Tekla: Day 5 and 6 – Brescia (18th-19th February)

The next stop in my track was Brescia, where I arrived early Saturday afternoon. As the weather was nice and timing was good, I had the city tour in the afternoon with some members of AEGEE-Brescia who told me many fun facts about their city and their sights – we even managed to bump into a running competition while visiting the castle [She smiles, ed.].

The day continued with the evening meeting in the office of AEGEE-Brescia, when firstly I introduced the work of the Comité Directeur and who is doing which portfolio this year. After the introductory part, we continued with the topic of Summer Universities, the upcoming AEGEE-Brescia Summer University and some tips for compulsory sessions for the SU. We also covered some best practices for recruitment and how to prepare the members for the SU – both for organising and applying to one. The evening was closed with the open space part, where there was interest about Agora reform and a few questions regarding Membership fees. It was very interesting to see how the Summer Universities, as the biggest project of AEGEE, have a significant impression for locals, as for the members of AEGEE-Brescia this is one of the biggest motivations to join the organisation – either as a participant or as a helper.

The night continued at the house of Michele Minuti, former President of AEGEE-Brescia and Treasurer of the Academy, where we spent a nice evening with pizza, pirlo (similar to Aperol Spritz), some nice talks and some games. As a surprise, I also received a T-shirt of AEGEE-Brescia – once again, thank you guys for the nice surprise!

The next stop for all of us is Udine, where I will reunite again with Réka and Zvonimir to have a joint session about the future plans for AEGEE, what has been done by the CD in Brussels so far and about the opportunities AEGEE offers for members and for externals.

Stay tuned and follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

Written by Tekla Hajdu, Network Director 

Spring Agora Bergamo starts on the 18^th of May this year, and its arrival is solemnly heralded by its many Facebook invites and by those of the Pre-Agora events. If you go to the Agora, you can go directly or you can go via one of the six Pre-Agora events (or just go to one of the six Pre-Agora events, no obligations). Regardless of which, the deadlines to apply for these six events are approaching soon, that’s why we, at the AEGEEan, have decided to make a list of all the six pre-events. This… is the road to the Agora.

Sail Forward

The Pre-Agora event that starts first is AEGEE-Genova’s “Sail Forward”, continuing from the 12^th until the 18^th of May. It is both the longest and most expensive of the Pre-Agora events, encompassing almost an entire week and costing €120. The event will take place in both the city of Genova itself, and Cinque Terre (Five Lands), a collection of five villages and tourist hotspot on rugged bit of coastal area on the Italian Riviera between Genova and La Spezia. “Sail Forward” is also perhaps the most sportive of the six pre-events, because the hills of Genova and especially Cinque Terre are perfect for hiking and exploration.

Deadline 29th of March. Application here and here.

Amusic Mi(lano)

AEGEE-Milano’s pre-event could be considered to be the most exclusive of the Pre-Agora events: it is one of the shortest (lasting only five days), the most expensive per day (€19,80 or €22,80, including the costs for the optional fee), together with “All EU need is Love” takes in the least amount of people (only 20), and the culturally most sophisticated (the programme includes, among which, a visit to at least one museum, as well as a live performance of classical music). As mentioned before, there is an optional fee to visit Como, on the shores of lake Como, which has an interesting connection with dictators. There was Julius Caesar, who, in the first century B.C., came, saw and decided that the settlement of Como should  move to its current location, and Benito Mussolini, who was captured and promptly executed on the northern banks of lake Como.

Deadline 3rd of April. Application here and here.

25 and Looking Forward!

Also starting on the 13^th of May is AEGEE-Firenze’s “25 and Looking Forward!”, a pre-event combined with a celebration of their twenty-fifth anniversary, which they promise will be “epic”. Part of this Pre-Agora event will be spent in a country house in the Tuscan hills, while the other part will be spent in the city of Florence itself. There will be a tour of the city, which is arguably most famous for its citizens like the artists, Donatello (1386-1466) and Botticelli (1445-1510), the writers, Dante (1265-1321) and Machiavelli (1469-1527), half of the De’ Medici family, and some people you might not even realise were born in Florence. These being explorer Amerigo Vespucci (1451-1512), nurse Florence Nightingale (1820-1910), and fashion designer Guccio Gucci (1881-1953).

Deadline 30th of March. Application here and here.

All EU need is Love

As mentioned before, AEGEE-Verona’s All EU Need Is Love might contend with AEGEE-Milano’s “Amusic Mi(lano)” to be one of the most exclusive 2016 Pre-Agora events: both accept only 20 participants, and both last relatively short. That being said, AEGEE-Verona has one of the lowest fees of all the six Pre-Agora events. Its participants sleep in a gym, and, instead of museums and classical music, AEGEE-Verona offers workshops about Italian cooking, and language & gestures workshops. They also offer a trip to lake Garda (in between Verona and Bergamo), transportation to Bergamo that is included in the fee, and a city tour at night in a city (so nice) where Shakespeare set his plays thrice.

Deadline 5th of April. Application here and here.

Feel sLOVEnija

Another local that’s tying into the love motif is AEGEE-Ljubljana with their “feel sLOVEnija” Pre-Agora event. It is the only pre-event that does not take place in Italy, and it’s the only one that allows for up to thirty participants to enter. It has some similarities with “All EU need is Love”, in that both take place on the same dates (14-05 till 18-05), offer local drinks, delicious food, a visit to a stunning lake, and provide transportation to Bergamo that is included in the fee. AEGEE-Verona teaches you Italian gestures, whereas AEGEE-Ljubljana teaches you how to flirt in Slovenian. It just comes to show that love comes in many varieties.

Deadline 31st of March. Application here and here.

AAAB: Amazing AEGEEan Adventure Brixiæ

The final Pre-Agora event is AEGEE-Brescia’s “AAAB”, or “Amazing AEGEEan Adventure Brixiæ”, which sounds funny, because of the letter ‘B’ ends a series of ‘A’s, but also because the name of the city, Brescia, is written in Latin, Brixia. This may have something to do with the city’s rich historical heritage, which can be seen during this pre-event. ”AAAB” is also unique in that it’s the shortest of the six pre-events, lasting from Monday evening on the 16^th till Wednesday morning on the 18^th. It also has the cheapest overall fee, which is in part, because, like in Verona, you’ll sleep in a gym, and it’s the pre-event that is closest to the Agora itself.

Deadline 3rd of April. Application here and here.

So there you go… if you go, take a pick of your road to the Agora.

Written by Willem Laurentzen, AEGEE-Nijmegen

Refugees and migration are two very hot topics right now. The interest in the topic led the Comitè Directeur to create a mailing list and a Facebook group dedicated to migration, and right after Autumn Agora Kyiv an open call for a Policy Officer on migration was issued. Luca Bisighini, from AEGEE-Brescia, was selected and he has already started working on his policy paper. Moreover he is Lisa Gregis’ SubCommissioner working on Human Resources and IT.
The AEGEEan: Please describe yourself

Luca: A little disclaimer, in every AEGEE event I’m attending I’m trying to be partially funny and partially serious. Definitely I won’t miss this chance to still do it at my best.

My name is Luca, I am a 26 years old specimen from Brescia, Italy, representing AEGEE-Brescia. I am an MBA student in International Business graduating in April. I lived in three countries outside Italy (Canada, Poland and Turkey), I am a long lasting traveller (over 40 countries visited), I am proud to have friends from more than a 100 countries and definitely I am an unconventional music enthusiast like very few on the planet and a “culturaholic”.

What is your experience in AEGEE?

I have been in AEGEE for almost two years, enough to do two Summer Universities, an Agora, a Network Meeting and participate in two events (one currently on in Amsterdam). Last year I was the Social Media Manager of AEGEE-Brescia, while this year I am the IT Responsible and I decided to do something more for the whole Network by joining the great SubCommissioner team of the Rainbow led by the extraordinary Lisa Gregis (AEGEE-Bergamo) and apply to later become Policy Officer on Migration.

You are the Policy Officer on Migration. What does your job consist of?

I am the individual in charge of making the Policy Paper on Migration that will be presented to be ratified (hopefully) at Spring Agora Bergamo. It consist of making a lot of researches on the current situation of migration, no matter if it is based on paper studies or just getting news. It also means getting a specific background on several policies and frameworks, knowing different opinions arising from the whole Network, while making them aware to a  certain extents on the “AEGEE Migration in Europe” Facebook group or in the Migration-L list.

You recently launched a survey about migration. How many replied? Can you give us some preliminary insights?

I launched it on January 9th after getting some important hints from the European Planning Meeting Content Managers, from Svenja, Pablo and Anna from the CD, The Chair Team, from Jorge (Policy Officer on Civic Education), from Nils and especially from Selin Sivis, former AEGEE-Ankara member and PhD student on Migration at MiReKoç in Istanbul.

Results were beyond expectations: 219 replies from 88 antennae in 30 countries, almost 2% of all the AEGEEans. Those results got me six days of cluster analysis to read all the 36 x 219 answers (I don’t want to know what number it may result from that multiplication). These numbers mean a lot: despite the length of the survey, a lot of people were eager to contribute to this new field of expertise AEGEE wanted to focus on in order to create a solid opinion on such a delicate topic and contributing to my Policy work as well. For other insights, I will soon be at the AEGEE Fair to present the results to all of you. I hope you’ll come there in Leiden on Saturday 27th, from 1 PM until 3 PM, to discuss, debate, ask questions and so on!

Why do you think it’s important to speak about migration in AEGEE?

It’s important to discuss about it, due to a wide series of reasons. I’ll try to summarize them all into a general concept. Nowadays in Europe there’s a lot of debate about which can be the most effective measures to implement for refugees, asylum seekers and economic migrants. In most cases, the national public opinion had many conflicting opinions, thoughts and took some actions about these issues. At European level, the whole emergency for quite a while was underestimated and this underestimation led to poor results, lack of coordination and socio-political tensions in both domestic and multilateral paneuropean scenarios.

AEGEE needs to discuss a lot about migration as an international association of students which strives for a border-less, diverse and democratic Europe, where freedom and human rights are essential elements of a European society and which is built upon the foundations of respect, tolerance and solidarity. I think these words, taken from the Statement of Principles approved in Agora Zaragoza 2013, are perfectly fitting with this topic and it’s time for us to take position about it and not just do nothing and stay silent while these events are happening.

What do you expect from the discussion in Leiden?

I expect two things for two separate kind of people:

– For the people who are not aware with this whole crisis, to be sufficiently informed in a very precise way, about what is going on in Europe: raising awareness is always the first step for everyone in order to later take actions.

– For the people who are currently aware, to cooperate and contribute with their expertise in order to be as much as possible useful in creating a fruitful, detailed debate on the topic.

Anyway I just wish to all of them four great days of democratic debate full of great opinion exchange.

You are also a SubCommissioner for NetCom Lisa Gregis. What are your tasks?

It’s a very cool thing to cooperate with the Rainbow Watchers [my SubCom colleagues, N.a.] to help 22 antennae in both Italy and Malta. It allowed me to help great people and to get closer to certain antennae’s problems in order to solve them. My tasks are HR and IT for the whole 22 locals, and supervising AEGEE-Milano and AEGEE-Brescia when needed. And of course, report everything to Lisa and help the other Watchers when needed.

What are your plans in AEGEE for the upcoming months?

As a Policy Officer I will make the Policy Paper on Migration for AEGEE-Europe. It will be great to cooperate on this important step for our association, then i will probably participate as Policy Officer on one event in Turin, Italy, organised by UNITED named “Moving Stories: Narratives of Migration Crossing Europe”. Then I will continue working as SubCom…I want to rejuvenate AEGEE. About HR I will see, I have few ideas in mind, but still have to discuss with Lisa and the team.

Regarding the plans in my local, there are still some IT/Social Media things to deal with, Incoming for the upcoming local SU, and to participate at Spring Agora Bergamo as a Delegate. You’ll see me on the stage also for the Policy Paper and maybe for some other applications. I have a lot of ideas in my mind and my contribution to this association I think will get bigger.
Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Verona

What is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear of Brescia? Footballers Pirlo and Balotelli who come from the same named province, mountains, lakes, or just a small hidden and relatively unknown paradise midst the famous Franciacorta vineyards? Brescia is all of them and even more. Heading there for AEGEE’s Summer University (SU) I wasn’t sure whether I had to expect more than a typical SU full of sports, but I was proved wrong, because I spent there the most magnificent two weeks of my life.

The SU ‘s motto was: Be Green, Go Extreme, and Just SUrvive. 30 participants from 13 countries gave their best to fulfill the high demand and survive the challenge of non-stop hiking, walking, partying under the hot sun of Lombardy. And we did it! There were moments when some of us believed we couldn’t do it, we were scared, we reached our limits and then we passed them. We were SUrvivors, but above all, we found in each other some great friends, somewhat like a family – priceless gifts that AEGEE gives you unconditionally.

Having as a main theme sport in nature, the adventure began by climbing in Caionvico, a hill on the outskirts of Brescia. Then we moved to a three-day sightseeing phase, by visiting firstly the great Venice with its canals, gondolas, marvelous buildings and palazzi.

After that it was Verona, the city of Romeo and Juliet, of opera, art and love, where Sara of AEGEE-Verona guided us through her picturesque city. In between the rainy city rally of Brescia, which resembled a Dostoyevsky landscape under the pouring clouds. Italian culture and beauty conquers easily every heart without trying much, and gives you every single moment reasons to fall for it. The participants were fascinated, argued vividly which corner or building is more beautiful,  walking through the magical narrow streets, taking pictures, collecting memories.

They say that lovers’ paradise is Paris, but they are wrong. Italy is the centre of art, culture, love, food and all of the above are underlined by this language sounding like a song. Yes, I’m biased and I exaggerate, but the memories are still so strong and, closing my eyes, I’m still wandering Brescia, eating a gelato at Piazza della Loggia.

I keep my eyes closed and continue to dream: vineyards, Guido Berlucchi in famous Franciacorta, sailing to Monte Isola in Iseo Lake. We were travelling to the mountains, in the Italian Prealps and we settled in a beautiful stony house, named Stallino in Caregno.  Pure nature and silence. By visiting Azienda Agricola Pesei farm, the participants became familiar to agro-tourism and life of cultivating the earth.

European Night, when one of the organisers, Alessandro got drunk and started loving taking selfies, the Italian cooking workshop, the brief return to Brescia and then the trip to Riva del Garda, it all comes back to me with joy. Crossing through the tunnels I felt like James Bond in the Quantum of Solace movie. This journey was an epic on so many levels.  But the most beautiful  lake we visited was, undoubtedly, Tenno Lake, a small lake hidden in the mountains, with blue water that reminded me of my beloved Aegean sea.

Back in action, we went to Casto, to climb a via ferrata, which actually is climbing over a steel cable that crosses your entire route and protects you from falling. Most participant regarded this activity as the highlight of the SU (apart from the gossip box)!

I loved every single moment of the SU and so did everybody else who was there. These intense moments experienced together bring people close and are the start of great friendships.

Love you crazy participants and organisers of AEGEE-Brescia SU 2015. Ci vediamo presto!!

Written by Elena Panagopoulou, AEGEE-Athina

Photos by

Michele Minuti & Luca Bisighini, AEGEE-Brescia

Maria Giourga, AEGEE-Ioannina,

Ongun Batuhan Altan, AEGEE- Eskisehir

Even though AEGEE-Brescia is considered a small antenna in the Network, having almost fifty members, that doesn’t mean it’s an inactive antenna. Right before the Agora, the antenna organized a successful Network Meeting (NWM), gathering 35 participants in the north of Italy. Next to that, they set up initiatives like European talks and leadership courses, proving that an antenna can be very active with only a small number of (active) members. The AEGEEan thought it was time to find out more about AEGEE-Brescia, and spoke to Mattia Scandella, the current treasurer of the antenna.

The AEGEEan: First of all, tell us a little bit about your local. When were you founded, how many members do you have and how many of them are active?

Mattia: AEGEE-Brescia, born in 1997, was founded by Patrizia Menchiari in a small office of the university of Brescia where it remains active. Through the years it has grown more and more until today, when we have almost 50 members. The current board consists of fifteen active members.

What makes your local unique in the AEGEE Network?

Even though we are a small antenna, we still organize interesting events, both on the local and international level and for our members and all the students in Brescia. From the Summer University, having fifty participants and organizers involved, to the Network Meeting, European talks, leadership courses and other internal activities targeted to reinforce our group.

In October you organized a NWM. How do you look back on the event?

The NWM was good, although we know some things could be organized and managed better (but this is normal for every event, we like to look at our mistakes to make it better for the next time). Our favourite moment was the European Night in which everybody had fun, especially because it was organized in a private area.

What tips do you have for locals who want to organize a NWM too?

Find a way to keep the attention during the sessions (both of participants and of organizers) even in a less serious way if required, but always keeping the right aim at why a NWM is organized.

What are your plans for the upcoming months with AEGEE-Brescia?

Leadership courses, regional and internal meetings, maybe a spring break and the next Summer University.

Is there still a dream you have for the local that you would like to fulfill one day?

To increase the number of members and organize something important like an European Planning Meeting!

Last summer, you organized a Summer Course. Will you be organizing a Summer University/ Course again this year and what will it look like?

Yes, as every year we are planning to organize a SU. It will probably be really similar the previous one, but introducing some changes based on the feedback given by participants of the past three editions. The main change we want to apply is to accommodate participants in a gym instead of the comfortable hostel we used till today, because we would like to get the real AEGEE feeling!

The Rainbow Network is known for being really close. Do you cooperate with other Italian locals?

Not yet, but we have good relations with the antennae close to us. We would like to cooperate with one of them in order to organize an event together, like a Travel Summer University!

Written by Svenja van der Tol, AEGEE-Nijmegen

Matteo Nulli from AEGEE-Brescia is one of the four candidates for three position in the Audit Commission. After having spent two very active years on local level, he moved to Spain and is now eager to take another step in his AEGEE life by joining the European level.

The AEGEEan: Please introduce yourself.

Matteo: Hey folks! I’m Matteo, a smiling and easy going guy form Italy, I am 23 years old and I am now studying Master in Finance in Spain. I have been an active member of AEGEE–Brescia (SU Coordinator, Board Member and Vice President) and now is the time for the Big Step: AEGEE Europe!

You don’t have any European  level (EL) experience, but have you contact the current Audit Commission or the former one to have some additional information?

Yes. I actually have contact with a former President of the Audit Commission, Michele Minuti (AEGEE-Brescia). I met him in 2012, when I began my term as board member in AEGEE-Brescia. To be honest, me being a candidate now is also thanks to Michele: he has always involved us (the AEGEE-Brescia board) in what he was doing at European level. He passed the AEGEE spirit on to me and even now he is giving me precious advices.

 What is the role, for you, of the Audit Commission within the Network?

As the name suggests, the Audit Commission has the delicate role of supervising the financial statements presented by the local. AEGEE’s statements normally do not present particular complexity, but still they require some experience to be reviewed. The auditor will have to check, for example, the correspondence of the fees received and fees paid to AEGEE-Europe, or just verify that there are not anomalies in the numbers (such as extreme or unjustified costs) and in that case interact with the antenna to ask for an explanation. If during this process there are some irregularities then a case must be open.

According to you, what is the thing the Network needs the most when it comes to auditing and finances?

Motivated and skilled people! In general accounting and finance require some knowledge. Auditing is not just a mechanic task. The Audit Commission needs not just to look at number, but also to ask itself where those numbers come from. A good auditor, first of all, has to understand its antenna in order to be able to spot any anomaly.

How will you implement the communication with locals and audit? What kind of trainings are you planing to organize?

“Prevention is better than cure”. Apart from being a “bad cop”, the equally important role of the Audit Commission is to help the antennae to produce efficient and complete financial statements. Not all the antennae have as accountant people in their boards. If I will be elected, I would like to promote communication with the boards before they submit their statements. It would be really great to give some space to these topics for example during Local Training Courses (LTCs) or maybe – definitely more ambitious prospects- during Network Meetings (NWM).

In you program you wrote: create different accounting and reporting models to be applied by the antennae according to their sizes and projects. Do you have already in mind some of those models?

Risk of not being clear is normally present when an antenna presents many projects or events. For example, we easily see that there are antennae that organize SU, Winter Events, NWM, Training School etc. Talking about “different accounting models”, I refer to the fact that those antennae might need special support for submitting their financial reports and new models can definitely help those antennae (for example providing special prospects to insert more information about their single projects).

What was the most valuable lesson you learned being active in your local?

Learn from others. When I entered in AEGEE- Brescia, I knew nothing about this wonderful association. I was just curious and it happened that a friend of mine once told me about this student association with such a weird name. The board welcomed me and every single person passed something on to me. From the beginning they gave me responsibilities and tasks to complete. AEGEE provided me with all of that experience that university could not give me.

Numbers and finances are always seen as scary monsters. Why are so passionate about them?

Numbers don’t lie! I think it is difficult to answer to this question. What we like is something that many times we cannot explain. It is like chocolate… you like it or not!

A question from our readers: your AEGEE experience is quite basic, did you apply for this position just to improve your personal experience or because you have extraordinary ideas to change the future of AEGEE?

I thought that the tough question was gone, but I was wrong [he laughs]. Of course I would like to “change the future of AEGEE” as anyone would, but honestly, right now I have no clue how to do it.

What I can tell, is that I am running for the Audit Commission as part of a path. I entered AEGEE almost by chance and I definitely fell in love with it. Now I am not living anymore in my beloved Brescia, I cannot be active on local level as I was before. I feel that I am ready for the second step: AEGEE–Europe. What I can tell you is that I do want to give my best and for sure I will not leave AEGEE any time soon, whether I will be elected or not. If I meet the possibility to do something “extraordinary” for AEGEE I will definitely not turn back. So let’s see what will happen in a couple of  years.

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Venezia

Throughout the AEGEE Network inspiring local activities are being organized every year and The AEGEEan decided to honor this for The AEGEEan’s Choice Awards 2014. Therefore five antennae are nominated for the “Most inspiring local activity” category.

AEGEE-Warszawa is nominated for the “Don’t talk to strangers – or do” activity. The AEGEEan interviewed Izabela Rudnicka (the coordinator of the project). “I came up with the idea of the project when applying for a summer school in New York. The essay questions made me think about equality and all my experiences with people disliking others just because of their foreign nationality.” The project consisted of a series of meetings with foreigners living in Poland, talking about their culture and their emigration experience. It was meant to broaden the horizons of people and fight the prejudice. There were mostly AEGEE members involved in the activities, but everybody else was also invited to come and discuss. “We struggled with finding a venue and getting people interested in the project, but we will definitely repeat it. Maybe we can even expand it to include more social groups against which prejudice exists in Poland,” Izabela tells The AEGEEan.

AEGEE-Tenerife has also been very active in the society and is nominated for the promotion of voluntarism and trying to help Tenerife to become the European Youth Capital 2015. The local municipality summoned all youth associations by the end of November 2011 to propose the idea of running for the contest to become European Youth Capital 2015. “Our president, Tayri Campo volunteered to be the youth representative for the project. That year, we were rejected on the first round. However, there was already collaboration among the youth associations and it was us this time who decided that we would like to run a second time, but this time in a more organized way. She was also the youth representative for the next year and the coordinator of La Laguna Youth Forum. So it was a project lasting from November 2011 to November 2013.” AEGEE-­Tenerife boosted the creation of a platform called La Laguna Youth Forum to promote the collaboration among the associations and to make it easy for other young people to participate either in the European Youth Capital Project or in any other of their organizations as they gained visibility. “Some of the things we are more fond of is the promotional video. We created the script and were lucky to know some young professionals in filming and editing who were willing to collaborate. We also had an exchange with AEGEE-Thessaloniki, hosting them here to know about the good practices of Thessaloniki to become the current European Youth Capital in 2014 and them hosting us during the final ceremony in Thessaloniki. Next to that, we had a trip to the European Parliament and the Committee of Regions in Brussels to present our project and look for support.

Several members of AEGEE-Tenerife also participated in the forum as IT managers and designers. “It was a lot of work trying to organize activities among associations as each of us had their own internal activities in the organization so, it was like having the double amount of work. It was also difficult to concentrate all personal objectives into a global one as many people were involved. Concerning data it was needed to do a thorough study of statistics in the municipality to look for the most important needs for young people.” And even though AEGEE-Tenerife did not become the Youth Capital they still gained from the project. “First of all young people are more connected, networking has improved and we have worked together and learnt about what other associations do. This and the platform are the most important things we have gained. Also we have gained more experience about European level projects and learnt a lot about politics for youth on an European Level and the previous Youth in Action programme. We also feel that young people who participated in EYC are much more aware about the opportunities Europe has and what they can do to take advantage of them and develop an active role.”

The AEGEEan also talked with AEGEE-Zaragoza about their collaboration with the Food Bank (Banco de Alimentos). Carlota Castel from AEGEE-Zaragoza says “It was Silvia Sánchez who suggested to collaborate with this project back in 2012. She managed to organise our chaotic schedules so all of us could participate in the activity.” The Food Bank is a non-profit charitable organisation that distributes food to those who have economical problems to put food on the table.

Members of AEGEE-Zaragoza spent the day in supermarkets talking to people about the importance of donating and also collected the food. Since 2012 it has been organized again in December 2013 and it is the reason why AEGEE-Zaragoza is nominated for “Most inspiring local activity”. Up to 20 members of AEGEE-Zaragoza took part in the activity which was published in the Facebook group of the antenna and a lot of rookies were happy to get involved in the activity, even if they didn’t have a lot of time to work for AEGEE itself. “It is good to know that they are there when we are dealing with something important,” Carlota says. The success will of course be repeated next year. “This is an annual event and we are eager to mobilise more members and friends next year.”

AEGEE-Brescia is nominated for the “European Talks” activity, which was an idea by Michele Turati. Every year, AEGEE-Brescia’s team applied for funds from the university in order to let some prestigious speakers come to Brescia to deliver a lecture about different important topics regarding Europe. The 4th edition of European Talks were given once per week and the period was from September 2013 until December 2013. The “talks” are just small conferences. Each talk is divided in two parts: the first is a speech of a invited speaker, the second part is a debate/discussion. Participants have the opportunity to talk with the speaker during the talk. The aims of the “talks” are to examine European topics and problems of students, especially of European citizens.

The super motivated team of AEGEE-Brescia as organizers and many AEGEE members as speakers took part in the activity in the autumn of 2013 (Sabiha Kapetanovic, Alexandra Vilcu, Vytoria Voytsekhovska, Lea Charlet, Karolina Mazetyte, Miguel Gallardo Albajar). Michele Minuti tells The AEGEEan about the challenges: “The speakers are involved in AEGEE projects or working groups and the main challenge was to promote them in Brescia, showing how much AEGEE is full of opportunities. Every year we get new motivated members by this activity.” Despite the challenges, the success of this activity will also be repeated. “We have already requested money from the University for the 5th Edition. Gunnar Eath, Szabina Hellinger, Maria Arends, Veronika Velkovska will be the speakers for the new edition and they will talk about non-formal education, media, Erasmus+ and human rights.”

AEGEE-Zielona Gora is also nominated for organizing “Bone marrows day donation” activity. However, it has unfortunately not been possible for The AEGEEan to obtain information about the activity.

Written by Patricia Anthony, AEGEE-Zaragoza

This event was exactly as the title states: everyone had a good life in Brescia! Somebody would say, “for sure you had a good life, spending a summer in Italy, how could it not have been good?”

Eighteen AEGEEans, from Spain to Azerbaijan, gathered together for ten days in Brescia, to try to find the answers; get new ideas; receive advice on how to overcome bad eating habits; think why to start playing any sport; and how to decide which one fits you the best… In other words – our goal was to write a recipe for a good life, our aim was Health4Youth (H4Y)!

By participating in the H4Y workshops, we got to know each other better, they made us work as a unique group! And everyone realized that we definitely had a lot of bad habits in common, no matter from which part of Europe we were from. The most common bad habit was eating too much candy when under stress! It is well known that most people fall for the delicious gusto of chocolate. There is a theory which says that eating chocolate is a trigger that releases a hormone of “happiness” in our body. Sure those endorphines make you ‘feel’ better.

Let us enjoy the moments of pleasure that such a sweet food (produced from the seed of the tropical Theobroma cacao tree) offers to us! And that was what this SU was all about. To change those things that in the end have a negative effect on our health. It is not easy to change a habit, it is definitely easier to replace the sort of food we eat. What we tried in this SU was to come up with creative ideas – like making a fruit salad with some nice dark chocolate dressing, eating a dried fruit etc. The concept was not to give up on chocolate completely, but just to try to combine it with some healthy food. In times, this turned out hard, because our minds are stuck in what we are used to doing.

Another example we came up with, for those who prefer salty food, was to try nuts instead of chips, especially pistachio or peanuts with shells – it takes time to remove the shells, and as the time passes by, we have less and less urge to eat. We all learned how amazingly these small things are.

But, besides bad habits, we also had one good habit in common – playing sports! We organized a great volleyball tournament and also had a nice time playing aquatic sports!

And in the end, what is the recipe for having a great Summer University? Synergy! The interaction of multiple elements (participants + organizers) in a system (AEGEE Summer University) to produce an effect different than, or greater than, the sum of their individual effects! Add a lot of Good Life to it, and you start to understand and appreciate the beauty of life in general. It was an amazing time. Period.

Written by Zlatko Djordjevic

Photos by Hekim George

Who would not have ever heard about Michele Turati or Mickey (AEGEE-Brescia)? That person probably has not been active in AEGEE for a long time, as otherwise (s)he would have already met this enthusiastic Italian whose AEGEE life started back in 2003. Continuing our series with AEGEE members and Summer University (SU) impact on them, this time we interviewed Michele.

Michele, the boring question once again. When and how did you join AEGEE?
I joined AEGEE on a Tuesday evening in April, 2003, when I attended the weekly meeting of AEGEE-Brescia. Then, I took part in the SU Craiova 2003 and it was terrible, not really well-organized and it was held in bad hygienic conditions. However, it motivated me to organize one myself to see if I was able to do it better.

We know that you have helped to organise loads of AEGEE-Brescia SUs. What new have you learnt about Europe in the meantime?
After that SU, I learned what AEGEE looks like, but it took me one more year to move out of my city environment into the European level. AEGEE gave me an excellent point of view on how Europe should ideally look like, and how I could work for it.
SUs provide you with an excellent life experience when you’re put together with a group of students from all over Europe. It is a cheap and interesting 2-week adventure of which you will only later see what a priceless experience it gave for your career.
In an SU, you should be open to whatever comes. With a mental box it’s not really possible to fully appreciate all the things happenning around you. And as an organiser, I’d say it’s crucial not to expect the participants to adapt to the situation immediately.

I have heard that you got a job because of organising  an SU. Please, tell us more about it!
Three years ago, I was helping with the orgnisation of AEGEE-Brescia’s SU and I was writing a press release for a local newspaper about it. This was something I had already done before even organising any  SUs. A person read that article and found my number in an indirect way and he asked me if I liked to organise Summer Schools for his project which was dealing with an American University. I said “yes” and began to gain working experience the following week – and I continued it for two years.

Are you still doing the same now?
No. Right now, I am sitting in the HP office in Wroclaw, a city I’ve discovered in course of their SU 2004 and I fell in love with it. So when this opportunity came to me, I took it immediately!

Written by Anita Kalmane, AEGEE-Ogre

Why does it seem that a sports competition is the only thing that links people more than it divides them? After the Summer University Brescia Olympic we may know the secret.

In time of London Olympic Games thirty people from countries all over Europe chose to participate in a Summer University that was one of a kind.

Organisers, inspired by the five Olympic rings, created five teams that used all effort to demonstrate their skills in different Olympic disciplines. As true athletes we also had the opportunity to have our 15 minutes of fame in press conference, pose our best in a photo shoot and of course we also used every opportunity to wear our flags proudly on our shoulders on the streets while visiting new places.

Even as opponents we were having the time of our lives. Is there any better way to meet people than cooperation or competing in different sport challenges?

In our teams we were always supporting each other, and outside we found the motivation. In colors of our countries we were sharing our success; people from different teams were cheering for one another. Watching our representatives in London’s Olympic Games we were trying to learn from the best and discovered that it is easy to be happy on others’ behalf when they take home the victory. We managed to feel the spirit of the true Olympic Games and learned that sport is not only about fair play but also about trusting and respecting the others.

What is that magical ingredient that makes us all friends in sports? Apart from our differences, variety of languages and customs, we share our effort to do our best in a sports fight, and we always win, because now we have friendships for life and stories to tell.

Written by Kamila Mika, AEGEE Toruń

Photos provided by Špela Klemen, AEGEE Ljubljana