Don’t miss the chance to join AEGEE-Santander’s Network Meeting happening this spring. They are organising it for the second time and it is taking place between the 7th and the 10th of April, in their beautiful city in Spain. We talked with the president of the local, Marta Vila Cortavitarte, to give us a little information about what they are preparing for this Spring NWM, so you’d better start saving money for the event.

The AEGEEan: Let us begin by giving us a little information about your antenna. Who is AEGEE-Santander, how many members does it have and how old is it? 

Marta: AEGEE-Santander is an eight-year-old antenna from Cantabria, a region in the North side of Spain. Despite being one of the smaller regions of Spain, AEGEE-Santander counts 90 members, more or less.

Is this the first time you organise a Network Meeting in your local? And if not, when did you organise the first one and what new are you planning to bring to this NWM?

No, it is not. We already organised the Autumn NWM in 2013. We want to bring new topics, new activities and of course, a lot of enthusiasm for our new coordination team.

 Could you present us the core team behind this NWM?

The team will be a mix of old and new members who work together to make the most of this event, sharing both experience and freshness. The team is led by Sara Sota, former president and advisor and the following people: Bruno di Lorenzo, Cristina Bengoechea, Bruno, Ignacio Ara, Pablo Carceller, Jorge Gutiérrez, Andrei Simintina, Marta Vila, Sonia Alonso, Rubén Rivas and Sandra Manteca, among others.

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

This NWM will focus especially in Civic Education and Spreading Europtimism. We want our participants to learn about  networking, sharing best practices, how to debate,  getting to know the AEGEE structure and last but not least, motivate members to be more active. To reach our objectives, we’ll use different kinds of methods like workshops, energisers, conferences, debates, trainings, ice-breaking games, brainstorming sessions and role-playing games.

Are there also gonna be thematic parties? What kind of thematic parties are there gonna be? 

Sure! We’ll have a thematic party every day. The first one will be an EN (European Night). On Friday night the S-party will take place, where each participant will dress up as whatever they want, as long as his/her costume or character’s name starts with an S (in this party originality is a must!)

How many participants do you plan to accept?

40 people

How much is the participation fee?

Just 40 euros

 Which is the easiest way for participants to reach Santander?

By plane. Ryanair has connections with Barcelona, Gran Canaria, Málaga, Sevilla, Tenerife Sur, Valencia, Dusseldorf Weeze, Frankfurt Hahn, Brussels Charleroi, Dublin, Milan Bergamo, Roma Ciampino, Edinburgh and London Stansted. Iberia has connection with Madrid while Vueling has connection with Barcelona El Prat and Alicante. 

It’s also easy to flight to Bilbao or to Madrid airport and then you can travel by bus (ALSA), train (RENFE) or Car Sharing (BlaBlaCar). In fact, Santander is also easily reachable by train, bus or car from most of the cities of Spain.

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

We have nothing planned yet, but it is the role of our incoming team to plan a city tour or a hike around the hostel area if most of our participants arrive before the official starting time of the NWM.

Tell us something interesting about Santander that few people know.

A lot of tourists in Santander miss the old city centre. They only find some ‘randomly’ spread old buildings in a mass of majestic, organised streets from the 50s or even more modern. Do you know why? That’s because Santander had to recover from a disaster twice (in 1893 from the ‘cabo machichaco’ boat explosion and in 1941 from the greatest fire of Spain). These episodes made most of the old wooden buildings disappear and force Santander to be rebuilt. 

Written by Gabriela Geană, AEGEE-București

Imagine all the people living in the “yim” (the organizers’ way of pronouncing “gym”), sharing life in harmony and providing a balanced place to start improving ourselves.

Extraordinary Me: SU Santander started on the 17^th of July, although for all participants arriving a day earlier, the organizers provided accommodation and all the help needed. After the first ice-breaking games, 23 participants discovered how important it is to be open to new challenges in order to improve themselves. After the introduction, it was time for an inspiring team building experience hosted by the cheerful Gerardo García, of AEGEE-Oviedo, in which participants had to buy breakfast food for 3 days with limited money and time while having their hands tied up one to another. From this first group challenge, participants were involved in everything trainers and organizers had to offer – numerous workshops, social activities, trips and colorful parties 24/7.

Identifying personal strengths and weaknesses and becoming more self-aware was easier when amazing trainer Urša Svetelj, of AEGEE-Ljubljana, serves up her “mooshi mooshi” energizers and super interactive workshops. Furthermore, when dealing with failure and overcoming challenges, it’s strongly recommended to take advice from the powerful trainer Fabian Brüggemann, of AEGEE-Düsseldorf, and if necessary to just do it (perform the task at hand) once again! As part of the workshops on developing social skills such as communication, body language and public speaking, participants also experienced how important is to determine your space on the stage of life. Even more, thanks to the special effort of organizer Pablo Laboreo, of AEGEE-Santander, the group had  the chance to perform in a lovely theater and deal with fear of public speaking.

Another opportunity to overcome weaknesses was given on the special TEDx evening that was hosted by Extraordinary Me SU. How did the participants perform unprepared? With experience from earlier improvisational theater workshops that had the most enthusiastic volunteers ever, the task didn’t seem so hard anymore. To really be into “impro theater” just shout out the following: “Three, two, one – go!” and snakes, kings, priests, Chinese patients, doctors, people putting chalk instead of shower gel and a lot of other interesting characters will emerge from the minds of the extraordinarily imaginative participants. During the last days, the trainers provided the time needed to process it all, learn how to network, give and receive feedback and shape your future goals.

In between the inspiring workshops, participants were active in group assignments and games in city rally, Gymkhana in beautiful Comillas and Challenge Green day trip with games and hiking in Mount Buciero. Organizer Bruno Di Lorenzo, of AEGEE-Santander, just had to say “Come on ‘pipol’!” and a group was ready. There was also enough time to enjoy the wonderful green “Cantabria Infinita”, running into the big ocean waves, barbecuing during the afternoon and a game of paintball in which the group spirit shone at its brightest, even after the painful “war” was over.

In Cantabria, crazy nights start right after the sun goes down, around 10 pm. So the good times continued at the Rubik’s Cube, Surf and costumed parties, followed by a European night, Karaoke and Pub crawl evenings and rounded up with the unforgettable ‘Design your T-shirt party’, a party in which everyone took away some fond memories of the “yim” and the people who lived inside it. The connection of the group was indeed great, sharing sleeping mattresses, breakfasts, dinners, showers, love. Fireworks night during the Semana Grande, the celebration week of Santander, made the group even more sparkling.

Everyone had his/her own challenges on the way of improving him/herself, but they were easier to overcome with a support from an extraordinary group. On the 28^th of July most of the people went on his/her own journeys, but continued giving support and sharing personal challenges with the group.

Not to forget – all that for just 50 Euros? YES, the helpful organizers proved that it is possible to have it all: a lot of powerful educational workshops, an amazing social program and unforgettable parties in an extraordinary 12 days (and more if needed) for such a small price. So big thanks to all of them (not mentioned in the text above): Carlos Alonso, Marta Martínez, Sara Sota, Christina Bengoechea, Carmen María López, Óscar Ruiz and Fernardo de la Torre.

Special thanks to the main organiser, Rubén González, of AEGEE-Santander, for making it all come true.

Written by: Mateja Sunce Sombraro, AEGEE-Ljubljana and Tea del Torro, AEGEE-Zagreb.

Photo courtesy of: Bruno Di Lorenzo, AEGEE-Santander; Rubén González, AEGEE-Santander; Kirk Paintball and Mateja Paškvan, AEGEE-Ljubljana.

Our Member of the Month award this past July went to Erika Bettin (AEGEE-Venezia), for her outstanding lead of publications such as the Key to Europe 2013/14 and The AEGEEan, and initiatives such as the Election Observation Project. However, there were other nominees in this past month that have done a great job and deserve their story featured in The AEGEEan.

Today we are introducing you to Marta Martínez Moro, current President of AEGEE-Santander. She has been an AEGEE member since July 2012, and since then, she has been unstoppable at the local level. In fact, she was nominated by several La Nave (Spanish-, Portuguese- and French-speaking locals) because “AEGEE-Santander experienced a difficult situation the past few years. Due to some irregularities in the past, they had some debts that needed to be settled up […] and Marta was a key for their success due to her high motivation, perseverance and hard work. For two years, she is being devoted to the antenna (working in all fields -economical, management, administration, human resources) making its recuperation possible and helping to achieve a good financial situation“.

Anna: First of all, please introduce yourself!

Marta: My name is Marta Martinez Moro, I have a degree in Physics at the University of Cantabria and nowadays I am doing an internship in the Universidad Internacional Menéndez Pelayo (UIMP) Information Technology department. Helping people with their request about wifi and computer problems are some of the task I have been bestowed with. In a few months, I will move to Madrid where I will study a Master of Nanophysics.

I joined AEGEE in June 2012 and since then I have been working as Human Resources Responsible motivating people who recently joined to participate in local and European levels. Last year I was elected President of AEGEE-Santander.

How did you find out about AEGEE?

In June 2012, one friend of mine, who was actually a member of AEGEE-Santander, told me about the 5th Anniversary of the local, an event where I could have the opportunity to meet people. It was a fantastic experience. A month later I participated as a helper in the AEGEE-Santander SU and in September I was able to be the Human Resources Responsible of my antenna. I took up the Social Drinks every week again, updated the webside (with the help from Bruno), the Facebook members group and page (we are one of the most liked pages), etc., in order to motivate our members and give them all the necessary information.

You are very much involved and motivated in the local level. What keeps your motivation up?

My motivation comes from the feedback I frequently receive from all the participants of these events. People telling you that you have changed their lives and because so, they would like to get more involved in our projects or activities, is the key to keep you going. Motivating our members is the main object and what we try to keep doing every single day because that is the key which makes AEGEE still successful.

Once again, here I am telling the world how wonderful our last Autumn Network Meeting (NWM) was because I love it when all members try to learn from other – improving their own skills as well as their antennae’s way of working. Sharing best practices between antennae, discussing common problems and different ways to solve them was the link between the main topics dealt with in Loredo, Cantabria.

AEGEE-Santander was in charge of organising this great meeting for all of us and they definitely succeeded in making everyone very happy with their management, dedication and help during its preparation and during the event itself. The event started on Friday with some games and an opening ceremony. We had a Gastronomic European Night where we could taste amazing products from many places of Spain, France and Brussels. We missed Portugese participants this time.

A pretty full schedule was organised by La Tripulación (The team of Network Commissioner Pauline Létard) and some external helpers that are active members in different aspects of our association. We were all a bit tired and disoriented at the end of the day because of the intense programme but luckily the participants’ motivation did not disappear and people kept giving their best to contribute till the end.

Every antenna shared a lot and got plenty of feedback and ideas in the session about the state of the region. They presented their own internal and external assets and problems. Everyone was happy to share their ideas and propose alternatives during this session which became longer than expected due to high involvement of participants. Everyone agreed to keep working on cooperation, teamwork and support between antennae (sharing useful documents, mentoring an antenna when needed, encouraging regular collaboration between boards, ease Knowledge Transfer (KT))

One of the related topics were the new identity, visual identity and HR cycle that was used to help members activate and motivate others and to understand the standard evolution of members.

On Saturday night we had the “S” costume party honouring the organising antenna, Santander, where we could verify that imagination is a unique human power seeing great costumes around. The mood was great!

This time, we had two participants from BEST who spent most of the NWM with us. They were incredibly integrated with the group. We compared similarities (NWM = Regional Meeting, NetCommie = Regional Adviser, Comité Direceteur = International Board) and differences between both associations (no fee in BEST, no trying to change members after enrolling), they shared their practices and solutions to similar actions. The BESTies enjoyed the AEGEE spirit getting along with everyone which created a great connection. We were glad they joined!

Of course, there was an explanation about European Level (EL). Information about how to get involved and the different possibilities to do it. Plus further explanations about what is going on in AEGEE-Europe. There was a parallel session for more experienced members, Agora workshop, used to discuss results of ZarAgora, to propose ways to prepare delegates in next Agorae and to explain consequences on changes and how to increase participation before and during the Agora.

Pauline – The new Network Commissioner

The current Strategic Plan and Action Agenda (AA) was dealt to check and share what are we doing to fulfill it and how.

To finish this pretty complete NWM, nothing better as open session to give feedback to the NetCom team (our “Tripulación”) evaluating the work of the former team and valuing the programme of the new one. This session could be wrapped up by saying that there was a general feeling to encourage members to ask for assistance whenever they are needed and also to the NetCommie and SubCommies to be more proactive if they see an antenna in need.

There is not much left to say but thanks to organisers for their dedication and great work for the NetCom team necessities and for the participants comfort. Thanks to trainers for their intention to spread knowledge and improve members’ profiles. Thanks to participants for attending, paying attention to different topics and sharing their thoughts and willingness to cooperate and keep improving their antennae; that is equal to cultivating the Network and keeping up the development of AEGEE.

Written by Carmen María López Banegas, AEGEE-Alicante

Pictures courtesy of Paco Gordillo from BEST

The Network Commission is a team full of people that several AEGEEans know due to all the communication they have with antennae across Europe. However, the work of the NetCom would not be efficient without teams of subcommissioners and in this interview you get an insight into what it is like being a subcommie for a Network Commissioner.

Carmen Maria

Alvaro Espinosa (AEGEE-Santander, Pauline Létard (AEGEE-Toulouse) and Carmen Maria Benegas (AEGEE-Alicante) are subcommissioners of Pilar Lop. Silvija Peric (AEGEE-Zagreb) helps Antonija Parat, Maria Arends (AEGEE-Groningen) helps Patricia Anthony and Erika Bettin (AEGEE-Venezia) helps Claudio Armandi. All of them share a deep passion for helping the Network and being part of seeing antennae improve.

For most of the subcommies the reason to help the NetCom team was to be more active on the European Level of AEGEE. For example; Pauline worked together with Lucille Rieux, who herself was a subcommie of Luis Alvarado Martinez at this time, in the Speak Up project. The aim was to develop the French part of the Network by doing a bus tour in several big French cities with one message – “young people, get involve and participate”! Unfortunately, the project did not get through but it was a really good experience for Pauline and her first on European level. Network development and Youth participation had been key topics of interest for her since her beginning in AEGEE. Then Lucille who Pauline refers to as somewhat her mentor in AEGEE strongly encouraged her to become a subcommie.

Alvaro, who is part of the same team says “Being a subcommissioner was an opportunity, this is something that never crossed my mind before. However, Pilar, together with the previous team thought that I could fit because they trust me and in my work on the local level. Receiving that kind of confidence from these great and experienced people was the reason I decided to become one of them.” For Silvija this idea was first introduced by her former NetCom – Ana Dragić, but at that time, she had a lot of other obligations and had just started her term as President of AEGEE-Zagreb. However, she continued with the idea stuck in her brain and when Antonija Parat was elected as NetCom, she decided to apply. What she enjoys is working on European level too, because she knew it would increase her knowledge about AEGEE and give her the opportunity to help other locals as well as improving her own local: AEGEE-Zagreb.

For Maria there are too many reasons, as she says it. She talked with newly elected NetCom Patricia Anthony after Agora Rhein-Neckar about the need for a strong team of subcommies in the Nordic area, because of the problems we are facing (especially in Scandinavia, even though AEGEE does not have many locals there) due to Euroscepticism. The idea arose to try to work on this topic together with the locals in the UK, and that is the main reason she wanted to become involved. Apart from that she believes that the UK, Scandinavia, and the Baltics are wonderful places in Europe, which are, unfortunately, underrepresented in AEGEE, and Maria truly hopes to be able to make a change. Carmen joined when there was somebody leaving the team and she was ready to continue that person’s work as she loves the Network and helping others. She is a big fan of organisation in terms of administration and procedures inside any organisation and selects that as the main reason why she wanted to join.

As one can imagine the subcommies tasks and functions mainly relate to contact with some of the antennae that the NetCom is responsible for. When asked about what they do, subcommie Pauline answers :“First I worked with the members of the antennae I’m in charge of taking care of. I talk with them on a regular basis, at least once a month when everything goes smoothly and sometimes everyday when they need it. I’m trying to take the pulse of the antenna, to find out in there are any problems or tensions but also find out about the assets and richness that the antennae have to make them share it with the rest of the Network when it’s possible. Every month, I send them a reminder saying that they have to fill in the monthly report. I sometimes have to harass them a bit to get them to do it but it is important as when antennae does not submit the reports on time it delays the work of NetCommie Pilar. Then I’m part of the Tripulacion, Pilar, her other subcommies and I form a team. Together we organise the Network Meetings and the Renove, we prepare the delegates for the Agora, and we inform the members about interesting opportunities…”. In the case of Maria it is similar as she has the responsibility of AEGEE-Durham, AEGEE-London and AEGEE-Sheffield whom she also asks for Activity Reports and at times they work on a PR strategy. Basically she is trying to help out wherever they want her, as she puts it, and of course she also helps with the organisation of NWM in Tartu this autumn.

Alvaro Espinosa

Pauline continues the interview with telling us about the differences between the antennae she is responsible for. “In my opinion, an antenna relies mostly on people and on a good team. So the difference is in who is part of this team, who animate and dynamise the antenna. There are little tiny teams that sometimes rely on two or three or more person-teams with around 10 really active people. I’m responsible for AEGEE-Paris, AEGEE-Lyon, AEGEE-Brussels/Bruxelles and the two contacts in Lille and Nantes. They mainly have the same profile of antenna but of course the situation in each city is different. For example, AEGEE-Paris is really famous in the Network and in France too  (more than the other French speaking locals anyway) but as Paris is a very expensive city with a lot of student associations, it’s a bit challenging for them. In my opinion, this year they are all facing the same challenge: their experienced and most active members left or are leaving soon. That’s why together with Léa Charlet (AEGEE-Paris), Louise Pahisa (AEGEE-Paris), Marine Betrancourt (AEGEE-Lyon), Inana Namet(Former member of AEGEE-Toulouse and now AEGEE-Paris), Lisa Fanget (AEGEE-Paris) and AEGEE-Paris’s team, we organize a Regional Training Course in Paris. The objective was to make the newly elected boards meet and train them.”

Alvaro sees huge differences between the antennae: “AEGEE-Santander, for instance, was a challenge. They faced some problems and solved them, they also grew a lot, changed their statutes, created a new online database, a new website. Their members are incredible and the communication with them was really fluent so, at the end, it was a pleasure to work together. Then, we have AEGEE-Zaragoza which was just on another level with all the “Agora stuff”. Finally, AEGEE-Bilbao which in my opinion has also grown the last year thanks to the work of their members and the collaboration with their AEGEE neighbors.”

However, there are some other tasks for subcommies around the Network. For example Pauline is also coordinating the organisation of board meetings in the French speaking locals and the RTC.

Maria Arends (to the right) together with Antonija Parat

The AEGEEan: What do you like the most about being a subcommie?

Pauline: Meeting amazing people who have taught me so much!

Silvija: Working in an intercultural team with great people, having the opportunity to learn and grow more and to help others with my experience and knowledge.

Carmen: Mainly working in a team and getting in touch with different people which is making me learn a lot from others. I also like helping antennae with their problems; if they are solved, that’s the best reward.

Erika: The Rainbow (responsible for Italian speaking antennae) subcommie team is great. We created a very good group spirit. Plus, I learned a lot in this year and more important I helped and I was helped.

Maria: Keeping in touch with the locals, seeing how they work and what we can improve is one of the task related things that I really enjoy. Apart from this, of course, the team is amazing! With Patricia and the three other subcommies, I think we really have an amazing and good working team.

Erika Bettin (to the left)

What challenges do you face as a subcommie?

Pauline: Keeping myself updated, there are a lot of informations circulating in AEGEE, you want the antennae to know about it but you don’t want to spam them.

Carmen: Some locals are complicated to run, mainly because they have not many active members and that is always a problem when it comes to fulfilling antenna criteria, filling out questionnaires, respect deadlines and this kind of administrative stuff. As a subcommie, I try to be properly informed and help them understand the procedures and encourage them to cooperate with other antennae that might be able to help or give advice as well.

Silvija: helping other locals in my Network to become stronger, overcome all challenges they are facing and at the same time being updated and knowing everything about what is going on in AEGEE in order to help them

Erika: I was lucky with locals and there weren’t big challenges to face. Before Agora Rhein- Neckar, NetCommie Claudio Armandi and I tried to do everything possible to save AEGEE-Trieste, but there were no signals from them. It is always sad when a local is deleted.

Silvija Peric (to the right)

What has been your favorite moment as a subcommie?

Pauline: Network Meeting Paris : Back on tracks! The first time I met Léa was in Paris and she is a bit like my sister in AEGEE, we joined AEGEE at the same time and we work together a lot. On top of this, it had been a while since we had a NWM in France, so this event was symbolic for us, it was the result of a strong solidarity between the French speaking locals, but also the success of AEGEE-Paris’ amazing team and also of the Tripulacion!

Silvija: My favorite moment was meeting other people in my team and working with them because they have a lot of great ideas and a lot of positive spirit.

Why would you encourage others to become a subcommie?

Pauline: Because you learn so much, because you give so much to the Network and to the antennae too, because it’s an amazing experience!

Silvija: It is the best place to start working on a European level and get to know things better, also, helping others is something priceless and on top of it all you will meet fantastic people and get a lot of experience.

Erika: Being subcommie is such a beautiful experience. You meet a lot of wonderful people. You share your experiences, your doubts, your fears, and it’s a good way to have a “first taste” of European Level.

Carmen: I would encourage people if they are interested in the organisational and internal aspects of AEGEE. If you have experience in your antenna and feel motivated, you can do it. The best thing is that you will learn a lot from working with that many different people.

As for whether we will see any of the subcommies as a Network Commissioner in the future depends on many things, but one thing is for sure: they all enjoy their work together with the Network Commission a lot!

Written by Patricia Anthony, AEGEE-Koebenhavn 

The economy is not exactly good-looking in Spain these days, but no matter this fact it was chosen last week that AEGEE-Santander will be the host of the upcoming European School of Entrepreneurship this autumn. The AEGEEan had a talk with the President of AEGEE-Santander Fernando Campo about preparations to the event. 

So what is the theme? The answer to that would be “Sustainable employment.” When can you attend it? The answer to that would be around end of September, start of October but keep in mind that nothing is sure about the date, yet! However it does seem that this autumn will create the setting for an event in which the participants will learn how to create and run their respective firm while taking care of the nature.

Heading to the North of Spain

Santander is a small city with 200.000 habitants in the north of Spain between Gijón and Bilbao. It is a beautiful coastal city with calm and friendly people who, obviously, also enjoy creating life in the street. The region is famous for their gastronomy and the precious views one can enjoy of the sea and mountains that they have, and then “Bank of Santander” (Banco Santander). The third greatest bank in the world was born in this little city and it is one of the examples to set for the young Europeans, proving that if you want to do something big – you can!

Red numbers, red alert?

The economic crisis has obviously affected the decision that made AEGEE-Santander to apply to become host of this event. Actually, they did have many doubts about how to keep the numbers in green for the event since it is a small antenna without loads of money in the bank. However, motivated AEGEEans and an eager to turn Europe upside down and organise a European event (that was not a Summer University) drew AEGEE-Santander closer to pressing “send the application” to the Youth UnEmployment Projet. In the end, AEGEE-Santander discussed this issue with friends in the Network Commission with Youth In Action experience, they talked with the principal of the university and the local government of Santander and chose in the end to dedicate their effort to this project because of the interest shown by all parties.

The idea is to ask for Youth In Action for financing but they also search for opportunities how to do fundraising. AEGEE-Santander has experience in this field through organisation of previous Summer Universities and the President Fernando Campo was a member of the fundraising team and organiser of last year’s “yellow spirit” Agora in Alicante.

Right now AEGEE-Santander is searching for a way to finance it. “We have more or less planned where to do each and every thing and we do have a plan B if we do not receive the Youth In Action grant,” President Fernando Campo responds to the question regarding how far in the process AEGEE-Santander is. The university of Cantabria is providing facilities for the workshops, the local government is helping with transportation and the “social program”, so AEGEE-Santander is already well on the way to organise a memorable event. However it is not only AEGEE-Santander who is working on the event, they are also in contact with Turgut Tosun, European School of Entrepreneurship Manager in order to make everything go down perfectly. If possible AEGEE-Santander also expects to surprise the Agora participants with a promo video.

How to set an example

“People in my antenna are very motivated about this event. We are few active members, but when a small team works well this does not matter much. They are giving their all to the project since the beginning, demonstrating a tremendous initiative. I am thrilled! Because of this, because of them, we are going to organise an event that will surprise many people, proving that a small antenna that is developing step by step is able to do something big.”

Due to the world economic situation this event could not be more interesting! In Spain the situation is more unpleasant than in the rest of Europe and an event with these characteristics can be encouraging for many and it can be an important key for courage. These are not times for tears but rather time to tough it out and find the way towards a brighter future. “Life is for survivors and maybe it is the task of AEGEE to say this loud and clear and be the ones that lead the social pack,” Fernando ends the interview.

Written by Patricia Anthony, AEGEE-København

It is no secret that because of the revolution of Facebook we sometimes stumble upon seeing friends congratulating another person because of his/her birthday. This is normal, but what might seem less normal is when the same people post a “happy birthday” message on the wall of a stuffed animal. However, that is exactly what is happening on more and more occasions.

AEGEE-København has Gorm Junior, AEGEE-Lund has Pippi Longstocking, AEGEE-Madrid has Retirito, and the list goes on. They have Facebook profiles, they have birthdays, and they are hosting AEGEE events! It has become more and more common for antennae to have a mascot that they bring to different AEGEE events.

Other antennae have real animals as mascots. It might seem that this is due to the cute AEGEE-Izmir dog spreading love around the gym during EBM. This dog, which is named Arzu Lu, is however not the AEGEE-Izmir mascot but “only” belongs to AEGEE-Izmir member Simge Gizem. Actually AEGEE-Izmir does not have any mascot at all and for sure there are some people that think that they should have a stuffed look-a-like dog named Arzu II to represent them. Antennae that actually do have a real-life mascot are, e.g., AEGEE-Düsseldorf (a dog named Luna) and AEGEE-Piliscsaba (a cat named Cicus Pazmaneus whose story is elaborated further down in the article).

Development of AEGEE Awards 2012

The AEGEEan is working hard on organizing AEGEE Awards 2012 and the idea of rewarding the antenna with the best mascot came up. For this reason, The AEGEEan made a poll on our Facebook page last month in which we asked which ist he cutest mascot. Many AEGEE members pitched in and five particular mascots became the nominees for “Cutest mascot 2012.” And the nominees are:

The famous badger

If you have attended an event with AEGEE-Eskisehir you will most likely recognize their mascot on the picture to the left. It is featured on the sweaters from the local and their stickers too. Stickers which they, as any other antenna, put everywhere! Its name is Masagor which is a combination of MAScot and AGORa because it was designed for the Autumn Agora Eskisehir 2007. The European badger, whose birthday is October 1st 2007, was chosen as a symbol for the antenna because Eskisehir has a river in the city center which is very famous in Turkey. This river is called Porsuk which is the Turkish word for “badger”. “Also important to mention is that badgers are lovable and brave animals,” says Engin Ergezer, president of AEGEE- Eskisehir. The mascot itself is not a stuffed nor a real life animal, but a costume ready to wear.

Leoncio and all his brothers

Leoncio celebrating Christmas in Italy

It is to no huge surprise that Leoncio, the mascot of AEGEE-León, was amongst the popular mascots in The AEGEEans poll since he is one of the most famous mascots out there. There is a Leoncio in Denmark, a Leoncio in Italy, and of course a Leoncio in León but most likely other European places, too. The original Leoncio, although no one knows where he is today, was “born” in 2008. As some of you might guess, the name derives from the name of the city, which also the reason why it is a lion. León means “a lion” in Spanish and moreover it is the symbol of their city.  AEGEE-León is very generous and shows its appreciation to people whom the local cherishes (and who value AEGEE-León) by giving them a Leoncio. It started as a way of promoting the local when the antenna was small and members wanted to gain fame in Europe. “In all manners, Leoncio is like the precious ring from The Lords of the rings, it always comes back to its owner. Leoncio always has sad eyes, he is only happy whenever he is in León,” fundraiser for the Youth Unemployment project David García Rodriguez says about the mascot of AEGEE-León.

"Uca's" t-shirt

The notorious Spanish cow with her own t-shirt

Another Spanish mascot in the race to win the award is Uca, the mascot of AEGEE-Santander. She was born a little after the antenna was founded back in the summer of 2008 in connection with their first Summer University. According to her Facebook profile the birthday has been set to be the 23^rd of August. She was named Uca because UCA is the Cantabrian way of ending words. All Cantabrian words always ends with –uco or –uca. The choice of having a cow representing the antenna is because cows are amongst the characteristics that are part of the landscape of Santander. Uca ALWAYS comes along whenever AEGEE-Santander is travelling with Erasmus, going to a local training course (LTC) or a Network meeting (NWM). She also travelled to the Agora in Skopje etc. The T-Shirt of AEGEE-Santander will be launched soon and Uca is of course the main feature on it.

An addition to the Greek family

Sofoklis is one of the newest mascots in the network. He belongs to AEGEE-Thessaloniki and was added to their family just before their last NWM back in October 2011. He got his name from his godmother, the secretary of AEGEE-Thessaloniki, Konstantina Katrimpouza who named him Sofoklis because of its beautiful eyes that emit wisdom. The Greek antenna chose an elephant because it is the most faithful animal to its family. All members close to AEGEE-Thessaloniki treat each other as if they were blood-related so they could not have chosen a more appropriate mascot to add to their family. He is eager to travel, but always return to home. Sofoklis is too young to have T-Shirts, brothers, or legendary stories – but AEGEE-Thessaloniki cannot wait to release him in Europe and they are sure that he will gain interesting tales rather sooner than later.

The Hungarian university cat

His name is Cicus pazmaneus and belongs to AEGEE-Piliscsaba. The University of Piliscasaba is catholic and therefore all its buildings have Latin names, even the university bar got a Latin name invented by the students, so it was a no-brainer that the cat should have a Latin name too. He belongs to everybody and hangs around the university spending his time begging for food and listening to presentations. At night he is locked inside the building which causes trouble for the security guards who has to hurry to the university whenever the alarm system goes off only to find out that it was caused by Cicus Pazmaneus strolling around the building. In this case the mascot of AEGEE-Piliscasaba was not invented by the antenna itself. He rose to fame on Facebook, after a mysterious guy created a Facebook account for it, and the cat then became a real star. People tend to post photos on his page where he is in funny situations e.g. in a flower pot or in front of a computer in the computer room.

“We chose him as our mascot because we wanted a real showman cat who is the most likely to bring us luck,” Kata Szabó says about making Cicus Pazmaneus mascot of AEGEE-Piliscasaba. However, the Hungarian antenna has realized that they cannot bring him for AEGEE events around Europe. The solution to this is that they are right now are looking for a stuffed look-a-like cat, not to replace him but so that they can bring his spirit whereever they go.

The final voting for the “cutest mascot” award will begin, alongside with the voting for the other categories, Monday 2^nd of April 2012.

The final voting for the “cutest mascot” award will begin, alongside with the voting for the other categories, Monday 2^nd of April 2012.

Written by Patricia Anthony, AEGEE-København

Thanks to Anil Kacan, Kata Szabó, Engin Ergezer, Ilenia Gurnale & Eleni Buni for contributing with pictures for the article.