What do you do, if you don’t have many fancy monuments in your city? What do you do, if you don’t have many participants for your event? Do you try to cram your Summer University with parties and cheap liquor, or will you be like AEGEE-Samara? Capitalise on the beautiful environment surrounding your city, heavily invest on interpersonal connections with your participants, and add some things from the Action Agenda, just because you can. Polina Chernova, President of AEGEE-Samara, tells us more:

The AEGEEan: Could you tell us something about the programme of your latest Summer University?

Polina: Our programme was focused on the travelling and sports activities. We tried to combine cultural and sportive events wisely. Our programme were very intense, so in the end the participants told us that they hadn’t had enough free time. On the other hand, I attended a SU, in which participants had too much free time, and that is not very good either. I think, it is a question with no answer – how much free time to give to your participants.

Have you organised SUs like these in the past?

Yes, very similar to it. But, I think, earlier we focused more on the parties and cultural events like festivals, less on the educational and sportive part and the Action Agenda.

Your SU was promoted with a particular emphasis on nature; participants even camped in tents. Why did you choose to emphasise nature?

We emphasised nature, because it is one of the most beautiful parts of our region. We do not have many cultural sights, so we compensate it by doing outdoor activities. Also, the sportive part of our programme was connected to nature.

We’ve heard that you used an impressive PR campaign for your SU. Could you elaborate on this?

Oh, thank you, it’s very pleasant to hear! But, actually, I don’t think it was really helpful. As a sociologist, I made a quick survey closer to the end of our SU and I found out that our participants chose our SU not because of the PR campaign. We used many ways of PR: emails, post exchange, video, FB-group posts. But the participants’ choice was based mostly on their personal acquaintanceship and information on the official SU page, partly out of interest towards the most eastern antenna and Russian language. And only then they peeked at the FB-group. Our Vice President, who has been leading our PR campaign, worked very hard on it, but was disappointed by results.

Do you already have plans for next year’s SU?

No, we don’t. I’m not planning to be in Samara next year, so I’ll leave the new adventures to new people.

Is there anything that I didn’t ask, but that you would like to include into the article?

Yes, one interesting thing: the fewer participants, the stronger connection between them. Sure, it’s really fun to have a bunch of people around you, but it’s also a superficial experience. Connections are stronger in small groups. So if your SU doesn’t have many participants, it doesn’t mean that it’ll be boring, trust me. It’ll be more family-like.

Written by Willem Laurentzen, AEGEE-Nijmegen

The Summer University  in Samara was unforgettable. The name of this project was “Find your treaSUre in Samara”. Each participant was really able to find his or her own treasure, a different treasure for each person. Some found new friends, some found love, some emotions, some people discovered the Russian language and felt the beauty of nature in the Samara region.

Four participants came to us for this summer project. Four amazing and unique people. First of all, Stefan from Germany. In his backpack he had enough things to feed all the hungry people on planet Earth. Sebastiano from Italy cooked delicious Italian cuisine for us and he stole the heart of our ex-President Yulia. Sara from Finland spoke Russian very sweetly. She plays the  “crocodile” great and none could compete with her. She is a very warm and sincere person, and, what is even more remarkable, she was not afraid to swim in the cold waters of the river Volga. And of course, Alex from Spain. We can say a lot of good things about him, and all these words could turn into a whole article about him. He is a very bright and positive person with an open mind. That is why he became the star of our project. Alex is a fabulous singer and he plays the guitar. We will never forget the song “La Bamba” that he sang for us although he hated it. In spite of that, this song became the anthem of our summer! The memory of these people will warm our hearts for a long time.

We visited many places in Samara and the Samara region. The Russian lessons were very educational for the participants. Our AEGEE guests visited The Russian Sloboda, a reconstructed Russian village from the 18th century. It represents a typical Russian household with a house izba, a smithy, a barn and a stable. We could see a lot of interesting exhibits peasants used in the past, taste tea from a samovar and have a horseback-ride as well.

Another remarkable place we visited was the Stalin bunker, which was built during the 2nd World War as a bomb shelter for Stalin and the government. It is the deepest bunker in the world- 33 meters down into the ground (which equals to a 12-story-building).  We walked down the stairs, learned about the Soviet history of the war period and took pictures in the lounge created for Stalin and in his conference room.

Shiryaevo is a village located on the right bank of the river Volga, on the territory of the national park Samarskaja Luka, in the large valley of the Zhiguli mountains. Shiryaevo has marvelous nature and picturesque views. It is a perfect place for taking beautiful photos. Besides this Shiryaevo gives a good example to those who want to know Russian traditional culture. In Shiryaevo there is the Historical Museum Complex that includes the House-Museum of Ilya Repin, House-Museum of poet Alexsander Shiryaevets and an exhibition ‘Merchant Vdovin’s room’, where we were able to see interiors and get insights into life of traditional Russian peasants.

In Shiryaevo, the participants walked through the beautiful forest and valley, swam in the river, climbed on the small beautiful rock which is called ‘Verblud’ (Camel) and visited abandoned adits where macadam was originally mined.

The project has ended, but it left the warmth of the summer sun in our souls as well as the smiles of great people and unforgettable emotions.

Written by Viktoriia Golubeva, Aliya Abup, Irina Chaplygina, AEGEE-Samara