AEGEE-Groningen members are preparing their ship to set sail on their new NWM (Network Meeting) that will take place between the 13th and 17th of April. We talked to Anna van den Berg, the Captain of the crew, to find out further information about their NWM and their plans for the event.

The AEGEEan: At the beginning, let’s find out some information about your antenna. Who is AEGEE-Groningen, how many members does it have and how old is it? 

Anna: AEGEE-Groningen is the northernmost local of the Netherlands. It was founded in 1988 and we currently have around 300 members. We organise many local and European events, but we also organise excursions and hitchhiking competitions about six times a year.

Is this the first time when you organise a Network Meeting within your local? If not, when did you host the first one and what will be different in this NWM?

It is not the first time we will host a Network Meeting. Six years ago, we conquered the island of Schiermonnikoog, but this year our ship will set sail for the lovely island of Ameland. Of course, we will also show you our beautiful hometown: Groningen.

 Could you present us the core team behind this NWM?

Our committee consists of six highly motivated pirates. Captain Anna, who prefers to be called Koekwaus, has only one goal in life: to find the secret stack of rum! There is nothing in the world that could stop her from finding it. Her servant, or actually First Mate, Lisette, is quoting everything that has been said, in her diary. She will publish it afterwards to get rich, so she will be able to spend it all on travelling. Treasurer Mark began his voyage at the far eastside of the Netherlands, in search of treasures to finance our journey to the island of Ameland! On his trips, he always brings his own secret stash of rum, and keeps it hidden from his Captain.

And then we have our three masters. Patrick is our Sailing Master. He is responsible for our promotion, so we may find the landlubbers brave enough to join us during our grueling journey. Also, do not overlook Leny, our Master Gunner, she may be quiet at first, but when she is sailing on the Wadden Sea, she feels like being at home. And don’t forget Frank. Frank is just…Frank. He is our Quartermaster and beware of him as well. He has a dangerous skill: his sarcasm will blow your mind.

What is the main theme of this NWM? Please describe it in 3-5 lines. 

The theme of our NWM is Pirates of Ameland. People of AEGEE-Groningen are adventurous and they like to travel, and we would like to offer our participants the opportunity to be part of our adventure by taking them to Ameland on our boat. We will make sure that this is going to be an adventure that they will never forget.

Are there going to be thematic parties? If yes, what kind of thematic parties? 

There will be a thematic party in Groningen, during which you will get the opportunity to show your inner pirate. Of course that on the island, we will organise a European Night. Besides that, we will have more parties, many games and a lot of interesting workshops.

How many participants do you plan to accept?

We will accept a maximum of 30 participants to join us in our adventure.

How much is the participation fee for this event?

This event costs only 65 euros, and it includes our travel to Ameland.

Which is the easiest way for participants to reach Groningen?

Groningen is easily accessible by train, bus or airplane. The airport Groningen-Eelde is located just a few miles away from the city. In addition, there is also a direct train connection between the city and Schiphol airport (Amsterdam). It is also easy to reach Groningen from Eindhoven airport or Bremen airport by train. Flixbus also offers many different connections between Groningen and other cities in Europe.

Do you also plan to give the participants a city tour or an optional trip?

The participants will get tours of both our hometown, Groningen, and the beautiful island Ameland. There will be the opportunity to learn about AEGEE and to develop themselves during the workshops, but we will make sure that they enjoy the beauty of the Netherlands as well.

Tell us something interesting about Groningen, something that a few people know.

Groningen is a city that never sleeps: in our city, the bars do not close until the last person has gone home. So if you are up for the challenge of partying all night long, Groningen is definitely the right city for you!

Written by Gabriela Geană, AEGEE-București

Because Svenja van der Tol, former Secretary of the Agora, was elected as Secretary General of AEGEE-Europe, the Chair Team opened applications for the Secretary of the Agora for the upcoming Autumn Agora Kyïv. Jeanine Ossentjuk from AEGEE-Groningen was selected as new Secretary of the Agora. Let’s find out who the new girl on stage is!

The AEGEEan: For those who don’t know you, can you please introduce yourself?
Jeanine: Hi! My name is Jeanine, I’m 21 years old and I study Human Resource Management. Last year I was Secretary and PR-responsible in the board of AEGEE-Groningen and this year I am in the advisory board and in the travel committee of my local.

Why did you decide to apply for Secretary of the Agora?
AgorAsturias was my first Agora and I really loved it. At the end of the Agora I was determined to become active in AEGEE-Europe. I knew that there had to be an interim Secretary of the Agora since Svenja got elected for CD, and since I really liked my tasks as Secretary in the board of AEGEE-Groningen, it was the perfect opportunity for me to take this experience to the next level!

Not everyone might know what your work looks like. How would you define your work as Secretary of the Agora? 

My main responsibility is taking minutes during the plenaries and some of the prytania at the Agora. Another important part of my work is coordinating my secretary assistants. I’m very lucky to have five amazing assistants for the upcoming Agora. They will take minutes during the prytania and it’s my job to assign them to the prytania and prepare them for their work so they will know what they are expected to do. But apart from these specific ‘secretary’ tasks, I’m also a member of the Chair Team which means supporting Tom Simons and Andrea Ugrinoska wherever I can, for example with drafting the agenda, selecting participants, sending emails, keeping track of everything that is discussed and doing some random small things that come up.

What is your favorite part of your work? 
I love to get a look ‘behind the scenes’ of the Agora. Being part of the Chair Team means that you’re very involved in the whole process of Agora preparation and it’s interesting to see all the things that have to be taken care of. Also, working together with the other members of the Chair Team and with Svenja is awesome. We’re a super-efficient team and we get along really well, which obviously makes working a lot more fun.

Do you have any specific aims for the upcoming Agora?

Since my tasks mainly take place during the Agora, I’m very excited to finally really start ‘working’! I’m also looking forward to visit Kyïv and of course to meet a lot of new people.  I don’t have any specific aims, but I just hope everything will go well and that this Agora will be the best!

Is there anything you want to add?

The three things I like most in life are travelling, Spanish music and doing shots. So if you want to make me happy during the Agora, try playing some Spanish music or offer me a delicious Ukrainian shot [she laughs, ed.] Looking forward to meeting many of you!

Written by Wietske Jousma, AEGEE-Enschede

Do you think democracy in Europe is important? Do you want to know everything there is to know about democratic decision-making, while having a fun time with other AEGEEans? Good news, because from the 25^th of February until the 1^st of March, AEGEE-Groningen is giving you the chance to learn all about democracy and at the same time discover the city with the largest student population in the Netherlands during their European event called ‘Democracy: How Should our Society be?’ .The AEGEEan spoke to one of the organizers, Eelke Bakker, to find out more about this upcoming event.

After having organized an European event last year (Energy of Tomorrow), the local wanted to repeat the experience. “We want to give other AEGEEans the opportunity to visit our city as cheap as possible and at the same time learn more about democracy”, Eelke explains. “It is our aim to give a complete overview of the idea of democracy. Therefore, we have planned a lot of different lectures, discussions, and workshops on different aspects.” The event will include topics like democracy in the Netherlands, (dis)advantages of the multi-party system, promotion of democracy and human rights, democracy at the European level, and democracy and social media. “We are still very busy working on the program so there might be slight changes in the upcoming weeks but we can guarantee that all lectures will be very interesting and given by motivated speakers!”

Asked why they think it is important to talk and learn about the topic of democracy, Eelke explains: “Democracy might sometimes be taken for granted, especially in western European countries, or people tend to focus only on the quality of elections in determining the quality of democracy. We however think that democracy is not as self-explanatory as sometimes assumed. There are many different aspects to it, some of which are barely discussed. During our event, we will therefore try to highlight these aspects as well, so that participants can develop a more well-informed view on democracy, regardless of whether that’s a positive or negative one.”

The organizers! From left to right: Maarten, Marijn, Martine, Eelke and Anton

A project of AEGEE strongly linked to this topic is of course Democracy in Practice, which was ratified during the Autumn Agora in Cagliari and is now cooperating with AEGEE-Groningen on their event. “We are very happy that they wanted to come to our event!”, Eelke says. “Normally, they give one week training courses on how to promote democracy as an individual. For our event, they will give a shorter, two-hour workshop on the same topic. We think that the practical aspect during our event is very important. We don’t want to organize plain every-day lectures, but interactive, interesting activities during which active participation is required. The workshop given by Democracy in Practice has all of these characteristics!” Next to that, the local is also cooperating with the JOVD (Youth Organisation for Freedom and Democracy) to organize a lecture where – hopefully – two members of the European Parliament will have a debate.

When setting up the program, the organizers have worked hard to find a balance between interesting lectures and a fun social program.  “The participants will visit the province house of Groningen to learn more about the regional level in the Netherlands and have a lecture on the multi-party system in the Netherlands and the (dis)advantages of a multi-party system. Next to that, the Democracy in Practice project will give us a workshop on how it is possible to improve democracy as an individual. Furthermore, we will have a city tour and we will climb the Martinitower. The participants will also learn more about democracy at the European level and the democratic deficit of which the EU is so often accused. Besides all these interesting lectures, we are also organizing awesome theme parties in some of the nicest bars in Groningen! There will be a Culture European Night, for example, but we will also organize an orange party, to give participants the opportunity to feel like a real Dutch person!”

Reasons enough to join AEGEE-Groningen for their event. Still not convinced yet? As Eelke summarizes: “Not only will it be an interesting week about a topic that is very important for Europe at the moment, it will also be a lot of fun and a great way to get to know Dutch culture.” The topic of democracy doesn’t stop at this event though, because AEGEE-Groningen has made it the topic of their year. “In March we are organizing a trip to an AEGEE-local that is facing problems with democracy”, Eelke tells us. During this trip, the members of AEGEE-Groningen and the other local will discuss how democracy differs in the two countries. “Furthermore, in May we are going to organize many activities revolving around the theme democracy, like lectures, workshop and role-playing games. Finally, we will also visit the European Parliament in Brussels and hopefully have the opportunity to discuss democracy in Europe there.”

Interested? You can apply until January 31st on Intranet.

Written by Svenja van der Tol, AEGEE-Nijmegen

I am floating in the sea, an ice-cold one in my hand, watching the sun turn the sky into a shimmery pink-orange. After a cool bath in the salty waves, I warm up by the cozy campfire while my new friends share the latest romance gossip with me. This is one of many moments of an unforgettable adventure: my first Summer University in Groningen.

The Motto

Insane in the brain – Amaze your mind as maze mice, this SU’s slogan, fit not just the range of activities we did, but also the people who did it perfectly. On our crazy agenda were a bunch of very funny social experiments: trying to get as many free hugs as possible, making people move because you are interfering with their personal space, wearing t-shirts from strangers or pretending to hurt your knee and waiting to be helped. The latter one, however, was slightly misinterpreted by one of the participants. Instead of falling on his knee, he pretended to be dead. This over dramatic reinterpretation even caused the police to show up – but we were lucky and talked our way out of it. Still not insane enough for you? Besides these experiments, we also made up our own flash mobs. We suddenly started to sleep in a very busy shopping street causing people to giggle and take loads of photos of us. Plus, we launched a water fight in the middle of a crowd of people after someone pushed a button that we had set there before.

The Activities

We spent most of our time in Groningen, which is for me, personally, the best student city I could imagine. The organizers presented it to us from a variety of perspectives. The first week started off with a city tour allowing us to explore Groningen by foot. Since it is the world’s number one cycling city, naturally we also traveled around the area by bike and visited an ecological farm nearby. Arriving there, we were greeted by an overload of cuteness – kittens, puppies and baby goats at every corner. There we also had the opportunity to do horseback riding, to milk a cow and to taste the fresh warm milk shortly after. In addition to cycling, we discovered the rest of Groningen on water, canoeing on its canal that stretches around the whole city center. Finally, from the top of its landmark, the Martini tower, we enjoyed the city’s beauty from above. Because of the amazingly hot weather, which is rather unusual for The Netherlands, we enjoyed a lot of typical summer activities: we went swimming in a lake, we played with water guns in the park and we had barbecues – one of them at a very out of the ordinary place, a squat which was a former hospital. As an obligatory part of the SU, we had a couple of workshops to attend as well. But, unlike what I had expected, some of them were actually a lot of fun. I especially liked the workshop on Dutch language and culture, in which I learned my favorite pickup line in Dutch: Ben je blij of wil je een koekje? / Are you happy or do you want a cookie?

We also had an interesting workshop, which was held by people from Alcoholic Anonymous. They told us some very moving stories about their life as long-time alcoholics and how they fought their disease. After their lectures and almost two weeks of permanent drinking, all of us were pondering on the question whether we also counted as excessive drinkers now. In all, the program was just put together perfectly – it was diverse, entertaining and there was still free time left for us to just go shopping or even make a day trip on our own.

The Trips

The program itself included two trips further away from Groningen, a weekend getaway to Schiermonnikoog and a day trip to Amsterdam. Schiermonnikoog was as beautiful as an island can be – clear blue sky, wide fields painted in emerald, a soft breeze childishly playing with our hair and BEER FOR FREE.  All weekend long, our fridge was filled with it just like Homer Simpson’s with his precious Duff beer. Ironically, the farm we stayed at was named Springfield. Together with about 40 to 50 people, we slept in bunk beds, had a campfire at the beach, a mud fight on the tideland and played card games and volleyball – it felt just like a school trip – if you subtract the beer and the partying. For me, Schiermonnikoog was probably the best part of this SU because we had the chance to be together constantly and create our first bonds of friendship. Parting was sad, but the next trip to Amsterdam was already awaiting us. As most of you would expect, this day was all about the topic of sex. We walked through the red light district, visited the sex museum and quite uncommonly, had a lecture by a retired prostitute. Anticipating a typical retired person, I imagined a grandma telling us her story – which would have been pretty weird. But the woman sitting in front of us was about 40, and even though it was interesting to hear her talk about having 20 clients a day and apparently enjoying her career as a sex-worker, I still had a hard time viewing it as a normal profession. The rest of the day, we had free time. So we walked by the canals and did some shopping before we had dinner at a restaurant, as always accompanied by some lip-smacking beer.

The Parties

Beer was also available at the numerous parties the organizers threw for us. Three of them were theme parties, with the sex change party definitely being the funniest one. It was especially the guys that easily slipped into what they believed to be a typical girl’s role. Their understanding of a female, however, was a slight deviation from reality: they wore belts as skirts, slutty wiggle-wiggling their buts at us “guys” while un-rhythmically playing the flute and bell rattles.  Not less amusing was the famous European Night with an abundance of alcoholic drinks to choose from: Polish vodka, Dutch beer, Italian wine, etc. Especially the vodka was later that evening a famous drink to be used for taking shots out of each others’ belly buttons. As we partied nearly every night, the alcohol was a big help in establishing romantic relationships among us.

And since these two weeks passed by so fast, it was already time to say goodbye during a last barbecue and party at our favorite bar (which hardly stinks of beer and throwing up). Everyone cried, and the picture was clear: we were sad, sad to go home, to leave behind new friends, to turn our backs on a wonderful summer. But in turn, we would be happy to think back on this SU. On to weeks full of amazing memories shared with an amazing group of people, made possible by amazing organizers. Thank you again to Justin Timmer, Jildou Talman, Anna van den Berg Sybren, Frank Luijckx and Merel Geudeke.

Marie-Kristin Hofmann, AEGEE Mannheim

It has been repeated over and over again that it is very important to prepare delegates, visitors and envoys for the statutory events. It is essential to go through proposals and candidatures before flying to the Agora destination and The AEGEEan interviewed different antennae that prepare meetings for that particular purpose.

In Budapest members who want to be delegates have to write a motivation letter in order to apply for the position, they have to present themselves in front of the assembly where votes are cast by other members. As for visitors, the board creates the list according to a policy which says board members should be first, then mid-level leaders, active members and others. AEGEE-Leiden also selects delegates in a local Agora where candidates present themselves and then the members vote. The procedure of selecting visitors is also similar to what happens in Budapest “We select visitors by first promoting the Agora among our members: telling what it is all about, why it is important and a great experience. When people apply to become a visitor, the board goes through the applications and looks at the motivations. Based on their motivation, the board decides in which order the visitors will be put,” Sandrine Lafay from AEGEE-Leiden tells The AEGEEan.

As for the preparations, many antennae such as AEGEE-Groningen, AEGEE-Enschede and AEGEE-Amsterdam, AEGEE-Budapest before the Agora always have a so called Agora night where they simulate the Agora with most of its sessions and also present the proposals and candidates in order to find out the members’ opinions about the decisions the delegates have to make. “Of course during our simulation we don’t only vote in favor and against the proposals, but we try to talk about them. This way the delegates can later ask the questions which came up in the Prytania sessions. The result of the Agora Night is always recorded and the delegates should keep to those!” AEGEE-Leiden also hosts a Pre Agora meeting discussing all proposals and candidatures “We think it’s very important because delegates need to represent the local as a whole. The Pre Agora Meeting is the moment to discuss with all active members about what we think, so we can come up with a voting advice that represents the opinion of AEGEE-Leiden. To make sure that everyone’s well prepared at the Pre Agora Meeting, we distribute the proposal and candidature booklets among our members so they can read everything and form their own opinion before we start the Pre Agora Meeting. Moreover, we assign the different proposals and different candidatures to small groups of people that will present them at the Pre Agora Meeting, to make sure that even those who haven’t done the reading know what the proposal is about. During the Pre Agora Meeting we present and discuss about each proposal and candidature one by one and write down the arguments and voting advice for our delegates,” Sandrine says.

Clearly it is not only important to prepare the delegates but also the visitors so they have information about what is happening at what they are attending. AEGEE-Alicante told The AEGEEan how they focus on this matter “It is important to prepare not only delegates, but also visitors, so they can follow the discussion representing the antenna and understand why they are there. If we know that there will be newbies in the meeting, we explain what an Agora is, and then, we proceed to talk about candidatures and proposals and discuss all of it to reach a consensus so that they vote and act on behalf of AEGEE-Alicante as a whole rather than their individual opinion.”

There are different ways to help the members of the antennae financially in taking part in the statutory events. Whereas Budapest reimburses the fee to board members, delegates and honorary members, AEGEE-Amsterdam and AEGEE-Utrecht focuses on the travel costs. Where AEGEE-Utrecht reimburses 1/3 of the travel cost for their delegates, AEGEE-Amsterdam has a more complex system. Delegates get 50% of the travel costs reimbursed (till the maximum amount of €100), but first they have to make a little review about the Agora. The same goes for visitors who can get 25% of the travel costs reimbursed (till maximum amount of €50). AEGEE-Enschede implemented this year a 25 € reimbursement to the delegates. The AEGEEan also talked with AEGEE-Groningen about the same topic and the secretary Josine Rawee said “Normally we don’t, but when we cannot find enough delegates because the travel costs are too high, we sometimes give them reimbursement”.

The AEGEEan is also preparing delegates and visitors for the Agora having published interviews with candidates, organizers, explanations of proposals and more. Erika Bettin is the editor of the People’s section and says “This year I’m following the Agora preparation even more closely because I’m the Editor of the People section in The AEGEEan. For who doesn’t now, the People section hosts all the interviews given from candidates. Being a delegate myself, after reading all the applications, I wanted to ask a lot of questions to the candidates. During the Agora, usually, you see an endless line of people asking for questions that may or may not be answered. By doing the interviews, The AEGEEanis is giving everyone a chance to have a clearer overview. Personally, I was quite surprised to see how few people sent questions through our form. This is an important occasion to get to know the candidates better.”

Hopefully next time before Agora Cagliari there will be more questions submitted for the candidates and envoys, delegates and visitors can all be prepared in an even better way for the statutory event.

Written by Patricia Anthony, AEGEE-Zaragoza

Four or five times a year all Dutch speaking locals and their Network Commissioner (NetCommie) gather for a collective meeting called the Nedertop. The reason for this gathering is a mystery for the rest of the AEGEE-network. Until today, because this article will give you all the ins and outs about this Dutch meeting!

The exact date of establishment is unknown, but Diederik Smit (honorary member of AEGEE-Leiden) remembers it started as a secretive, forbidden meeting, where text messages were used to reveal the location. Dutch locals have always been very close, so the idea to get together and have a meeting probably stems from this bond. Having a national level isn’t something that AEGEE-Europe strives for, since it wants to operate without a national level, so the Nedertop wasn’t received well. At first the Comité Directeur also feared that the locals were in fact making decisions about votings during the Agorae, but after they had visited a Nedertop they saw the potential and were enthusiastic too. From that moment on the Nedertop was opened to all Dutch speaking locals instead of just Dutch locals.

As already mentioned, all Dutch speaking locals are welcome at a Nedertop, which refers to the AEGEE-locals from Amsterdam, Brussels, Delft, Enschede, Eindhoven, Groningen, Leuven, Maastricht, Nijmegen, Rotterdam, Den Haag, Tilburg and Utrecht. Together, these locals discuss potential issues they have (for example finding new boardmembers), Network Meetings, updates about each local with their plans and activities and the boardmembers share tips they might have for each other (for example in the process of finding new board- or active members). Votings for the Agorae are not discussed, but the successful implementation of the accepted proposals or motions in the locals is discussed. The Network Commissioner of the region (currently Dominique Lenssen) also gives updates on what he or she has been doing in the past couple of months, but can not be held accountable for her activities since this can only be done during an Agora.

Last year the participating locals also became a member of the NJR (Dutch Youth Council), to represent AEGEE on a national level. Because AEGEE as an association does not have a national level, a representative is elected that speaks on behalf of the AEGEE-locals. Next to that, the locals try to use their large amount of members to search for collective fundraising. The fundraising team together tries to provide fundraising options for all Dutch speaking locals like mailings or advertisements. In the past they have worked together with ‘Working at the EU’ for example, which would post banners on all locals websites and send out regular mailings in exchange for an extra payment to the locals.

The Nedertop isn’t only about serious business though! Last year the first Fun Event was organized: a weekend without thematic activities, but providing the opportunity to make friends with members from other Dutch speaking locals. Friendship often forms a good base for a successful collaboration, therefore, the Nedertop tries to connect members of Dutch speaking locals in both a formal and informal way.

The Nedertop locals also created a website, where all the Dutchspeaking locals can be found and a short explanation about AEGEE-Europe is given. This website can be found here.

Written by Svenja Van der Tol, AEGEE-Nijmegen

Maria is a 23-year-old girl from Groningen. She is a second-year student of Spanish philology and a very active member in AEGEE. Because she is now applying for a position in the Network Commission (NetCom), it is time to get to know her a little better.

Her AEGEE career started on a local level, as most of them do. She organised a trip to Brussels with AEGEE-Groningen in May 2011. This is where she got inspired by Thomas Leszke, who was the Projects Director of AEGEE-Europe at that time. He told the group from AEGEE-Groningen about all the possibilities of the European level in AEGEE and Maria got really enthusiastic about the Social Inclusion Project. It did not take her long to contact the right people to ask how she could get involved.

That was how it all started.

The project did not work out at that moment, but it inspired Maria and others to re-establish the Human Rights Working Group. After the ratification at the Agora in Enschede, she was elected speaker.

She is also secretary of the Health4Youth project. She was enthusiastic right away when reading the open call. She loves to cook, and she loves healthy cooking even more.

But of course, AEGEE is not all Maria is. For a big part, yes, but she has other interests. As she said it: “Basically, I like a lot of things”.  She loves travelling, cooking and languages. She spent five months in Nicaragua doing developmental aid. She worked with street children and learned a lot from that experience.

She often throws dinner parties for friends, because she enjoys spending a whole day in the kitchen. She loves to read cookbooks, just to figure out what her next meal should be.

Maria speaks Dutch, English, Spanish, German and is currently learning French and Portuguese.

When I asked her to describe herself in three words, the conversation went silent for quite some time.

“May I ask a friend to describe me?” was her first sentence after a long pause. Finally she came up with some very typical descriptions of herself.

“I am enthusiastic, because I like everything. I am always planning new things. Also I am a dreamer. I think dreaming is really important. If you want to achieve something, you should not always think too realistic. I do not think that will bring you much further. I tend to dream a lot and sometimes I could be a little unrealistic. I also see myself as optimistic. I prefer to look on the bright side of things. Seeing things in a negative way will not get you anywhere. It is just demotivating.”

After the interview was over, I got an email from Maria, telling me her friend had given her a response to her request to describe Maria. She added the words caring, interested and social. Maria agreed, but would never describe herself that way.

The question that of course needed to be asked was: why NetCom?

“Well, I have been active in AEGEE for a while now and I have thought about it for some time. In the beginning I was not sure, but now I know I would love to do this. I think supporting people is the thing in life I love to do most. And what else could I do better for AEGEE than supporting antennae? I want to give something back to the Network, because I love it so much and it has given me so much already.

I also feel there is some need for improvement. A great challenge could be Euroscepticism. This is happening all over Europe, but mainly in the UK. The current tendencies are to disconnect from the European Union. I think that is a challenge for a Network Commissioner and I am ready to take it on!”

For Maria, applying for NetCom was not a hard decision to make. She had been doubting a bit about the amount of time it would take, but the urge to just do it was way stronger than her doubts. She is sure she can manage it and feels confident she will do a good job.

After this I asked her about her plans for SubCommissioners and this is what she said:

“At least I want to choose my SubCommies in the most democratic way possible. That is very important to me. I want to wait and see if I will get elected, and if I do, I want to place an open call to the local boards, which they can distribute among their members. Ideally I would like to have someone working in the South of the Netherlands or Belgium, someone in the United Kingdom and someone in the Western part of the Netherlands.”

If you are thinking about applying for SubCom, these are the qualities Maria would like to have her SubCommies to have.

“Easy going, of course. I would like to see them take active part in the Network. They need to know the members they are dealing with. It would also be good if they had organisational skills, because that would be useful for organising Network Meetings and Regional Training Courses. Of course they need to have the motivation, the time and the willingness to be a SubCommissioner.”

Maria has some big plans for her term as a NetCom. Should she get elected, she would like to make all of the antennae a bit more thematic. She would like to make the locals in Belgium and the United Kingdom more visible and besides that she would like to see if there is interest for AEGEE in Ireland as well. Furthermore she would like to organise three Network Meetings and two regional training courses.

“And of course I would support the antennae wherever they need me”.

Maria has also thought about her future plans, but wants to keep things open. She wants to do a Masters in Human Rights, Peace and Sustainable Development in Valencia, Spain.
“After that, I honestly do not know. But I think I would like to live somewhere in Spain, Portugal or South America.”

The final question was what she would recommend to people who want to become active in AEGEE.

“I would say there are a lot of things you could do to become active. First of all, be actively involved in Agorae and EBM. It motivates you, you meet a lot of new people and you hear what is going on in the Network. You can also explore your options during the AEGEE Fair at statutory events. It is very easy to join a Working Group and get involved, follow what they are doing. I think these are the most easy ways to become an active member.”

Written by Sanne Hillemans, AEGEE-Groningen

On 30 May AEGEE-Groningen visited Brussels. This is something we do every year, so that the new members that we recruit can meet the Comité Directeur (CD), and become informed about the European level. Not only through AEGEE, but also through the European Parliament.

There were even some people from AEGEE-Nijmegen, AEGEE-Bruxelles and the Comité Directeur joining us. Each year, we visit the European Parliament, and it is always a big success. Last year they told us something about the European system, we got to ask questions to the assistant of a current Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and we got a tour around the plenary room.

This year we actually got a couple of minutes with a Dutch MEP, Judith Merkies,  and she told us her vision and goals. We could send in some questions beforehand, and we asked her, among other things, what her ideal Europe would look like, what it is like to be an MEP and what she thought of several recent topics. She could not answer all our questions, because she had to head out to Nijmegen, but we got the gist of it.

Afterwards, an European Parliament Official joined us to tell us more about basic tasks of the Parliament. We still don’t know what her task was though, but what she told us was interesting. She gave us some statistics and some important names of people in the European Parliament. Also she told us more about the way the European Parliament works.

Next, the assistant of Judith told us a little something about the hard life of an assistant. When the Q&A part of the visit was over, we got to see the plenary room.

The visit ended in the cafeteria, where we got to eat a fully paid lunch, which was one of the highlights for most people.

So for all of you who do not know anything about the European Parliament, the European Commission or their tasks, here is a little speed course:

First of all, the European Commission consists of 27 commissioners. There is one commissioner for each member state. The biggest task of the European Commission is to submit proposals for new laws. The European Parliament has more members though. The 748 members of the parliament are based on the number of people living in that specific country. For instance, Germany is a very big country, with a lot of inhabitants, so they have more MEPs than smaller countries. This gives them more voting rights.

But just because a country has a lot of MEPs, that does not mean they automatically create a majority. A lot of the time MEPs from the same country, do not vote the same. Just like in a country, they belong to different political groups and have different opinions, even within a country.

The European Parliament is responsible for creating new laws, but because there needs to be a majority, this can take a very long time. Before a law is ready to be voted on, it gets adjusted a lot of times, so that most of the MEPs agree with the outcome and vote in favour.

There is a treaty stating that the 12 plenary meetings have to be in Strasbourg. So every month all the MEPs travel to this city to have a meeting. They stay there for a week, they discuss various topics and vote on them.

Because people are chosen for the European Parliament by capacities and not language skills, everything has to be in the native language of the MEP. Therefore, there are a lot of translators involved in these plenary sessions.

There are a lot more interesting things to say about the European Parliament and Commission, but considering this is the speed course, I think this is enough for now. Of course Google also knows a lot!

Written by Sanne Hillemans, AEGEE-Groningen 

“Nossa, Nossa assim voce me mataaa, ai se eu te pego, ai ai se eu te pego,”

If you do not know this song, then you must be living under a rock because it has been playing all over clubs and radios for some time now. And for sure, the same words uttered by Michel Telo’ may have come to many guys’ mind when they were confronted with so many gorgeous female AEGEEans making their way to the suit-up party at the EBM Izmir.

The AEGEEan has chosen to put a focus on the AEGEEans that set a high standard for the formal parties at the statutory events of our organization. After introducing you to the five guys that drew our attention at the EBM Izmir Suit-up party, now it is time to shift our focus on the ladies that made some heads turn in Turkey. The nominees are:

Denise:  This Dutch lady is 24years old, born in a city close to Enschede, and has been a member of AEGEE-Groningen since 2009. She is also a very active AEGEE member on the international level where she is one of the sub commissioners of the Juridical Commission. Three words to describe her? Ambitious, motivated and love (for AEGEE)

Mariella Rapa (first from the right): Representative from AEGEE-Valleta, this beautiful lady is 23 years old, and secretary general of AEGEE-Valleta and Vice-Chair. She has been a member of AEGEE for two years, and uses ABC to describe herself: Adventurous, bubbly, caring.

Maryana Semenyak: If you attended the EBM then you for sure saw this beautiful president of AEGEE-Lviv. She is 24 years old, and has been a member of AEGEE since October 2007. What three words describe her? That would have to be vivid, extraordinary, and amiable.

Müge Etcibasi (second from right): She has been member of  AEGEE-Izmir since for 1,5 years, 21 years old and currently secretary assistant of AEGEE-İzmir. A description in three words? Energetic, sincere, outgoing.

Sila (first one from the right): Another representative from AEGEE-Izmir. She is 23 years old and have been member of AEGEE for three years. She is not a board member but president of the supervisory of AEGEE-Izmir. Three words to describe Sila? Outgoing, smart, and self-confident. 

Which one of these lovely ladies deserves to win the “Best Dressed Girl Award” 2012?

Voting starts April 2nd, stay tuned!

Written by Patricia Anthony, AEGEE-København