Day 17 – 18 – 19 – Köln, Mainz-Wiesbaden and back to Brussels (3rd – 5th March)

Tekla with AEGEE-Köln

As all good things come to an end, CD on Track is also finishing soon for all of us: for me, the last two stops were in Köln and in Mainz to visit AEGEE-Köln and AEGEE-Mainz-Wiesbaden, which are among the older locals in our Network.

My second to last stop was Köln, where I spent a nice Saturday brunch with the Board and the members of AEGEE-Köln. We mostly focused on how to plan the semester for the members to keep them active and how to participate in Erasmus+ exchanges and trainings as a local. The afternoon continued with a trip to Mainz, where I observed the General Assembly of AEGEE-Mainz-Wiesbaden and introduced who is in CD 54 and what are we doing in Brussels.

Tekla with AEGEE-Mainz-Wiesbaden members

In the evening, I returned to Köln to discover the city a bit and to prepare for my last train ride back to Brussels on Sunday in order to return to office work from Monday.

Even though the trip has ended for me, it brought a lot of experience, memories and things to reflect on for the upcoming months of my term. I would like to thank once again all the locals and AEGEEans who took part in this journey, hosted us, had a meeting with us, showed their cities or just dared to ask questions and be open to know more about AEGEE.

Written by Tekla Hajdu, Network Director

After attending Network Meeting (NWM) Berlin, some members of AEGEE-Mainz-Wiesbaden thought it would be great to organise a NWM themselves. They didn’t just get the chance to organise a NWM, but also to organise a NWM different from the others. NWM Mainz-Wiesbaden is not organised by the Network Commissioner responsible for AEGEE-Mainz-Wiesbaden, making it the first NWM that proves the vision of AEGEE for a borderless Europe. The AEGEEan asked one of the organisers, Rene Schröder, and Network Commisioner, Hanna Alajõe, about the upcoming NWM.

The AEGEEan: Tell us more about your local.
Rene: AEGEE-Mainz-Wiesbaden is a small, but highly motivated antenna. After the board had nearly completely changed, we as well faced to restructure our antenna to a more networking attitude. We are willing to participate in more European events than before and will also organise events ourselves. With the help of the new recruitment strategy and new PR-work, we hope to get recognised both in Europe and in Mainz to gain more interested people.

Why did you decide to apply for hosting a NWM?
The organisation of the Spring NWM 2016 was a ‘glimpse of a moment’ idea. Because some of us had recently taken part in the NWM Berlin, we were quite enthusiastic organising one for ourselves – to show the AEGEE network how motivated we are. The idea reached immense support within the antenna. However, we had to face some challenges in finding an accommodation, because our usual accommodations are crowded with refugees, both in Mainz and Wiesbaden. Thanks to our Network Commission, we were able to create an all-time-first: because our Netcom (Marieke) has got to plan another NWM, we got into contact with Hanna, who is normally responsible for the “Nordic Stars”. Thereby, we already live in borderless Europe while organising beyond borders. It would be great if other antennae follow our path to make Europe even more open.

What is the name of your NWM? Can you explain it?
NWM Mainz-Wiesbaden: How to…? Crazy theme, right? No! Because do you know, how to enjoy the AEGEE spirit? Do you know how to recruit people and overcome difficulties in your antenna? Do you know how to have fun the “Rhine-hessian” way? Do you know what it’s like to spend three nights in two cities in one antenna? See, that’s why we have chosen this topic! We are excited to show you that and so much more in our workshops and our social time, where you will get to know around 30 people from all over the network, a nice Netcommie and also a Comité Directeur member, as well as an external speaker.

How is the cooperation with the NetCommie?
We’re working together with Hanna, and until now the cooperation works pretty well. We’re exchanging information and ideas about the social program, the content and everything else. As we’re not living in the same part of Europe, we are communicating via Skype and Facebook instead of actually meeting, but it still works out fine!

What does the program of the NWM include?
Hanna: Although the program is not completely set yet, I can say that there will be some awesome sessions happening. For example, besides me and a CD member as a trainer/facilitator, there will be at least one European Body represented and also another NetCommie – so a lot of variety in sessions is sure to be. Some of the sessions of the program are also already announced in the event description and I am very open to suggestions from participants as well. NWMs are there for the Network, so when applying, don’t be shy to express your opinion about what you’d like to see.
And talking about the social program – AEGEE-Mainz-Wiesbaden will make it amazing with the EN, pub crawl and a city tour.

What is the main goal of the NWM? Can you share some ideas you already have about it?
The main goal of the NWM is as described in the CIA: “sharing best practices, keeping the locals closer to each other, connecting them with the European level, updating them about last progresses and launching initiatives. Network Meetings should improve the functioning of the locals, increase cooperation between them, to inspire and renew the motivation of active members.”
But the name of the NWM in Mainz-Wiesbaden is “How to…?” meaning we will talk about different how-to’s, like how to get new members, how to be more active as a local, how to cooperate with European Bodies, how to have fun in Wiesbaden etc.
My biggest goal and hope for the NWM is to have active participants, willing to express their opinion and being motivated afterwards – I want the NWM to be a discussion, not a training [she smiles].

What are your plans for the social program?
Rene: Of course we want to show you the best parts of our both home-cities. Both of the cities have beautiful historic centres, and you will get to know it in a cool pub crawl and a city tour, where you will get to know the wine, which is very common in our region. Of course, we will have an awesome European Night, too.

What are AEGEE-Mainz-Wiesbaden upcoming activities?
After the NWM we will fully concentrate on our Model European Union, which will take place in July this year. It is our big annual event since 2009, now having its seventh edition. We’re also planning to do a Members’ Weekend and some internal training for our team. As our board term has just started on February 1st, we don’t have a completely finished schedule for the upcoming term, but we are working on it consistently and we are looking forward to a good year in Mainz-Wiesbaden. And, foremost, we are excited for our NWM in April!

You can apply for the NWM here and here.

Written by Lia Tuska, AEGEE-Kastoria/Sofia

The Netherlands and Germany… One would directly think about beer, weed, and the Red Light District. The discovery made by some lucky participants could not be further from this! The Germans and Dutchmen like to discipline people. That is why between the 4th and 19th of July, participants realised what the word “justice” means during an AEGEE event. This was a surprising summer for those participants. A Summer University based on discipline? Welcome to Germany supported by Dutchmen!
How did it begin? Organisers from the hosting antennae, namely AEGEE-Mainz-Wiesbaden, AEGEE-Darmstadt, and AEGEE-Eindhoven decided to create a community of future masters. The task was difficult: how would they make 23 people from ten countries cooperate? Our troops need to keep together: eat, party, sleep, and… behave!
Our trip started in Mainz – a town located on the west bank of the river Rhine, and also included a visit to its twin city, Wiesbaden, which is located on the opposite bank. On one hand, these cities are connected by AEGEE, but on the other hand, we could notice a silent competition between the two of them. If you had asked which one was better, you should have taken into consideration with whom you were drinking beer at that moment – it was highly needed in order to avoid a conflict.
In Germany, a barbecue is definitely on the “must-do” list and we, of course, had a lot of those. We enjoyed traditional German beer and sausages; the best barbecue-maker was the handsome Zachi Großartig from AEGEE-Darmstadt – with a little assistance from his equally handsome brother, Eugene.
The traditional beverage for the barbecue was beer, but to my surprise, we also drank a lot of it in the wine region of Germany. But Germans don’t just drink it, they celebrate it! During our visit, we had the chance to experience a national beer game, called Flunkyball. This lovely drinking competition shows how discipline and beer drinking are combined in Germany.

Just take a look at the first paragraph of the Flunkyball manual provided by Benjamin from AEGEE-Mainz-Wiesbaden:

– Responsibility

(1) You are responsible for your beer.

(2) There should never be spilled beer. You will be punished if it is spilled, even if it is not your fault.

Our hosts invented some quite creative punishments. Some examples: if the Spaniards were late, they deserved a “spanishment ” – to push a car with the Dutch hosting team inside of it. If a Polish girl showered for too long, she had to catch a ball that people threw way too high for her. A group of AEGEE participants who secretly bribed one of the staff members and took a secret trip by car, had to roll on the grass all tied up together and pretend to be a car wheel! If someone wanted to make his or her way easier by taking a shortcut, our main mentor, Loek from AEGEE-Eindhoven, would catch them and assign a suitable punishment. That’s for sure!
I can tell you that the discipline building technique that Loek developed was successful. When we continued our trip to the Netherlands, I realised we had become a real SU community. During the second week of our SU, the punishments were much fewer, and one could see that all participants were united.
The most remarkable discovery I made during the Dutch part of the SU, was that the Dutch are the masters of creativity. The engaging activities that our hosts prepared for us were fabulous. They used everyday materials like cards, paper, or smartphones to make us experience virtual reality and engage in team games. My favourite one was when they asked us to spread in a square in the downtown of Eindhoven. Our host pre-recorded an audio track for us, which we listened to on our phones and MP3-players. Loek and Maikel Wagemans from AEGEE-Eindhoven, with their sexy voices, were giving us instructions on what to do and how to dance. An outsider could see 25 people spread in a square doing weird things at the same time; we definitely got some attention while bowing to the legendary Frits Philips, who meant a lot to the city of Eindhoven.

In the Netherlands, we had the chance to admire beautiful landscapes by cycling. We followed Vincent van Gogh’s path and visited the places where he created his masterpieces. Another time, we even crossed the border and visited a monastery in Belgium where the monks prepared a special kind of beer. I loved the idea of “bike and dine” – cycling to different places and being hosted for lunch by local AEGEE members. Besides the main theme of the SU, we had a chance to learn how to prepare traditional Dutch stroopwafels.
As we know, during our AEGEE events we often experience a “Spanish Ghetto effect”, but I have to say that this time, we truly enjoyed staying all together and no one felt excluded from the group. The best proof of it was that, at the end, both titles for the female and male “Best Participant” were handed to our Spanish friends: Lidia Conejo Garcia from AEGEE-Oviedo, and Gonzalo Hernandez from AEGEE-Alicante.
We were trained to be well-behaved and cooperative beautiful freaks. Finally, we all ended being masters at making the best Dutch-German cocktail!
During those two weeks of adventure, I met some wonderful people and experienced the real warmth of an AEGEE community. It was great to learn so much about the countries we had visited, but most importantly, I enjoyed sharing this experience with the others. Thank you guys!
Written by Dorota Stangel, AEGEE-Warszawa

AEGEE Mainz-Wiesbaden will organize a Model European Union Simulation event this summer and it is already possible to apply. For this reason, The AEGEEan took the opportunity to interview Rene Schroeder from AEGEE-Mainz-Wiesbaden about the antenna and the event itself.

The AEGEEan: Can you tell us a bit more about your antenna? When were you founded? How many members do you have? Are you very active?

Rene Schroeder: AEGEE Mainz-Wiesbaden was founded in January 1970 and currently has 21 members. The new board was installed on January 22, 2014. The newly elected president is Ms. Alicia Clesius, together with her secretaries Christina Bingler and Katharina Bunde. Furthermore, there have been chosen four more persons into the board, with Hannes Frank being the connector between AEGEE and the ERASMUS Team, René Schröder having the focus in and around the Model European Union (MEU) simulation and Robert Pieszczyk and Cynthia Kraus having further assignments. At the beginning of every semester, we encourage fellow students to join the AEGEE experience. The members visit lectures all around the campus, give information about AEGEE and invite them to the weekly meetings. As the old board left in January, we try to uphold the new spirit and try to install as many new members as possible in order to secure the future existence of AEGEE Mainz-Wiesbaden. We just got in contact with AEGEE-Praha and AEGEE-Enschede about some cultural exchanges during this year’s spring and/or summer. We will also send one or two board members to Spring Agora Patra 2014 and take part in as many events as possible.

How are you trying to get members now that it is Summer University Application period?

We already had a booth on the campus this year to announce the summer universities and might continue with that in the upcoming semester as well. We will talk to all the interested students about their opportunities and give them as much information as they need.

What made you interested in hosting the Model European Union?

MEU Mainz is a great opportunity to meet people from all over Europe and even beyond that. It is a lot of fun to interact with them, talk about different topics and make them feel good. And as a student’s organization it was almost a duty as we initiated the MEU Mainz in 2011 with the cooperation of Bringing Europeans Together Association (BETA) eV. 

What are your tasks in organizing the event?

There are various tasks for us to make the event happen: the organization of sleeping facilities and finding a room for the simulation itself are the most important points. Then there is the work of team coordination, as we are with nearly 35 people organizing the event this year. The Delegate Generals (DGs) of this years team are David Degenhardt and Lukas Prinz. The team is split up in several resources, as Public Relations, Fundraising, Content, Participants Coordination, Social Program and Logistics. All of these teams do a marvelous job, offering a lot of their free time into the organization every year.

Why should you apply for MEUM 2014?

Rather simple to answer: if you are interested in European politics and have ever wanted to be a member of the European Council, a member of the Parliament of the EU or a journalist, this is your chance! The topics are always up-to-date and are real topics that are discussed in the Parliament and Council in Strasbourg too. Additionally, you have the opportunity of getting to know the city of Mainz and inspire yourself with some traditional habits, like food, wine and more.  Personally, I haven’t attended a MEU and most of our organizational staff of the newer generation (since 2012) hasn’t as well. But we always get input from our predecessors and friends who give advice and help us to make the event both bigger and better.

How is the organization like of the MEU?

The organization of events like the MEU is always a success, considering the opinion of the participants who always give feedback on the event. Moreover, the organization itself is a bless, because we have a really good crew that always stands together like a union and many friendships have already arisen from this, too.

Do you consider it a challenge that the event is around the same time as the SUs?

No, it is not a challenge, since the MEUM has its own organizing staff, creates all the advertisements and the antenna mostly deals with events like the SU, which is advertised by the antenna itself, far apart from the MEU. AEGEE, moreover, mainly serves as the arranging partner for the MEU, which has its own body and can therefore serve as an own organiszation, like the ERASMUS team.

Written by Patricia Anthony, AEGEE-Zaragoza