There could be nothing more straightforward than a Local Training Course: it is a course, it is local, and you will be trained. Nevertheless, the most generic names can have the most varying results, and, because of this, no single LTC is the same. This is why the AEGEEan sat down with Alejandra Piot from AEGEE-A Coruña, Raquel Pastor from AEGEE-Burgos, Katha Schwerdt from AEGEE-Dresden and Piotr Stawicki from AEGEE-Poznań, to reflect on the respective LTCs that their local organised in the past half year.

The AEGEEan: Could you give us a short summary of your LTC?

Participants and Trainers at the LTC in A Coruña

Alejandra: Our LTC was based on the differences between all the regions of Spain. It was called “LTC: 8 apellidos Gallegos” (8 Gallician surnames), based on the Spanish film “8 apellidos vascos” (8 Basque surnames). We made an LTC1 with workshops about what aegee is: on a European level, regarding event management, explaining step-by-step what a board does and more. There were only two trainers, Javier Ramírez (AEGEE-Las Palmas & AEGEE-Madrid) and myself (AEGEE-A Coruña). At first we expected to be more, but there were many problems for them to come. Nonetheless, it worked really well to work together and the participants were really interested in the workshops. Afterwards, they congratulated us on doing a good job. David Mezquita and Marcos Puente, both from AEGEE-A Coruña, also helped out. Additionally, we organised activities, such as hiking and gymkhana. There were more or less ten organisers, some of them were newbies, but they did a good job.

Raquel: In October, we organised an LTC, which was placed in Celadilla, a village near Burgos. We decided to organise an LTC after the summer to explain to the newer members that AEGEE is more than a Summer University or a meeting with old friends after the summer. The newer members were not our only objective though; a new board was just elected and a training weekend was the best idea to consolidate the new working group. Furthermore, we had great trainers like Anita from AEGEE-Burgos, who shared her evolution within AEGEE with us and Eloy from AEGEE-León, who explained the Erasmus+ programme to us.

Piotr: Our LTCs always last for three days and their topic is always the same, event management. The programme is divided into one-and-a-half to two-and-a-half-hour long workshop modules and cases about a particular part of event management, such as team building, event promotion, FR, budgeting and more.

Katha: Our LTC took place from the 22nd till the 24th of April. The title of the weekend was “Together to get there II”, since it was the second LTC held by our antenna. The aim was to train the new members on how to be an active AEGEE member, organise events and to show which possibilities AEGEE offers.

Participants at the LTC in Burgos

Roughly how many people visited your LTC?

Raquel: We had 20 participants from AEGEE-Burgos, and some friends from other antennas who assisted us during our last LTC. A huge number of participants of that LTC are now active members that try to collaborate with the antenna and its activities. Some want to join as many events as they can; their next stop will be the Agora in Bergamo.

 Piotr: At our last LTC, there were 20 participants and an additional of about 15 people from AEGEE as trainers or organisers, but sometimes we can have up to about 25 to 30 participants. We organise LTC1 and LTC2: in our LTC1, there are usually about ten to 20 participants, mainly externals and in our LTC2, there are usually six to twelve participants, both members of AEGEE as well as other organisations who have some experience in event management.

Katha: We were twelve participants in total, it was a good amount of people for our team building and icebreaking games. Also we had a “What is AEGEE” workshop and had a lot of fun on the night walk, PR, project management and conflict management workshop, as well as in the short introduction to fundraising.

Alejandra: We had, more or less, 25 participants, some of them AEGEE members, others were externals. Right now, some of these externals have become members of our antenna, so we are really happy. They were so interested in everything we talked about.

How did you attract members to join your LTC?

AEGEE-Poznań’s LTC, “Your success, our passion!”

Piotr: Our members usually only take part in LTC2s and we try to attract them by having a diverse range of topics, workshops and trainers. Thanks to this, our members can participate in a couple of LTCs and each time learn something else –as long as there are new trainers, workshops and activities-.

 Alejandra: We promoted it as a formal event, which also included team building exercises and attractive activities. We send mails though the University Mail Server, because we thought that some people would want to come with us and we were right. Some people read our email and replied, asking us for more information. I think we did really well, because it was a good way to catch new members.

Raquel: Of course the main attraction of an LTC is to spend a weekend meeting friends and new people. However, active members would pass on their motivation to our newer members every day during the course. That is why our last LTC was so successful, because everybody wanted to know about AEGEE and its versatility.

Written by Willem Laurentzen, AEGEE-Nijmegen

AEGEE-Burgos was born only six years ago, and since then, they haven’t stopped facing one challenge after another one: organising Summer Universities, Network Meetings, a Renove, several training courses… The ‘peak’ came only last February, when they organised a European Planning Meeting. Many agree that it has been one of the best statutory events in the past years, and they have unanimously been elected as Local of the Month of March! The AEGEEan has spoken to Rubén Sanz, main organiser of the EPM Burgos and one of the people who made AEGEE-Burgos grow so successfully in the past years. Now watch out… as they have some new challenges in mind!

The AEGEEan: First of all, congratulations! You just came back from organising the European Planning Meeting in Burgos, what was the feedback that you got from the participants?
Rubén Sanz, AEGEE-Burgos: Thanks a lot for this prize, dear AEGEEan! We always support you as much as we can, and you have made us very happy when you nominated us [at the past two editions of The AEGEEan’s Choice Awards, ed.] as “Best merchandising” for our famous pink style, and Morcillote for “Best Mascot”. This is the first time we win in one of The AEGEEan’s awards and you can not imagine how happy we are.

The feedback was awesome, all people have written really nice things about us. You know, Burgos is one of the smallest AEGEE cities and universities, so we have to work more than others to get good results. All the work has been rewarded when you constantly hear that all the small details were thought of. I always say that big things are the link between a lot of small ones, so first of all we took care of all the small details, and we made a big effort to try to avoid problems. When somebody asked anything, we always had the answer prepared, people were aware of it it and that was the result. In the words of the Comité Directeur at the closing ceremony: “the best organised event ever”.

Which are, according to you, the ingredients that made the EPM such a good event?
I think the mix of experienced members and newbies with a lot of motivation. What made the EPM so incredible was the group, there is no doubt about this, with about 30 people from Burgos and 12 helpers from other cities with a lot of experience. We had a lot of training weekends for all the organisers, so we were prepared for this. But to me, the most important thing is that we have become friends, all of us, so when one organiser could be tired…  another one was always going to help him, so the support and the motivation were absolutley amazing. This was team work, and it ended as a group of friends doing a common project. This recognition is the recognition to all of them.

Were there any “congratulation” messages that made you particularly happy or proud?
Yes, I was completely impressed when I got a congratulation message from a board member of AEGEE-Leiden. You know that there was a race between AEGEE-Burgos and AEGEE-Leiden in order to organise this EPM. We got it, and since then, there was a big controversy about our choice. Receiving a message with such good things about us really made me break some stereotypes. Especially in AEGEE, Dutchies and Spaniards usually have rather different points of view, and I can say it clearly, when I received it, they really increased in value to me, and I feel really proud of being part of the same association.

What was the best thing of organising the EPM, for you?
I think the most important thing for AEGEE is that we showed to all of Europe that small antennae can organise big events too. You only need a motivated group, having this and a bit of coordination you will be able to solve all the challenges.

And the biggest challenge you had to overcome?
Of course we had a lot of “surprises” and things that went in a different way we thought. Our big challenge was to solve all situations fastly. It was not easy but we were successful because I think participants didn’t realise about them.

Now, can you tell us a bit more about our new Local of the Month, AEGEE-Burgos? 
AEGEE-Burgos was founded just six years ago. We have 60 members but we have a good knowledge transfer system that made us have more than 30 active members, and one third of them have been main organiser of some events. We have a weekly meeting, and in the last three years we have organised almost all the events (Summer Universities, a Network Meeting, Renove, Local Training Courses, our yearly event “Burgos me pone Morcillote”, and now this EPM). We work hard, helping and organising activities for Erasmus and international students in Burgos, and a lot of trips and exchanges with friends from other cities.

What does the future hold for AEGEE-Burgos? Any ambitious plans coming?
Now we have a lot of newbies which are ultra-motivated, so… After an EPM, there can be only one further step… So who knows… Maybe in some years we will have an Agora in Burgos! People checked and we are able to do it. Now all of Europe knows we can do everything.

What makes your antenna so special?
We are growing a lot as an antenna, year by year new people join our group, and the factor that makes us different is that we are a group of friends, a hard core that can easily add people to the team. Even when there are no meetings, we have social meetings, and from one event we always start to prepare the next one.

Anything else you would like to add?

Finally I would like to say “thank you” to all the organizers, I am really proud of you, I am really happy for having been able to do this in Burgos. Thank you to all our friends that came to support us and to all participants who came to Burgos, too. I hope you enjoyed, we tried to do our best, thanks to all! Now you have a bit of Burgos and a bit of us in your hearts… because “Burgos won’t leave you cold” / “Burgos no te dejará frío”.

Written by Anna Gumbau, AEGEE-Barcelona

In little more than a month, the spotlights will be on Burgos where the EPM (formerly known as European boards meeting, EBM) will take place. Historic capital of Castile, this northern city will captivate participants, according to Rubén Sanz Martínez, main organiser of the EPM. We interviewed him to get to know what he and his antenna have in store for us.

The AEGEEan: When and why did you decide to apply to organise the EPM 2015?

Rubén: After we organised a NWM and a Renove (one of the biggest events for Spanish, French and Portuguese speaking locals), we realised we have a lot of very active members with a lot of experience on organising big events. Since our antenna is growing up very fast and we were full of motivation, we wanted to apply for an Agora at first, but the University of Burgos is one of the smallest in Spain, so we decided that an EPM would be the perfect challenge for us. We made a good program focused on participants and … we were elected! Since then, we are working very hard on this.

What will await the participants in Burgos?

Burgos is the capital of the Old Kingdom of Castile, an amazing city where all stones have a lot of history.  During the middle ages all Spanish kings lived here, some were even crowned and buried here. Even Christopher Columbus came here to see the Spanish king after one of his trips to America. Moreover, it’s the birth place of El Cid, a Spanish hero, and the cathedral of Burgos appears in all art books as one of the top gothic cathedrals of the world. I know that Burgos is a bit unknown outside of Spain, but it will be a great surprise for all the participants. Nonetheless, Burgos was selected last year as one of the top 25 places you must go to by The New York Times.

How are the lodging and the plenary halls? Are the facilities cloes to each other?

It will be an event focused on participants. Even though we will walk from the gym to plenaries, all buildings are in the same area. Also, the places for social program will be close and we will walk there.

Let’s talk about food. Spain is famous for its cuisine, what do participants have to expect?

In 2013, Burgos had the honor of being the Spanish Capital of Gastronomy and our cuisine is one of the most popular in Spain. Even in the most remote corner of the country you can find Burgos cheese and Burgos sausage (also knows as morcilla). We are planning to have typical products of Burgos for dinner after the closing ceremony to share it with all the participants.

We are currently facing an economic depression phase. Have you had any difficulties in finding sponsors and partners?

I always say: “The most important things in life are for free” and here it’s the same. The economical situation is not the best, but we are a big team full of ultra motivated people and we are trying to get as much as possible by working hard. Step by step we are reaching all our goals. We already have all the basic features, now we are working hard for get more for all participants.

How many active members do you have in your antenna? How will you ensure that you have enough organisers and helpers?

Now AEGEE Burgos has about sixty members only, but we have fourty active members (five of them are from other cities living in Burgos) and we have chosen ten members with a lot of experience in order to have a final number of five. We can say that there will be one of us always ready to to help participants.

Why will EPM Burgos be unforgettable?

It enough to go to our website to see how nice the city is, all the work we’ve done so far, how easy it is to reach Burgos, etc…  For sure it will be an unforgettable experience for all of you!

According to the statistics on Zeus, only 290 people applied (and now applications are open again), a lot less compared to the previous EBM in Lublin. Why do you think applications decreased? Were you disappointed by the results?

Well, all of us knew there would be less participants than the previous ones. The application period was during Christmas holidays, when all people were spending time with family or focused on exams. The topic is Russia and EU, but it will be on the opposite corner of Europe, and Agora will be during Easter in Spain too, so almost all people have chosen to attend this or the other event, but I am sure and I can say proudly that nobody who comes to EPM Burgos will regret it.

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Venezia

The AEGEEan is currently meeting all the candidates for the different positions that will be elected at Autumn Agora Cagliari 2014. One of these motivated members is Rubén Puras, president of AEGEE-Burgos and coordinator of the upcoming European Planning Meeting in the Spanish city, who is now running also to become Network Commissioner! The AEGEEan asked him some questions in order to get to know him better.

The AEGEEan: Please, first of all, introduce yourself! Who is Rubén Puras?

Rubén: I am Rubén Puras, from AEGEE-Burgos, I am 26 and I studied Building Engineering, and I have a Master’s in Restoration and Rehabilitation, and besides, I spent one year studying in Catania with the Erasmus program, where I discovered what AEGEE is!

Inside AEGEE world, I am the president of my local and I organized many events. Summer University 2013 (where I was Main organiser), Summer University 2014 (treasurer), Autumn Agora Zaragoza 2013, Local Training Courses, local activities… In addition, I will be Coordinator in the next statutory event, the European Planning MeetingBurgos 2015. I even have experience in European Level out of AEGEE, attending a Leadership Trainning Course.

Furthermore, I am very experienced at organizing international events. For instance, International Tour of Burgos (2006-2014), International Cross of Atapuerca (2006-2014) and also I work as Building engineer.

How and why did you join AEGEE?

As I said before, during my Erasmus year, I discovered AEGEE Catania, and all the amazing activities they did. I was really surprised when they talked about events, activities, Summer Universities… So, when I came back home, I checked if AEGEE was represented in Burgos.

A few of our readers asked that you are the only candidate to Netcom who hasn’t followed the normal step of working as subcommissioner before. Do you see this as a disadvantage for you?

I think it isn’t a big disadvantage for me, for example, when I was chosen president of my antenna people “thought” I didn’t have enough experience and looking back one year later, what has happened in Burgos? Well, in one year we have increased the active members of Burgos, we will host the next EPM 2015, Burgos is getting bigger and our events (in my opinion) are amazing. So, why?!? Because there is a secret ingredient, MOTIVATION. Motivation can move the world, motivation can change everything! The experience is important, I know, but I really have a lot of experience coordinating teams.

So I can say, I’m completely ready for this challenge!

Another reader is asking that “you are running for becoming the network commissioner of La Nave, therefore of French speaking antennae and Portuguese speaking antennae. These antennae are not stable yet they are still oscillating between surviving, getting better and getting worse. What is their worst weakness? What is preventing them from growing and how are you planning to help them?”

In my opinion, the biggest problem is the continuation of the boards in small antennae. Many times, antennae have the same boards for many years, or quite similar, so what is happening when the board leaves? There are no people to manage it, or there are not enough motivated people, or the new members don’t know how to manage it. So, solutions? There are many, but I want to talk about one example I know perfectly: AEGEE-Burgos. In AEGEE-Burgos, it doesn’t matter if you are a new member, we always involve newbies in our projects, so that at the same time they are breathing AEGEE spirit and they are improving their skills. This is really important, because in the future this “newbies” will manage the antenna. Is this the only way to do it? Absolutely NOT , but it is one. So how to put it into practice? I think is really important to share the problems like in the Network Meetings, but also teach this things to members in Regional or Local Training Courses.

In short, give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

Which vision do you have of the work of the NetCom?

My vision… the Network Commission supports the locals and the CD with their tasks, linking the locals with the European Level. In my opinion, the Network Commission has an important role in helping antennae and collaborating with them solving their problems.

And what is going to be your top priority as Network Commissioner?

I have two top priorities. One of them, as I said before, is helping small antennae that are close to disappear and those which have problems to accomplish the Antennae Criteria. Also, to encourage consolidated antennae to continue their job in the right way. The second one is to strengthen LTCs and RTCs to show members how big AEGEE world is, and all the possibilities it offers, and also to teach how antennae work. Besides, I would like to give more formal content to RENOVE (event created to motivate newbies after Summer Universities period).

There is also another candidate for NetCom coming from the same region, Olga Rivero (AEGEE-Oviedo). Would you be willing to take another region if both of you are elected and La Nave preferred her?

AEGEE is a democratic association, and like a democratic association WE choose our representatives in the Agora, so, I respect and I will respect all the decisions taken there.

In fact, the possibility of having “primaries” or some mechanism to have just a candidate for the region was raised in La Nave. What is your personal opinion of it?

During Spring Agora Rhein Neckar 2013, there was a proposal about fixing regions, and the decision of the Agora was to refuse it, so if AEGEE doesn’t have fixed regions, one region by its own is not allowed to decide.

Another question from a reader: You never attended any NWM until now. Do you think it will be ok to organize the content of something you never been to?

First of all, I couldn’t attend last NWM due to personal issues, but I will attend next Autumn NWM. Also, not attending a NWM doesn’t mean I wasn’t interested in the topics that were discussed. In addition, my local always makes a meeting to share all the information which has been discussed before and after NWMs.

Which other relevant experience in AEGEE do you have, and how well do you know the European level bodies?

I attended Eastern Partnership Project’s conferences, I coordinated in my city the Y Vote Bus Tour Spain, I attended to Agorae, RTCs, Organized SUs, and also I have prepared and managed some LTCs in my city. So, I can say I know quite well the European Level.

There’s always the saying about the “gap between the local and European level”, what is your opinion on that?

I know many people say it, but I think that if everybody collaborates, we can help get this gap smaller.

What about the time you will be able to dedicate? Your antenna will be organizing the European Planning Meeting. How much time will it take that from your NetCom tasks, if elected?

I have enough free time to manage all the tasks associated to be NetCom, it only requires plannification. In addition, the EPM is almost done, and we have a big group of organizers working hard on it. It will be an awesome event. Of course, all of you are invited to come. We will be waiting for all of you in February.

Written by Anna Gumbau, AEGEE-Barcelona

After hearing lots of interesting, fun stories from fellow AEGEEans about Summer Universities, I decided to try it out myself this year. Why not? Everybody likes a cheap vacation and discovering different cultures while getting to meet awesome people from all around Europe! I applied for different SUs and before I knew it I had packed my bags and was on my way to Burgos in Northern Spain. Although this beautiful city is just two hours by bus from Madrid, I had honestly never heard of it before and went on this Summer University with a totally open mind.  And I can tell you I did not regret my decision!

Once the event started, the party also started right away. Our home for the next 11 days was the University gym, but we didn’t get to spend much time in it as every day was full of great activities to keep us entertained. This included being woken up at 9/10 AM by screaming Spanish and loud music with some tequila shots still in your system!

During the daytime we went to the beach of Santander, enjoyed cold beers at the San Miguel Brewery, went air rifle shooting, mountain hiking, we got to see the beautiful gothic Catedral de Burgos and the rest of the city.

But what would a nice day be without a party to end it?! That’s why during the nights we had activities like the Suit-Up party, Professions party and of course drinks and drunk dancing at AEGEE-Burgos’ go-to club Tin-Tin! The ingredients for these great nights were some crazy Europeans,  preferably cheap  Spanish alcohol and a bar you can dance on. For an even more interesting result you can also throw some karaoke in the mix, as we discovered! Now, concerning the European Night : I don’t think I even have to speak of it, because most of us already know how these usually end. Or I can just summarize it in two words: Hungarian Palinka.

 To top off this awesome Summer University was that the last weekend we stayed at a really nice house in the mountains of Burgos with all the participants, organizers and other members of AEGEE-Burgos together like one big happy,crazy family. The whole weekend was filled with whipped cream, sangria, fun games (with the whipped cream and sangria of course!), beautiful sceneries and great food, like the paella we made during the cooking workshop. For me these last days where the most fun, because I really saw the difference compared to the first few days. When all of us arrived in Burgos we were total strangers to each other and maybe even a bit shy but towards the end we had became a kind of weird, huge family where everybody got along with each other and laughed together.

A few days after the Summer University the organizers posted a message on Facebook saying we now all have a new home in Burgos forever and are always welcome to come back. Reading that and knowing it was sincere I honestly had to hold back a tear. I realized I might not remember all the fun activities we had, but that I will always remember these awesome people I got to meet during these eleven days.

Thank you for everything, everyone! Hasta Luego and I hope to see you somewhere in Europe  again!

Written by Karim Breeveld,  AEGEE-Amsterdam

Renove is a common term for members of La Nave, the nickname for the locals in France, Spain, Portugal and AEGEE-Brussels/Bruxelles. This year the 4^th edition of Renove will be hosted, bringing back the event to where it originally started, namely in a small village close to Madrid.

AEGEE-Madrid will already host the fourth edition of Renove, but even though the event has existed for years, still not many members outside of La Nave know about it. The AEGEEan therefore interviewed newly elected NetCom assistant Carmen Maria about the idea behind the event. “The idea was to have a common event right after the period of Summer Universities (when new members are really motivated and want to know more about AEGEE). An event which combines funny activities and information about AEGEE in the right doses, as well as allows antennae members to get to know each other by mixing oldies and newbies while promoting teambuilding.”

After the first edition of the event, Antonio Velez then President of AEGEE-Madrid explained to The AEGEEan that the idea included having a team based competition, some light workshops and a lot of fun and parties to make it an attractive event for newbies. “As one of the main objectives (and results) of this event was to activate new people in order to gain new board members, Maria Laglera (PR of SUCT 2011) suggested the name Renove, which in Spain is the name of a goverment program to replace old cars, and we all agreed,” he told the magazine when being interviewed by The AEGEEan in 2011.

In the last years the event has been hosted by AEGEE-Madrid, AEGEE-Valladolid and AEGEE-Burgos. The NetCom team, La Tripulación, ensured that the event created back in 2011 kept its original spirit and main purpose and has over the years taken further control of the content in order for it not to divert its aim.

As mentioned, the event this year goes back to where it started, in a small village close to the Spanish capital and again hosted by AEGEE-Madrid. Carmen Maria tells us: “Clearly, Madrid is geographically the most convenient city for the whole area. Connections are better and easier for people than to other cities. It will also be good for the antenna to motivate and activate members which is a bit difficult in such a big city.”

Renove in Valladolid

As always it will be a busy autumn for the antennae in “La Nave” having several interesting events to go to. There will be Renove in September, sending delegates and visitors to the Autumn Agora in Cagliari in October and the Autumn Network Meeting in November in Zaragoza. The AEGEEan asked Carmen Maria if she believes the event participation in Renove and later the NWM in Zaragoza will be affected by the busy schedule and she says: “Renove is taking place right in the middle of Spain and Zaragoza is in the Northwest. These cities have quite a good location regarding the rest of the antennae of our area so we don’t really see a problem. The content and aim of these events are also pretty different so they can attract a wide variety of members. Moreover, we love Renoves and NWMs!”

Next to these events, early next year there will also be plenty of work for AEGEE antennae as the EPM will take place in Burgos in February and a few months later there will be the Spring Agora in Gijon organized by AEGEE-Oviedo. The Autumn NWM as well as Renove will be of great importance for these two statutory events “They will be really relevant as many people might get active and find the motivation to take part in these upcoming events. They will also be the perfect place to learn a bit more about event’s organisation, functioning of the teams and so on, so we expect these events to be a help for the future organisers and helpers of the EPM and the Agora. They will be perfect places to bond together,” Carmen Maria tells The AEGEEan.

Renove hosted by AEGEE-Burgos

Of course The AEGEEan also interview the board of AEGEE-Madrid about their motivation to organise the event. It was already said last year that the antenna wanted to organise the event again but in the end the participants enjoyed a fruitful event hosted by AEGEE-Burgos. So instead of Renove 3.0 it turned out that Renove 4.0 would be the follow-up event for AEGEE-Madrid on their great success in 2011 and they tell us: “Well, for us, it was about time to do it.  Last year we were in a rush and we didn’t have enough time to prepare a project like this one. This year, with a fresh new board and some new active members there was a constant factor that always appeared in our projects: Renove IV. Since the very beginning, it was proposed to organise the Renove in 2014, and all the new and old board member agreed on that. As the time was passing, we were more and more excited about the idea of organising an event like this for our region.We have worked hard lately on it and finally we decided to send our application to “La Tripulación”.”

Even though about three years have gone by, there are still people in AEGEE-Madrid that have the experience of hosting the first event that will offer their expertise for the 4^th edition, for example Sergio Recuero, who was part of the team that organized the first Renove. For Renove 4.0, he will be in charge of the social programme and activities before and during the event. Also Antonio Vélez who used to be a subcommisioner for the Network Commission, and who is another experienced member from AEGEE-Madrid will help the antenna with the organisation of this big project. Javier Uceda, the Vice president, was also involved with the same enthusiasm in the first one as he is in this one. “With their experience, ideas, patience and hard work, we are sure we will make the difference for Renove IV,” the rest of the board of AEGEE-Madrid ensures The AEGEEan.

These experienced members work together with the group of organisers with new motivated members such as Alberto Arroyo and Silvia de Gregorio that are very motivated and want to get involved in the organization of such an event for the whole region. They will also make use of the experience of Cintia Pérez, Eva Alcolea and Ana Gómez (Anita), who have already organized events not only on a local level, but also in the European level, which surely will be a great contribution.

 However, the event won’t all be the same as the first year. First of all, the first thing that will be different is the accommodation. The lodging has been renovated during the last year and the participants will be in wood huts instead of a hostel. Furthermore, the owners of the place have also renovated the facilities and there will also be a greater arrangement of the parties this time around. But changes aren’t only made to the accommodation, AEGEE-Madrid has a lot of surprises in mind as well as activities, games, a big gymkana and the thematic for this Renove that they unfortunately cannot reveal yet, but they ensure that everyone is going to have a great time. “The key of the last success was the place chosen, Manjirón, (which, would be the same but a little bit changed) but also the new team of organisers, one of them will be organiser of this Renove too (Sergio Recuero) and the social programme. We would like to contribute to repeat that success this year with fresh ideas and activities to make sure everyone is going to remember this event. However, as everyone knows, we will keep in mind what happened during the first Renove, but we won’t like to reenact it, as if we were reenacting a historical battle. As Heraclitus said: “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man,” the board says.

Former Network Commissioner Pauline at Renove in Burgos. The Network Commission is of course also very involved in Renove 4.0 that will be in Madrid

AEGEE-Madrid has many plans for the events and have already chosen the thematic for the making of the groups, as in other Renoves the participants will be divided into different groups during the event. “It is so great that we cannot tell you anything else, it is a secret (part of the surprises that we are planning). However, we know that you will love it. Our idea is to bring people from different places together and mixed the “oldies” with the “start-to-be-active” and “newbies”, so the event can be more fun and productive. Through this groups, we will make contact with all the participants and it will increase the relations of the people before and after the event,” the board finishes the interview with excitement for the event.

Renove is not the only event that AEGEE-Madrid is working on. Every week they gather the members to motivate new ones and get them in contact with the board and the rest of the people from AEGEE either at a meeting or a social drink. Besides that, as many other antennae, AEGEE-Madrid is also busy working on their upcoming Summer University and they have plenty more events in mind to ensure that AEGEE members will enjoy happenings hosted by their antenna several times of the year in different shapes of events.

Written by Patricia Anthony, AEGEE-Zaragoza.

A few weeks ago AEGEE-Burgos organized their 5^th anniversary. A small but nice event in which participants got to visit the city that will be the host of next year’s EPM, which will take place mid February 2015. EPM stands for European Planning Meeting, the event that we called EBM (European Boards’ Meeting) until Agora Patra.

Participants during the 5th anniversary of AEGEE-Burgos

What will happen in Burgos in the middle of February next year? There are several answers to that question. It will be an event where everything is covered by the budget that AEGEE-Burgos has planned, an EPM that has the full support from the University of Burgos and, most importantly,  an event that the members of AEGEE-Burgos and nearby cities are very motivated to host.

For this reason small events, like AEGEE-Burgos celebrating their 5^th anniversary together with participants from Oviedo, Madrid, Zaragoza and more, are really important to bring people together, because everybody knows that having a strong team is the basis of a successful event.

The AEGEEan interviewed the former President of AEGEE-Burgos and main responsible of the EPM, Ruben Sanz, about the event next year and what the Network can expect.

The AEGEEan: You already considered organizing an Agora Burgos but in the end did not apply. Why was that?

Ruben: We were planning first to apply to organize an Agora because we had all the support of Burgos University, but organizing it means that we would have to gain a lot of new members or ask for a lot of help from other antennae. Burgos is one of the smallest cities and universities in Spain, and AEGEE-Burgos has not yet reached 100 members in its short history, so we have to know our limits.

NWM Burgos

The AEGEEan: Why did you decide to candidate to host EPM Burgos?

Ruben: Because it is the ideal situation for us. During the last three years we have organized a lot of events, Network Meeting, our yearly event (Morcillote’s birthday) and even the last Renove for more than 100 participants. We have several members who have been main organizers of events, who have a lot of experience and are very motivated people. Compared to ZarAgora we have about a quarter of the amount of members that AEGEE-Zaragoza has, but at least we have members with lots of experience, especially in organizing events. 

The AEGEEan: Do you have people that were part of organizing Agora Zaragoza that would like to help with the realization of EPM Burgos?

Ruben: Of course! Three of us have been organizers in Agora Zaragoza, and many of us have attended a lot of statutory events so we know how to do things, we know what to do and what to avoid. We understand the strengths and the weak points of one event for such a great amount of people. I think that you go back home with a smile if you have good food, you don’t have to walk for long distances or use buses to go from the gym to plenaries and of course a nice place to rest with hot showers.  And we have all of this!

Rubén (To the left) during Agora Zaragoza

What experience and knowledge do the members of AEGEE-Burgos have about previous EBMs?

Ruben: We have sent envoys to Izmir, Malta and Lublin, so we know what the Chair team needs. People who attended  all of them know that they were completely different in logistics, so we will try to pick the best things from each, even though we cannot book a hotel for participants as it was the case in EBM Valletta.

The AEGEEan: Personally, you have attended three EBMs, what do you like about the event?

Ruben: For me it is the best event of AEGEE! Izmir was my first and I had no idea what I was getting into, and when I started listening to the lectures my jaw dropped. I’m very interested in geopolitics for example, and Lublin was awesome! I am a bit worried about the feeling that is growing in Europe where people say “We’d have a better life if we were alone”. I am very Euro-optimistic and hearing different opinions has made me very open minded to different problems of countries.

The AEGEEan: Why did you decide to be the main responsible of the EPM?

Ruben: I’m the most experienced member in our antenna and I have been very involved in all of our events all these years. I joined AEGEE three years ago, when AEGEE-Burgos was only a seed, now we are a tree that keeps growing and growing. Now we are a normal antenna in terms of members, active people, participants in events, budget etc. I think it was a normal process. You know that the ideal situation is that a leader emerges from the group, but in this case I’m just the head of a group, and the project and the direction is set by the whole group of organizers.

During the 5th anniversary of AEGEE-Burgos the participants celebrated the “White Night” of AEGEE-Burgos. What will participants celebrate during EPM next year?

The AEGEEan: How many active members do you have in your antenna? How will you ensure that you have enough organizers and helpers?

Ruben: Now we have 12 board members, but the number of active people is 20. We have some new members who will go to different Summer Universities who we would like to turn into active members.

We organized the 5th anniversary of our antenna last month, and some new members were there too, and we made one twinning trip to León and to Oviedo and more new people came. After summer we hope to be near 30 really active members! Anyway we will ask some very experienced members from nearby cities to be helpers too, all the north area of Spain is one big AEGEE family, we take care of each other, we have a lot of unofficial events as twinning trips and now we are a very big group of friends.

The AEGEEan: What is special about your city?

Ruben: Burgos is one of the main stops of Saint James walk, and it is the capital of the old kingdom of Castile (the seed of Spain of nowadays). Burgos cathedral appear in all art books and we are famous because of our wines and traditional food. Last year New York Times marked Burgos as one of the top 25 places to go. I know that people will have to check on a map where Burgos exactly is, but I’m sure it will be a great surprise for all the people who will come here.

SU in Burgos 2012 in front of the beautiful cathedral of Burgos

The AEGEEan: Will it be easy for participants to go to Burgos?

Ruben: Yes, Burgos is just in the north part of centeral Spain, we are only a bit more than two hours away from Madrid (there are even direct buses from Madrid airport every hour), and we have some daily buses and trains to Barcelona. In less than 1 hour we can reach the low cost airports of Bilbao, Santander or Valladolid. So we have a lot of ways to arrive, and I’m sure some nearby antennae will organize awesome pre-events! AEGEE-León has already confirmed that they would like to organize a pre-event.

The AEGEEan: What experience do you have in organizing events?

Ruben: Our team has organized several big events during the last years. One Network Meeting, Summer Universities as a yearly event, as well as “Burgos me pone Morcillote”, and most recently Renove (social post-summer event in the area of La Nave) last autumn and 5th anniversary of our antenna last month. I think now we can say we are the most active and experienced antenna in our NetCom area.

The AEGEEan: What do you already know for certain about how a potential EPM Burgos would be like? (Lodging, plenaries, parties, etc.?)

Ruben: We will have all buildings in the same area, so it will take us only two minutes to walk from one place to another, and we are in the negotiating process of places for a great social program. You know, it is Spain! It will be unforgettable for all.

The AEGEEan: You hosted Renove for many people last year, what does this extra experience mean for your antenna?

Ruben: That was the forward step in order to be ready for one big statutory event, so maybe the next one would be an Agora in some years? Hahaha…

President Ruben Puras of AEGEE-Burgos with their mascot during Renove last year

The AEGEEan: The Spanish economy is not at its best, how will this affect your event and how will you make sure that you will be able to organize the EPM?

Ruben: It’s not really important because we thought of this events for the participants, we are really focused on members and not on external matters.  We have a minimal budget, and all the help that we need, and we promise to organize a big event with all the qualities that the participants expect and we do not depend on official aid in kind or companies subsidies.

Written by Patricia Anthony, AEGEE-Zaragoza

It is time for The AEGEEan’s Choice Awards again! From the 10th of March until the 31st you can let us know who your favourites are in categories like Best Video, Most Active Working Group, Most Impressive Roll Call and Most Original Mascot. For this last category, The AEGEEan has found five nominees, namely: Orestios Mesemvrios (AEGEE-Kastoria), Gorm Jr. (AEGEE-København), Morcillote (AEGEE-Burgos), Zvezdun Grigor’evich (AEGEE-Moskva) and the AEGEE-Aachen bear. In this article we will tell you all you need to know about these mascots and why they should win according to their home locals.

Orestios Mesemvrios  (AEGEE-Kastoria)

AEGEEan: What was your (and your mascot’s) reaction when you heard you were nominated?

AEGEE-Kastoria: We are very happy and proud for our little beaver, Orestios. We are so excited because of the nomination and the fact that The AEGEEan team nominated him made us grateful for our choice.

Orestios: I’m very proud to represent this gorgeous antenna, and your nomination made me very happy for the fact that AEGEE-Kastoria found me that summer evening in Nesebar. They love me and now, with this nomination, I see that more people love me and I’m sure that my cuteness will encourage you to vote for me.

AEGEEan: When and why was this mascot picked to represent your local?

AEGEE-Kastoria: Our host city is named Kastoria. The most common explanation of the name is “The city of beavers”, so we thought that a beaver would be our perfect mascot. From the moment we were founded, May 2012, we thought that we should have a beaver for our mascot. We searched in a lot of different cities of Greece, but we couldn’t find Orestios there. Then in the summer of 2013 one of our members travelled to Nesebar, Bulgaria, and found him at a souvenir store.

Orestios: Also I have to mention that my name comes from the local tradition. Orestiada is the name of the big, wonderful lake of Kastoria, so they named me Orestios after the lake and Mesemvrios because the city Nesebar, Bulgaria, is the ancient Greek city Mesemvrios.

AEGEEan: In which ways does this mascot represent your local?

AEGEE-Kastoria: Except for the fact that he’s directly connected with our city, he’s always with us in our events, local Agorae, board meetings and social meeting. He’s very lovely too, just like our antenna. He has everything that our antenna has: he is cute, wonderful, active and lovely wherever he goes.

AEGEEan: Why should your mascot win the Most Original Mascot award?

AEGEE-Kastoria: Because he is a beaver in the city of beavers! If he doesn’t win, who else could?

Orestios: I have to win, because I live in Kastoria and I am a beaver. You have to vote for me, because I am cute and AEGEE-Kastoria is great!

You can find Orestios Mesemvrios on Facebook here.

Gorm Jr. (AEGEE-København)

AEGEEan: What was your (and your mascot’s) reaction when you heard you were nominated?

AEGEE-København: Really pleased to see Gorm from our small antenna  nominated for The AEGEEans Choice Awards. We are busy working on the upcoming Network Meeting København, so in the middle of many tasks and a huge pile of things on the to-do-list it was great to receive this news, it put a huge smile on our faces. And, of course, Gorm was very happy too.

AEGEEan: When and why was this mascot picked to represent your local?

AEGEE-København: Gorm Jr. actually has his birthday around the same time of the Network Meeting København. On the 17th of March he will turn four years old, as he was bought back in 2010 during one of the weekly meetings in the student house by the president, back then Eszter Virag and Madli Pindmaa. The goal was to have something typically Danish to represent our antenna and Gorm looks very Danish in his cute uniform. Gorm is also a very traditional Danish name for a king, and he also has some Viking looks. Once he was bought he lived with Eszter for a few months and when she left the city he moved into the apartment of Nino Burini, who was the next president of AEGEE-København, and later on Patricia Anthony (former President of AEGEE-København) had him in her apartment with Vice-President Mathilde Nielsen. He started travelling already as a baby and he was captured for the first time in April, during the “Mamma Mia… Here we go to Scandinavia” event in 2010.

AEGEEan: In which ways does this mascot represent your local?

AEGEE-København: He has the colours of Denmark and he is cute as many other mascots are as well. He wears a traditional king’s guard outfit and is also very royal himself with the name Gorm. In Copenhagen you can see a lot of castles and experience Denmark in many ways, so I suppose that what really shines through in him is the values of Copenhagen and our antenna.

AEGEEan: Why should your mascot win the Most Original Mascot award?

AEGEE-København: Gorm should win this amazing award, since he is the Great Original Right Mascot for this award. His name almost spells out the category and he is indeed original as a lots of thought has been put into him. He has travelled a lot, but still not enough, so it would be great for him to have a fantastic memory from Agora Patra to celebrate in Copenhagen, just in time for another triumph: the Eurovision Song Contest being celebrated in the Danish capital, just a few days after the big statutory event in Greece.

You can find Gorm Jr. on Facebook here.

Morcillote (AEGEE-Burgos)

AEGEEan: What was your (and your mascot’s) reaction when you heard you were nominated?

AEGEE-Burgos: OINK… OINK… Haha, just kidding! He was crazy and started running and jumping around! So, he suited up and he went partying to celebrate together. It was an unforgettable night. Just being nominated was worth it! He is delighted about all this, and he only wants one thing: TO WIN!

AEGEEan: When and why was this mascot picked to represent your local?

AEGEE-Burgos: It’s a really funny story.. Just after creating AEGEE-Burgos we were looking for a mascot who could be the ambassador of our antenna. One day we were walking around the city when we saw a pig trying to escape from some crazy people. REALLY! They were trying to capture Morcillote to eat him. Can you believe it?! So, we helped him to hide and we were able to save him. Morcillote was so grateful that he decided to stay with us forever (except when AEGEE-Zaragoza, Madrid, León, Barcelona and Santander stole him. That was how he started to travel all around Europe and meet other mascots).

AEGEEan: In which ways does this mascot represent your local?

AEGEE-Burgos: The pig is the example of our city’s gourmet culture. I’m sure many of you know jamón, chorizo, lomo, and of course Burgos morcilla. Deliciousssss, so there can’t be any better Burgos ambassador in AEGEE world than the wonderful Morcillote!

AEGEEan: Why should your mascot win the Most Original Mascot award?

AEGEE-Burgos: Do we really have to answer this question? We have a thousand reasons why Morcillote should be the most original mascot. Just take a look at the pictures! Morcillote represents the AEGEE Spirit. Every year we celebrate his birthday like he is a big rockstar and people from all over AEGEE attend. Morcillote, only you know how to organize a great party! Besides, everyone who has pressed his soft little belly and listened to his sweet OINK, OINK won’t have any doubt as to why Morcillote is the most original mascot. Morcillote, we love you!

You can find Morcillote on Facebook here.

Zvezdun Grigor’evich (AEGEE-Moskva)

AEGEEan: What was your (and your mascot’s) reaction when you heard you were nominated?

AEGEE-Moskva: Proud of our boy! He seemed like he was in shock, but he is acting too good.

AEGEEan: When and why was this mascot picked to represent your local?

AEGEE-Moskva: For a long time AEGEE-Moskva had no mascot. In 2013 we were discussing possible PR-actions to promote our antenna on Agora’s, Network Meetings (NWM) and the EBM. The story of his appearance is interesting, because it wasn’t simply from store shelf to AEGEE-antenna. In March 2013 I (Ksenia Lupanova) bought my first AEGEE-Moskva t-shirt. This t-shirt saw both Agoras in 2012, a great Summer University in Greece and went to Baikal Lake with the Transsiberian Dream vol. 4. It survived a lot of flights, European Nights, paintings, AEGEE-Moskva’s crazy 21th birthday party and the NWM in Mosvka. Unfortunately this t-shirt was broken by the sloppy owner, but it definitely had absorbed AEGEE spirit and the energy of great memories and events, so I suggested to make a handmade mascot from this t-shirt, because there can’t be any better material, so I sewed him. It was April 1st 2013 and we sent him directly to Agora Rhein-Neckar, where we had a lot of fights about the name so finally we decided that it would appear naturally after the Agora. And then we got it: Zvezdun Grigor’evich. It’s quite hard to explain the process of the name-appearing, because it came from Russian language and slang. Zvezdun stands for the short name of Starguy in Russian and his second name, Grigor’evich, is the name of my godfather and one of the founding members of AEGEE-Moskva: Grigoriy Frolov.

AEGEEan: In which ways does this mascot represent your local?

AEGEE-Moskva: Well, Zvezdun is very representative of AEGEE-Moskva’s identity and image. As you can see in our promotional materials, he appears almost everywhere! His star shape reminds us of Moscow’s Kremlin stars and the star in the AEGEE-logo. Red has been the colour of AEGEE-Moskva since it’s founding in 1991. In our new t-shirt he is hiding inside the star of the letter A, and in the Transsiberian Dream logo he starred in an unexpected devil role. He was also starred in AEGEE-Mosvka’s flashmob, shooting in our 2014 calendar and was with us in a lot of events already. Unfortunately he was stolen during Agora Zaragoza by superfast AEGEE-León, but he succesfully came back to us during New Years’s Event Noviy God po-russki.

AEGEEan: Why should your mascot win the Most Original Mascot award?

AEGEE-Moskva: Because he already got a lot of fans, is well-known in the Network and represents the spirit of AEGEE-Moskva: a bit wild, creative and full of AEGEE-spirit. He is a real gentleman and, as all Russians, never gives up!

You can find Zvezdun Grigor’evich on Facebook here.

AEGEE-Aachen bear

AEGEEan: What was your (and your mascot’s) reaction when you heard you were nominated?

AEGEE-Aachen: AEGEE-Aachen bear was like: “Oh my god, am I nominated for this awesome award?! I didn’t even know it existed, but I absolutely want to win it!” And so were we.

AEGEEan: When and why was this mascot picked to represent your local?

Legends say that when we organized the Agora Aachen in 2008 we needed a mascot. For some reason it became a brown bear, but as everybody wanted to dress up like the bear, we needed more costumes. And well, the polar bears were just cheaper ;).

AEGEEan: In which ways does this mascot represent your local?

AEGEE-Aachen: We are strong, unique, independent and everybody loves us. Totally like polar bears.

AEGEEan: Why should your mascot win the Most Original Mascot award?

AEGEE-Aachen: In Agora Rhein-Neckar we didn’t take enough care of our lovely bears, so they got stolen. The condition to get it back was to wake up the people at Agora Zaragoza one morning. Usually all the people hate waking up and the people who wake them up, but in this case all the participants woke up because of five polar bears going around, hugging and petting them one by one. When we win, the bear says we will do it again!

You can find AEGEE-Aachen bear on Facebook here.

Written by Svenja van der Tol, AEGEE-Nijmegen

The eleven days of SUprising Burgos passed in a blink of an eye. It is time to look back at an incredible and truly amazing experience. Although it is hard to fit this experience into a couple of paragraphs, I will do my best.  

On the first day a group of AEGEE students coming from all over Europe met for the first time and we became a family.  Are you wondering how? It was a killer combination of people, both participants and organizers.

After the first night together, we completely lost any sense of time. Those eleven days passed by so fast, it felt like just a few hours. The perfect balance between parties and the cultural program did not leave much time for sleeping, but we caught a couple minutes here and there. Basically, wherever and whenever we could, just to survive! But honestly, who would like to sleep instead of -for example- shoot an arrow; do a city tour in Burgos, Frías, or some other wonderful villages full of history; or perhaps walk on the St. James’ Way? We wanted to fully experience each and every minute we spent in Spain.

None of us will ever forget the trip to the beer factory, tasting a cold cup of freshly made San Miguel, nor the wonderful tapas bars we have visited, or walking around Burgos castle. For me specifically, not only the daytime activities were unforgettable but also the parties. Meeting so many interesting people and partying with them was incredible. My -and maybe even everyone’s- favorite night was the European Night where we could taste typical foods and drinks of every nation that was represented in our group. Let me just say, a few toasts with Greek ouzo, Czech Becherovka and some Hungarian Palinka took care of the good mood for that night!

I’m more than thankful to AEGEE-Burgos for making these eleven days a true once-in-a-lifetime experience. They made it possible for me to meet these awesome people. We all left a piece of our heart in that gorgeous gym, and we know that we will always have a home in Burgos.

Written by Zóra Hajduk, AEGEE-Budapest 

At Agora Rhein-Neckar several different merchandise products were presented to the Network and it is proving to be more and more popular to have different types of products carrying the AEGEE logo in one form or the other.

One antenna that proves to be good in promoting themselves through merchandise production is AEGEE-Agrigento. The Italians were nominated for The AEGEEans Choice Awards by several AEGEE members showing that their merchandise reaches far beyond the city of Agrigento. When questioned why they produce hats, T-shirts, stickers and more, the answer was simple “our idea of merchandising is: If you can wear it, it should have an AEGEE-Agrigento logo! We love our local and we want to show it to everybody keeping always with us our logo. We are planning to launch merchandise and part of it was distributed for free already during Agora Rhein-Neckar.”

And it is not only AEGEE-Agrigento that tries to add AEGEE logos to different type of products. The Summer University Coordination Team brought inflatable pillows, SU buttons and new microfiber towels to Mannheim. The Comité Directeur brought a new grey version of the AEGEE-Europe hoodie together with the popular travel cups, and as always there were also stickers everywhere.

There were of course also AEGEE T-shirts to be seen everywhere in Germany and some pink T-shirts from a certain Spanish city especially stood out. Once they were nominated for The AEGEEans Choice Awards, AEGEE-Burgos said the typical “We are a small antenna, and we’re just happy to be nominated.” However, it was clear at the Agora that they had high hopes to bring home to the North of Spain The AEGEEans Choice Award for best merchandise. The award went to AEGEE-Helsinki, however AEGEE-Burgos president Rubén Sanz still shared information about the merchandise production in their city.

The AEGEEan: How did you come up with the design for your T-shirt? 

Rubén: We are a small antenna, and we have no resources. When we were chosen to organize a Network Meeting (NWM) last year, all of us were so happy that we wanted to create something that would be unforgettable. And our final idea was to create the first AEGEE-Burgos T-shirt. We are very proud of our mascot Morcillote the pig, and we wanted to show him in our T-shirts somehow.

Why do you think it is important to design merchandise for AEGEE?

Merchandise can be used in several ways, one is for fundraising, but for me it is most important in creating brand image. Now a lot of people in Europe know that the pink T-shirt with a pig is from Burgos! Maybe it is not the best T-shirt in the world, but it works, and now it’s our window to Europe.

Are you plannning to launch any new merchandise this year?

Yes! We are in constant evolution, just now we have created a new design in lighter pink , all of you must come to Burgos to get it ! “La vie en rose” with AEGEE-Burgos Pink Pig Power!!

It will be interesting to continue seeing what type of merchandise the different antennae and project teams of AEGEE create in the future.

Written by Patricia Anthony, AEGEE-København