You might have noticed people from this local during Agoras, because they always prepare something choreographic for their roll calls. We are speaking about AEGEE-Napoli, an antenna located on the South of Italy. The local is 24 years old and in its history counts several events, including an Autumn Agora in 2006 and a NWM in 2012. We had a lovely chat with their President Flavia Mariano and HR responsible Tullio Pacelli.  

The AEGEEan: Present your local.

Flavia: Since 1993, AEGEE-Napoli has been a very dynamic local. Right now we have almost 70 members, and most of them are very active, thus allowing us to organise international events every year and lots of activities at the local level. Our weekly meeting is more than just a members’ reunion, as we are first a (big) group of friends. We meet to share a beer, have a chat and plan the future events and travelling, and every week more people are joining our family.

You recently had your NYE event. How did it go?

Flavia: Incredibly well, we were really surprised by the great chemistry that arose between the participants from the very first night. We had a great group of participants, they were always ready to explore more and party more, even if they had slept only three hours the night before. But the success of the event is also due to the great job done by the main organiser, William Mazza. Things were planned not to go wrong!

Your city, Napoli, is often associated with pizza, mozzarella, the folklore, but also with organised crime. How do you live the latter as member of AEGEE?

Tullio: First of all, Napoli is not only pizza and mozzarella! For example, did you know that Napoli has one of the biggest historical centres in Europe? That boasts an unique quantity of museum? Napoli is one of the few cities in the world that has gone through five historical phases (Greek, Roman, Middle Ages, Renaissance and Baroque) and has the oldest and most beautiful lyric theatre in the world.

About the criminality, yes, it is true that there is a high criminality level, as in lots of other European cities. What is untrue is the portrait that the media give of the city, they intensify the phenomenon, and despite what they say it is possible to lead a normal life and accomplish important projects in Napoli. Most Neapolitans are involved in the “fight” against the problems, but as I said before the media don’t seem interested in showing it. There are lots of associations, just like us, that not only promote the culture and beauty of our city, but also fight the crime. Some associations have literally saved abandoned public spaces from neglection and have turned them into important social centres for entire neighbourhoods. We too have had the occasion to use some of these spaces during our events.

As AEGEE-Napoli we try to do our part in the fight against stereotypes. For us, it is important not just to show the city, but to make people fall in love with it, and we are very proud to say that this happens very often. We share little pieces of our life with our participants trying to show them how we live, trying to make them feel Neapolitans for one day (or one week) and many of them want to come back, explore more and spend more time time with us.

Is it hard to present your local despite possible prejudices? In which way do you think you break stereotypes?

Flavia: I do not find it hard, being every year on top of the list for number of applications received for the SU means something. AEGEE members (at least most of them) are very open-minded, they know that most of the times prejudices are untrue and everyone recognises that our hard work is stronger than possible prejudice.

For sure we break at least one stereotype, the first rule in the organisation of our events is “Be always on time”. This is the thing that surprises our participants the most, they think that because they are in Napoli they can sleep five minutes more in the morning… oh, how wrong they are!

Also, we try to make the best out of stereotypes, therefore we have a partnership with the Consorzio Mozzarella di Bufala Campana.

Tullio: Fortunately, in AEGEE we have almost never had this problem, also because most of the AEGEE members I have known do not mind stereotypes and they know that the city is not as someone paints it. The great number of applications that we receive for our events are the proof. But, of course, sometimes I speak with some people that are “afraid’’ to come here because of what they read about Napoli on the Internet. When this happens we invite the “afraid’’ people to come to Napoli, and we could make a list of people who came, changed their opinion  and now are willing to come back again and again.

Have you ever organised/will you organise any event focusing on a youth perspective towards the fight for legality?

Flavia: No, and we are not planning any of it in the next future. We want to focus on the positive side of our city.
Tullio: We do not do a “direct” fight for legality, but with all of our actions, projects and events we are indirectly fighting for it. For now, we do not plan to organise a legality themed event, we feel that there are other associations  in Napoli doing this better than what we could do. For example, a few months ago AEGEE-Napoli collaborated with “Sii turista della tua città’’ [Eng, Be the turist in your city, ed.], an association involved with the cultural promotion of Napoli, and together we cleaned the beautiful staircase of Petraio, dating back to the XVII century.

What do you think makes AEGEE-Napoli special?

We are firstly a group of friends that enjoy working together and we are blessed to live in the most beautiful city in the word.

What are the future plans of your local?

Keep doing what we are doing! We will organise a SU with the same team as last year plus some great addition, and we are really eager to live together again for two amazing weeks. We organised the first and only Pub Crawl in Napoli in 2015 and for 2017 we decided to make it a monthly appointment. Other associations are starting to copy us, and we are almost proud of it. We have a packed activity plan for this year, and we do not want to reveal everything now. We invite AEGEE members to join us in Napoli to know more about our plans and discover our city.

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Verona

Incredible things always happen during an Agora. The AEGEEan checked old material and asked some old members for interesting stories about this issue, a funny way to approach the upcoming Spring Agora Bergamo and read some legends of the past. 

The Agora can be something legendary for those who have never been there, since they probably heard many stories before departure. For those who already experienced it at least once, it is something incredible: a thousand of people from all over Europe, a huge common commitment, great discussions, fabulous encounters, moments of sharing and great parties. For the people organising it, it is something very different. More than one year ago, I had the honour of being an organiser of Autumn Agora Cagliari. If you ask me to say what it looks like, I would probably say tiring, challenging and agitating. If you ask me why, the answer is easy: anything can happen, even if you planned it in detail.

For every organiser there is always a precise moment when s/he realises that the event started, in my case was the following episode:

On the 28^th of October 2014, a sponsor gave us two cars and a big van. They were quite big and none of us had used a van before. We drove them to pick up CD members at the airport and, after greeting them, we put the luggage inside the last one. Once ready to drive it, an alarm rang showing that the trunk was open, we closed it many times without any result and then we thought it was a van problem. Of course the reality was very different, because as soon as we had entered the highway we heard dozens of horns around us: two bags of our former president Paul Smits broke out in the street forcing uncountable cars to make extraordinary riggings and we had to walk in the middle of the street to take them back.

Anything can happen

After that moment, many stories I heard about disasters during previous Agorae came to my mind. Maybe you do not know but a lot of weird things happened during our statutory events in the past. Not all the things regarded only organisers or were bad, some of there were actually very positive. But of course at that moment I started thinking about the worst possible scenarios.

To start: one of the things to know about the Agora is that it didn’t always look like it does today, at the first ones there were not that many participants. During Agora Salerno 1989, about two or three hundred participants were present and local organisers picked them up at the train station by car! It was the very same Agora during which the Berlin wall fell down and a participant said: “We did not know about the fall of the Wall. There were no mobiles, no one saw the news. I read about it on Monday after the Agora”.

In 1994, Agora Montpellier started at a plenary hall but finished on the market square of the French city. Why? According to our source “the freshly re-elected President of AEGEE-Europe, Dorian Selz, did not accept the election result, because he got only 52% of the votes. Before a new candidate could be voted, all the members of the Agora had to leave the building since it was closing time. So they gathered in front of the building and elected the successor, Christina Thorsson, there”. Still, it was not the worst result ever for a presidential candidate. In 1998 Stefan Seidel from AEGEE-Augsburg was elected with a poor 38%. At first he did not want to accept it and said: “I will go home now”. But people convinced him to stay in office. A bad mistake since at the next Agora his CD got a vote of confidence and lost it.

The first day of the Agora in Athina in November 2002 was overshadowed by a blackout. Suddenly the plenary hall went dark. In this case, the reaction was amazing since organisers lightened a couple of hundreds of small candles and gave the Juridical Commission president, Yuriy Tokarsky, a flashlight which he held on the Agora booklet so that President Tomak Helbin could present the CD report. It was accepted with an overwhelming majority. The organisers of autumn Agora Zaragoza in 2003 had bad luck. They could not get the promised location and had to move the Agora to an old fair instead. The participants were sleeping inside that giant hall, when one of them turned on a switch, which he mistook for a light switch.

It was the switch for the ventilation and a dead bird, which had ended its life near the ventilator, fell down – right on the sleeping bag of a Dutch participant. The history had a revival in the last years when AEGEE-Zaragoza was chosen as host of the Autumn Agora 2013, some people in fact wondered if participants were going to stay in the same place again: it was not, the event was hosted in a brand new structure used for Expo Zaragoza 2008 and the organisation was simply amazing!

An incredible year: 2006!

If there is a year champion for incredible statutory events, that’s definitely 2006, since in both the Agorae which took place an incredible fact occured. At Agora Warsawa 2006, about twenty couples which found a lonely corner in a garage to spend some nice time with the respective partner: they got registered by a surveillance camera and watched live stream by the guards.

As this history can be familiar to the readers, not so known is the case of Agora Napoli 2006: in the late afternoon of the 1st of November the water boiler plant of the Fair broke down. It was the All Saint’s day, national holiday in Italy, and the same is the 2^nd of November (All Souls’ day). Organisers desperately tried to find a plumber but it resulted in an impossible mission! One of them said: “The only solution to find a plumber in Napoli on the 2^nd of November is to look for him at a cemetery”. The situation was not fixed and participants started a huge protest because of cold water in the showers.

Recent years

Lately there have not been such big cases if we exclude huge delays in the agenda, a vote of confidence, some locals which left the plenary for protest, a broken motorbike in Agora Patra 2014 or participants who had to move their luggage because of handball match (they were already informed about it). These can be considered as funny or sad thing things which happened. Except for two cases.

Most of us probably remember the 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland, which stopped the flight traffic from the 14^th till 23^rd of April of the same year. I guess you can imagine what happened: Agora Leiden was taking place from the 15^th till 18^th of the very same month: the perfect moment to destroy the travel plans of hundreds of AEGEEans, especially for their route back home, and create difficulties for organisers who had to take care of them.

If we also consider the CD members as organisers, since AEGEE-Europe is a partner organiser of the Agora, we cannot forget Agora Struga 2011 organised by AEGEE-Skopje. Because of an argue between the CD and local organisers, who increased the event fee one month before the event, for the last days of the event, the organisers disappeared leaving the CD and some other improvised helper managing the whole organisation – starting from the wake up till the welcome pack preparations!

The good God of AEGEE resides in Athina

It is possible that some organisers of Agora Bergamo or Autumn Agora Chisinau are getting scared while reading this article. In that case we should also remind them that AEGEE has a good God ready to solve every situation…and probably he is a member of AEGEE-Athina. Somehow the Greek local managed to solve not just a difficult situation but even two!

In the far 1992, this local organised an Agora which not took place in Athens but in Kōs, a Dodecanese island in front of the Turkish coast. You may wonder why they wanted to host the event there and the answer is quite easy: Agora was taking place in Spring, in Greece the weather is always nice so let’s gather all the participants in Athens to make a nice boat trip all together! While the organisation was running perfectly, only four days before the event an organiser switched on the TV and saw the sailor’s Labour Union president declaring started an unlimited duration strike because of high taxes. A panic attack caught the Greek organisers which started thinking about all the participants meandering around the Pireaus port and possible solutions to avoid it. One of them, was to meet the same president of the Union Labour – which they did but without results. The second solution, which now can sound very funny but probably in those moments was not, was to get an appointment with the Minister for Foreign Affairs and ask him to talk with the minister for the Defence to get a military vessel and transport all the participants to Kōs. Through some contact they succeeded to get the appointment.

At 11 am, two days before the Agora. The minister is taking part in a high level meeting with the Greek PM and the president of the Republic. Organisers are in front of the office ready to meet him, but at 11.05 they see everyone leaving the building and packing their things. They wonder why and they ask one of the officials “Is he coming?” – “No he is not coming at all, he just resigned 5 minutes ago because of disagreements on foreign policies”.

In case you wonder how participants reached the location, the story says that the greek minister of Finances (of course pure coincidence) accepted the requests of the labour union the day right before the boat departure. That’s how Agora Kōs could take place.

In case you do not believe to this story, you can download the 10th AEGEE anniversary booklet and read about it there (p. 92).

To end

Dear future Agora organisers, as you could see, also in the darkest situations there is always light and space for hope, and the people of AEGEE-Athina can confirm it for sure!

It has not been an isolated case since we also heard that while spring Agora in Barcelona 1999 was taking place overshadowed by the Nato air strikes against Serbia (with lots of people arriving late, because of many flights cancelled or rerouted), among the participants was Jasna Bogdanovic, President of AEGEE-Novi Sad. She took the opportunity to leave the country and was hosted by the President of AEGEE-Barcelona. They fell in love and got married.

So we wish you good luck and may the good God of AEGEE be with you!

Written by Mattia Abis, AEGEE-Cagliari

Italy, perhaps, is one of those countries where you can find out a brand new, unknown side of life of its inhabitants everytime you visit it. The difference between the mentality of the locals and nature of the north and south of the Italian “boot” is very noticable for the traveller. Travelling Summer University (TSU): “La vita e bella”, organized by the brilliant AEGEE-Cagliari and AEGEE-Napoli-team, did their best to show the maximum of possible places of interest to the participants interchanging relaxing days at the seaside with the days aimed to explore the cities and its surroundings such as Pompei, Casserta castle and Villasimius.

It is believed that one shall, once a year, visit a country which he or she had never been to. But even if you have already been exploring Italy, I highly advise you to have a look at its southern part and Sardinia. The nature and sea may remind the traveller of some other countries’ coast but the local people, their traditions and architecture are very unique. Speaking about this, I’m glad to have had a chance to take part in the “Italian gestures workshop” which was a very curious experience and the participants of the SU tried to speak only by gestures afterwards.

Even a 13 hours route from Cagliari to Napoli by ferry turned out to be an amazing experience: catching the sunset from the upper deck of the ferry, taking fabulous photos of the sea and sky changing each minute and playing group games both indoors and outdoors.

The morning we arrived, Naples seemed to be very noisy compared to southern Sardinia while walking, no, heading to the tourist places of Naples- as the verb with the meaning of slow leasurable pastime does not match the rhythm of the city. It seems that the capital of the Campania region has borrowed these traits from an unpredictable and now dormant volcano Vesuvius.

The most unexpected in rather chaotic Naples was a spotlessly clean subway which is claimed to be one of the cleanest and most beautiful in Europe. It truly can be compared to the museum. A way from the surface to the underground train took us about ten minutes, but I must say that this way has never been so very enjoyable! Multicoloured shining tiles, wall paintings and yellow (which gradually turns into blue) colour of the walls on the escalator while going deeper under the sea level will not let you be bored on the way.

Typical landscape of the city is a lot of narrow streets without dividing lines for pedestrians, bikes and cars, making it difficult to move for the latter; lots of small shops and pizzerias (italian cuisine is something we all were willing to try in Italy and compare to  the same meals prepared in our native cafes and restaurants); narrow windows with shutters. Italian desserts, pizza, pasta and ice-cream made us dive into the atmosphere of the country.

The title of the “most mystical church in the world”, I would have awarded the Church of St. Mary in Naples. A few wealthy Italians established this Church with the aims to bury the poor and homeless. With the time going the inhabitants of the city came up with the legend that anyone can legally adopt a skull and bones of any beggar. In exchange, the spirit of that person will protect and bring good luck to its “adoptive parents.” Such a frightening procedure was permitted until the 60-ies of the last century. “Adopters” also pledged to build a sort of shrine with a roof for the selected skull inside the church, to pray for their souls and collect all the skeletons, that was not possible, for obvious reasons. However, judging from the lottery tickets and other gifts that lie next to the remains, it seems like the legend was a true story.

Tyrrhenian Sea, which washes the western coast of Italy, is much warmer than the Mediterranean Sea in Sardinia. Along the coast of the south of the country we had a great opportunity to enjoy its incredible beauty, admiring nature, azure sea, a variety of landscapes, mountain cliffs and scenery villages scattered on hills by two boat trips made in Cagliari and Amalfian coasts. Amalfitanian coast – the pearl of the Campania region includes the towns of Amalfi, Sorrento and Positano, a real paradise places where our 35 people enjoyed swimming, jumping into the water right from the boat and sunbathing.

Leaving Italy, I realized: I do not have the feeling that I have explored the country enough. In Italy, it is necessary to go back again and again to learn all of its faces. In addition, the Italians are very friendly and hospitable, at least our organizers. They, for sure, made it the best summer holiday for all of us.

Written  by Alesia Vorobyova, AEGEE-Minsk

After a first sneak peek at Roma Autumn Agora Cagliari Pre-Event and the one organised by AEGEE-Milano, the next one will take place in the lovely southern city of Naples. AEGEE-Napoli, along with their twin local AEGEE-Lviv, will organize the WE WE – West east PreAgora event focusing mostly on architecture. We spoke with the main organizer Nicola Guida to discover more about the event and their relationship with AEGEE-Lviv.

Erika: WE WE. What is the secret behind the title?
Nicola: WE WE is a “connection of connections”, an idea to briefly represent our multicultural project. Firstly in English “WE” means us. All together, no barriers, no division, exactly the concept of a border-less Europe. Secondly, being an acronym it connects West with East with a special reference to the Napoli-Lviv twin project. Thirdly in Neapolitan language the exclamation “WE” (or UE) is used for many purposes: to greet, to show surprise, to catch the attention of another person and in general to set a positive connection between people. So there are plenty of hidden meanings as you can see!

When was the idea of a pre event born?
Well as soon as it was announced that Cagliari was going to host the autumn Agora 2014 we got carried away by the enthusiasm and decided we couldn’t miss this chance! We want to give AEGEE members a chance to get a taste of Italy even before arriving to Cagliari!

Your pre event will focus on architecture. What should participants expect?
Through the narrow streets of Napoli they will travel back in time, discovering concrete traces of many different civilizations. We will offer participants knowledge about our city trying to away out from the usual way education provides information. With us they will be able not only to see and learn from an external point of view, but also to get deep inside knowledge and really feel the city.

The event is organized also by AEGEE-Lviv, that is rather far away from Napoli. What is the contribution of the Ukranian local?
They’ll be our fantastic and beautiful helpers in Napoli, making participants have a virtual tour of their city and holding a workshop on their culture!

What is the thing that two cities like Napoli and Lviv share together?
Many things! They are both full of history and atmosphere with warm and welcoming inhabitants. They are also multicultural cities having hosted many different civilizations. They have been ruled by different countries, always being the capital of their region and center of attraction for culture and art. As an example of this important past, their historical centers are both UNESCO heritage sites.

The fee of the event will be 77 euros. Not a coincidence for AEGEE-Napoli, even if a lot of mistery surrouds this number. Why 77 is your lucky number?
It’s a secret from Neapolitan Smorfia, only those who will come to the event will dissolve the fog of mystery!

You set the number to 24 participants. Will you stick to this number or are you able (or willing) to host more?
Unluckily the hostel has only this number of beds and we’re already going to host in our homes the fellow organizers from Lviv.

AEGEE-Napoli and AEGEE-Lviv signed the twin antenna agreement in Agora Patra. How is the relationship going so far?
We can say that it’s quite stable, we were friends before and we are still friends now! No post marital syndrome yet!

Why did you and Lviv choosed each other?
Well, we could say it was destiny… And a lot of things in common. Members from our antennae met frequently in different events in the past and always enjoyed the mutual company. Then during the New Years’ Eve event in Napoli The curious case of AEGEE-Napoli in 2012, we decided to “legalize” our relationship.

What are your upcoming project with AEGEE-Lviv?
An event in Lviv. But shhh.. It is still a secret!

More information about the event can be found here.

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Venezia

This year, a total of 3312 SU applicants made their choice amongst the 80 available Summer Universities. Among those, five of them stood out, having far more than 100 applications. It won’t be a surprise that we are talking about AEGEE-Cagliari & AEGEE-Napoli’s ‘La vita è bella: Mediterranean coast to coast’ managed to gather 184 applications, but AEGEE-Peiraias’ ‘Sea Wars: The Port strikes again!’, AEGEE-Catania’s ‘The treasure island vol. III – The origins of the crew’, AEGEE-Helsinki & AEGEE-Tartu’s ‘FinEst Way to Push your Limits’ and last but not least AEGEE-Tarragona & AEGEE-Valencia’s ‘Touch the Sky Under the Mediterranean Fire’ did a great job too! The AEGEEan spoke to the organising teams of this Fantastic Five to find out more about their methods.

Of course, the first thing we were wondering is how these Summer Universities managed to attract so many participants. The Fantastic Five agree that it’s thanks to the unique program they offer, for example exploring the Nordic antennas, Greek islands or the Italian culture, but another important aspect is formed by the good ratings given in earlier years. As AEGEE-Cagliari and AEGEE-Napoli summarize: “We think it’s probably due to what we can offer during the event: wonderful cities full of history and art that appeal millions of tourists each year, fantastic seasides and last but not least our typical folk spirit, that fascinates all people.” AEGEE-Peiraias adds to this: “Our positive thinking and belief that we could make it, along with the dedication and hard work we put in this project resulted in this positive outcome.”

Also, a good use of promotion never hurts, which is a tool the Fantastic Five used extensively. Pictures are a popular tool, but most of the Summer Universities also made a promotional video to share with their applicants what they could expect. AEGEE-Catania showed off their earlier held treasure hunt, while AEGEE-Helsinki & AEGEE-Tartu made a series of videos, AEGEE-Peiraias used video too to promote their SU and AEGEE-Cagliari and AEGEE-Napoli filmed a short summary of what to expect. Next to this, another popular method was the creation of a Facebook page, where regular updates about the Summer University were given.

After the successful promotion, it was time for a hard task: deciding on your participants, while having more than hundred applications waiting. How did the teams deal with this? “We first looked at the motivation letter, since our goal was to select participants who really wanted to be here and who would take part in every activity and opportunity to offer”, AEGEE-Helsinki and AEGEE-Tartu tell us. “Since most of them were pretty awesome, we also decided based on the country of residence to have cultural diversity and we also selected participants by gender, to have an equal amount of boys and girls.” The other three use a similar method, also AEGEE-Catania adds that an original and funny motivation letter together with pictures and a video is the way to get through their preliminary selection.

Asked about their tips for organising teams next year, the Fantastic Five have different tips ready. “We just recommend them, first of all, to be a group of very good friends. Having a strong friendship, with confidence in the people you are working with, is the best weapon for facing a challenge like this one. Apart from that, the team has to be motivated and ready to work during some months, with patience, but also enthusiasm.” AEGEE-Helsinki and AEGEE-Tartu add to this that it’s mostly important to imagine yourself being a participant in your SU. As AEGEE-Peiraias summarizes: “Together we stand, divided we fall. Our good cooperation and the respect and love we show for each other are the main ingredients of our team.”

Since three out of five Summer Universities were done in cooperation, we were also curious what the benefits of joining forces are. “We think it’s a good idea, because it brings the possibility to know the people from another antenna better, learn to work with another group of people who can teach you new things for your antenna and also to spend some days in another city”, AEGEE-Tarragona and AEGEE-Valencia says. Another important reason is having a good chemistry between different teams, which happened to AEGEE-Cagliari and AEGEE-Napoli. Still, a Summer University can also be organized by just one local, as AEGEE-Catania and AEGEE-Peiraias proved us.

Either way, whether you do it alone or together, organising a popular Summer University seems to be a mixture of good and extensive promotion, an awesome team, great plans and a lot of enthusiasm to make it happen. For this summer the plans have already been made, but let’s create magic again next summer!

Written by Svenja van der Tol, AEGEE-Nijmegen

This was my first AEGEE event away from Malta, therefore I had no idea what to expect besides a fun experience! I chose the Summer University (SU) of Napoli as I hadn’t visited that part of Italy, and also because I had heard that the organisers were quite entertaining! Every SU has a theme, mine was to fight the prejudices of Napoli and its people.

In the first few days we were given the welcome pack and programme, these were given to us in a very unusual manner as they were in an empty pizza box, couldn’t have been more appropriate! Together with these things, we were also given a Neapolitan lucky charm.

On the first day we played some ice breaking games to get to know the other participants with whom I was going to spend the following 14 days. The programme was jam packed with siteseeing and activities to keep ourselves busy. The organisers were crazy enough to entertain us on the long bus rides throughout the trip by putting on some music whilst dancing and singing away. Amongst the activities, we had a day trip to Caserta to visit the Royal Palace and also visits to many beautiful beaches such as Gaiola. We also visited the Grotta di Seiano and the archaeological remains of the Pausilypon which consisted of breathtaking views. We also visited Castell del’Uvo which is situated on the famous Lungomare of Naples.

We were guided through the narrow streets and the many churches and cathedrals found in the centre of Naples. The tours were held by our fellow organisers who explained a few of the legends that had been passed down through the ages. A photo contest was also held on these streets for us to familiarise ourselves even more. Along with the photo contest we had to interview Neapolitan people and ask them some basic questions.

On another day we had an esoteric tour where we visited the Cimiterio delle Fontanelle where thousands of skulls can be found. Once again, the tour guide told a few stories and legends which were about this location. On the same day we played a game in Capo Di Monte, a grand, beautiful forest.

Several workshops were held on several days where we were taught about the Italian culture, language and their famous gestures. We also had a workshop about the Camorra, held by the organisation Libera, which explained what takes place when they acquire any form of property from the Camorra.

Like any other AEGEE event there is an optional fee, where one can either choose to attend that certain activity or not. In this case, the optional fee was for Pompeii, I decided to go to Capri instead with a friend of mine. Capri is beyond beautiful, white painted houses, narrow streets filled with luxury shops and hotels which then lead to the most breathtaking views ever!

The last two days of our trip were spent in Salerno, where we met another group who were at the SU of AEGEE Salerno. During these days we resided at Vietri sul Mare and we visited Amalfi and its Coast. We also had an exclusive private boat trip around the coast and were allowed to swim amongst this gorgeous scenery.

Like every other AEGEE event we had a European night, which was held over two days due to the large variety of countries the participants came from.

Last but not least – the food!!! I lost count of how many pizzas I ate in the span of 14 days. We visited the most famous pizzerias in Naples, such as Sorbillo and Pizzeria Oliva – da Concettina ai Tre Santi. We were also lucky enough to have a reservation at the world known pizzeria Da Michele, which was featured in the book ‘Eat, Pray, Love’. This pizzeria always has a queue of people waiting outside, and we were lucky enough to bypass them.

The organisers did their best to take us out every night to different clubs and bars found in the region of Naples, and made sure that we entered for free!

I can conclude by saying that attending an AEGEE Summer University should be on everyone’s bucket list as it is an amazing experience where one can integrate with people from all over Europe, but only a few could be as lucky as me as to find crazy organisers like those found in Naples!

 Written by Michela Zahra, AEGEE-Valletta

Recently it has become more and more popular in AEGEE to record high quality videos and make them go viral on the internet. Two antennae that are good in that matter are AEGEE-Napoli and AEGEE-Kyiv, and they are therefore both nominated for The AEGEEans Choice Awards 2013.

From AEGEE-Napoli’s video

The AEGEEan interviewed both antennae to get to know more about their love for video making.

The AEGEEan: Why do you create a lot of videos in your antennae?

Giovanni Cerullo (AEGEE-Napoli) In our antenna there are a lot of people that love movies and that are attracted by making short films. At the beginning it was a kind of game, we were just trying to do our best to see what we could do. Then we got addicted, and anytime is the perfect opportunity to make a new one. Furthermore video and YouTube in general are nowadays a very important way to make viral advertising. They give you the opportunity to reach hundreds of people by few clicks. So it’s an opportunity to catch!

Anna Kotovych (AEGEE-Kyiv): It is a great chance to capture moments. Video is something more “alive” than pictures; on video you can see more emotions, actions, smiles. Video is something you keep hold online, and there is less possibility for it to get lost. Very often people are too lazy to watch albums on Facebook, Picasa or any other photo servers or social networks. Videos are more dynamic, and more attractive. And we just have people that like to do this.

What is the golden recipe for a good video?

Giovanni: If you want to make an advertisement, I think it should be short, clear and funny. If it’s too long people will not watch it and if it’s boring people will not share it.

Anna: The main recipe most probably is the mood of the video. If people are enjoying the time spending together, on video you can easily see this. Also the idea is a point. If there is a creative idea, and you know approx. how it should look like in the end, half of the work is already done!

What is the best advice you can give to other antennae that find it difficult to make videos?

Giovanni: They just have to try. When we started recording videos in October we did not know at all how to do it. Then we found it was so funny to be a director or an actor, and also our members realized that. Now we have a lot of people that want to participate in our videos, especially the new members. So therefore with a good video you can make a great advertisement, and you can also let your members enjoy!

Anna: First if all, don’t be afraid! It is much easier than you think. Just think about the video in advance. You don’t need to have a professional scriptwriter or a director with huge experience. Just a person that enjoys to do this and can hold a camera in their hands and presses button “rec” two times: start and stop.

Use any user-friendly video editors, and, voilà – you have a nice or even great video, that you, your local, friends, family and the whole Network can enjoy while watching, and smiling. 

AEGEE-Napoli during their roll call in Budapest

Besides being nominated for best video AEGEE-Napoli is also honoured for their creative mindset when it comes to rollcalls. When asked about how they came up with the idea the answer was: “We really wanted to make something original, but funny. So we decided to sing that Napolitan rap song that talks about a hefty boy, you know people that go to the gym every day and that eat only proteins. If you have ever met us, you would know that we are not like that at all. That’s why we found really funny to sing that song and to sing it in that way.” AEGEE-Napoli use it because they value the creativity and how it will make people remember your antenna. It gets people talking and it is therefore a different kind of advertising for the antenna.

There is no doubt that AEGEE-Kyiv and AEGEE-Napoli are not the only creative antennae in the Network but they do set a good example and hopefully more will follow them in the future.

Written by Patricia Anthony, AEGEE-København

“Dear Network, it is my great pleasure to announce that at the recent local Agora the new board of AEGEE-…. was elected.” An e-mail with such information ticks into many AEGEE members e-mail account day in and day out and in numerous times ends up deleted.

Announcing the new board of an antenna is made on Announce-L, and contributes to the large number of e-mails entering accounts of young students around Europe every day. The question was raised not so long ago about why there is the need of boards announcing themselves on the Announce-L, and one might wonder if this procedure could be improved?

Some commissions would like to prefer that contact information for every board member of the different antennae to be included. This way the Audit Commission can connect to Treasurers, The AEGEEan can connect to PR Responsible and the Human Resource Committee gains the opportunity to reach out to HR Responsible across the antennae.

However, others might have the opinion that announcing the boards on the Announce-L is spamming, and a measure that should either take place in another way or simply not take place at all through e-mailing. In The AEGEEan we keep stressing the fact that anybody can publish more or less any news in our magazine. With the six different sections we reach many areas, and for people who find it difficult to compose an article we have journalists and editors happy to help out. This for example happened in the case where AEGEE-Napoli contacted the magazine, eager to announce their new board to the Network and the things that they were working on.

This made Patricia Anthony, editor of European Events section, wonder if it is possible to announce all boards through our magazine? Her idea is to separate the announcement of boards from the Announce-L and create a new list with the only purpose of announcing boards. That could be for example be named Announce-Board-L. This way commissions, committees, and people who are generally interested in receiving such news in their inbox can subscribe and still stay informed about new boards.

Some might be scared that not enough people obtain the information about the change in their antenna, but this can be solved as well. As mentioned before, there is the great opportunity to announce such information in The AEGEEan and there are many possibilities to do so. Antennae can write the article themselves, or they can reach out to the team behind The AEGEEan stating their desire for such article, or if more people are in favor of the idea The AEGEEan can create a standard form that antennae can fill in, and the creative journalists of the magazine will then put it together as an article.

What do you think? Are you bothered by the large number of boards being announced through Announce-L since it is for many useless information? Would you like to see a change? Would you like it to stay the way it is? What is your opinion?

Written by Patricia Anthony, AEGEE-København

After serving as President in his local (AEGEE-Napoli) and as Subcommie in the Network Commission (NetCom) for a year, Claudio Armandi feels that becoming Network Commissioner is the most natural step, as he mentions in his candidature.

In this interview, Claudio discusses his experiences, plans, goals and motivations.

The AEGEEan: Being a Subcommissioner for one year, you should have learned a lot. What do you consider to be the biggest learning point? What was the most difficult situation that you had to face?

Claudio: They happen to be the same moment: the deletion of AEGEE-Macerata. I had some friends in the antenna and I was so sad for that, but I can say we did our best to save them and that it was unavoidable. But I had many happier moments in my year as Subcommie!

You come from the same region of Italy as Matteo, the current Netcommie. Would your getting elected reinforce the development of a certain area to the detriment of others?

It is just a coincidence, actually our cities used to be strong enemies! I would have worked with Matteo regardless of the city he came from. I am sure he chose me as a Subcommie for criteria other than my city of origin, so no clue about that!

Are you still involved in AEGEE-Napoli after being President of this local?

I am now living in Berlin, so I cannot be a board member in my antenna anymore. Anyway, there are a lot of new active members in my antenna and I am sure that they will be able to guarantee a good future for AEGEE-Napoli! I will be watching them as an oldie.

You gained experience in the Italian/Maltese Network, but you said that you are living in Germany now. Are there any locals which you would particularly like to take care of?

I would like to coordinate the Rainbow zone. I am sure I can do it properly even if I live in Berlin. The city has better and cheaper links to many Italian cities compared to Naples. Furthermore, the whole team of subcommies, including Matteo, declared they would be happy to stay in the team. This means that I can count on them in any case.

In your opinion, what is one weakness and one strength of the Rainbow Network?

I would like to see more competent people at the European level and more theme-focused events. On the other hand, I can assure you events in Italy and Malta are always unforgettable, and not only because of the wonderful places you get to see. It is the way of organizing them and the approach of people that make them special. Again, I recommend every AEGEEan to try attending them at least once.

You are already active on European level by being the Financial Manager of the Eastern Partnership Project. Do you consider involving more people into projects and Working Groups as one of your aims as Netcommie? How would you do it?

Being in a project team really teaches you a lot. It is an experience I would recommend to any motivated AEGEEan. I will do my best to sponsor projects and Working Groups in my area, both to search for new potential members and to organize joint events.

You write in your candidature that you have been working in the purchase department of an international company for a year and half. How do you think this role would help you in NetCom?

It taught me how to survive in a basket full of snakes! Actually, it also taught me how to negotiate and how to find interesting spots in the market.Nothing strongly task-related, but every skill counts in AEGEE.

“I would like to let Italian locals join the Italian Youth Council, if they demonstrate a serious will to do so.” Have the structural problems related to joining the Council been solved?

Thanks to the last reform about the role of the Netcommie, they have been solved. However, I would like Italian antennae to show more interest in that matter. We can reach this goal only with a strong cooperation from them. It will be the Netcommie’s task to motivate them and to show the possible benefits to be achieved through this move.

In your candidature twin antennae are not mentioned. Do you still believe in them as an instrument of cooperation?

Of course I do! But I think Rainbow has other priorities now, like being more content-oriented when organizing events and more “serious” in a general way of speaking. Obviously twin antenna agreements are warmly welcome!

One example of a “serious” event is EBM 2013, which will take place in AEGEE-Valletta, therefore in your area of the Network. Do you feel ready to help this local with such an important event?

I am sure the guys do not need a lot of help, but I would be there to work my bottom out anyway! I am really happy a statutory event is coming back to the Rainbow after a while.

Being part of the Network team is also an opportunity for personal development. What would you like to achieve from this experience?

More personal AEGEE experience for sure. I think being a Netcommie develops a lot of soft skills you will need in your future life.

The Agora will be an opportunity for Claudio to present himself better and show the soft skills that he already owns. The AEGEEan wishes him plenty of luck!

Written by Martina Zanero, AEGEE-Torino