In the occasion of the Youth Development month, the Youth Development Working Group reached out to four AEGEE alumni and interviewed them, with the intention to connect past, present and future of AEGEE. Here’s the third interview of the series: Fabian Brüggeman (formerly) from AEGEE-Düsseldorf. 

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

Fabian: Sure! I’m living in Cologne in a very nice house with five and a half flatmates (one of them is a small kid) and a cat, with a garden and a pool. The perfect place to live and relax! I am working at the university – doing project management – but I reduced my working hours in order to have more time for my own business: I am running a training company called Improve yourself, where I help my participants to improve their softskills, mostly by the means of methods of improvisational theatre, which is a lot of fun! I played improv for quite some years, but now I am rather giving classes in improv in my leisure time.

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

I became member of AEGEE in December 2004. Actually, I just wanted to be president of the local team which took care of the Erasmus students, but I was told I “had to be in the board of AEGEE” to do so. So I thought “Whatever, just join!”. And that’s how it started. I went to my first Agora in Izmir in 2005, met great people, re-founded AEGEE Düsseldorf in 2009… In 2010 I wanted to quit. I was working back then already, and I thought it was time to let go. But I was asked to help out “one last time” for the European Ideas Factory in Gliwice. And somehow the spirit came back (maybe meeting a nice girl helped as well [he winks, ed.]). That was the time I started giving trainings in AEGEE, teaching what I had learned before being a participant in improv classes. And somehow my participants loved it! I called that workshop “Improve yourself” and at some Agoras I had to give it twice because so many people wanted to join. Since I also became a systemic coach, I joined the MemCom and one term later was elected speaker. Back then, I enjoyed giving team building trainings, also for CDs, like the one for CD just after the vote of confidence back in 2012 in Enschede. During that time, together with Katja Berendt, I made a proposal to change the MemCom into the MedCom, to make sure it can be much more helpful and step in at an earlier time. I was their president from 2012-13. My active time ended back then, but here and there I am still asked to contribute, like for example taking care of teambuilding for the current CD back in August.

What does AEGEE mean for you?

AEGEE is a playground, where its members share the same values. And with playground I mean the space to make mistakes and learn from them, improving and growing. A lot of people are annoyed that AEGEE tries to reinvent the wheel each couple of years. I disagree with them – I think it’s amazing, because that means all those people in the CD, commissions, projects… they are able to do the same mistakes and learn from them big times!

What was the biggest thing that AEGEE brought to you?

The space to grow and learn to become a trainer. At this very moment, writing the answers, I am sitting in a train going back home, because I gave a teambuilding training to a company in southern Germany. This would not have happened without AEGEE!

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

Communication, understanding (cultural) differences in people and value them, how to handle big egos without fighting against them, liking people and team work.

Did these skills help you to find a job easily?

Absolutely! I started working at a huge international IT-consulting company after my studies, and half of the time of my job interview was about AEGEE and the experiences I had in AEGEE, working in international teams. They were really curious about it!

What would you say is the biggest benefit of AEGEE for young people looking for a job? Do you have any advice for newbies in AEGEE?

I think the biggest benefit is that young people can make experiences that are valuable for future employees. Intercultural competences, communication, team work… which you can mention and stress in job interviews. Don’t just do it for your CV, but do it for yourself. If you have an intrinsic motivation, go for it, as long it’s aligned with the values of AEGEE it will be a win-win situation. You need to shape your “AEGEE-path” yourself, go and create it.

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

Written by Batuhan Çarıkçı, Youth Development Working Group

Although AEGEE-Düsseldorf is a really small antenna with around five or seven active members, they succeeded to represent the essence and spirit of AEGEE. In February, AEGEE-Düsseldorf organised their first RTC, in cooperation with Diede Oudenampsen from the Academy as trainer. They managed to find accommodation and food, to fundraise some tickets and water, to invite ESN-Erasmus Students’ Network and JEF-Young European Federalists for a presentation, and more. AEGEE-Düsseldorf is continuously trying to improve cooperation with other associations (Christian associations, JEF, and ESN in particular), showing that there is no need for competition. The fact that such a small antenna can achieve such an event deserves recognition.

During the RTC, where the Düssi-fever got participants and organisers affected. Düssi is the elephant mascotte of our the local, that’s the reason behind the funny arm movements.

The AEGEEan: Congratulations, you were nominated as Local of the Month of February! Introduce yourselves, please, and tell us your AEGEE-Düsseldorf story. How did it start? Can you tell us a bit more about your local?

AEGEE-Düsseldorf: Hello lovely AEGEEans, we are AEGEE-Düsseldorf! Once upon a time, a group of Europe enthusiasts decided to bring AEGEE into Düssseldorf’s student life. That was in 19xx and afterwards there is a big gap in our history. It remains unknown until this day, what or who brought AEGEE-Düsseldorf to life. So we start our story with Benjamin Feyen, the bard. It is him, who, with help of his friends, built a solid foundation, that we are still relying upon. Our local was never really big, but that does not matter to us. What matters is the motivation and initiative of our members. Cultural speed-dates, speed-debates, free walking tours and visits from other locals is what keeps our blood pumping. But with our current board, our blood started to boil! Though few in numbers, we managed to organise the RTC “Get your local movin'” in February, with the support of our friends from AEGEE-Eindhoven. And it was amazing!

How did you come to the idea to cooperate with ESN and managed to succeed in it?

In Düsseldorf, there are many youth organisations that revolve around the European future, with young people taking action in making their ideals come true. The goals are not always 100% the same and the methods differ greatly, but we still have a common ground. That was especially true for ESN and AEGEE-Düsseldorf, since we are both nurturing intercultural understanding, so we wanted to get in contact for a long time already. It is thanks to JEF, who started an event for this sole purpose, that we could establish serious (and fun) cooperations. The first “Zukunftswerkstatt”, roughly translated to future workshop, was held at the end of 2016. JEF, ESN, EYP, YEP and AEGEE attended, all youth organisations with the European future in mind. The main purpose of the event was to get in contact and to learn about each other’s visions and goals, as well as to see where we could cooperate together.
It was a great success! Since then, we have had some debating events with JEF and participated in “March for Europe” with ESN and JEF. Now “Zukunftswerkstatt” Vol.2 will be organised by AEGEE-Düsseldorf. This time, the topic will be cooperation on social media. We really look forward to our guests’ presentations on Social Media and the shaping of concrete plans for helping each other out! We highly recommend it to all locals! Look out for who else is fighting for a bright European future and start working together.

What are you working on at in the moment?

There are a few projects we are working on. Some more history-changing, some others purely for our high spirits. We are currently establishing collaborations with other youth organisations, which will help us benefit from each other and spread Europtimism throughout Düsseldorf. It is something that we consider to be crucial and it is nice to work towards the same goal apart from the AEGEE network. Just what is happening with Pulse of Europe at the moment.
In accordance with our RTC, we decided to use sports as a mean of teambuilding. We are now doing monthly yoga sessions to keep us healthy and ready for new challenges. We look forward to Europe on Track visiting us, helping AEGEE-Köln for their pre-event and welcoming SUs and exchanges with other locals. It may not sound as much for bigger locals, but for an active circle of three to seven it feels like a rollercoaster sometimes.

How did it feel to find out that you were nominated? 

We were super happy! To find out that our efforts were noticed by our friends, it made us realise that we are all in this together. We were probably nominated because you can feel how alive we are at the moment and how indulged we are in our events.

Why do you write everywhere that you are not from Cologne? 

Hahaha that is because the cities of Düsseldorf and Cologne are long time rivals (especially when it comes to brewing beer the right way). And because the cities are really close to each other, we emphasise that we are not from Cologne. [they laugh, ed.] You will hear it during the roll call at the Agora as well!

What is your motto? Can you describe your local in one sentence?

Go with the flow and see how far it takes you. Then start paddling.

Written by Aliona Sytnyk, AEGEE-Berlin

Soon upon my arrival from Passau to Heidelberg, I was welcomed by Viola (from Your Vision For Europe) and Mareike (from the Network Commission). They showed me the beautiful city of Heidelberg, and after having lunch with them, we joined an evening meeting with the members of AEGEE-Heidelberg.

All members that were present at the meeting shared their experiences and impression about AEGEE. They also offered me an insight in the work of AEGEE-Heidelberg. They have around 50 members and they are structured in teams. Their board members are mainly new members in general, but motivated to work in management of the local. Their main work is focused on European events and the work that they do with Erasmus students is their biggest recruitment tool. Also a few of their members are active in European Bodies of AEGEE. They have several planned exchanges (e.g. with AEGEE-Cagliari, their Twin Antenna AEGEE-Budapest and with AEGEE-Kyïv) too.

My last stop on this journey was AEGEE-Düsseldorf. I met Maja and Jonathan, both board members, and during a very interesting city tour, we managed to discuss the situation in their local.

AEGEE-Düsseldorf is a small antenna, but an active one. Currently they have around 15 members, of which half is active. In the last year they managed to organise more activities and they even organised an RTC a few weeks ago, which gave them the insight in event management and gave them ideas for new projects. What is beneficial for this local is that near them, there are several bigger locals that they can cooperate with.

The local is facing some issues with recruitment, which is pretty normal when there is lack of a proper knowledge transfer. Another big problem for this local is the change of generations, which is a problem for all locals, but is mostly visible in the smaller ones. My chat with Maja and Jonathan generated useful food for thought.

My trip ended with AEGEE-Düsseldorf after more than three weeks on track. Thank you all for your hospitality.

Written by Zvonimir Canjuga, Financial Director of AEGEE-Europe

This Spring, the former Network Commissioner Holger Schmitt announced that he was looking for a Media Responsible/Press Speaker for the German locals, who would take up the task of promoting the German locals and AEGEE in the country’s media. The AEGEEan spoke to the member who got the job, Benjamin Feyen from AEGEE-Düsseldorf, to find out more about why he applied, what he has done and will do and his other projects in AEGEE.

Of course, the main question is: why did Benjamin apply? “I think that both my AEGEE experience and my journalistic experience qualify me for this position”, Benjamin says. “Therefore, I consider this task a good way for me to help AEGEE shaping its public image in Germany. Besides that, after having been quite active on the local level for a long time, I decided to focus my AEGEE activities on the supra-local and European level from now on”. And active he was! In 2009, Benjamin founded AEGEE-Düsseldorf together with Fabian Brüggemann. “I have been in our local board from the beginning, and from 2011 until this year as president”, Benjamin goes on. “After having attended more than twenty different events on the regional and European level and having joined numerous other activities, I would say I know AEGEE very well”. Next to experiences in AEGEE, Benjamin has also worked as a freelance journalist for local newspapers for years and he has been in charge of public and press relations in several societal and political organisations on a local, regional and national level.

As the new Media Responsible/Press Speaker, Benjamin’s most important task is to “try to get AEGEE in media of nationwide relevance”. As Benjamin explains: “The general background of our locals’ decision to create this position is that, due to the fact that in AEGEE there is no national level (which I consider a good thing), it is quite challenging to bring AEGEE in the national media because nobody really feels responsible for that and on the other side the journalists don’t know who to contact (if they know about AEGEE at all). But still we want our association to appear in the German press also above the local level, because there is so much AEGEE is doing that deserves more public recognition.” Having a contact person in every German local to provide him with relevant information, Benjamin has made his plans for the future. “First of all, my plan is to send the media press releases more or less regularly in order to create visibility. I am also planning to contact journalists in order to place more general stories about AEGEE in their media – this could be interesting for student magazines, for example. But the whole thing has to develop, and I know that it is going to be difficult enough to start something like this from scratch.”

German locals are of course not the only locals dealing with the press. “Generally, it is always a good thing to try to make the media report on what AEGEE does”, Benjamin says. However, this doesn’t mean he thinks every AEGEE region should have a speaker. “Germany for example is ‘divided’ in two NetCom regions, and it would be confusing to have a press speaker in each of the teams. I see myself as the press speaker of all locals located in the area known as ‘Germany’ outside of AEGEE, no matter which region they belong to, which I think is the only way to successfully represent AEGEE towards national media.”

Next to his tasks dealing with the German media, Benjamin is also busy with the newly set up FAME project. “You might have already listened to our newly released ‘The European Summer Song’, which we also use for our FAME summer video contest: SU participants and organizers, members of a local, working groups, or anybody who is into filming, is called to create a funny and crazy video clip for this song. After the popular ‘Europe on Track’ song, I think this one might become another successful FAME release.” If you want to know more about this project, you can always sign up for their mailing list (FAME-INFO-L) or check the Facebook page.

“For the rest of my time in AEGEE I want to focus on my new position as Media Responsible and on managing the FAME project”, Benjamin says. “Besides that, I want to share my experiences and skills as trainer of The Academy and to help representing AEGEE-Europe as member of the Pool of Representatives.” Before AEGEE, Benjamin was really active in the Erasmus Student Network (ESN). “Knowing both associations very well from the inside, I have to say how much I appreciate the absence of a national level in AEGEE. Despite all negative side effects, I think this is one of our biggest strengths. With the implementation of a press speaker of all German locals in AEGEE, we are now trying to alleviate the probably most significant one of these negative side effects.”

Written by Svenja van der Tol, AEGEE-Nijmegen

On the last weekend of June, six German and Dutch locals met in a small and completely unspectacular town in the Netherlands. There was no hosting local, there were no organizers and, officially, there was not even a program. Although the motivating title of this event was “Six in the Shitty City”, it was still the second time that this event took place. The AEGEEan spoke to Benjamin Feyen, one of the people who came up with the concept, to find out more about the event and all the word plays included in it.

In February 2013, several members of Dutch and German locals met in Eindhoven the day before they flew to EBM Valletta together. These members came from six locals, which were all located close to the German/Dutch border, namely AEGEE-Aachen, AEGEE-Düsseldorf, AEGEE-Eindhoven, AEGEE-Köln, AEGEEE-Maastricht and AEGEE-Nijmegen. Since they got along so well and because the distance between these locals is not actually that big, they decided to organize a non-formal get-together.

The name that this meeting should have was also decided upon during that discussion.”When we discussed where the meeting should take place, somebody came up with the idea to meet just somewhere in the middle between the locals instead of having a hosting local”, Benjamin tells us. ”Looking at a map, we found out that the six locals form kind of a circle, with the small Dutch city of Venlo right in the center”.  After somebody who apparently had already been to Venlo complained that this city was “really shitty” the event’s title was set: “Six [locals] in the Shitty City”. Benjamin claims that it was due to the memorable name that they instantly created a Facebook group and were motivated to organize the event.

And the event of 2013 was a success. People from every single local took part and enjoyed a weekend in Venlo including a City Tour. Due to the fact that the city center “actually wasn’t that shitty after all”, this year’s version of the event (Volume 2: “Shit me baby one more time”) was moved to a suburb of Venlo: Tegelen. Although the location changed, the concept stayed the same. Since organizing an event is a lot of work and mostly quite stressful, the people who came up with the idea of “Six in the Shitty City” decided to have “no organizers or responsible persons, but only participants (or shitticipants, as we call ourselves), who do whatever they feel needs to be done”, explains Benjamin. Mutual trust, reliability and contribution by everyone are of course necessary when an event is planned like this. That this can work, was proven by all the people taking part in the event.

The actual meeting in Tegelen worked out perfectly again. Almost 30 people from six locals (this time including AEGEE-Osnabrück instead of AEGEE-Maastricht) met and enjoyed two nights and a full day together, mostly by playing either soccer, “werewolves” or other gamesor, of course, by just talking and getting to know each other. Although there was not any official program, nobody was ever bored. Benjamin explains: “Basically it is a bunch a friends having fun together based on voluntary contribution by everyone, with the little difference that many of us do not even know each other personally before the event. Having the AEGEE spirit and believing in the concept of the “Shitty City” is what we share”. Still, “having a European Night is a must“, says Benjamin and this European Night in particular ended especially nicely by sitting at a bonfire and enjoying marshmallows and music. The favorite song of the whole group was most definitely “Everybody has a shitty time”, a song composed during the event and sung many times.

All in all, “Six in the Shitty City” is not as “shitty” as the name makes it seem! Benjamin concludes that although there were some people who doubted that this concept could work, it did! “And twice already. It’s for sure a very unique event in the AEGEE world”. People already announced that they will most definitely take part again when it is time for the next volume of “Six in the Shitty City”.

Written by Katja Sontag, AEGEE-Aachen

If we take a look around our own musical tastes, most of us will agree that there are so many songs, from traditional ones to pop musicc, that don’t reach a major audience because of the language barrier. What is more, we would find it hard to find any song related to European integration at all, or barely no European symbols in the latest videoclips.

With these ideas in mind, AEGEE-Düsseldorf member Benjamin Feyen has decided to take up again an idea he had many years ago in order to connect two of his passions: music, and AEGEE. He has found in music a perfect channel to spread ‘Europtimism’, and he is currently looking for motivated members that would like to embark on his project called FAME, which stands for the multilingual  name Fabrik AEGEE-ènne de Müzik Europea. The AEGEEan has just had a chat with Benjamin about the idea behind this new musical project.

Benjamin, how did you come up with the idea of launching a project about music?

I love music, so it is quite obvious to combine this with another thing I love: AEGEE. However, the basic idea of what will now be the FAME project came up already six or seven years ago, even before I joined AEGEE. At the beginning there were two things that I noticed: I would probably never have known many great songs written in languages other than English if my friends from abroad hadn’t introduced them to me. And, feeling more and more European, I became aware of the fact that there are not really any famous pop songs dealing with Europe or aspects of the European integration, neither are songs that make the European flag appear in a music video clip (which I believe it deserves, just as the US flag, for instance).

Connecting those two things, the basic idea for this project was born, and after I joined AEGEE I felt our association was the perfect environment to make it possible. Together with other AEGEE members (at this place I should not forget to mention Alperen Yavuz, Rüya Beril and Dawid Sierzant), the idea was then further developed during the “European Ideas Factory” of AEGEE-Europe which took place in Gliwice in 2010. Unfortunately, we never managed to start off with the project. But I believe it is never too late for a good idea, so now the time has finally come.

Which is the main aim of the project? Would you like to promote European integration through music?

Yes, that’s the main aim indeed – and music is a perfect tool to spread Europtimism, because everyone listens to music and it can be used in many ways. But even more than that, FAME also wants to foster the variety of European languages and musical traditions. Music is an important part of our culture, but at the same time it also carries culture, e.g. languages, typical sounds, rhythms, instruments or dances, and thus tells stories.

Besides that, worldwide hits such as Dragostea din tei or Gangnam style prove that it is not crucial to understand the songs’ lyrics if the tune is catchy enough, so why does the English language have to be so dominant in modern pop music? Personally, I would also love to hear more non-English music in the clubs during AEGEE events, but that’s a different topic…

And which are the type of musical creations you would like to see in this project? 

Everything is possible, as long as the songs fulfill two criteria:

1. The lyrics have to be written in at least two European languages;
2. and they have to deal with Europe or any aspect of the European integration in a positive or constructive way, taking AEGEE’s values and mission into account.

The rest is open to the creativity of our participants. The “perfect” FAME song would actually combine those two criteria and even refer to it in the way it is produced. To give an example: A love song ballad about – let’s say – a Russian and a Spanish who meet in Greece. It could be a duet between the two of them with the verses sung in Russian and Spanish and the chorus in Greek, using the balalaika and flamenco guitar and combining it with some syrtaki-style rhythm.

Or, to give another (less complex) example: a hip hop song about the EU’s founding father Jean Monnet, using sound samples from a speech. Or a hard rock song complaining about still existing borders in Europe that need to be overcome. You see, there is lots of space for the FAME participants to unleash their creativity.

Each song will be a little project on its own, providing the greatest possible freedom for the participants (i.e. songwriters, musicians, producers etc.) within the basic guidelines of FAME, as well as ensuring an individual sound.

Do you look for members who are experienced in music, or any AEGEE member can join?

Indeed there are many ways to contribute for every AEGEE member, even if you’re completely non-musical. Of course we need songwriters, musicians and singers, too. But in order to promote the songs in a proper way, many more things have to be done. An important aspect of the project will be the production of video clips for the songs – therefore we need e.g. screenplay writers, film editors, actors and actresses, costume designers and many more.

Of course this also depends on the money we’ll be able to raise, thus we also need people experienced in fundraising as well as experts for social media and viral marketing. This project definitely has the potential to become really huge, but even if it attracts only a few AEGEE members and if we have no money at all, it can still be realized on a small scale. In fact it could be just me recording a little song at home with my guitar, but of course it would be so much more awesome to get dozens of AEGEE people from all over Europe involved.

As you have mentioned, the project could not be possible some years ago in your first attempt. Why was it?

When we developed the project during the “European Ideas Factory”, we were all very enthusiastic, but quite soon we realized that we were too busy with other stuff, inside and outside of AEGEE. Even though we had already started promoting the project within AEGEE, it was still not too late to stop it without harming anybody. Concerning my personal situation, from April I will be out of the AEGEE-Düsseldorf board after three years as its president, so now there is some space for me to dedicate myself to the European level of AEGEE.

And why do you think AEGEE needs a project related to music?

Because there is none yet, at least not such a big one, and I know many AEGEE members who make music and would certainly like to join such a project. Whenever I told somebody about FAME in the past, the reactions were very positive. Plus, the idea behind this project perfectly matches the “Spreading Europtimism” part of the new Strategic Plan.

Do you expect to make it an official AEGEE project?

That would be great, but of course it depends a lot on the project team I’m about to start forming. As I said above, I believe that FAME has the potential to become a big project, and it would be awesome to have it as an official project of AEGEE-Europe. But step by step, first let’s see if anybody is interested in joining me in the project team.

And have you already found some members interested in it?

Indeed the first participants already joined and started working on a song, however in the project team I am currently the only one. But it’s been just two days now since the project was officially made public within the AEGEE world by sending the open call for team members via ANNOUNCE-L, so I’m expecting the first applications during the next days.

Apart from that, it’s definitely nice to see that the number of “likes” for the Facebook page as well as the number of subscribers to the mailing list FAME-INFO-L has begun to grow constantly. So I assume there must be a general interest in this project.

So, as soon as you have your first team members, which are your first plans going to be? Will we see the FAME project in Patra?

I hope we will be able to get into work very soon: preparing fundraising activities, making the project known among AEGEE members, building up a communication infrastructure, starting to cooperate with other bodies in AEGEE, sending out a first open call for songs, and so on.

Without promising too much, I can say that the plan is indeed to release a first FAME song including a videoclip already in April! I mentioned above that some people are currently working on a song, and I am confident that the final result will be impressive. I hope that the song will also help to make the FAME project popular among AEGEE members, and it would be great to present the video clip at the AGORA and maybe even play the song during the parties. But that depends on the Chair Team and the local organisers, of course..

Written by Anna Gumbau, AEGEE-Barcelona/AEGEE-Leuven

The AGORA is streaming live all the time, so all the ones, who by one reason or another couldn’t make it to Budapest, have the opportunity to keep up to speed with the official part of this event from home. But not for nothing do they say that it is the little things that count. So here are just some of the little things that you might have missed from the live streaming.

The AEGEEan was lucky to obtain top-secret information that will be only revealed tonight. You, my dear readers, will be the first to know. The Network Commission (NetCom) cups will be officially released. Now all of our beloved Network Commissioners (NetCommies) will not only have T-Shirt to unite them, but coffee mugs to help them wake up on the last two mornings of the AGORA. This obviously means that they just have to be on time and full of energy now. No excuses!

The opening ceremony can definitely be remembered for the Hungarian dances and the Hungarian Magician. Even though we may not have seen any true white magic, nevertheless, many got to laugh at the tricks with the rope and rings accompanied to all types of strange and peculiar songs. Some lucky ones even got to get a souvenir to take back home. We are sure that those cut off pieces of rope will be cherished in their homes forever… or maybe not.

The first two parties opened with a big bang. The clubs might have been a bit crowded, but what can you expect from such huge event? The Suit-up party was just a warm-up for the rest of the AGORA nights. Some truly went all out for the Bad Hair night. All the ones who couldn’t get a wig or spray their hair with any crazy color were able to improvise with ALDI bags, ponytails or just plain-old hair jelly.

The delay of the vice-chair, who was elected so smoothly, with no objections whatsoever at the Extraordinary Agora, cannot be left unmentioned. Thomas Leszke was told to have been dreaming of AEGEE-Düsseldorf while we were all already hard at work at the first plenary. Now this is a joke that really needs to be explained. To start off, Thomas is from AEGEE-Köln. When speaking about the relationship between Köln and Düsseldorf, one might compare it to that of Barcelona –Madrid or Moscow – St. Petersburg. Basically, if you ask for a Düsseldorf beer in a bar in Köln, you will be kicked out. The same is true the other way around. Now that the background story is in place, we can have our small laugh at the “punishment” Thomas had to endure.

Last but not least. The plush-toy flash mob was a very nice way to start this Friday. A good cause and a great way to help out. Thank you, dear organisers, for such a wonderful idea.

A separate thank you to Christian Bussar, AEGEE-Aachen, and Dasha Onokhova, AEGEE-Moskva, for the pictures. 

Written by Olga Volovyk, AEGEE-Kyiv

What is it that you expect from an AEGEE Summer University (SU)? Lots of fun? New people? Party till sunrise? If it includes traveling, then in addition to all before mentioned there also come crazy bus rides and amazing railroad crossings. This, however, was not your typical Summer University. It is true, we had it all, but not quite as you would imagine. The “I BIKE” SU by AEGEE -Koln  and AEGEE-Düsseldorf had a German biking twist to it.

For me AEGEE is about trying new things, trying to be someone new and falling in love with things you would never have tried otherwise. When planning this event, the organisers just had a simple idea – “Let’s do a bike tour!”. Even though none of them had ever done a biking tour themselves, they surely were brave enough to not only do it themselves, but to inspire 19 other people to join them and hopefully survive.

Amazingly enough, we all made it back home alive and well with memories and emotions overflowing while dancing on our bikes to the music of the passing boat. Let’s keep in mind that we all did travel through Germany, so one should not be surprised that we did our best to be as eco-friendly as possible. Sustainability! That’s what we were aiming at. This meant crossing fields and fields of solar panels, seeing the human size of the wind turbines, visiting a water plant and helping out in the community garden.  Special thanks to the workshop from the Environmental Working Group.

Apart from all of that, we biked, biked, biked and biked some more. At times we did have to arrive already way past sundown, but at least our rumbling tummies were always extremely well fed. After going over 90 km by bike you are ready to eat everything, but it comes as such a nice surprise when you are offered a delicious meal. The delicious dinners were the perfect icing on the exhausting climbs uphill and the dream-like and seemingly short rides downhill.

After dinner there were two options: either fall down, pass out and sleep or be one of the ones ready for extreme sports of biking all day after partying all night. Yes, we did have some mad men among us. Of course there was also an option of showering sooner rather than later and many (especially girls) were surprised at their ability to take a shower in only 4 minutes. Oh, the things AEGEE makes you do… However, regardless of how you decided to spend the night, the first 30 minutes on bike were always the same – “How in the world will I survive the day if I can barely move now?!?!”

Three countries (Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium) and countless small and big towns did we pass on our bikes. Every new boarder was a victory, but you can imagine just how many victories we had when we ended up crossing from one country to the other up to 20 times within a single day!

After a week of biking and more than 530 km behind us we were ready to enjoy partying, sightseeing and even swimming. However, nobody had expected crazy Russian dances to Balkan music in Germany. Nevertheless, we all got to improve ourselves together with Fabian Brüggemann, who obviously just enjoyed having us as his puppets for a couple of hours.

As warned beforehand we all did come back with buffed legs and aching bottoms. Surprisingly enough none had imagined that after a week of biking, hitting a rock while walking in the city would leave a bigger scar and leave a person limping than crashing into the bushes while going downhill on a bike. We will all have something to remember from this SU. Some will have their scars, but most will have memories, friendships and emotions that one just can’t brush away. 

A big thank you to the photographers: Christian Bussar from AEGEE-Aachen, David Martin-Gonzalez from AEGEE-Las Palmas and Danilo Pesenti Barili from AEGEE-Bergamo. 

Written by Olga Volovyk, AEGEE-Kyiv