombardino is not a traditional Romanian drink, which is why after I got home, I tried preparing it myself, but of course, the Romanian Bombardino did not have the same taste as the Italian one. Not because I did not know how to prepare it, but because you need some people with you in order to enjoy certain things.

Now, at the end of my message, I do not know if I should talk to those who never tried the AEGEE experience with the purpose of convincing them to try it or whether I should thank the people who deserve this because of the experience they set me up for, while allowing the others to see the motivation behind all the thanks I give: to the organisers – because every small detail made a huge difference, for all their patience and joyousness – and to my colleagues – because they turned this experience into a unique one, because each and every one of them managed to teach me something. Thank you for making me smile all the time during the event!

Thank you, AEGEE!
Written by Ana Mardare, AEGEE-Bucuresti

The winner of Local of the Month of May is none other than AEGEE-Bergamo! The organiser of the spring Agora 2016 hosted 1000 people, a huge number of participants even for an Agora. We had a talk with the board of AEGEE-Bergamo about the challenges encountered for organising AEGEE’s biggest statutory event, about their antenna and of course, about their next plans! If you attended Spring Agora Bergamo and want to know more from the organisers’ point of view, here you can read all about it.

The AEGEEan: To begin with, congratulations for organising Spring Agora Bergamo! What was your overall impression as organisers?

AEGEE-Bergamo: First of all, it is an honour for all of us to be named Local of the Month. Organising a statutory event is a very complex goal, trying to do it hosting 1000 people is an even bigger challenge. Now that Spring Agora Bergamo 2016 is over, we, as organisers, can only say that it has been a success and we are really proud of what we achieved. We really worked hard last year preparing everything, and then, on arrival day, everything seemed to finish in the blink of an eye. It was great, especially because there were 1000 smiles surrounding us during those days.

What was the biggest challenge you faced before and also during Agora?

While we were organising the Agora, I guess the most difficult part was the FR, and not because our team was not good enough, but because we actually needed a lot of money to guarantee a unique experience for 1000 people. Actually, the FR team did an amazing job and thanks to them we did not have any problem. The problems we faced during the Agora were not enormous; the logistic team had the hardest job, especially by night when they had to deal with 1000 people who wanted to reach the club and were waiting for the buses to come, or during meals, for example.

What could you have managed to do better and why?  

Our team was very focused on small details, thanks to Paolo who did an amazing job as Main Coordinator, and due to that I think we considered all the small things, which can make the difference between a great event and an unforgettable event (which was our goal). Also, there is a thin line which separates an unforgettable event in a positive way from an unforgettable disaster. Anyway, although we did a great job, there is always something that might have been done better.

How many active members does your antenna have?

Actually we have 100 members and 40 of them are active. It is a good number and I am happy we have grown a lot in the past 2 years.

Had your antenna organised a statutory event before; if so, when?

Well, before this Agora we organised a NWM in 2013, but this was the most important event we have ever organised in the history of our Antenna. Will it be the last? We will see, but I am sure it won’t.

What would you say are the strengths and weaknesses of your antenna?

The strength of our Antenna is in the group, we can work together and we are a big family. Nevertheless, the strength and success of our projects is also due to the great help given by the City and the University. Something we can improve is our level of activity, not only at the local level, but also at the European level. We can always work harder, try to improve ourselves and our home: Europe.

What are your next plans for this year? 

After the Agora, we took a little break to relax after a year of hard work, but now AEGEE-Bergamo is coming back to work and has a lot of surprises for you all. Stay tuned, we will demonstrate to you that there is Life after Agora!

What would you recommend to antennae who want to organise a statutory event?

We were a very untrained and small group only a few years ago, but with hard work and perseverance everyone can reach any goal. My suggestion is to work on the cohesion and the strength of the group; skills are important, but unity comes first. If the organisers are well trained and work as a single body, your event can only be successful.

Written by Gabriela Geană, AEGEE-București

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

The Spring Agora 2016 will take place in Bergamo from the 18th till the 22nd of May. We approached the organisers, asking them to reveal us some of the details regarding the event that promises accommodation close to the airport and ideas for changes.

More than just an airport
Many AEGEEans have already experienced Bergamo airport between their connecting flights around Europe, without visiting the city itself. Now, they have an opportunity to change this. The accommodation for Spring Agora 2016 is located just 3 km away from the departure hall, which makes it easily accessible. Participants will sleep at the Exhibition Center with over 7,000 sq meters to share. Plenaries will be held just 50m away from the place, so that the participants will not have to wake up really early in the morning.

The city on the foothills of the Alps has a lot to offer, and this aspect was also put forward by The Daily Telegraph. The upper city, Città alta in Italian, offers history, traditional food in stone-made restaurants and Italian coffee for one euro. The lower city is quite student-friendly, with several bars and ice cream stalls; however, if you want to go for a party, you must travel a little bit further to the outskirts.

Fly forward for Europe
Agora Bergamo was born six years ago. “We were just five naive AEGEEans in Bergamo and we had just refunded our antenna“, explains Mauro Cattaneo, one of the coordinators of Spring Agora Bergamo 2016. The whole idea materialised in October 2014, when they submitted the candidature. They also launched campaigns related to the Agora and AEGEE-Bergamo on their webpage, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.

“The title of the Agora is ‘Fly Forward’ and it stands for the belief that everyone has to look towards the future, to break new grounds and foresee the changes“, says Mauro. It is a message for the continent that needs to Fly Forward.

The recent happenings in Paris and the upcoming Climate Change Summit remind us that something has to be changed. AEGEEans are young people with new ideas and the Agora is an ideal place to put some of them in practice. Over time, they might grow into European policies – what if there is a new president of EU Council amongst the 1,300 participants.

Regarding the social programme, Mauro mentioned shuttle buses that will transport the participants to parties; the parties cannot be held in the city center because of the magistrate rules.

Some of the organisers took inspiration from the recent Autumn Agora in Kyiv, where some of the coordinators were helping. “I’ve learnt what is it like to work in a big international team, solving problems together. I liked the approach of the meetings we had everyday, always constructive and with a positive perspective towards a common goal”, says Andrea Visinoni. “Being prepared is an essential thing in managing activities in the context of such a big event like the Agora”, adds Roberto “Bobby” Cornetti. The biggest reward should be the smiling participants, which means that the event met their expectations. It is the biggest “souvenir” to put into luggage when coming back home from Bergamo airport.

Agora Bergamo will take place from the 18th till the 22nd of May 2016. Save the date, check the official Agora website for the latest updates weekly, and start giving a look to your flight to BGY airport!

Written by Erik Redli, AEGEE-Bratislava

The year 2015 marks the year that AEGEE-Europe turns 30 years old, although we surely don’t look that old yet! To prepare the birthday, the Anniversary Team has been created, which organises several events throughout the year to pay tribute to the history and future of our organisation. One of these events is the Night of the Seven Antennae, which commemorates the Night of the Seven Cities of 1986 and will be taking place on the 18th of April.

Before we can take a look at the future plans for this event, it’s time to delve a bit into our past and take a look at the very first edition. During the night of March 7^th, AEGEE (at that moment still called EGEE) and the newspaper Le Monde cooperated to broadcast political debates about the future of Europe between students and high level politicians from seven different cities. In 1986, these locals were located in München, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Strasbourg, Brussels and Nice. The history is repeating itself, because once more there will be debates about the future of Europe in seven different cities. Except the cities have changed, because the locals elected to host the event are: AEGEE-Aachen, AEGEE-Bergamo, AEGEE-Catania, AEGEE-Eskisehir, AEGEE-Kyiv, AEGEE-Leiden and AEGEE-Sofia.

AEGEE-Aachen

Why did you apply to be part of the Night of the Seven Antennae?
We organised a political debate last year for the Karlpreis, and now we have a discussion group about politics in Europe in AEGEE-Aachen. We wanted to take it to the next level!

What will be the topic of your part of the event? Why did you pick this topic?
We’ll talk about the place of young people in Europe, and because there are a lot of students in Aachen, we’ll try to answer this question: is Europe a place where youth can flourish, regarding jobs, mobility, family, retirement?

What other things do you have planned for your participants?
We’ll write our wishes for how Europe should be and put them in a time capsule, protected for the next 10 years. We’ll also have a nice birthday ceremony to celebrate properly, and of course a party! Some other things too, but if you want to know, you have to come!

How many participants will you receive, and are you open to participants from other antennae too?

There will be 25 places for participants from other antennae, but all workshops and debates will be open to every student in Aachen. We hope we can reach a broader audience and share points of view with people who don’t have AEGEE experience.

AEGEE-Bergamo

What will be the topic of your part of the event? Why did you pick this topic?

The topics we have chosen are: Europe needs youth, mobility programs shaping European identity and old/new Europe. Bergamo is going through a period of strong internationalization programs, our antenna has recently launched an Erasmus Buddy Program, so we feel this topics best describe us and are interesting to examine in depth. With the topic of old/new Europe we want to give an insight in the major transformations that have happened during the last century.

What other things do you have planned for your participants?

We will have a city tour and are also working on the organisation of a live concert for the opening ceremony in the evening. The second day there will be three conferences each on the different topics and thematic discussions.

How many participants will you receive, and are you open to participants from other antennae too?

We will host 50 participants. Members from other antennae will be warmly welcome, but also applicants that aren’t a member of AEGEE will be accepted in order to make this event fully open and memorable.

When does your own local have its next anniversary, and what plans do you have for it?

We have had our 25^th anniversary this year. We celebrated it with members of others antennae, during a regional dinner event we organized for Christmas. However for most of all it was a surprise, because our President discovered only recently that AEGEE-Bergamo was earlier founded than we all believed and she kept it a secret. It was a really beautiful revelation and moment of celebration.

AEGEE-Catania

What was your first reaction when you heard your local was chosen?

Surprise and satisfaction! We knew that other Italian antennae had applied, so we were aware of how difficult it was to get the event, but I’m sure that the anniversary team understood our great motivation to host this important event, and they probably liked the “mission impossible” video! 

What will be the topic of your part of the event? Why did you pick this topic?

We have chosen “Europe in me – Me in Europe”, since we are working hard on the involvement of our members in Europe, pushing them to be active and interested also beyond our borders. At the same time we also believe that being European gives us a lot of great opportunities.

What other things do you have planned for your participants?

The event will be thematically full and very interesting, but aside from the theme, we won’t forget our origins and will fill up the event with our known AEGEE-Catania spirit! Funny activities, great team-building, and an unforgettable party will distinguish our weekend.

How many participants will you receive, and are you open to participants from other antennae too?  

We are able to host up to 50 participants, and of course we want this event to be open both to our members, but also to all our European new and old friends. This is an event of everyone!

AEGEE-Kyiv

Why did you apply to be part of the Night of the Seven Antennae?

First of all, we would like to take actively part in celebrating a really important date of our organisation. AEGEE is 30 years old this year and together we achieved a lot, so there is something to celebrate! Moreover, we would like to show our members and Ukrainian students that AEGEE-Kyiv is a serious NGO. We are well known for our Summer Universities and Local Training Courses, but our aim for this year is to change that image. Another reason is that we would like to check how the team will work for this event to be prepared for the upcoming Agora. Finally, we are really interested in the topic and would like to share our interest with others and create an event with space for communication and discussion.

What will be the topic of your part of the event? Why did you pick this topic?

We chose the topics that are interesting to our audience: “Europe Needs YouTH” and “The state of Ukrainian democracy”. Young people are the ones ready to change the present, to dedicate their efforts and contribute to Ukraine’s and our future. The lack of knowledge and experience is the problem, so we would like to dedicate the event to exchange experience with other countries, not forgetting about Ukrainian realities. Of course, the role of AEGEE and Frank Biancheri will be highlighted as, striving for a European future, we have been supporting the main values and aims of AEGEE for twenty years.

How many participants will you receive, and are you open to participants from other antennae too?

We are planning to host around 70-100 participants. 30 places are open for participants from other antennae, the other places are for AEGEE-Kyiv members and students from Kyiv universities.

When does your own local have its next anniversary, and what plans do you have for it?

AEGEE-Kyiv turns 20 on February 17th! The Ukrainian way of celebrating is always surprising for Europeans. We invite everyone to our house, prepare lots of food and drinks and go out until the morning and all the guests feel like it’s their birthday. We prepared something huge for our friends: an event from the 13th to 15^th, with a huge party, city tours, games, interesting content and of course Ukrainian AEGEE spirit!

AEGEE-Leiden

Why did you apply to be part of the Night of the Seven Antennae?

AEGEE-Leiden has always been active on the European level and in the last few years the interest of our new members regarding AEGEE-Europe has grown significantly. By organising this event, we hope to show all of our members and the rest of AEGEE how awesome this European Network of ours is and what we all can achieve if we work together, thus creating even more awareness of AEGEE-Europe among our members. Also AEGEE-Leiden is one of the founding locals of our beautiful association, so who can give a better history lesson about AEGEE than us? We think it’s a nice way to show the Network how much we like AEGEE and that we are here to stay for another thirty years.

What will be the topic of your part of the event? Why did you pick this topic?

We’d like to use the topic ‘Old Europe, New Europe’, because we, as an antenna, have a lot of history inside AEGEE, so we have a lot of topics to put into perspective. Of course it’s not all about AEGEE, but also about Europe itself. We have good connections with a few European Parliament members and with the head of the Dutch Information Desk of the European Union. We are going to contact them soon, so hopefully we can present the participants some experts on the ‘New Europe’.

How many participants will you receive, and are you open to participants from other antennae too?

At the moment, we want to host a maximum of 40 participants from all over Europe, but we cannot confirm this number yet.

When does your own local have its next anniversary, and what plans do you have for it?

AEGEE-Leiden was one of the founding locals, so our own 30th anniversary also takes place this year. Our birthday is on the 31th of October and because of that we are going to organise a whole lot of awesome activities till November. Organising this event is one of our bigger activities and it fits really well into our own anniversary year.

AEGEE-Sofia

Why did you apply to be part of the Night of the Seven Antennae?

We strongly believe that Europe’s future mostly depends on the actions and ideas of the youth, so we would be honored to host an event on the topic “Europe needs youth!” Almost thirty years ago, the Night of the Seven Antennae wasn’t just a big historical event, but the moment when Europe understood, in practice, that young people have the power to change the present and build the future. The foundations were laid, so we should not only discuss, but show that “Europe needs youth!”

What other things do you have planned for your participants?

First of all, we think that Europe needs healthy, open-minded and active youngsters, so we are planning some sport activities in order to promote the great importance of health and an active lifestyle. We have also planned other outdoor activities like a flash mob in the center of Sofia, to promote the importance of youth in Europe and the Night of the Seven Antennae as an event. Our participants will have the opportunity to show the power of young people to bring change by helping other people. Separated in groups they will make people exercise on the street, talk with them about human rights or help people with disabilities. One more of our intentions is to gather the participants in the non-formal atmosphere of a concert of a Bulgarian youth band during one of the evenings.

How many participants will you receive, and are you open to participants from other antennae too?

We are expecting to have around 50 participants. This includes members of our partner youth organisations, students from universities in Sofia and, of course, participants from our own network who will bring the AEGEE spirit from all over Europe.

When does your own local have its next anniversary, and what plans do you have for it?

Next year AEGEE-Sofia turns 25. At the last couple of awesome Balkan events our members visited (Shtafeta Novi Sad and Network Meeting Skopje), we learned that most of the antennae in the Balkan network were founded in the same year and we are one of them. So, this sounds like a nice opportunity to celebrate our 25th anniversary together!

AEGEE-Eskişehir 

Why did you apply to be part of the Night of the Seven Antennae?

Firstly, we want to take part in one of the most important night for AEGEE. Secondly, in 30 years period this is just the second time of  live streaming, that means that our hearts will palpitate at the same time with seven different antennae. And finally, with the topics chosen, we would like to make our participants more informed about both, an angle from Europe and different perspective from East by inviting important people from politic and academic life.

What will be the topic of your part of the event? Why did you pick this topic?

Our Main topics are ‘The State of Turkish Democracy’ and ‘Europe Needs Youth’. We believe that we should show our differences as a big organization, AEGEE. First of all, in Turkey, İt is really difficult to organize and manage kinds of discussions. Secondly, this is hard to deny the fact that democracy is not working properly in our geography. But there are so many examples for this situation all over the world. Thanks to panels and discussions we are planning to show process of democracy for young active individuals with blending experiences of politicians and academicians. Besides, as AEGEEans , to be respectful for all and to understand their ideas and feelings, with the target of representing one of the biggest aim of AEGEE, Europtimism, our event will be opened for all sections.

What other things do you have planned for your participants?

In the light of Democracy and Europe we have panels, discussions etc. but this is just beginning because we are organizing the event as a youth fest. Kind of games and entertainment and of course party!!! With the spirit of AEGEE in Eskisehir you will see a perfect birthday ceremony in company with a huge fest.

Written by Svenja van der Tol, AEGEE-Nijmegen

Breaking the ice and circles.

Most of the participants arrived on Saturday, 20^th of July, and after dinner headed for a party at the outskirts. Many people from Bergamo work in busy Milan and want to enjoy a peaceful night, and because of this there are no bars in the city. Another problem of parties is that people start dancing in a circle and the atmosphere dies. Therefore Richie (AEGEE Bratislava) started to break the circle in order to make the party flow.

Day I: Kick off with beach volleyball

Let’s start from the beginning. The Summer University organized by AEGEE-Bergamo named Summer Games: Sun, Fun & Sport really kicked off on Sunday morning with ice breaking games, a presentation on AEGEE-Europe and beach volleyball tournament. People were woken up by music, a mix of Italian & foreign. Most of the shops in Italy are closed on Sunday, therefore it is wise to steal some cakes from a typical sweet breakfast with toasts and Nutella.

Day II: Active participants and Old Town Crawl

On day two we went hiking into the nearby mountains over the river Serio. While waiting for lunch, Richie and Erik from AEGEE-Bratislava gave a non-formal workshop on body-weight exercising, which was an example how participants can help the organizers. Nudly from AEGEE-Budapest suggested a great way how to count people. Make a circle (sorry, Richie) and everyone remembers the person on their right and left. City crawl at the Old Town[1]at night was non-traditional but nice. Citta Alta is the original part of the town with medieval buildings and churches, now turned into a residential area. It looks great at night, especially if you have a drink in hand.

Days III: healthy lifestyle and how to speak Italian

Finishing a 1.5 liter of vodka and eating jamon at 3:35 in the morning is not the best idea, but on the second day, we had a healthy lifestyle lecture, where Matteo Rovetta explained to us how should a healthy diet look like, and how to fit modest alcohol consumption into sport activity. In the afternoon we played sport games – football, basketball and handball. Raffaele Pirozzi managed the football session like Carlo Ancelotti and we also met some guys from the professional street ball-team. Later we had the opportunity to try the BMX track. The instructor was a former professional and introduced us to the basics of this extreme sport. No injuries, luckily. On our way back, I had a conversation with an Italian and realized that locals appreciate when you learn a few phrases in their language. You must start with buongiorno and end each phrase with polite per favore or prego.

Day IV: The Old Fashion in Milan

On Wednesday we visited the swimming pool, regardless of the Sangria party the night before. During a Summer University, you rarely sleep longer than 3 – 4 hours. However, you do not feel tired because the AEGEE spirit takes over the body, helped by adrenaline and serotonin released by the sport activity, if I am to put it right. A short swimming lesson held by Lucka Dvořáková and Paula Cores Barral helped. In the evening we did some sightseeing in Milan. It started raining and the 2,500 statues of the Duomo were completely wet. Later we headed for a party. There is an Erasmus party every Wednesday at The Old Fashion, a great way how to bring young people together.

Day V: The attack of the cupid and cinnamon 

Thursday morning it was raining and the participants coud sleep in a bit longer. Everyone was looking forward to the archery session, and on day 5, some people were already hit by Cupid’s arrow and a desired target for our photographer Martin Ondroušek. In the evening, we went for a pool party at Matteo’s place.  Some people made bets that they cannot speak their own language during the SU in order to be understood by everyone. Who broke the challenge, had to make a punishment: Erik and Richie drunk a can of beer upside down and Erdős Kata with Paula had to eat a teaspoon full of cinnamon. Not as easy as it seems.

Day VI: Climbing & Colour.

Sports like climbing push you over your limits. Up there, you can’t disappoint nature, as if you were on a real mountain. The climbing took place at the Bergamo’s Alpine club. Our organizers cooperated with many sports clubs when preparing the activities. At the workshop on Youth Mobility we discussed our experience with stereotypes and racism and agreed that it could be helped by cooperation and more education about the other cultures. This is one of the aims of the Summer University Project. Evening Colour Party organized by AEGEE-Bergamo was featured even in the Italian newspapers.  Imagine 30 young people all dressed up in white t-shirts like a stag party. Each participant got powder colours. You can even cover your hands in colour and touch people’s body parts. All the girls had colourful… legs.

Day VII: Lake Como and European Night – breakfast

On Saturday, most of the participants went for a trip to Lake Como to see the big lake surrounded by the mountains and small towns where the tourists sip Italian café and the brick Gothic buildings host the high street shops. Nice place to relax before the main party. European Night started at 9:30 with a hamburger dinner. We had to fill in a questionnaire – voting on the best participants, which was followed by the exchange of the presents and the award ceremony. Richie was voted the best participant. Around 11:30, we finally got to the tables and tasting. I would like to point out to the rich presentation of Hungary. The most abundant Spanish group also did a good job, like everyone. We, Slovaks, presented the Tatra Tea, Borovicka and wafers with the same charisma and determination that earned us 4 ‘best of’ awards. Also respect to Silvia Cannarozzi, the main organizer, who survived tasting all the products.

On Sunday we took the optional sightseeing tour of the Citta Alta with Michele Bezzi. And this was the end. I realized it when I saw the half-cleaned gym and the beds of the remaining participants lined up in a row. Well, I hope that everybody had a great time. Unfortunately, I could not mention every person, every sport performance and every story from the gossip box. If you feel like it, add your bits in the comments.  Do not dance in a circle and do not forget to thank the organizers & give back the care at your SUs.

Written by Erik Redli, AEGEE-Bratislava

Pictures by Erik Redli (AEGEE-Bratislava), Lucka Dvořáková (AEGEE-Praha)

The city of Bergamo was running to be the Capital of Culture in 2019, but the application was rejected. One of the reasons stated by the  Ministero dei beni e delle attività culturali (Ministry of cultural heritage and activities ed.) for this rejections was the lack of European dimension of the city. That’s the reason AEGEE-Bergamo created a new project for the city of Bergamo, under the name of “Bergamo is Europe”. The three-year project focuses on six constituents of the arts, each of which is developed using three different methods: online, local and European level.

The idea came to light during a sleepless night, caused by the difficulty of sticking to the idea of culture that was outlined by the administration of Bergamo (and also by everyday life) in the application for Bergamo Capitale della Cultura 2019. That night, AEGEE-Bergamo reconfirmed the office at Polaresco (where many AEGEE-members stayed for the NWM) and a new frontier for the local.

“Bergamo is Europe” is a project that starts from crisis and is structured in the crisis and the practises of voluntarily work. It must be held together with the help of those who live in this cultural, social or economic crisis every day. Active culture is immersed in the city, so “Bergamo is Europe” means participation, “Bergamo is Europe” means freedom. For you and your cities all this may be obvious, but for those who live in Bergamo, in a dormitory town, with a certain way of seeing things and a certain way of looking at life, it is not that obvious.

AEGEE-Bergamo decided to organise this particular type of activity because the problem of cultural entertainment is a very salient issue in the provincial and Nordic parts; where in the national debate the only concern seems to be unemployment, the monetary value of things and not to disturb the neighbours. The Northern local is trying to bring a little sense of Europe into Bergamo, because an airport is not enough.  The city needs to engage in some social activities seriously and, at the same time, it needs people who are willing to take the risk.

It is time for The AEGEEan’s Choice Awards again! From March 10th until March 31st you can let us know who are your favorites in categories such as Best Video, Most Active Working Group, Most Impressive Roll Call and, of course, Most Creative Merchandise. For the last category, The AEGEEan has found five nominees, namely: AEGEE-Bratislava, AEGEE-Bergamo, AEGEE-Warszawa, AEGEE-Zaragoza and the Comité Directeur. Here you will get an insight into the inspiration behind it.

AEGEE-Europe’s Popular Blue Hoodie

First of all, the popular AEGEE-Europe hoodie. The AEGEEan spoke with Pavel Zbornik from the Comité Directeur about the inspiration for it. “I wanted to show in one symbol the diversity of AEGEE in a way every AEGEE member will easy connect with – the names of the locals. I personally really like the A symbol and remembered the t-shirt of AEGEE-Krakow and put it all together.” The sweatshirt was chosen due to the advantage of it being more visible and with AEGEE merchandising it is aimed to build an image of the organization, promote it and make it visible. “By wearing the AEGEE sweatshirt it shows I’m a member of AEGEE and I’m proud of it” Pavel says. Of course there is also the obvious fact that during an Autumn Agora sometimes it is cold and the hoodie can be a way to keep the participants warm. During Agora Zaragoza more than 100 hoodies were sold making it possible to see many blue spots from the stage during the plenary. The main challenge when designing, was the time pressure from other Comité Directeur members and trying to fit all locals into the shape which unfortunately was not achieved. However, the new visual identity made it all easier. “The Visual Identity makes designing much easier: You choose the color which you want to use and you can also choose an element, add text and you are done. I’m not the most skilled designer and with the Visual Identity I was able to make a simple design, which I believe looks good,” Pavel says. It is still under discussion whether it will also be sold during Agora Patra as it will be quite warm. “If we decide in favor, the unsold hoodies will be shipped to Patra and we plan to offer pre-order by asking participants if they want to buy one, to see if we still have enough,” Pavel concludes.

AEGEE-Bergamo’s Flight Ticket’s Promotion

Also AEGEE-Bergamo’s popular SU promotion flight tickets are the reason for the antenna being nominated for The AEGEEan’s Choice Awards. Amongst many promotion methods, the antenna used articles in local newspapers, posts on social networks, leaflets and the mentioned flight tickets. First, AEGEE-Bergamo had a brainstorming session on the issue with the whole group and then Silvia Cannarozzi finalized the project. They were inspired by creative communication campaigns led by famous brands, such as these, and decided to transform a bus stop with a plastic panel so that it seemed like an airport departures indicator. The central bus stop would then become an “airport”, so there was a need of stewards, pilots and flight tickets. However, in the first year the project had to be postponed due to the bad weather.

Then, last year they carried on the project by going outside the different buildings of the University of Bergamo dressed up as pilots and stewards, handing leaflets for the students, before going to the transformed bus stop in the city center continuing promotion with flyers and asking people where to go. In the end 20 members of the antenna applied last year for Summer Universities and AEGEE-Bergamo does not only work hard on gaining many members for the SUs but also have a rich planning for the whole year where they involve them with Erasmus activities and keep the whole antenna up to date about different AEGEE events. This year the very useful promotional tool will be used again: “That was a wonderful experience which allowed us to meet a lot of people, interested in travelling and getting information about AEGEE. Also, acting like stewards  and pilots was very funny for us. Last, but not least… we still have a lot of flyers left,” the president of AEGEE-Bergamo Laura Iaciofano tells The AEGEEan.

AEGEE-Bratislava’s t-shirt – single, taken, or… AEGEE?

AEGEE-Bratislava is nominated for their creative t-shirt. The idea is from their current advisory board member, Andrej Choma , who came up with it during a social meeting. He was checking the status of relationship on Facebook but there wasn’t the right option for him, until he realized that the missing piece was AEGEE. Then the actual t-shirts were designed by Andrej and the President, Lucia Gavulova. They chose the color according to Facebook’s identity. There are already many T-shirts running across the whole Europe, but if you are interested in buying one, AEGEE-Bratislava still have some left in their office. Now AEGEE-Bratislava has a new creation because since February they have been wearing their new jumpers with “Partyslava” design, so far made just for board members, but the plan is to make them available to others as well. Besides that AEGEE-Bratislava is working on their new promo-video, which is meant for presentations at universities to recruit more (active) students into AEGEE and of course they are also concentrating a lot on organizing their Summer University.

AEGEE-Warszawa’s Charity Calendar

AEGEE-Warszawa is nominated for their charity calendar. The idea came two years ago, when one of the working groups wanted to make a project which supports charities and integrate the members of the antennae at the same time making a calendar the perfect solution. The coordinators of AEGEE Charity Calendar 2014 were Justyna Michałek and Aneta Wróbel – extremely motivated fresh members of AEGEE-Warszawa. From the beginning they were putting a lot of effort into this project. They decided to support Warsaw Children Hospice by giving total income from the Calendars sale. The main aim was to do something good for Christmas, because it is a moment of the year when you have time to think about others and their needs and you want to share. The inauguration of the calendar took place during their AEGEE Christmas Eve, when people had the opportunity to support children from the Hospice. After the success in 2013 and 2014 the antenna will for sure repeat the project as it does not only support charity but also integrate the members. The idea is to increase the amount of calendars each year to make this activity more and more effective.

The locations are part of the most important or famous places in the capital city. “We wanted to present Warsaw and its charm. This is a city with very long and interesting historical and cultural background. On the one hand you can find here a beautiful old town, idyllic parks with lakes and fountains or take a romantic walk near the river bank. On the other, you can watch the panorama with skyscrapers, participate in an incredible nightlife, go to a snack bar which serves typical polish food 24/7, visit a modern art gallery and alternative cafes. With this calendar we wanted to show the spirit of the city and invite all the AEGEEans to visit us,” Emilia Sadowska tells to The AEGEEan.

Currently there are a lot of ongoing projects in AEGEE-Warszawa. Starting from internal initiatives like Me, AEGEE & Europe project (connected with EU), a month course of workshops from soft skills, a sport project about healthy lifestyle, healthy food picnic, AEGEE-Warszawa birthday, Local Training Course, Scrabble Competition, recruitment, ending with international projects such as the Europe On Track event in April, EurStory Meeting in May, Summer University in July. All in all keeping the members busy.

AEGEE-Zaragoza’s Cup full of AEGEE Spirits!

The decision to make a cup was by the Agora Zaragoza main team’s way to continue with the idea of taking care of the environment and avoiding dangerous bottles inside Palacio de Congresos. Furthermore, it was an idea to make fundraising which is really necessary for an Agora. The AEGEEan spoke with Jonathan Del Castillo Gil about his design of the ZarAgora cup. He refers to himself as the slowest designer in the world and say that “I am like a crossbow… slow but precise”. Even though it might not be the most complicated design, for Jonathan it was crazy since designing many things for the Agora at the same time. Working with a million different concepts, modifications, new concepts, new needs of the organization, and requests of the Public Relation Committee, all in all dealing with diversion and bureaucracy at the same time.

The final product was an idea he had had in mind for long time for merchandising. “In AEGEE I’ve designed about everything and a cup seemed like a beautiful challenge to me now that I collect them… In my phone I always have an app to write down ideas, make lists and this was one of the ideas that I have appointed since three years ago. I have always liked the European Night like the moment where each participant of an event show with pride their traditions. For me this is a previous moment since there you learn about other countries, what is important for them, their taste, their sound, their soul.”

The design has two messages. It was inspired by the mayor of Madrid, who speaks horrible English and in an international presentation she said the phrase “A relaxing cup of Café con Leche” which became viral on the internet quickly. Jonathan adopted this idea to AEGEE and our famous AEGEE Spirit slogan, afterwards adding a “s” and then leading to the Relaxing cup of AEGEE Spirits. “Compiling the list was an authentic problem because there was not one single place on the internet with a complete list. So my great friend Serio Cristobal helped me from India and afterwards I added some that aren’t official distilled liquors like champagne and beer. I also added a tribute to the famous shots of the bar where AEGEE-Zaragoza always celebrate their parties, Manolo la nuit: Cucaracha, Manolos, Kaláshnikov… I should publically apologize that due to all the stress I forgot to include the official drink of two places in Europe where I have many friends: Chacha of Georgia and Cider of Asturias.  ¡La Sidra de Asturias!”. All the organizers had a million tasks to do so Jonathan decided to keep the design a secret until the end. “I like designing things and reveal them by surprise in the group of work in order to create a great environment. It was a lot of fun seeing the reactions of everybody,” he says. 1050 cups were produced so there were enough for the participants and as gifts to the collaboration and promoters of the Agora. Now after 12 years in AEGEE thus making a tear fall from his eye, Jonathan says now it is time for the new generation of AEGEE-Zaragoza to take over and come up with innovate designs.

Written by Patricia Anthony, AEGEE-Zaragoza