AEGEE-Eskişehir was our Local of the Month of December, and the Turkish antenna is in full swing organising local events, but also international ones. It signed the Convention d’Adhesion in 2001 during Autumn Agora Ankara, organising the Balkans Regional Meeting one year later. Their activities are local projects, thematic events, Summer Universities, Network Meetings and weekly meetings on every Wednesday with a focus on thematic topics, and they also organised Autumn Agora Eskişehir in 2007. That is not all: from the 3rd to the 10th of April they will host the Fund Raising European School (FRES), in cooperation with AEGEE-Europe and AEGEE-Academy. We spoke with the president of the Antenna Toygar Öter and the Speaker of the Academy Antonis Triantafyllakis to know something more about the event. Remember, the deadline is on the 2nd of March!

The AEGEEan: Why did you decide to organise the FRES?

Toygar: To be honest, the former board applied for FRES, but I was on that board too and I wanted to have this event very much.  After our General Assembly, where I became President,  the new team adopted this event easily because there was not a European School event in AEGEE-Eskişehir history. Fundraising is a very attractive topic, every member of AEGEE-Eskişehir wants to do fundraising talks because it contributes to the development of the person and I think it is really entertaining. Most of the locals are facing with money and sponsorship issues. Fortunately, Eskişehir is a student city, most of the company knows us. In short, we trust ourselves in raising funds and we want to share our experiences.  When we found such an opportunity, we did not want to miss it.

Who are going to be the trainers of the event?

Antonis: We are lucky to have a team of trainers with diverse backgrounds and knowledge to offer to the event, ensuring an amazing learning experience for the participants of FRES Eskişehir: Daria Andreieva from BEST, Vladislav Andrijako from Euroavia, Antonis Triantafyllakis from AEGEE-Academy and Réka Salamon from AEGEE-Europe.

Can you give us a sneak peek of the program? What will the sessions be?

Antonis: Participants will enjoy an overall coverage of both institutional and corporate fundraising, including all you need to know about grants such as Erasmus+ and how to apply for them, corporate sponsors, how to approach them and maintain a long-term relationship with them, the psychology of marketing and how to apply it on fundraising, how to manage your funds and pretty much all you need to know in order to successfully carry on a strategic fundraising plan for the projects of your local. The main structure will be the familiar one from all AEGEE-Academy European Schools, with the theory given in the morning sessions in an interactive manner and practice being done in the afternoon based on working groups, fully incorporating the group dynamics into the learning process, as you would expect from an AEGEE-Academy training. Most importantly, we will put the FUN into fundraising!

What do you have in store for participants?

Toygar: We provide to participants seven days lodging in a villa (unfortunately we will have no pool), three meals per day, local transportation, sessions in Anadolu University, which is one of the most active universities in Turkey, city tour, parties, lots of fun and surprises!  And you may not believe but it is just for 75€!

What are your experience and your strategy with fundraising?
Toygar:  As I mentioned before Eskişehir is a small and student city. AEGEE-Eskişehir is a very known organisation in university and in the city. Almost every new board goes to meet with the university administration, mayors of municipalities and governor of Eskişehir. They support us as much as possible. On the other hand, we have lots of events in a year and we search different companies for each event.  For example, we carry out our common meetings every Wednesday and we have a tradition which after every common meeting we go to dinner together. We try to go to different places every week. All of this is making us very known in Eskişehir and making things easier in order to get supports. In my opinion, as AEGEE-Eskişehir we have a long history and traditions. Summing up, we take care of our work as a professional also we know how to live it up! Alumni, experienced members or new ones, we are a huge family!

What is the involvement of the Academy?

Antonis: FRES is a European School, so it is kind of a…child of AEGEE-Academy. Like all European Schools, the structure is fully based on non-formal education methodologies, so it is interactive, tailored to the needs of the learners, held in a participatory, learning by doing manner and, above all, fun! AEGEE-Academy coordinates the project, from design to implementation and evaluation, ensures the quality of the content, the harmonious collaboration between the trainers’ team and the local organisers. AEGEE-Academy also guarantees the positive impact of the event.

How is the cooperation with AEGEE-Eskişehir going?

Antonis: AEGEE-Eskişehir is full of absolutely lovable people who are also reliable organisers, so we are very happy to work with them and eager to meet them in the beautiful city of Eskişehir!

How is cooperation with the Academy going?

Toygar: We want to thank them for electing us to organise this event as AEGEE-Eskişehir. They are supporting us as much as they can.

What is the most amazing thing about your local and your city?

Toygar: Eskişehir is a small city, however, it is the best for students in Turkey. Even though it is a small city, it has two big universities. A city with all the opportunities for a student. If you are studying here, you know that you are very lucky!
Apply now here and here by the 2nd of March

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Verona

The month of December brought us a new Local of the Month: AEGEE-Eskisehir, a Turkish local that is organising a Fundraising European School with some experienced trainers and is involved in a Project called ‘’Volunteer Your Future’’. In addition, AEGEE members are already preparing their Summer University, this time in cooperation with the Election Observation Project. 

The AEGEEan: After being nominated LoM, tell us a little bit about how AEGEE-Eskisehir began to write history.

AEGEE-Eskisehir Board: AEGEE-Eskisehir joined the AEGEE network during the Autumn Agora Ankara in 2001 and has a long tradition of organising events that are open to all AEGEE members. From that day on, we had lots of different kinds of events and projects. We do not think to write all of them individually. For example, in 2005, we organised our second biggest event called “What is Europe,” an event on what Europe exactly entails and the role of Turkey during the membership dialogue between Turkey and the EU.

The biggest of all was the Autumn Agora Eskisehir in 2007, around 700 AEGEEans hosted by AEGEE-Eskisehir participated. Finally, in 2008 and 2009 we organised the largest thematic event in our history so far; our “Disabled People Project Team” organised the “Empathy Days” – after four years of local success, the “Empathy Days” were included in the 2013 European Boards Meeting in Valletta. We have a long and successful history but still, we work to improve our local and members more!

How did the Meeting of the Turkish-speaking antennas, that took place between 4-5 February, go?

We can say that it was a kind of NWM with Turkish speaking locals. We talked about our issues and every local shared their future plans. According to the results we had from this meeting, we need to do something together to have nice contact as in the past and need to help each other more.

How do you keep your members motivated?

As a board, we try to make our members feel worthful. We want every member of AEGEE-Eskisehir – experienced or new, it does not matter – to feel they belong here. We are working together closely. For sure, enjoying things together! We never say ourselves that ”We are friends”. As AEGEE-Eskişehir ”We are family!”

What did you talk about with the governor of Eskisehir?

In general, boards of AEGEE-Eskisehir go to meet with the governor and mayors of Eskisehir to talk about AEGEE and AEGEE-Eskişehir. We, as the new board, went to meet with him and told him about our future plans. Fortunately, governors and mayors of Eskisehir do not refuse us. They are trying to provide what we need. We are grateful to them!

What is happening next in AEGEE-Eskisehir?

We have lots of plans. For example, in the near future, we are going to have Spring LTC for our members and also members of the other eight Turkish speaking antennas which will be able to attend.

We are also going to have a Fundraising European School with four amazing trainers, between 3rd and 10th of April: Antonis Triantafyllakis from AEGEE-Academy, Daria Andreieva from BEST, Réka Salamon from AEGEE-Europe and Vladislav Andrijako from Euroavia. The participant fee is 75 €, that includes hosting in a villa, three meals per day, amazing sessions in Anadolu University which is one of the biggest campuses in Turkey, city tour, transportation in intracity, lots of fun and surprises! If you want to improve your fundraising skills, do not miss this chance because the deadline is on 23rd of February. So, apply from here!

We also have a local project called ‘’Volunteer Your Future’’. Statistically, knowledge about NGOs and voluntary rate in our country is very low. From this point, we created a project and we will try to raise more awareness about the importance of volunteering.

And of course, the Summer University Project called “Fantastic Elections and Where to Observe Them”.  We have cooperated with the Election Observation Project this year, and trainers from EOP will have sessions about the Election Observation’s mission and training. We will also visit three beautiful cities and have plenty of activities. So, 15 amazing days are waiting for 25 crazy AEGEEans!

We hope that plenty of motivated members will work for AEGEE-Eskisehir to make it greater. I think lots of surprises will come in the next terms!

Written by Matteo Lai, AEGEE-Cagliari

It was never done before! During Spring Agora Bergamo we presented all the past recipient of Local and Member of the month from Autumn Agora Kyïv. Among those there was Suzan Dilara Tokaç, from AEGEE-Eskisehir, who discovered she won the award for the Member of the Month of April live, during the closing plenary. She was nominated for her outstanding work in her local and her contribution as a team member for the first edition of the AEGEE Day. 

The AEGEEan: Please introduce yourself.

Suzan: I am Suzan Dilara Tokaç, a 26 years old devoted volunteer, activist, student, teacher, therapist, consultant, art-lover, environmentalist. Volunteering has been covering a great part of my life: since my early years I’ve been a part of different types of projects, international teams and groups. My first international project was about improving health conditions for primary schools supported by the European Union, in which I took part when I was 9. My elementary and high school years continued with various other events and activities. Then, in the very first day of my university I met AEGEE and I have been a member ever since (nine years!). My love for kids, their energy and enthusiasm to share knowledge led me to the department of teaching on the subject I like the most: English. After four years of studying, I wanted to go one step further, not only doing a postgraduate study but also doing it in another field. I’m almost done with my MA’s on Speech and Language Therapy program. I love dancing, it’s like a passion for me. Just like many of us, I like traveling, but sometimes I take it so far that I arrange all my plans according to my travel agenda. I am also a big collector, I keep everything from my travels: from napkins in restaurants to bills, tickets, vintage pins, coins, stones from the cities and sand and water from the seas.

What did it feel like to be awarded with the title of Member of the Month of April?

I have devoted a great part of my life to AEGEE. All my family and friends know that I have strong bonds towards the members and activities. My motivation has always been sharing, caring and leaving a remark on people’s lives and consequently on the Earth we are living on. Although it seems something small, the award makes all the effort and seconds I spent for this family priceless.

You were nominated also for your great contribution to your local, AEGEE-Eskisehir. What is the thing that motivates you the most?

Eskisehir means a lot to me. I was just a child the first time I entered this city and it made me the person I am today. I became a teacher, therapist, friend, lover, helper, trainer, traveler, student, and AEGEE’s role on this process is the biggest one. So, why not honour it?

Another reason to your nomination was the AEGEE Day. Why did you decide to join the team? How would you describe the Day?

Last year I was the Public Relations Responsible of 30 years of AEGEE, Night of Seven Antenna in AEGEE-Eskisehir. That experience was one of the best in my AEGEE life, with the concept, thematic part, shows and the fun. When I saw the “AEGEE DAY” project, I said ‘woooow! One step further!’ A celebration all over Europe, all over AEGEE with a great theme and team. I couldn’t resist to be a part of a project with such a rich and quality content. I am always open to new ideas, projects and innovations, so I am really thankful to be part of it and taking it one step further. 79 bodies joined us on the AEGEE DAY and I hope 2nd edition we will see three digit numbers. Our DAY, well WEEK is a better call, was very productive, educative and for sure borderless.

What are your future plans in AEGEE?

There is always future for you in AEGEE. You can always go one step further and I want to take them till 35 possibly. I want to bring life to one of my thematic project ideas. Also, work for our organization’s sustainability in the necessary positions in the name of projects, initiatives and creative ideas.  

Name one good thing and one bad thing in our association.

What I like the most about our organisation is that there is never a limit in AEGEE. Development, ideas, self-improvement, projects and activities are only limited with our imagination and motivation. On the other hand, as we always say ‘we are such a big family’ that we sometimes forget our neighbours. We are so focused on our own projects and domestic affairs that we underestimate the relations with other NGO’s, groups and associations. Of course we have other partners or collaborators but they are either too local based or mostly in Brussels that not many other AEGEEans are aware of their existence.

Let’s play a game. Describe yourself by using adjectives that start with the letters that compose your name… 

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

Upbeat

Zealous

Ageless

Nutritious (for the one’s soul) :D

Dedicated

Ingenious

Loving

Adventurous

Romantic

Artistic

You can learn more about Local and Member of the Month here.

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Verona

Personal development is not something that makes you do the impossible, but the achievable. In this modern world, everybody recognises the importance of this, while some of us try to learn, others just keep without it. Apparently, AEGEE-Eskişehir doesn’t belong to the latter mentioned. That’s why AEGEE-Eskişehir Personal Development Working Group organised an event which they named ‘Development Begins Within You’ on 9-10 April. Furthermore, it wasn’t a typical one which involves only learning theories, but also creating and applying them. To understand more, we’ve come together with Berfu Özer, (AEGEE-Eskişehir) Secretary of Personal Development Working Group (PDWG), and Gamze Çayır, (AEGEE-Eskişehir) Speaker of Personal Development Working Group, both of whom are the main responsible for this event.

The AEGEEan: Is it your first ‘Personal Development’ event?

Berfu Özer: No, this event has been organised three times in three years, and it has been organised by the Secretary and the Speaker of the PDWG. Also, we will most probably come with a modified fourth one next year, as it appears to attract a lot of attention. Actually, we can say it is becoming a tradition in AEGEE-Eskişehir. [she smiles]

Where did the event take place and how many participants did you have?

Gamze Çayır: It took place at Atatürk Culture and Art Center at Anadolu University, and we had around seventy participants.

What did the programme consist of?

Berfu Özer: On the first day, we had three speech givers, Peren Yörük, a life coach, Melih Arat an NLP (neuro linguistic programming) specialist, and Ömer Karapınar, an academic in communication and media, who spoke about empathy, prejudice, self-confidence and achieving your target.

On the second day, before the sessions began, we played ice breaking games for the participants to relax and get in the mood. And then we started to play Monopoly which included twenty-four games. Participants were divided into ten groups each of which was assigned a game master and each started from a different box. Their aim was to come back to their starting point. Each group took a break at different times. The practice part was completed in about five hours. Within the practice, there were games of empathy, and self-confidence developing activities like sharing videos of singing a song on social media. Also, questions were asked about the most delicate parts which the speech givers presented during the seminar. At the end of the games , each group received points even though we didn’t rank them as ‘the winner, the second…’.

How did you come up with the idea of this event?

Berfu Özer: AEGEE-Eskişehir has always been interested in the subject of personal development, and the events made until today have always attracted attention in AEGEE. We took part in last year’s event and enjoyed it a lot. After that event, we started asking ourselves ‘How can we make it better?’. Considering the answer to this question, we made a few changes. After some research, we decided to ask for help from IEEE Turkey (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers). So the practice part was prepared by IEEE Turkey who were a group of around twenty people. They joined on the second day of the event, and supported and helped us during the games, which meant a lot to us.

Were you inspired by other AEGEE PDWGs, or did you get any help with ideas from other PDWGs while preparing the content of the event?

Gamze Çayır: We didn’t get any help other than from IEEE. However, we proceeded with the ideas of our weekly meetings’ attendants, other working groups’ speakers and secretaries, and members of the committee.

Can you say that you made your event different from a typical personal development seminar? What did you do for that purpose? What were the enjoyable parts?

Berfu Özer: After some research, we realised that no personal development seminar had been made with the practice part in our country. Therefore, we believe we broke new ground in that. Furthermore, we learned that our participants thought that the event was very efficient and above expectations, which made us also really happy. The fact that it had never been done before made us a bit nervous, but I think we came through and set a good example.

Also, the speech givers’ interaction with the participants made it a very efficient event. One of the speech givers, Ömer Karapınar, made the participants play a game about prejudice after he talked about it during his speech. The participants not only enjoyed, but were also really impressed with it.

Finally, at the end of the event, we made an after movie which summarised the whole event. The stand work, the preparations, and moments from these 2 days were shown. This way, we finished the event with a lot of laughter and good memories to remember.

Can you make an overall comment for the event?

Gamze Çayır: After the event, on our first meeting, we realised that a lot of participants started to come to our office, which was really uplifting. Obviously, this event resulted in some new AEGEEans. [she smiles]

Berfu Özer: Personally, I feel like I gained a lot more experience in AEGEE, and it will become an important step for my future work in AEGEE.

Written by M.S., AEGEE-Eskişehir

AEGEE-Eskişehir was created in 2001 and since then they haven’t stopped being active. They have organised a Balkans Regional Meeting, an Agora and other thematic events, but they also organised Summer Universities and hosted Network Meetings. The Night of the Seven Antennae event in April was one of the reason that they are elected Local of the Month. Do you want to learn more about AEGEE-Eskişehir? Read below!

AEGEEan: Tell us a little bit about the history of your local.
AEGEE-Eskişehir: AEGEE-Eskişehir joined the AEGEE network during Agora Ankara 2001 and has a long tradition of organising events that are open to all AEGEE-members. For example, in 2002 we organised a Balkans Regional Meeting. In 2005 we organised our second biggest event called “What is Europe,” an event on what Europe exactly entails and the role of Turkey during the membership dialogue between Turkey and EU. Furthermore, from 2007 to 2010 AEGEE-Eskişehir uninterruptedly organised Information Technology Schools for AEGEE-Eskişehir members. In 2007 close to 1000 Europeans participated in the Agora that took place in our city. Finally, in 2008 and 2009 we organised the largest thematic events in our history so far: our ‘Disabled People Project Team’ organised the ‘Empathy Days’ – after four years of local success the ‘Empathy days’ were included in the 2013 European Boards Meeting in Valletta.
In addition, we organized Summer Universities, hosted Network Meetings, and are having weekly meetings every Wednesday with a focus on thematic topics. The weekly meeting is organised under a democratic system in which every member (no matter his function or previously hold functions) has the same amount of speaking time.

“AEGEE-Eskişehir is the Local of the Month”. How does this feel?
It feels good to be the antenna of the Month. We worked very hard this year and we all had to make a lot of sacrifices as board members. Also our members worked hard. And I think this is a boost for everyone in the organisation.

How many members does AEGEE-Eskişehir have right now and how many are active?
We have over 150 members and approximately 60 of them are active right now. Our weekly meetings usually include 40 to 50 people.

One of the reasons for your election as Local of the Month was the organisation of the Night of the Seven Antennae. How did the idea to organise it come about?
As board members of AEGEE-Eskişehir, our first aim was to make our local more active and well known in Europe. Thanks to Evrim (one of the board members) and her contacts in AEGEE-Europe we heard and learned about the project. Night of the Seven Antennae was an event unique too all AEGEE members and it was the best option for us to achieve our aim of spreading our reputation. We wanted to be part of this piece of history. That is why we decided to participate in this splendid event. We were lucky because the whole Eskişehir family came together and worked hard, we had an amazing organisation team. And, of course, we should be thankful for the Anniversary Team to give us this chance too.

What was the best thing about organising the event?
The best thing was that everything we wanted to organise was realised as we wanted it. We didn’t really had any big problems during the organisation of this event. And that makes an event always, especially if you’re part of the organising team, much more fun. We also got a lot of positive reactions about the connection to the rest of Europe within this event. I think that is what made this event so memorable.

What are the next plans of your local?
Actually, we were a candidate for the Agora which was held in Oviedo. We weren’t chosen, but of course this wasn’t the only event we were planning on. We have a thematic project ‘Feel Europe’ which aims to take prejudices about Europe and Europeans away from Turkish youth. The project has two steps. At the beginning, the content will be prepared for university students and people who are living in Eskişehir. Then, we intend to spread all those reflections, all around our country. Furthermore, we are organising a Summer University again this year. The name of this year’s Summer University is ‘The Unexpected Green Journey TSU’. We will welcome our participant with the natural beauties of Anatolia. It will happen between the 2nd and the 16th of July and there is still a chance to apply because offered places through open calls. Also, we are in contact with AEGEE-Lviv about an upcoming Exchange Project.

How do you imagine your antenna in a year?
We like to imagine ourselves as a local that is very strong on thematic topics and projects. And at the moment we are working hard, and are close too, achieving that goal. Also, on both the European and the local level we would like to see an increase in active members.

Tell us something that we don’t know about AEGEE-Eskişehir!
You know nothing AEGEEan Journalist… In our humble view, we have the best mascot of AEGEE. People don’t easily forget about Masagor after meeting him.

Written by Lia Tuska, AEGEE-Sofia/Thessaloniki

From the 2^nd of July till the 16^th, it was time for 26 participants to embrace the Turkish way of life and go to the extreme! AEGEE-Eskişehir was the organizing local of this SU, with a program full of amazing activities that would make participants as well as organizers push themselves to their limits, all of it adding up to a wonderful summer. We would even become famous, since after a few days we were already featured in no less than four local newspapers!

The journey started in Eskişehir, where we stayed for five days, accommodated in student dorms at the University Campus. The first day after the city tour we had lunch in a park and were greeted by a castle that could have come straight from a Disney fairy tale and a ship from Pirates of the Caribbean. Then came the city rally during which certain groups found out they had a true fanatical player in their midst, as they race walked their way past a never ending array of golden statues, trying to find the right ones and then strike a pose in front of them. We also visited a real Turkish Hamam and were scrubbed clean, undoubtedly to get dirty again later on in the SU. The European Night was also held, and, next to all the typical foods and drinks of participant’s countries, the ever present Spanish sangria and Dutch stroopwafels, we also rejoiced in an overflow of Turkish delights, baklava, and Turkish dances!

Slowly, towards the end of our stay in Eskişehir, the level of extreme was being turned up a notch. We hiked through a Phrygian valley, we fought like real soldiers and protected our castle during a battle of laser game and, finally, we climbed rocks and did some real extreme trekking in Karakaya. Jumping from rock to rock, squeezing ourselves through tight openings between stone walls. We were born again, stood on top of the world to take a selfie extreme style, sang Poison when waiting in the shade and came down with scratches and bruises as souvenirs. Our bodies functioned as timelines for the SU, the more days passed, the more scratches and bruises could be added to our collective list of injuries. Even after that we kept on going, as many of us voluntarily stretched, challenged their balance and tried to outshine each other in a plank challenge. But even participants of the extreme have to sleep, which we did in a night bus tour to our next destination, Fethiye!

There, we also made time to experience some of the Turkish culture, for it was Ramadan during our SU. In Fethiye we ate together with the poorer part of the local community in a free Ramadan dinner. But, the level of extreme didn’t stop, it was only turned up higher! With this new destination came also the sea and beach, and during a twelve islands boat tour we all transformed into true water rats, jumping from cliffs, taking a shower under a waterfall, chilling in a cold spring to leave it five years younger and also the boat itself offered a great means from which to throw ourselves in the water. When going from one beautiful place to the other we didn’t sit still, for it was time to shake some booty and do some sexy belly dancing on deck of the boat. We also had another boat tour, but this time to discover the world below the water’s surface; a suit-up party with wetsuits, and we were ready to dive deep and feed the fish! The next day though, we switched from being like fish underwater to being like birds in the sky, paragliding from a more than 2000m high mountainside slowly down towards the beautiful beach in Ölüdeniz.

After flying in the air of course the organizers had to let us be like monkeys too, so when we travelled to our last destination Antalya/Manavgat, we went to an adventure park and moved from tree to tree by stepping on hanging logs, walking over nets and using ziplines. Already the end of our SU was coming closer, and with no more time to go to a Turkish Hamam again, we provided for one ourselves while hiking in Saklikent canyon, body painting each other black with the soft mud we found there. After the muddy hike we chose to add another activity to the program, as we let ourselves be transported along an icy cold part of river that flowed out of the canyon, grasping each other’s hands at the end in order not to be washed over completely and taken away to unknown places.. The last extreme activity was rafting, although it became more a question of splashing the other teams wet and being the boat with the best team spirit; ‘Cola, fanta, pepsi, OUR team is sexy!’ After all, what makes a SU special is the team spirit you create, all the memorable moments spent together. Singing Christmas songs in the back of the bus in at least five different languages, all at the same time, dancing on the bar in a club in Ölüdeniz, having two girls with us who were like a living jukebox, in any random sentence they would hear a song text and start singing, playing never have I ever on the beach, voting for the awards when a certain Spanish guy insisted on also having the category most handsome/pretty participant (he wanted to claim his award as Turkish Delight), going night swimming in the sea, and many more! 

Then, as we sadly left Turkey and most of our planes had a delay, we got one last taste of Turkish Time and could think back on all those amazing moments, made possible by the wonderful organizers from AEGEE-Eskişehir, who have done an absolutely great job in making this event possible. So many activities brought to us for a great SU price… all that is left to say is teşekkürler & see you somewhere in Europe!

 Written by Carina van Hoof, AEGEE-Utrecht 

Pictures courtesy of Andrea Saranti, AEGEE-Patra and Lenka Stancelova, AEGEE-Bratislava

This month the spotlights are on a very active AEGEE-local: AEGEE-Eskişehir. This antenna was founded on a stable base at Autumn Agora Ankara in 2001. From that moment on a long list of memorable moments, among which the organisation of the Autumn Agora Eskişehir in 2007, contributed to their latest achievement: their election as Local of the Month.

Tina Kukhianidze (Network Commission): “AEGEE-Eskişehir has been very active already for quite a long time, and in December they organized a Regional Training Course (RTC) for Turkish speaking locals. The programme was amazing, they had a fair presenting European Level projects and Working Groups, and they hosted up to 60 people! Now I can see that a lot those people are becoming active in their boards.  AEGEE-Eskişehir is contributing a lot to the overall wellness of the Turkish speaking locals.” 

Besides that they are sending 25 members to EBM Valletta, their mascot is taking part in the AEGEEan’s Choice Awards and their Summer University ended in fourth place last year.The AEGEEan asked the board members of AEGEE-Eskişehir, Ruşan Can Akal (President), Burak Topaloğlu (Vice President and PR), Ebru Ergüden (Secretary General), Berna Ömür (Treasurer) and İlknur Candemir (External Relations Director), about the plans for their local.

The AEGEEan: Can you tell us about the future plans of AEGEE-Eskişehir?

Board: One of our biggest occupations right now is our annual project called Empathy Days, which we will be organizing for the fourth time this year, and we are planning on organizing it together with another local and making it a European Level project. In this context we have applied to organize a session about the Empathy Days in this upcoming EBM Valetta, which will be a simulation for AEGEE members that haven’t had the possibility to experience this yet. Besides that we are planning to organize an exchange with a local from another cultural background.

At the moment AEGEE-Eskişehir has five Working Groups (WGs) and one Summer University Project on the local level. Can you tell us something about the working procedures and aims of your WGs?

Of course, this point is very crucial for vitality of our antenna because it always keeps our members motivated and working in order to improve the quality of our work and projects. Here we go;

Active Citizenship WG: The main aim of this WG is to put our local projects on a european level, such as the Empathy Days. They are also planning to organize conferences about racism and women rights, and they are working on an interesting event which will be a free Summer Cinema for old people.

Nature Sports and Environmental WG: This WG is working on two sides but the main characteristic of it is to unite these two topics. They are planning to give workshops about Environmental issues to students from Primary School in order to increase their awareness, and they are planning to organize trekking trips, a camp, a bicycle tour around the city and making a logo of AEGEE Eskişehir out of recycled material.

Cultural Interaction WG: They are working on Cultural Exchange and making presentations each week about a country, where they listen to the music, taste the food and invite an Erasmus student from the concerning country. Also they want to organize speaking clubs so that people can practice English.

International Politics WG: They worked on a disscussion platform where all the different ideas are respected. In the first term, they made presentations about Turkey-EU Relations and they made a survey about “how much do we know about the EU?”. Additionally, they had a brief presentation about Turkey’s EU Process and the current situation, disscussion about the current foreign affairs of Turkey with neighbour countries and a presentation about the Cyprus Topic. They are also planning on organizing a conference with a master journalist about the EU and a workshop at Agora Rhein-Neckar.

Cinema and Photography WG: They make a survey every week about which movie we should watch at the meeting. In respect to those movies, they are planning to give workshops and trainings about photography, movie montage and more.

AEGEE-Eskişehir’s ambassadors on the European Level
Besides all this local activity, AEGEE-Eskişehir has quite some members who are active on the European Level and do their best to represent their local in the best way possible.

Burak Topaloğlu (Visa Freedom WG Speaker): “First of all, I have been a member of AEGEE-Eskisehir since 2010. When I joined, not much people were active on the European Level, however they were very enthusiastic and eager to work. I gained a lot of knowledge about the European Level at our LTC. The Visa Freedon Working Group got my serious attention, because I had never been abroad and I knew that that was made almost impossible by the Visa-problems. When I got to know the people from VFWG, who were fighting for Visa freedom, I realized that AEGEE was caring about my problems too, which made me glad to be an AEGEEan, and I decided to join them. First I became HR responsible and later speaker. I feel that the people of AEGEE-Eskişehir appreciate my work, and that makes me proud.”

Deniz Özhan (Subcommie): “Despite the fact that I unfortunately live quite far from my local, I have been closely following everything they do. With a perfect combination of an active, enthusiastic board and lively, dedicated members, AEGEE-Eskişehir has been a good example for how to organize successful events. I am really proud to have them as the local of the month and I hope they will be a good example for other locals.”

Engin Ergezer (Subcommie): “AEGEE-Eskisehir has changed my life. It has started to lead my life since 2009, when I joined the antenna. I have served my local as president, vice-president and secretary, and those experiences have led me to join the European Level and represent AEGEE there as a subcommie, which I am very proud of.”

AEGEE-Eskisehir is still looking for an exchange partner; if you are interested please contact them at info@aegee-eskisehir.org.

Written by Erman Berkay, AEGEE-Mağusa and Marije Arentze, AEGEE-Leiden

As you all can recognise well from the Agora, the Action Agenda Coordination Team (ACT) Committee has dedicated to support the locals who contribute to the Action Agenda. In order to do this ACT members created useful packages which include the objectives for each Focus Area.

One of them is ‘organising an event or action where students can get in personal contact with the target minority in order to experience their daily life.’  This objective is about creating more empathy among our members towards people with disabilities. In order to do so you can get in contact with an organisation that represents minorities and ask for ideas to experience their lives and create more understanding. This is what AEGEE-Eskişehir members started to do a few years ago and made an annual event out of this cooperation. Enjoy the article about their ‘Empathy Day’, written by Engin Ergezer, the president of AEGEE-Eskişehir. Feel free to ACT in the same way!

Have you ever thought about a world all dark? What would your life be like if you could not see? AEGEE-Eskişehir thought about it, made researches and the “Empathy Day” was created.

AEGEE-Eskişehir  did an event for the first time named “Disabled Project” in 2010. The following year, in 2011, Active Citizenship Working Group of the local took over the responsibility to organise it. Finally this year, the project will take place again on 19th-20th of May 2012 and will be presented by the Human Rights Working Group.

AEGEE-Eskişehir members

What is the “Empathy Day”?
It is a day AEGEE-Eskişehir gathers their members and people with disabilities together and share. Sharing life experiences, stories about how daily life is going. Having discussions on what kind of developments can make life easier for people with disabilities. In order to do so, the members imagine being in their shoes.

To be able to understand the disabilities the participants try to perform small daily tasks in a completely dark room, such as trying to reach to the sofa without falling, filling an empty cup with water, picking up a book from a shelf and even reading it if possible. Not being able to walk and trying to get from one place to another in wheelchair. Facing some obstacles like pavements that are not well-designed and using public transportation.

All above-mentioned things are hard to imagine. For a visually impaired person it is very normal and not unusual. At that point AEGEE-Eskişehir steps in and tries to show and prove to people that there is no difference between us. That is why AEGEE-Eskişehir is eager to repeat this event every year to create more personal understanding among the members.

Empathy Day 2012

The Empathy Day which is carried out with the support of Anadolu University, Eskişehir Metropolitan Municipality, and Tepebaşi Municipality is three years old now and will take place this weekend. As it is each year, the event will be open to public and the goal is to try to help “normal people” get rid of the disabilities that they created themselves. Stay tuned for the outcomes of Empathy Day that will happen in 19-20th May 2012.

Written by Engin Ergezer and Deniz Özhan, AEGEE-Eskişehir & ACT 

It is no secret that because of the revolution of Facebook we sometimes stumble upon seeing friends congratulating another person because of his/her birthday. This is normal, but what might seem less normal is when the same people post a “happy birthday” message on the wall of a stuffed animal. However, that is exactly what is happening on more and more occasions.

AEGEE-København has Gorm Junior, AEGEE-Lund has Pippi Longstocking, AEGEE-Madrid has Retirito, and the list goes on. They have Facebook profiles, they have birthdays, and they are hosting AEGEE events! It has become more and more common for antennae to have a mascot that they bring to different AEGEE events.

Other antennae have real animals as mascots. It might seem that this is due to the cute AEGEE-Izmir dog spreading love around the gym during EBM. This dog, which is named Arzu Lu, is however not the AEGEE-Izmir mascot but “only” belongs to AEGEE-Izmir member Simge Gizem. Actually AEGEE-Izmir does not have any mascot at all and for sure there are some people that think that they should have a stuffed look-a-like dog named Arzu II to represent them. Antennae that actually do have a real-life mascot are, e.g., AEGEE-Düsseldorf (a dog named Luna) and AEGEE-Piliscsaba (a cat named Cicus Pazmaneus whose story is elaborated further down in the article).

Development of AEGEE Awards 2012

The AEGEEan is working hard on organizing AEGEE Awards 2012 and the idea of rewarding the antenna with the best mascot came up. For this reason, The AEGEEan made a poll on our Facebook page last month in which we asked which ist he cutest mascot. Many AEGEE members pitched in and five particular mascots became the nominees for “Cutest mascot 2012.” And the nominees are:

The famous badger

If you have attended an event with AEGEE-Eskisehir you will most likely recognize their mascot on the picture to the left. It is featured on the sweaters from the local and their stickers too. Stickers which they, as any other antenna, put everywhere! Its name is Masagor which is a combination of MAScot and AGORa because it was designed for the Autumn Agora Eskisehir 2007. The European badger, whose birthday is October 1st 2007, was chosen as a symbol for the antenna because Eskisehir has a river in the city center which is very famous in Turkey. This river is called Porsuk which is the Turkish word for “badger”. “Also important to mention is that badgers are lovable and brave animals,” says Engin Ergezer, president of AEGEE- Eskisehir. The mascot itself is not a stuffed nor a real life animal, but a costume ready to wear.

Leoncio and all his brothers

Leoncio celebrating Christmas in Italy

It is to no huge surprise that Leoncio, the mascot of AEGEE-León, was amongst the popular mascots in The AEGEEans poll since he is one of the most famous mascots out there. There is a Leoncio in Denmark, a Leoncio in Italy, and of course a Leoncio in León but most likely other European places, too. The original Leoncio, although no one knows where he is today, was “born” in 2008. As some of you might guess, the name derives from the name of the city, which also the reason why it is a lion. León means “a lion” in Spanish and moreover it is the symbol of their city.  AEGEE-León is very generous and shows its appreciation to people whom the local cherishes (and who value AEGEE-León) by giving them a Leoncio. It started as a way of promoting the local when the antenna was small and members wanted to gain fame in Europe. “In all manners, Leoncio is like the precious ring from The Lords of the rings, it always comes back to its owner. Leoncio always has sad eyes, he is only happy whenever he is in León,” fundraiser for the Youth Unemployment project David García Rodriguez says about the mascot of AEGEE-León.

"Uca's" t-shirt

The notorious Spanish cow with her own t-shirt

Another Spanish mascot in the race to win the award is Uca, the mascot of AEGEE-Santander. She was born a little after the antenna was founded back in the summer of 2008 in connection with their first Summer University. According to her Facebook profile the birthday has been set to be the 23^rd of August. She was named Uca because UCA is the Cantabrian way of ending words. All Cantabrian words always ends with –uco or –uca. The choice of having a cow representing the antenna is because cows are amongst the characteristics that are part of the landscape of Santander. Uca ALWAYS comes along whenever AEGEE-Santander is travelling with Erasmus, going to a local training course (LTC) or a Network meeting (NWM). She also travelled to the Agora in Skopje etc. The T-Shirt of AEGEE-Santander will be launched soon and Uca is of course the main feature on it.

An addition to the Greek family

Sofoklis is one of the newest mascots in the network. He belongs to AEGEE-Thessaloniki and was added to their family just before their last NWM back in October 2011. He got his name from his godmother, the secretary of AEGEE-Thessaloniki, Konstantina Katrimpouza who named him Sofoklis because of its beautiful eyes that emit wisdom. The Greek antenna chose an elephant because it is the most faithful animal to its family. All members close to AEGEE-Thessaloniki treat each other as if they were blood-related so they could not have chosen a more appropriate mascot to add to their family. He is eager to travel, but always return to home. Sofoklis is too young to have T-Shirts, brothers, or legendary stories – but AEGEE-Thessaloniki cannot wait to release him in Europe and they are sure that he will gain interesting tales rather sooner than later.

The Hungarian university cat

His name is Cicus pazmaneus and belongs to AEGEE-Piliscsaba. The University of Piliscasaba is catholic and therefore all its buildings have Latin names, even the university bar got a Latin name invented by the students, so it was a no-brainer that the cat should have a Latin name too. He belongs to everybody and hangs around the university spending his time begging for food and listening to presentations. At night he is locked inside the building which causes trouble for the security guards who has to hurry to the university whenever the alarm system goes off only to find out that it was caused by Cicus Pazmaneus strolling around the building. In this case the mascot of AEGEE-Piliscasaba was not invented by the antenna itself. He rose to fame on Facebook, after a mysterious guy created a Facebook account for it, and the cat then became a real star. People tend to post photos on his page where he is in funny situations e.g. in a flower pot or in front of a computer in the computer room.

“We chose him as our mascot because we wanted a real showman cat who is the most likely to bring us luck,” Kata Szabó says about making Cicus Pazmaneus mascot of AEGEE-Piliscasaba. However, the Hungarian antenna has realized that they cannot bring him for AEGEE events around Europe. The solution to this is that they are right now are looking for a stuffed look-a-like cat, not to replace him but so that they can bring his spirit whereever they go.

The final voting for the “cutest mascot” award will begin, alongside with the voting for the other categories, Monday 2^nd of April 2012.

The final voting for the “cutest mascot” award will begin, alongside with the voting for the other categories, Monday 2^nd of April 2012.

Written by Patricia Anthony, AEGEE-København

Thanks to Anil Kacan, Kata Szabó, Engin Ergezer, Ilenia Gurnale & Eleni Buni for contributing with pictures for the article.