One event. 13 days. Six cities. 23 participants and almost 25 organisers. “Our Big Fat Greek Winter University” was the New Year Event organised by the greek speaking antennae of AEGEE-Athina, AEGEE-Peiraias, AEGEE-Patra, AEGEE-Ioannina, AEGEE-Thessaloniki and AEGEE-Kastoria, between the 28th of December 2016 and the 9th of January 2017.

This NYE was one of its kind! An ambitious plan and a profoundly challenging event with one and only aim: to emphasise the diverse beauty that Greece has to offer to its visitors during the winter. Usually, when people think about the country, the first thing that pops automatically in mind, is the S triplet: sun, sand and sea! The journey followed a different path this time. Participants got to travel and see both the urban everyday life of the big cities and harbours, as well as the picturesque, suburban areas with the vivid student life.

As for me, this was a self-discovering and an amazing experience. When I joined AEGEE a year ago, trying to find my footsteps aside from school and my comfort zone, I would never imagine that I would be mainly responsible for such a thing. This is why, when my antenna proposed to me to be in charge of AEGEE-Ioannina part in this event, I felt it like a challenge.

No matter the difficulties that the organisers had to face considering it was a collaboration between six antennae, we managed to make the dream of many people, even before us, come true. We definitely surpassed the Greek stereotypes that want many people when working together, arguing with each other with no result. The biggest proof is what one of our participants, Leyla Gasanova from AEGEE-Moskva, said:“In general I want to say big thanks for this event! We could see a reeeally good job and a lot of preparation”.

The NYE started in the Greek capital Athens, of course. During the time in Athens, the participants had the opportunity to see our cultural inheritance. They visited the National Archaeological Museum, the state-of-the-art Akropolis Museum and Akropolis Rock. This was a life dream for many AEGEEans, who added a check to their to-do lists. They also paid a visit to the Ancient Agora and Pnika, the place where the ancient Athenians were gathering to discuss and vote. As Athens is a modern city, which combines perfectly the old with the new style, we could not miss an opportunity to walk in the alleys of the centre with full of bazaars, as well as shops with a modern and alternative essence. Lastly, the organisers of AEGEE-Athina took a good care of the social nightlife and partied along with the participants in various clubs. Everybody agreed on the fact that Athens had the best and craziest parties of the event.

The participants left with a great first impression to move to Patras, the second biggest harbour in Greece. The most enjoyable moment was during the city tour and the city rally when they visited, among others, the orthodox church of Saint Andrew and closed the day in the lighthouse near the marina, where we saw the sunset by the sea! It was a serene moment during this trip, perfect to meditate, as one of our participants did. The NYE party in Patras was a typically Greek celebrating meal, late in the evening. After we welcomed 2017, we ate the New Year’s Pie, a custom in the country. The pie was cut into pieces and served to guests. In it, there is a coin and whoever has it in his piece, is the lucky one for the year that has just arrived. It is connected to the orthodox Santa Claus, who is called Saint Vassilios, and he was the first to offer such a pie to the poor. Foteini, president of AEGEE-Patra, was the winner. After the meal, it was time for the party in the local bars!

Following destination… Ioannina! It is the small town in the north-west of Greece, as known mostly for lake Pamvotis and the mountainous sceneries. The time here is like stuck in the past, in the era when the Ottomans ruled. This impression was increased by the byzantine castle, the remaining mosques and the legends still alive in every corner. Travelling through places of the Medieval Age astounded the participants. We also visited the island in the lake, the one with its permanent inhabitants. We had a dance workshop there with local dances from Epirus and the Ionian Islands.

Of course, we did not miss the chance to dance the syrtaki as well. It would not be a Big Fat Greek Winter University without it, anyway! The highlight of the day: other visitors were passing by and staring at us. However, who really cared at that moment? Another workshop given by Netcom Spyros Papadatos was both interesting and fun. It was about “An interactive way to introduce AEGEE so that both the new and the old members could contribute and enjoy”. Ioannina ended its part with the European Night, which was organised in accordance with the guidelines of the “Drink-wise Project”. As the main organiser on behalf of my antenna, I had the “Eurotrip” through all the tables of different nations and opened the night with Spyros. And yes! I am able to say we survived!

Next in the row was Thessaloniki, “The Nymph of the North”, as locals proudly call the city. Thessaloniki is the second largest city in Greece and an eternal competitor with Athens. The participants had an amazing time in the city tour. One of the highlights was the byzantine castle, which was built in the 4th century. It offers a breathtaking and panoramic view from the highest point of the city to the beach and to the White Tower. During the two nights that they spent there, they got a taste of the legendary nightlife in Greek style tavernas with local foods, drinks and music. The pub crawl was a social activity which they also enjoyed much. In Thessaloniki, the organisers from other locals gathered together, created a lovely feeling to be all together for the final days of the NYE.

The event was meant to finish in Kastoria. The phenomenal snowstorm, though, that stroke Greece this winter, had another opinion on this. Under extremely low temperatures, AEGEEans took part in Ragoutsaria, a carnival that has its origins to the bacchanalian ceremonies that were exercised in the area. In Kastoria, the organisers also introduced them a real Greek night. The best part was definitely the moment that the participants tried to sing the mainstream Greek music. Unfortunately, the weather was a constant enemy and Murphy’s law “If something can go wrong, it will”, worked exceptionally well. With the whole country entering in a freezer, problems in the accommodation came up and the event had to finish ingloriously. This made us all disappointed, as we were all looking forward to the three-days party with the wine and the unstoppable dancing with the rhythm of Balkan music all around the alleys. Yet, every bad situation comes out a good result…or at least a funny incident.

We made it to the news! Two brave AEGEEans, during their visits to the frozen lake, walked on a very thin sheet of ice. Next day they became viral as the Kastorians who walked on the lake! Of course, we knew otherwise!!! To sum up, this NYE has been a pleasure and an adventure for everybody. As all NYEs, it was the perfect start to a year with full of travelling, meeting new friends and getting to know another country. More specifically, it was a chance to visit many Greek cities from the north to the south, learn about the culture and the particular cultural characteristics. Even though it might have been a little tiring swapping between six destinations, we were very happy to be able to show a different and more representative aspect of Greece. This would have been impossible without the friendly atmosphere we managed to create among the group of organisers. It was a surprise to me to get closer with our fellow antennae in such a way. We also owe this all to the most challenging and patient group of experienced AEGEE members that helped us to make it happen. And as once said… why not? Let’s turn this into a tradition!!!

Written by Vasiliki Andrioti, AEGEE-Ioannina

AEGEE-Patra proposed a magnificent TSU showing the best of Peloponnese on the initiative of Flo Fotini Karagrigori, Stavroula Kostakopolou, Secretary of this Greek Antenna, Vasiliki Petrakou, President, and the extraordinary help of an amazing team. Journalist Matteo Lai reports on this international event that was in collaboration with the Democracy in Practice project.

The Summer University of AEGEE-Patra began on the eleventh of July 2016. In Athens, I had already met some participants, Ana and Alvaro, and one organiser, Spyros, who hosted me during the previous weekend, and gave us a small city tour of the Greek capital. With other guys, who were joining the event, we reached Patra very late by bus; about nine p.m. The Greek organisers, however, could not let us miss out on some ice breaking games, so that we at least got to know the name of the other participants.

They came from every corner of Europe: Dario Renna (Italy), Natalya Turun (Ukraine),  Ihor Raynovskyy (Ukraine), David Ferre (Spain), Olga Revilla (Spain), Ana González García (Spain), Robert Bullesfeld (Germany), Joyce Schulte (the Netherlands), Álvaro Alonso Larré (Spain), Anna Zaiats (Ukraine), Strahinja Kocijasevic (Serbia), Enrica Griggio (Italy), Diego Laino Rebollido (Spain), Alessandro Boffa Fasset (Italy), Irene Ballester (Spain), Matteo Delfino (Italy), Adela Hurtikova (Czech Republic), Anna Temerko (Ukraine), Matteo Sberna (Italy), Merli Martin (Estonia), Sophia Talvoysh (Russia), Maria Calin (Austria), Alicia Jiménez Nosti (Spain), Julia Sohu (Spain), Mikel Larra Arca (Spain), Ella Katkova (Russia), Fernando Berniola Cassorán (Spain), Lili Dozsa (Hungary), Arbenita Hasani (Austria), Kagan Kemal Tuna (Turkey) and a girl simply known to us as Burcu (Turkey).

The organisers were: Noemi Lowy (Democracy in Practice Trainer, AEGEE-Debrecen), Vasiliki Petrakou (Main Organiser and President), Petros Spyratos, Spyros Ntouroukis, Fotini Flo Karagrigori (Main Organiser and Secretary), Stavroula Kostakopoulou (Main Organizer and Incoming Responsible), Raphael Angelis, Stavros Vlatakis, Giota Grintzou, Petros Vezos, Katerina Anastasopolou (AEGEE-Athina), Akis Tampachaniotis (AEGEE-Peiraias), Costas Frem, Costantinos Fasourakis, Yiota Mitropoulou, Anastasia Karantza.

After a quick dinner outside the hotel, we all went together to a lounge in a pub, ten minutes away from the hotel that was our accommodation for the first four days. I was really tired after the long trip from Athens to Patra, but I could not wait for the interesting programme that the organisers had crafted for us. Patra is famous for the Rio-Antirrio Bridge, the longest suspension bridge in Europe. In Patra, I also visited the Apollon Theatre, which was designed by the famous German architect Ernst Ziller and completed in 1872. The Apollon is located east of Georgiou I Square, one of Patra’s most popular squares. The theatre is a micrograph of “La Scala” in Milan, and is the oldest existing enclosed theatre of the same era. The Apollon Theatre has been the main stage of the Patras Municipal and Regional Theatre since 1988, and can hold up to three hundred people.

The TSU was in collaboration with the ‘Democracy in Practice’ project. For the newbies in AEGEE, the aim of the project is to raise awareness among young people about the importance of human rights as the basis of a healthy democracy, in order to promote social and political participation of young people at local, national, and European level. This can be achieved in two ways: by means of training, and by means of advocacy. Therefore, the members of Democracy in Practice set some learning objectives and some advocacy objectives. The former required the participants to explain what the interconnections between human rights and democracy are, to develop a campaign for Human Rights, to direct their own learning through the process, and to develop a concrete action plan in order to start a follow-up process. Advocacy objectives are various as well: the participants can identify the local stakeholders for human rights education; the participants are able to advocate for human rights education in their local communities, specially targeting universities and other educational centres.

There have been many sessions that allowed us to know each other better and to discuss about Europe. For example, at the Gythio campsite, Noemi asked us to write down some words that we associate with Europe: peace, freedom, security, human rights, prosperity, language, mobility. She also proposed us to watch a movie titled: “The Untouchables”, which topics were discussed during our stay in Patra.

On the third day, we spent the evening in Plaz, a beach close to Patra’s city centre, where we enjoyed the European Night, a traditional activity in every Summer University. The organisers decided to surprise us by showing their European friends the basics of some popular Greek dances. Then, Stavroula would not be amiss to show us the famous ‘Ouzo’, an alcoholic drink very similar to Sambuca with the flavor of anisette.

On the morning of the day after, we followed a Democracy in Practice session about the structure and organisation of AEGEE. Noemi also talked about several AEGEE projects you can join, such as The AEGEEan. Later, the protagonists of this amazing Greek adventure visited the Achaia Clauss winery where they relaxed, chatted and made some group photos. In the Youth Mobility Workshop, David explained to us the incredible advantages of living on a new planet with his “Apollo Mobility Program”.

The participants were involved in D.i.P. activities almost every day, but we also went to Ancient Olympia, known for having been the site of the Olympic Games in classical times. In the 10th century B.C., Olympia became a centre for the worship of Zeus. The Altis – the sanctuary to the gods – used to contain one of the greatest collections of masterpieces from the ancient Greek world. In addition to temples, we saw the remains of all the sports structures, which had been erected for the Olympic Games that were held in Olympia every four years. The first ever Olympic Games were held in honour of Zeus. After some hours at Kaiafas beach, we visited Kalamata. The city tour was guided by Dimitri Eliopoulos, former director of Alpha Bank, who spoke more Italian than Greek or English. On Sunday, we went to Polylimnio for river trekking. The course ended at a lake and some Spanish guys inaugurated a dive competition from very high rocks. In Methoni, we managed to make some group photos over the rocks near a castle without falling into the water.

The day at Kalamata’s city hall was the best for me. After we were welcomed by the mayor, we made an analysis and comparison of the situation of human and fundamental rights in several European countries. We were divided into small groups on the basis of our country. I still cannot believe it, but I talked in front of forty people in a foreign language about the Italian Constitution, while expressing my opinion about some current problems of Italy without getting nervous. I would have liked to answer some questions, but it was also important to talk about countries where the problem of human rights is probably much more felt, countries such as Ukraine, Russia and Turkey.

In Kardamyli, thirty-five kilometers southeast of Kalamata, in the region of Messenia on the Mani Peninsula, we admired the Mourtzinos Tower and the Church of Ayios Spyridon. After enjoying the sun at Stoupa beach, we reached the third Greek town of this vacation, Gythio, where we celebrated at the Hippie Hippie Shake Party.

One of the places that fascinated me the most was Monemvasia Island. Monemvasia is a town and a municipality in Laconia. The town is located on a small island off the Eastern coast of the Peloponnese. The town’s name derives from two Greek words, “mone” and “emvasia”, collectively meaning “single entrance”. Many of the streets are narrow and can only accommodate pedestrians and donkeys. A small hamlet of about ten houses lies on the northwest. The most interesting aspects of the island were for sure: Christos Elkomenos Square, the church of Agia Sophia, and the fortress. There was a very strong wind around the island, but that didn’t stop me from enjoying a wonderful excursion. Another interesting archeological site was Mystras, a fortified town and a former municipality in Laconia, always in the Peloponnese, situated on the Taygetos mountain, near the ancient Sparta.

In the next chapter of our journey, we arrived in Mycenae (or Mikines). In the second millennium BC, Mycenae was one of the major centres of Greek civilisation. I got petrified when I saw the Lion Gate, because I had only seen it in my history of art text book. On the last two days of the TSU, the accommodation was in a campsite in Napflio. During those couple of days, we went on a cruise discovering the Hydra and Spetses islands. In Hydra there were no cars, but a lot of mules instead. On both islands the water was crystal-clear. At the end of the SU, the organisers brought us to the ancient theatre at Epidauros: among all the ancient theatres, this one was the most beautiful and best preserved. And although it was very hot, I could not resist the temptation to climb up the steps to the top of the theatre.

The organisers of AEGEE-Patra did a really good job; some of them have been very affable with the most shy participants, and they have created and nurtured a group that wanted to have a lot of fun. Sometimes they had to modify the timetable for the evening programme by the request of most of the participants; such as when we asked to include one more party on Gythio beach. In the discos, someone among the organisers could not bare to see you sit on a chair, so they immediately grabbed you by your arms and made you fly on the dance floor. They showed to be very experienced after their Agora in 2014. Not everything  was perfect and there were some aspects that need to be improved for next year, but the organisers were also warm-hearted. When I got sick, guys like Raphael, Vasiliki and Stavros took care of me without hesitation.

Written by Matteo Lai, AEGEE-Cagliari.

You might have seen him a lot during the five days of the Spring Agora 2014, answering questions politely and always willing to help. Costas Deltouzos, pillar of AEGEE-Patra, was elected member of the month of June. In his ten year career in AEGEE he covered several positions, both in the European and local level, but his time in the association isn’t over yet, he told us. 

The AEGEEan: Costas, tell us something about yourself.

Costas: Well what to say about me… I was born in Athens 34 years ago, but I have been living in Patra for almost 15 years, so I kind of feel like this city is my home. I have graduated from Electrical and Computer Engineering department and I’m working towards my PhD in Computer Networks. As a true AEGEEan I really like to travel and meet people from all over the world.

The AEGEEan: How, when and why did you joined AEGEE?
Costas: One of my best friends went to a Network Meeting in 2002 (called Regional Meeting back then) and when he came back he was ecstatic about how great it was. I was curious about this organisation, but also a bit sceptical, so I started going to the weekly meetings of AEGEE-Patra. I decided to join AEGEE-Patra in April 2003 and I took part in the Summer University organised by Patra as a helper. I can definitely say it was a life-changing experience.

The AEGEEan: How many Agorae have you attended?
Costas: My first Agora was right after that Summer University, so it was Autumn Agora Zaragoza 2003. During these 11 years that I’ve been a member, I’ve missed more than half Agorae for various reasons. So I have attended… [calculating ed.] 9 Agorae and 4 EBMs.

The AEGEEan: Who came out with the idea of organizing an Agora? And how did you end up being the main organizer?

Costas: As the last Agora that took place in Greece was back in 2002, it was a dream of many Greek AEGEEans to bring Agora back to its roots. During these years several boards of Athina, Peiraias or Patra had considered hosting an Agora but unfortunately none of them decided to apply. It was already in 2012 that some “oldies” started looking at the possibility of hosting an Agora somewhere in Greece. Patra proved to be the best option, because the gym and conference center were in an ideal location. The core team was a mixture of old and young members from several Greek locals and I was chosen as main coordinator because I was the most experienced member from Patra. 

The AEGEEan: What was the most thrilling moment during Sping Agora Patra 2014?
Costas: The most thrilling moment for me was the closing ceremony. It was the end of a long journey that started one year ago when we were given the responsibility to organise the Agora. After spending countless hours working for it and many sleepless nights, I was among the team of organizers and I was happy and relieved that nothing went really bad.

The AEGEEan: If any, what was the most tiring moment you experienced during the preparation and the five days of the Agora?

Costas: During the preparation we had calmer and busier periods, but in general things were going rather smoothly. There were some crisis moments where we stressed a lot, with the biggest one being a couple of months before the Agora when the administration of the gym announced us that we could not stay there. We started lobbying to change this decision and had drafted a plan B in case it would not work. Eventually, we managed to solve everything and the crisis was averted.

During the Agora after spending the first two days (and few days before it) with almost no sleep, I was really exhausted. But after a good night’s sleep, I was up and running till the end of the Agora. We had our crisis, but we managed to solve everything.

The AEGEEan: How did you manage to coordinate not only your local, but all the Greek locals while preparing the Agora?
Costas: Since there were a lot of people involved from various Greek locals, gathering all of them in one place was really hard. The RTC that AEGEE-Patra organized in December, served also as a meeting of Agora organizers, but we didn’t manage to have another big meeting.

Seen the need to coordinate people geographically scattered, we established an HR team, whose task was to recruit members and assign them to the different teams we had. This team had members from various Greek locals and was leaded by the former President of AEGEE-Europe: Manos Valasis. During the Agora the HR team organised the shifts of the helpers. As you can imagine this team was one of the most important for organising the Agora.

The AEGEEan: What are your upcoming projects?
Costas: At the end of Agora, my term in the board of AEGEE-Academy finished as well, so I do not hold any board position anymore in any of the European bodies of AEGEE. But this is not the end of my AEGEE career. I am still serving the Academy as IT assistant and the SUCT as advisor/assistant. Also to keep myself even more busy, I joined the Key to Europe team as a Research and Statistics Manager. 

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Venezia

This year AEGEE-Patra and AEGEE-Cagliari will organise the Spring Agora and Autumn Agora respectively. Why did they decide to take up this big task, and what makes the Agora in their city special? The AEGEEan spoke with Aris Konstantinopoulos (President of AEGEE-Patra and Incoming Responsible for the Spring Agora) and Damiano Deidda (President of AEGEE-Cagliari) to ask them these questions – and more!  

AEGEE-Patra

The AEGEEan: This year your local will be organizing the Agora. Why did you decide to apply for this?
Aris: The last Agora took place in our region in autumn 2002 (Agora Athina), so we thought it was about time to bring the Agora back. It was Costas Deltouzos (currently Main Coordinator of Agora Patra) who suggested it to the board and we were all excited about the idea! We didn’t have to think for a long time before we sent the application.

The AEGEEan: Why will the Agora in your local be the best Agora we have experienced so far?
Aris: Agora (“ΑΓΟΡΑ”) is connected with participation and democracy, which had a great meaning in Ancient Greece. That’s one of the reasons we decided that the thematic part of our Agora will be around Youth Political Participation.

The fact that it takes place in Greece during spring when the weather is sunny and warm makes it the ideal place for the participants! All these make Patra the place to be, or as our motto says… “your place to choose”!

The AEGEEan: Do the locals in your region work together a lot (for example being in a National Youth Council together)? Do they support you with the organization of the Agora?
Aris: AEGEE is represented in the Greek National Youth Council by all Greek locals. Pretty often we cooperate with other locals, for example last July we had a TSU with AEGEE-Ioannina and last December we organised a Regional Training Course with AEGEE-Athina, AEGEE-Ioannina and AEGEE-Peiraias. Now for the matters of the Agora many members from all Greek locals are in the organizing team of Agora Patra and we are all working together for it!

The AEGEEan: How many of your own members went to Agora Zaragoza last year and did you go yourself too?

Aris: Unfortunately only four members made it to Zaragora in the end. It was an Agora that many of us wanted to go to, especially because it was the one before ours, but the tickets were really expensive and some of our members also had exams. Unfortunately I was one of those.

The AEGEEan: Besides the Agora, what other activities does your local organize?

Aris: In general every year we organize at least a Summer University and a Local Training Course (in the last two years we had a Regional Training Course instead). We also host a European Training event every couple of years (so far three European Schools and Training for Trainers) in collaboration with AEGEE-Academy. Furthermore we organize many local activities so that we can keep our members active and motivated.

The AEGEEan: What makes your local unique in the AEGEE-network?
Aris: The members of the local! I mean, the fact that despite being a rather small antenna our members are so energetic and willing to work that the huge task of organising an Agora was more of a challenge than a fear. That’s what makes us special.

The AEGEEan:What has been your favorite moment while being a member of your local?

Aris: The moment that I participated in my first Agora. It was something new for me and I was very excited! Although I think that if you will ask me after two months I will say that the best moment is organizing the Agora.

The AEGEEan: What place in Europe would you still like to travel to?
Aris: Every part of it… But firstly Spain. I’ve wanted to go to Spain for years and still haven’t made it there so it is one of my priorities!

AEGEE-Cagliari

The AEGEEan: This year your local will be organizing the Agora. Why did you decide to apply for this?

Damiano: Because we realized that it was the perfect time to dare! I think that the dream of every AEGEEan is to bring the Agora to his own city. We always talked about the possibility to organize the Agora in Cagliari but there was always hesitancy about hosting such a big event. This is not a challenge only for AEGEE-Cagliari, but also for our city, that runs to become the Capital of Culture 2019, and it is ready to breath a real international spirit for a couple of days.

The AEGEEan: Why will the Agora in your local be the best Agora we have experienced so far?
Damiano: Because we do all that it takes to make it possible! In the last months we grew a lot as a team and in our own personal skills. We organized several meetings and events to improve our members’ responsibility about what we’re doing, and we have created a motivated and very inspired team. Of course, our wonderful city will help us a lot: Cagliari is the pearl of the Mediterranean sea, with its landscapes, its lifestyle, its culture and history. I think that the feeling of travelling that our city will offer to all AEGEEans next October will help them to make this Agora unforgettable.

The AEGEEan: Do the locals in your region work together a lot (for example being in the National Youth Council together)? Do they support you with the organization of the Agora?
Damiano: Yes we do it. We are totally in love with our region! During our application we received a lot of partnership agreements from the Italian antennae. It was great to see all their support and feeling. We will have a lot of helpers from the Italian antennae, and we thank them for their enthusiasm… Their support is very important for us.

The AEGEEan: How many of your own members went to Agora Zaragoza last year and did you go yourself too?
Damiano: Six members went to Zaragora, I was there as delegate and it was great! Three of us were at our first Agora, and it was good because now they are board members, and Simone, in particular, now is the main organizer of Agora, so we can say that for us it has been very inspiring!

The AEGEEan: Besides the Agora, what other activities does your local organize?
Damiano: Last week we organized our biggest and most important local event called “Formazione Lavoro ed Europa (Training, job and Europe”):  a three-day conference about job market, education and opportunities in Europe (hosting sectorial experts, professionists, entrepreneurs, job trainers and around 300 students). During the year  we organize seminars, training courses, English conversation courses, cineforums in original languages, trips out of town, informal meetings and our very popular “Delirium parties”.

The AEGEEan: What makes your local unique in the AEGEE-network?
Damiano: Our antenna has very important traditions, thanks to all old members, who taught to us to always work in a professional way and to do it with passion. Finally, we can show them what we learned and made them proud of us.

The AEGEEan: What has been your favorite moment while being a member of your local?

Damiano: I think that it’s a very difficult question for me. My local gave me too many emotional moments! I built very strong friendships, and shared success times with other members. But, I think that the best is yet to come in a couple of months.

The AEGEEan: What place in Europe would you still like to travel to?

Damiano: Too many places! But now I would like to visit Turkey and the Caucasus!

Written by Svenja van der Tol, AEGEE-Nijmegen

It came as a little surprise to many that next Spring Agora organiser will be AEGEE-Patra. Representatives from the antenna already told The AEGEEan about their plans, when they were elected as Local of the Month and in Mannheim it was announced that they will indeed be the hosts next year.

The AEGEEan took the opportunity to interview the main organiser: Costas Deltouzos about the next Spring Agora.

Congratulations on being selected! What made you apply for Spring Agora 2014?

Thank you dear AEGEEan! All of us were really excited when the Comité Directeur announced that Spring Agora 2014 will take place in Patra. We decided to apply for the Spring Agora for a number of reasons, but I think the most important one was that there has not been any Agora in this part of the Network for more than 10 years.

 You mention members from other Greek locals in the Local of the Month interview. How will they be involved in this Agora? Do you already have a team?

Organising an Agora requires a lot of human resources. As you know AEGEE-Patra is not as big of a local as the previous Agora organisers (Enschede, Budapest, and Zaragoza), so it would be difficult to organise such a big event without any help. Luckily a lot of members from other locals, mostly from the Greek speaking ones (but not only), have stated that they are willing to help us. So we’re expecting a lot of external organisers! The core team itself, consists of experienced members from AEGEE-Patra, AEGEE-Peiraias, AEGEE-Athina and… AEGEE-Riga!

Can you tell The AEGEEan when you came up with the idea of applying?

My first event as a participant was the Autumn Agora 2003 in Zaragoza! I was amazed by so many young people gathering in one place where they can meet, share cultural backgrounds, exchange ideas and decide on what kind of assosiation we want to have. Over the years I was hoping to see one Agora being organised in Greece, but it’s difficult for a local to take on a big responsibility like this. Now the time has come for the Agora to return to its birth place!

What have you done in the preparations so far?

Even though it’s almost a year till the Agora will take place, we kept ourselves busy with preparations. We have already gained the patronage of Mayor of Patras and the Rector of our University. We have also pre-booked the gym that will be used for lodging and the Conference Center of the University that will be used for plenaries. The fundraising team is making its strategy to acquire all the necessary funds for this Agora.

 What is Patra famous for?

Our city has a long history but nowdays is mostly famous for the big carnival that takes place here. It starts every year in the middle of January and ends in February/March and I strongly suggest everyone to visit it! Also while being here you can visit the attractions like the Fortress, the Roman Odeon, the St. Andrew cathedral and the bridge of Rio-Antirio.

Give us five reasons people should attend Spring Agora 2014

Plenaries and sessions will be hosted in a well equiped conference center;

Always helpful organizers everywhere;

Take a walk along the seaside;

Relax under the warm Greek sun;

And much more!

Written by Patricia Anthony, AEGEE-København

Recently we published the article giving you an insight into the story behind 2^nd place winner of the Events Committee’s (EvC) Facebook competition. Now it is time to reveal the winner which includes not only AEGEE-Oviedo but also AEGEE-Yerevan and the Eastern Partnership Project Team.

The winning photo

The Peace Building in Europe took place in Gijón last year, and the EvC’s competition has granted us the opportunity to get to know more about the event, how it came about, and the significance of exchanges among AEGEE antennae. Several of the participants of the event took their time to contribute to an interesting interview which you can read below.

Congratulations on winning the competition, why did you take part in it?

Tereza Tokmajyan (AEGEE-Yerevan) Thanks! It all begins with checking the dozens of AEGEE-emails in my inbox. I know every AEGEEan feel this every day and every week.  And while I was reading the info about what we need for participating in this great competition, the photo of our crazy event came out. I just wanted everyone to know all the amazing people who have organised this project.

What does it make you feel that you managed to win?

Gerardo García Díaz (AEGEE-Oviedo): I’m really happy and also proud because we managed to win, and because we won just for “being ourselves”.

Panagiotis Barlampas (AEGEE-Athina): Friends from the Network  helped us spread the joy

Tereza: And it was like: HELL YES we did it.

Take us back to the event, who came up with the idea to organize a YiA project between AEGEE-Yerevan and AEGEE-Oviedo?

Tereza: As far as I know, it was not directly the idea of AEGEE-Yerevan or AEGEE-Oviedo. The project was proposed by the AEGEE Eastern Partnership Project Team (EaP) back in summer 2011. Armenak Minasyants, who at that time was member of that team, developed and reshaped the project with the AEGEE EaP Team. Later on AEGEE-Oviedo was approached and to be honest, for the first application in 2011 the guys failed and the project got the rejection and lots of people thought that it was the big ned of a cooperation that had not even really started yet. It was a big disappointment. Amazingly, Armenak,  AEGEE-Yerevan’s ex-president, and Alberto Cuesta Noriega, from AEGEE-Oviedo, with the big support of AEGEE EaP Project Manager Alla Resheten, found totally new motivation and inspiring hope for rechecking the whole application, making plenty new amendments to it, developing a new agenda and concept and of course applying for the EU Youth in Action funding. It took from the both of lots of hard work, patience and dedication but in the end of the day the result you may already see on your own.

When asked why the choice of AEGEE-Yerevan and AEGEE-Oviedo for the project Tereza said with a smile “Maybe we are the marvelous, absolutely fabulous antennae in AEGEE Network?” and continued “But if we talk more seriously, the partnership was firstly based on the big personal trust of our above mentioned main organisers. Additionally it should be mentioned that the participants were not only from AEGEE-Oviedo or AEGEE-Yerevan. The organisers have involved as the partner promoters AEGEE-Athina, AEGEE-Tbilisi, AEGEE-Kyiv, AEGEE-Budapest, and Moldavian National Youth Council. In the end we got totally crazy and motivated participants plus awesome trainers’ team”.

What did you do in Oviedo?

Gerardo: Actually the event took place in Gijón. Oviedo is the Capital of the Principality of Asturias and the University of Asturias is the University of Oviedo. But the largest city on the region and the biggest campus of this University in is Gijón.

Armenak Minasyants (AEGEE-Yerevan): It was a great selection of the location: Atlantic Ocean on your one side, beautiful Asturian forests and nature on the other side… What could be better place for making such a project?

Christos Gkagkas (AEGEE-Patra): We had trainings on conflicts and different stereotypes, we learn how to recognize them and work on them in order to be able and overcome them. I think we manage to see that each culture is important and respectful.

Tereza: Adding to that in spite of this was a YIA project and we had non-AEGEE members we did not forget to show them all what AEGEE Spirit is.

Panagiotis: Which is why in the end, we left everyone speechless by our awesomeness.

What did you like about the event?

Panagiotis: In seven days we made friends from six different countries and learned about their culture, conflicts (internal, external), and language!

Christos: I liked most the conversations we had after the trainings, in which we found out that each culture is sharing something with other cultures and some of them are strongly connected.

Tereza: We had super great trainers. Every session was interesting and unique itself, even the ice-breaking games were amazing.

Gerardo: It was an awesome group of awesome people, and we had a really good time together.

Gerardo from Oviedo

In AEGEE we focus a lot on cultural exchanges and this was indeed one of those. Would you encourage others to take part/organise exchanges?

Tereza: As a person who has directly participated to such type of the project, I would not only encourage but, as the Vice-President and HR of my local, even officially suggest on the behalf of AEGEE-Yerevan to organise such exchanges as much as possible! Through such exchanges we are getting a quite unique chance not only to get familiar with other people’s culture, but also to represent ours.

Gerardo: There’s no better way to get to know other cultures and ways of thinking than actually living with people from other places and getting immersed in their stuff. Even that this event was short in time, lessons learnt will last forever.

Christos: I will give you one example. Before the event in Gijon I did not know where Armenia was but I fell in love with my Armenian friends and after this event I wanted to learn more about their ways of living so I applied and went to another YiA in Yerevan.

Panagiotis: For sure when you will come home after an event like this you will be a little different, more open minded.

Written by Patricia Anthony, AEGEE-København

This month we award AEGEE-Patra as Local of the Month. This antenna was founded on as they call it one cold night in December ’97; they are no strangers to the AEGEE world and they have had many members active at the European level. Perhaps you have heard of George Dimitrakopoulos, one of the masterminds behind the Information Technology Committee or Costas Deltouzos famous for his contribution to the Summer University Coordination Team. Or maybe Christos Gkagkas of International Politics Working Group?  You know you know them, but we are here to talk about the current board made up of John Eikosidekas, Aris Konstantinopoulos, Apostolis Voulgaridis, Petros Spyratos and Foteini Pappa.

Apo Voulgaridis – Public Relations Responsible

The AEGEEan: We all know that there have been major changes in the past months with the new board. You have introduced a ‘club system’ inspired by the Dutch locals. Can you tell us a little bit about the need for such a system and how it’s going so far?

Well, according to a Human Resources Management theory, an organization should have members that feel like they belong. To reach that goal you must give members more responsibilities on the active level. So, decentralization of responsibilities was our first idea. Also, we wanted to make induction of members easier, instead of having only one type of meeting with many members on the active level so our members can enjoy and contribute easier. So the idea hit us to categorize all things our members could contribute into clubs! It’s going great so far, and we also encourage new members to go on a trial and join a meeting. This way our antenna gains fresh new ideas and more active members! We have subconsciously agreed upon calling the club system, the “HR Strategy”.

So you built a system based on this strategy. Which clubs does is consist of?

The “HR Strategy” consists of five clubs:
1. The Social Club: it is responsible for our social events and entertaining Erasmus Students.
2. The Design Club: it is responsible for any PR material needed for our antenna, such as leaflets, e-mails to our members, designing stickers etc.
3. The External Relations Club: they are responsible for any external contact from our antenna, like for fundraising, for programs like Youth in Action, but also for sending holiday cards to our sponsors etc.
4. The IT Club: it’s responsible for the electronic networking within our antenna and they make sure that we can communicate easier through mailing lists, updating our webpage and so on.
5. The SU Club: it’s redundant to mention what goes on in this club. We are organizing a TSU together with AEGEE-Ioanninna this year.

Petros Spyratos – Secretary

You guys are one of our oldies and goldies and we know you have taken up the task to be mentors for the ‘’babies’’ of AEGEE-Ioannina. Tell us the why’s, the how’s and where is this heading?

We initiatively met AEGEE-Ioannina at their Network Meeting in September 2012, and got to know them even better during Fall Agora Budapest 2012. We hit it off quite well and enjoy their company. They have the AEGEE spirit and are full of fresh ideas and energy! They also joined our RTC this past December in Patra and between our antennae there is constant communication as if we were friends from the past.

We thought that it would be nice to help out building their antenna and cooperating with them in organizing European level events. So many ideas have hit both antennae and we have a lot of ideas on how we could cooperate. Let’s see what the future holds in store!

What are AEGEE-Patra’s summer plans till the Autumn Agora Zaragoza?

Unfortunately, our antenna has only approximately 60 members and is thought of as one of the average-sized antennae in our network. So during the summer, other than many meetings to organize a fantastic TSU with AEGEE-Ioannina, it’s difficult to organize something more. Hopefully our club system will make our older and upcoming members engage in more active participation in AEGEE and in the future we will surely organize more than just a TSU!

And speaking of the Agora: We know you guys are candidating for hosting the Spring Agora 2014. Can you tell us who’s idea was it and who is currently working on it?

Costas Deltouzos – Advisory Board

As you know, the Agora dates back all the way to ancient Greece. It was the most important thing for their political system; democracy. The last time a greek local had the “courage” to organize one was in 2002. So during the last years there is a longing by all greek locals to have again one Agora in its birthplace! We hope that the Agora will return to its birthplace from ancient times, and make not only AEGEE-Patra, but also other greek locals happy!

We are proud to share with you, that the man behind this idea is one of our most experienced member, who is also a member of our advisory board, Costas Deltouzos. He will be the coordinator and now he is in the process of setting together the core team of the organizers and writing the application. We really are anxious about the results and are really hoping to get the Spring Agora 2014!

Thank you and good luck!

Written by Andra Toma, AEGEE-Bucuresti