AEGEE-Sibiu – The AEGEEan – AEGEE's online magazine – AEGEE-Europe ../../.. AEGEE's Online Magazine Fri, 27 Sep 2013 16:26:30 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.8.7 ../../../wp-content/uploads/cropped-The-AEGEEan_logo-FBprofile-32x32.png AEGEE-Sibiu – The AEGEEan – AEGEE's online magazine – AEGEE-Europe ../../.. 32 32 Member of the Month: Hans-Peter Bretz ../../../2013/09/27/member-of-the-month-hans-peter-bretz/ Fri, 27 Sep 2013 16:26:29 +0000 ../../../?p=19114 The AEGEEan is proud to present our new Member of the Month from AEGEE-Berlin, Hans-Peter Bretz. You may know him by his nickname Hape. Elected for the Summer University Coordination Team (SUCT) at Agora-Budapest, he has been trying something new this year and dedicated most of his summer to it. Travelling between summer universities, meeting new people and observing how… Read more →

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The AEGEEan is proud to present our new Member of the Month from AEGEE-Berlin, Hans-Peter Bretz. You may know him by his nickname Hape. Elected for the Summer University Coordination Team (SUCT) at Agora-Budapest, he has been trying something new this year and dedicated most of his summer to it. Travelling between summer universities, meeting new people and observing how all of the work SUCT went the year before turned out in practice. The AEGEEan just could not resist from learning more.

To start off, why is your nickname Hape?

In German people sometimes have double names, which is different from just having two names: they are supposed to be used together. Instead of always saying the full name, they are often abbreviated, e.g. Karl-Heinz to Kalle, or, in my case Hans-Peter to Ha-pe or simply Hape. My name is also completely out of fashion, I have never met someone with the same name who was younger than fifty. Even though Hans sounds like the most German name, most Germans do not really get “Hape” either. But there is a famous comedian called Hape Kerkeling, so they usually ask something like “You mean like Hape Kerkeling? Wait, is he also called Hans-Peter??”

What have you been doing this summer for AEGEE? We heard you were traveling quite a bit

That is true, the SUCT got some Interrail tickets to visit Summer Universities, so I took a three week long trip from Berlin on to the East and visited eight Summer Universities (SU).

Which summer universities did you visit?

I was at the SUs of AEGEE-Praha, AEGEE-Wroclaw/Opole/Lviv, AEGEE-Poznan/Gdansk/Torun, AEGEE-Warszawa/Riga, AEGEE-Krakow/Berlin, AEGEE-Katowice/Bratislava, AEGEE-Debrecen/Sibiu and finally AEGEE-Cluj Napoca.

What were you looking for in the SUs and what were you checking?

The main idea was to look at the programmes and how they realised them, and also to get some feedback by the organisers on our work and communication. Of course it is hard to tell if 100% of a programme is done when you are there for only a few days. But you can get a good impression of how the organisers work and also some feedback from the participants. By the way, it was quite funny how my presence was perceived by the participants at different SUs. At the beginning of my trip, I was at an SU where the group had already had some time to form and bond. When I sat down with some of them between programme points to enjoy a beer and some small talk and asked a general question about the SU to break the ice, they just smiled and made jokes how they would not let me spy on the organisers. At other times, some participants would see me as some sort of complaint box for every little thing they did not like about their SU. For me, it was also very interesting to see how the organisers prepared their SU, what different approaches they took, how they interacted with their group and how the general experience was influenced by the team of organisers, but also by the participants. Often, SUs are said to have their own atmosphere, and I wanted to see where that comes from.

Any favorite SU among the ones you visited?

Before my trip, I was afraid that 2-3 days at each SU would not be long enough to get a good impression. Later I was a bit surprised how much more you get out of a few days if you try to have an open and active mind and pay attention to details instead of just being part of the masses at an event. Still, the impression of a particular SU also depended on the parts of the programme I could take part in. In Prague, I arrived just in time for the city rally, whereas my day in Poznan was the relaxing day in between other days filled with programme (both were very nice, by the way). On a more personal level, the last SU of my trip, in Cluj Napoca, was great. My first SU and AEGEE event was the same SU, 3 years earlier, and it was still done by the same core team. I met some of the old organisers and even a participant again, and also I saw some participants from AEGEE-Berlin there. You could see how having so much experience in a team helps with all the little things in a Summer University. But I also want to thank all the other organizers who hosted me, managed to squeeze me in their planning and put so much effort in their event.

Did you end up going to any SU just for fun? That means, not as a representative of the SUCT but as participant?

I did not have enough vacation to go as participant, so I did not even think about at which one I could apply for.

We have heard you did your part for the Key 2 Europe (K2E) as well. What exactly did you do for it?

As in the last two years, I was part of the research and  statistics team. But other than last year, I did not have time to join the Concept Development Meeting, so my work was mostly to scan through the lists of events and to look for anything particularly interesting or fitting the themes of the K2E.

What are your plans for the Agora? Are you coming and what are your goals for it?

I will be there, and if there happen to be any discussions where I can participate, I will.

How is the SUCT in general feeling about this year’s SU season? Satisfied?

For all of us except Costas Deltouzos, it was the first time that we got this much insight into the project. We tried some new things like the SU maps, which I think, on average, were received positively, the thematic sessions, and the learning objectives, for which we have to wait for the evaluation. We also got the highest number of applicants in the last few years, so I think all in all we can be satisfied with the SU season.

What do you do in AEGEE apart from SUCT?

For the last year, the work with SUCT consumed most of my AEGEE work time and sadly I could not go to more events than the two Agorae. I do not have any position in my Antenna in Berlin, but we are a small local and if there’s anything to do, I help and participate as much as possible.

Planning to stay in SUCT next year as well or some other big plans ahead?

At several points in the last year, I was thinking about running for a second term, but my PhD study will only get more demanding during the next two years and I would like to focus on that.

Written by Olga Volovyk, AEGEE-Kyiv

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SU Story: AEGEE Soldiers in the Land of Vampires and Palinka ../../../2012/10/12/su-story-aegee-soldiers-in-the-land-of-vampires-and-palinka/ Fri, 12 Oct 2012 07:48:27 +0000 ../../../?p=12771 The journey of brave AEGEE members from eleven different countries around Europe started on August the 2nd. During two weeks they were travelling through the west of Romania, discovering the enchantment and hospitality of the people, and enjoying the beautiful landscapes of the mountains and the cities from this country. This trip started in Timisoara and passed over Oradea, the… Read more →

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The journey of brave AEGEE members from eleven different countries around Europe started on August the 2nd. During two weeks they were travelling through the west of Romania, discovering the enchantment and hospitality of the people, and enjoying the beautiful landscapes of the mountains and the cities from this country. This trip started in Timisoara and passed over Oradea, the Ski station of Arisen, Cluj Napoca, Sibiu and Nadrag. Many activities and workshops were performed during those days, such as make your own TSU workshop, Romanian workshop, Army workshop, flying fox and much more.

The hours of travelling between different locations were done in a wonderful bus that received plenty of names during the trip, such as “The Boiling Bus”, “Nightmare of the Mechanic” or as it is common in every Travel Summer University (TSU), “The Traveling Hostel”. All the problems related to the air conditioning of the bus as to the suspension were fixed by the bus driver, who was also our DJ during some of our best nights as well as the European Night (EN) and the SexChange Party. During the time spent in this bus, many of the participants enjoyed the chessboard that Tatiana Galonza had brought with her from Kiev (Ukraine), and Raul Cuñarro from Oviedo (Spain) won the title of “Chess Master”.

During the TSU, participants were playing two different games: “The Military Competition” and “Game of the Angel”. The organisers made five Military groups: “Mountain Brigade”, “Marines”, “Airborne Division”, “National Guard” and “Infantry”. In the different locations where the TSU was taking place, the organisers arranged some competitions between these teams with different prizes for each time. On the other hand, “Game of the Angel” was played during the whole TSU, in this case, the participants were supposed to protect and take care of another participant. Some of them knew how to play, and others just played during the last day. However, there was a constant flow of candy, flowers, animal toys, beer and pálinka throughout the TSU.

As previously said, the start of this TSU was in Timisoara, a really nice city located in the west of Romania near to the borders of Serbia and Hungary with a population of around 300.000. The history of this city is related to tHungary, as their typical drink is also pálinka. During the city tour, participants got to visit many places such as the Orthodox Cathedral and the central square of the city, where the group had a free beer for each one due to the celebration of the 800th anniversary of the foundation of this wonderful city. During the different nights and days that the group spent here, they attended different workshops and enjoyed the nice nightlife of the city, with concerts in the central square and spending their time in the pubs and clubs as “El Che”, “Phanteon” and “The Dark”.

The next step was Oradea, a nice city in the North-West of Romania with around 200.000 inhabitants , with the wonderful Orthodox Church of the Moon. Here the group began to get to know each other better and better, and the competition between the different military groups during the city tour had different challenges that lead to the victory to the team leaded by Mathieu Roig from Toulouse (France). On Monday, August the 6th at midnight all the participants made a surprise birthday party for Alessandro Gallotta from Catania (Italy), with cakes, candles, a Hello Kitty hat and a pink helium balloon with the sentence “Birthday Princess” that became his nickname for the rest of the TSU.

And finally; the participants arrived to Transylvania when making it to the Carpathians; the first stop in this region was Arisen, a ski station in the west Carpathians. The European Night (EN) took place there, and the participants enjoyed different traditional products from the present countries, and learned how to drink Russian vodka in an appropriate way taught by Евгений Морев from Sankt-Petersburg (Russia), also known as Eugen or “that Crazy guy from Russia who drank a bottle of Vodka at once during the EN”. During the following days in this nice area of Romania participants took part in most of the workshops related to AEGEE, Europe, the environment and the army training. Ending the time in Arisen with the SexChange party, all the participants enjoyed a free sangria prepared by Raul Cuñarro, during this night the best costumes were the ones of Eugen and Silvia Banyoi, one of the organisers from Timișoara.

Following the way along Transylvania, the TSU stopped in Cluj Napoca which is the city that is considered to be the unofficial capital of the historical province of Transylvania. With Roman origins this city has influence from Germany as well as Hungary. During the night of August 10th there was another birthday. This time it was time to celebrate for Jelle Lyskawa from Amsterdam (Holland), also known as “Yellow” by the participants, due to his nickname the birthday party was completely full of things in that colour, such as napkins, candles, chips, cups, beer, limoncello, bananas, lemons and a helium balloom. “Yellow” was dressed as a wasp for the whole night with yellow wings and a yellow hat and after the birthday party the participants went to the club “Stuff”.

 

Saturday night was spent in Sibiu, one of the most beautiful cities from Romania with a really nice old quarter. After the city tour, the participants went to a nice club near the hostel where the party did not stop until late in the night. During the second day in the city the participants visited the salty lakes near Sibiu, where they relaxed after too many days of partying and they grabbed the opportunity to re-charge their batteries for the rest of the TSU.

In the way back to Timisoara the bus stopped in the Corvin Castle, where Vlad II Dracula was prisoner during the war between Hungary and Romania, and it is said to be one of the places that inspired the writer of Dracula. That day the group spent the night in a small village in the mountains, Nadrag, where a club was opened just for the participants.

Once the group was back in Timisoara there was just one final party left. It ended up being a party full of memories, and Romanian food. To top it off the organisers wore typical Romanian costumers.

The last day was used for a workshop with the theme of about how to make postcards from the photos that were taken during the TSU and give the results as presents to other participants before most of the participants left Romania. It is difficult to summarise this event but in short, it was a well-organised event with nice organisers, good food and great accomodation, and lots of wonderful AEGEE spirit.

Written by Angel Rodriguez AEGEE-Alicante

 

 

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