Network Commissioner for the Nedertop and former member of the Action Agenda Coordination Committee, Loes Rutten from AEGEE-Utrecht is now candidating as President of AEGEE-Europe. We reached out to her for this interview and also asked her the questions we received from the Network.

The AEGEEan: The issue of active participation of members has been on the table for quite some time now. How do you think we can achieve that?

Loes: It is crucial that everybody who joins AEGEE understands that our organisation is completely built on the work of volunteers, and it is the role of current members to encourage new members to contribute. In order for a new member to become active, the newbie has to understand well what tasks the board is working on, and how he/she can contribute. At the same time the board has to recognise what skills new members bring to the team, what they are passionate about and what they still have to learn in order to grow. Each local needs a human resource strategy that incorporates this. NetCom, HRC, AEGEE-Academy are the supportive bodies which should jump in when locals have trouble developing such a strategy or lack the knowledge to implement it.

How do you think the balance between time-efficient actions and a horizontal structure can be kept?

Good question. I believe that within the CD, a horizontal structure leads to time-efficient actions because all CD members will feel ownership of our work. However, there is a clear trade-off between time efficiency and maintaining a horizontal structure in our Network. My answer is effective consultation through careful planning. If we plan the topics of discussion within the CD ahead, we can create enough time to gather opinions from relevant actors in the Network through consultations, before making a decision. It is the responsibility of the CD to not only communicate the last month’s CD decisions, but also to share upcoming agenda topics, and to clearly communicate how members can give input. I imagine having a regular (e.g. monthly) Hangout with interested AEGEE members to discuss topics that are on the agenda. This plan can only succeed if we are able to communicate clearly and provide sufficient information in due time for members to give feedback.

In the rapid shift of generations of members, very useful knowledge might get lost. How would you plan to keep the knowledge transfer effective?

We already have a treasure of materials and toolkits on the members portal, but somehow we tend to forget this! The key of ‘knowledge transfer’ is not ‘knowledge’, but ‘transfer’. We should invest in a stronger backbone of knowledge transfer in AEGEE. Some ideas: to have a ‘patron’ for each newly starting project or team, who can help to get the new team started. At the end of a cycle of any team it should be a habit to write down the main outcomes and recommendations in a document for the next team. We should encourage locals to have advisory boards, and provide mentors from outside the locals if there are no more experienced members to support the board. We shouldn’t fall into the trap of bureaucratising knowledge transfer. Rather than that, it is important to maintain human contact with experienced members when they leave AEGEE, so we can ask their help whenever we need their advice.

You mention the introduction of best practices picked up in other associations. Could you give us an example of where you see room for improvement in AEGEE and what would you keep instead?

I think we can make it more clear to new members that we are a volunteer organisation. After coming back from a year of volunteering in India and Bolivia, my non-profit sending organisation (SIW – Internationale vrijwilligersprojecten) clearly communicated that they would appreciate my help to promote the NGO and to share my experience with other people. In many of our locals, we don’t manage to keep track of people that went on Summer University even though their extra pairs of hands are so valuable to us.

One thing that is typical for AEGEE is to always complain about internal things. ‘We should reform the Agora, we should change our thematic structure, the CD is so disconnected’. Although we should be proud that we create such critical thinking members, in other associations that I was part of, members spend a larger fraction of time on doing things, rather than just thinking on how to do them.

One thing that doesn’t require direct improvement, but that we should always be aware of, is the way that we put Europe in context with the rest of the world. Having lived periods of several months in India, Bolivia and Iran, I sometimes find it striking that we still believe that Europe is the only and the best continent in the world. The vision of AEGEE is interconnected with western European values. We should avoid preaching our values to people from other cultures without practicing true efforts to understand their culture and history. This would be a form of European patriarchy that is contrary to our mission to foster mutual understanding. Rather, I would encourage more people from outside Europe to join our events and, if possible, send groups of AEGEEans outside of Europe. This year’s Europe on Track project and the conference “Education for the Present, Democracy for the Future” that took place in Budapest had participants from outside Europe. I really think that this diversity is an added value and I would like to see more of that in the future.

You put the emphasis on finding common ground with your fellow CD members and taking a personal approach to the job. Why do you think this is important and how do you plan to do it?

It is important that all of the CD members believe in what we are doing during the upcoming year. We may have different expectations and somewhat different visions, but we all want to give everything we have to work for AEGEE and to improve the organisation in small steps every day. Whenever there is a disagreement and people have opposite views, we have to come back to our common ground of good intentions for AEGEE and continue in a direction that everybody is motivated to work for.

It is well-known that the work-life balance of CD members tends to be crazy. Which concrete steps would you take to ensure that a healthy balance is maintained?

I believe that people perform best when they are in good mental and physical health. As CD we are going to build up enormous amounts of stress that needs to be released regularly. If we don’t allow ourselves space to breath, this stress will become chronic and this will impede our ability to work on the long run. I would like to encourage my team to find a fun activity in Brussels that can take their mind off work every now and then. What this activity is, depends on each person. I would like to go swimming regularly, maybe someone else wants to do yoga, dance, sing in a choir or beat the hell out of a boxing ball. I have been through periods of overloading myself with work and I learnt that making time for human breaks is the best way to continue to work hard, even if it sounds contradictory. I think it is the role of the president to keep track of the health of the team members and to understand when to encourage people to work harder, and when to drag them out of the office for a break.

Another basic human need is privacy, which the house obviously lacks. I would like to explore the possibilities to arrange the house in such a way that we create more private space. By the start of the term, the roof of the attic should be fixed, which means we can take the guest room back into use and we will have the attic as an additional space. As a team, we have to get to know each other well, so we understand when and how we can give each other the personal space we need.

“Human resources and internal education are two closely connected weaknesses of AEGEE, but there is hope”. Could you elaborate more?

The ideal human resource cycle can be memorised as: new member joins, learns about AEGEE, becomes active and learns new skills, joins the board, transfers the knowledge and eventually retires. Two key points are that the boards should know how to encourage new members to be active and that the new members should have the opportunity to learn. This requires an educated board, so that the board is able to educate their members. The fact that more and more people point out HR and internal education as weaknesses of our organisation shows not only that there is a challenge here, but also that people see the need to fix it. The Human Resources Committee redefined itself this year after a period of less activity. Together with the CD, NetCom and the AEGEE Academy they are working on aligning our internal education strategy with the current needs of the Network. If the HRC continues to grow, the committee can take back responsibilities from the overloaded CD and Network Commission, so that the topic of HR receives the full attention it needs in order to improve the current situation for the locals.

Questions from the Network

How do you understand the vision of AEGEE? Do you have a political vision for Europe and what is it? What are the three biggest European challenges and how can AEGEE respond to them?

a) AEGEE envisions a European continent whose citizens feel connected and integrated. We provide a platform for young people to explore Europe’s diversity through human contact. By encouraging our members to participate actively in our association, we also shape their minds and provide them the space to grow competences that allow them to take part in a democratic society in the rest of their lives.

b) I hope to see Europe grow into an even more peaceful continent, where despite its turbulent past, and in some cases, present, we are able to tolerate each other. Our democratic societies should have strong civil movements. I see a certain standardisation of civic education is a prerequisite for this. The European institutions should facilitate bottom-up initiatives, rather than enforce policies top-down.

c) Polarisation is one of the biggest challenges in our societies today. If you look at voting statistics from the Brexit referendum, the EU-Ukraine referendum in the Netherlands and the presidential election in France, there is a clear gap between cities and countryside and between young and old generations. This polarisation causes us to live in different realities. As a youth organisation, AEGEE could try harder to involve more young people from outside university environments. Youngsters living in a village are less likely to find themselves in an international environment, and may be more hesitant to join international exchanges like the ones we organise in AEGEE. Still if we manage to let them join our events, they will be contaminated with our enthusiasm and feel what really means to be European.

One of the main challenges related specifically to EU-countries is the democratic deficit in the EU. The reason that many citizens have lost trust in the institutions is that they feel that they don’t have any influence over decision making. This causes a backlash of support for nationalistic parties. In order to restore trust in the institutions, we should not only inform people about the benefits of the EU, but also listen to their concerns. We should think critically how we can make the voices of citizens heard inside the EU institutions, even if this involves changes in the current structure of the EU institutions themselves. As AEGEE we can challenge ourselves by starting a dialogue with movements that are less supportive of the EU and inform ourselves why they see things differently. Also, it would be interesting to have an event where we redraw the European project from scratch. In this field we can also strengthen our cooperation with the Association des Amis de Franck Biancheri (AAFB).

A third challenge is the spread of biased news on social media. Forming an informed opinion takes more effort nowadays, because we are most likely to read news articles expressing opinions that we already believe in. Our opinion is based on the information we have, and therefore our opinions are bound to differ depending on the social group we are in, as well as from country to country. As AEGEEans, the key answer to this problem lies in the geographical size of our network and in our ability to speak different languages. Imagine forming a team of AEGEEans from different countries monitoring the way that news are presented in different media, and translating key articles from their own language to English. This will allow us to understand what information different parts of Europe receive, and why therefore our opinions differ. Maybe some members of The AEGEEan and the Language Interest Group would be interested in contributing to this?

What’s your leadership style? How would you describe yourself as a leader?

My leadership style is that of a democratic leader. If we want the whole CD, and the whole Network, to feel ownership of plans, our common opinion should matter more than my personal one. I am not saying this because it makes me sound like a nice person. I am saying this because together we know more and therefore we can take better decisions together. I can identify strengths in each person and put trust in them, which motivates people. During discussions I stay calm and rational, and focus on finding solutions. I am the opposite of a bulldog, although that doesn’t mean that I let people walk all over me. I think that this is the type of leadership that a volunteer organisation as AEGEE-Europe needs.

What is your experience in writing grants?

None. I will have to learn this during the knowledge transfer period. This worries me as much as it may worry you, but I am eager to find out more about it. Fortunately, I have had quite some practice in academic writing in English which will definitely help. I think that generally the knowledge of AEGEE members on writing grants is lacking, so this is also a competence that needs investment this year.

Are you a team player? Do you think your NetCom team sees you as a team player?

I think so! As a Network Commissioner you always have to balance your time over work with the locals, work with the NetCom team, studies and personal life. The first few months of being a Network Commissioner, I invested most of my time in getting to know my locals. I visited 13 boards from Groningen to Lyon and I was the initiator of the ‘Think before you Vink’ information campaign preceding the Dutch EU-Ukraine referendum. During this period I had difficulties to fully contribute to the team, but afterwards I became much more involved. In the second part of the term I joined the speaker team and we had a good atmosphere in the team. In Agora Chișinău I decided to candidate for another term because I wanted to provide continuity for the team. Within the team we have a good common understanding of balancing our NetCom tasks with studies and personal life. We all miss a weekly meeting from time to time, but we still manage to get big amounts of work done all together.

Running for the presidency is a very important and tough decision. Why did you wait until the very last minute to upload your candidature? Do you think the Network should consider your candidature valid?

‘Running for presidency is a very important and tough decision.’ – I completely agree. Although I uploaded my candidature in the last moment, the process of making the decision did start earlier. I took the time to consult current and former CD members and weighed the pros and cons of quitting my studies despite my family opposing that decision. I wanted to be really sure of myself before making my candidature public. Imagine candidating, and having people candidate with me because they would like to work with me, and then withdrawing my candidature later on because I didn’t properly think it through, causing other people to rethink their candidatures as well. This scenario would have been worse in my opinion. Also, I thought that the candidatures could not be edited later on. I was changing capital letters in the last minutes, unaware of the fact that I could simply edit my candidature (or even start writing it) after submitting it. It is up to the network to accept my candidature, but I wouldn’t say that I candidated impulsively.

Let’s pretend for a minute that you didn’t decide last minute to run, therefore you had time to write and upload your candidature. In terms of fair play, do you think it’s fair to accept your candidature even if it was late?

Tricky question. Deadlines are there for a reason and I do think it is a good sign that my late candidature started a discussion on the general culture of missing deadlines in AEGEE. It was not professional, as a president ought to be. However, it is also important in a democratic organisation to be able to choose between multiple candidates for such an important position as president. If there is only one candidate, how will you know whether this person is elected because people really support the candidature, or whether there was simply no one else to vote for? I would be happy to have an opponent because this forces you to really think through your vision, your programme, your strengths, and your opponent candidate will of course also focus on your weaknesses. Therefore, I think my 14 seconds late candidature should be accepted, but that is ultimately up to the Agora.

Your position towards the Strategic Plan is the opposite of your opponent. You were in the NetCom for a year and a half. Can you state in all honesty that the Strategic Plan and Action Agenda are a shared objective of our Network?

I wouldn’t say that my position is completely opposite, but it is more moderate. We are trying to find the balance between freedom for locals to organise whatever inspires them, and a more focused structure that allows us to have a more effective impact on a smaller number of areas. We always have to keep asking ourselves if the structure we have fits with the reality of how our organisation functions. I believe that the organisational part of the Strategic Plan is a good reflection of the current challenges of our association and is a useful backbone for the CD to implement long-term changes that were proposed by the Network. I think that locals are in favour of having thematic focus areas, however changing the yearly objectives by means of the Action Agenda seems to work better for Working Groups than for locals.

What matters now, is that thanks to the input of many members, the new Focus Areas are already chosen, the Action Agenda is drafted, we have strong candidates for Working Group Coordinators and members that are showing interest to join their teams. We should not overthrow a system that many people are already motivated to work with. However, if many members believe that our thematic structure is one that requires rethinking, we can use next year to let a ‘thematic reform task force’ tackle this. I predict that if you start from scratch and design a system with some ‘focus‘ and some ‘freedom’, you end up again with a construction with two levels of thematic groups whose topics are redefined in certain time intervals. For now, let us give a fair chance for the current system with Working Groups and an Action Agenda. We should also recognise that this will be only the third year that Working Groups exist and we are still learning how to optimise the current system.

Our Network is losing locals and we have at our disposal an increasingly smaller pool of active people. What do you think are the reasons and what can be solutions to it?

Some people say that the problem is that currently students have less resources to travel. I think it is the opposite, people don’t need AEGEE to go on a cheap trip, so it no longer works to sell it that way. We are no longer the only association that provides cultural and learning experiences. We should focus on what makes us special. We are interdisciplinary. We have no national level. We welcome everyone. Name an interest and we are working on it. And maybe most importantly, we have a vision and a mission that after 32 years are still very relevant to the Europe we live in. We have to believe in what makes us special, in order to transmit the message that our association is unique!

How are you preparing for the role? Did you contact current and former presidents of AEGEE-Europe?

I am mostly in contact with Ola and Paul, and some of the current CD members. They are available for all my questions, which I really appreciate. I am also on good terms with Réka, and we already discussed a possible scenario for knowledge transfer but are giving each other space during the election period.

Although I believe that I have enough experience to be a president, there is still a lot of know-how to be transferred before the 1st of August. Knowledge transfer and team building could already start online from June, and I would move to the house in July. Once I know if I am elected, I would also like to gather input for our activity plan from the Network and European Bodies.

Education in AEGEE is important, yet trainings fail to attract enough people. What do you think is the reason? And how would you solve the problem?

I think this lack of applications is always a combination of factors. Students nowadays have less time to travel to the other side of our continent for a week long training. At the same time, shortening the length of trainings would be a too simple solution, because it will also reduce their depth. However, we live in a modern age, so we could experiment with having online preparation meetings and before the event and online debriefing sessions and follow-up after the event. This way training itself could be shorter despite reaching the same depth. I also think that trainings, like any other event, need a clear PR strategy. If the content, date and location of an event are known in time, locals can promote the event to their members or even use them as a tool to recruit new members. I also support the statement by AEGEE-Academy to revise the European calendar. Besides statutory events, we have Network Meetings, Regional Training Courses, European Schools, Summer University Project Schools and more. It’s amazing that we can pull it off to organise so many training events, but we are ultimately fishing from the same pool of members. With a more efficient planning, we can make sure that there are regular trainings with both trainers and participants.

You can read her full candidature here.

Written by Federica Soro, AEGEE-Cagliari

AEGEE locals are very sensitive to LGBT+ issues, so much that Equal Rights is going to be one of the focus areas in the upcoming Strategic Plan 2017-2020. Out of all the countries where AEGEE has antennae, The Netherlands is definitely one of the most active in promoting LGBT+ rights and Dutch locals are actively organising events on the topic. AEGEE-Utrecht organised Colours Without Borders back in June and, for this reason, they were rewarded with the title Local of the Month of June. We interviewed AEGEE-Utrecht, more specifically Carina van Hoof, former Treasurer and Board Responsible of the LGBT Event and Bram van Os, President, to talk about this and future plans of the local. 

A moment during the LGBT event

The AEGEEan: Congratulations, AEGEE-Utrecht! How does it feel to be nominated as Local of the Month?

AEGEE-Utrecht: It feels great! It is really nice to see that our work is rewarded in this way, and that members from other locals can now also hear a bit more about it.

Please describe your local.

Our local is very active. We have many members in different local committees organising activities on a local level, and we organise several European events every year. There is always a nice atmosphere during our weekly social nights, where members enjoy a cheap beer at the bar, dance the night away till the early hours or look at our map of Europe to decide where to travel to next. If I could describe our local in one sentence, it would be ‘the local where everything is possible’.

You have been nominated for the LGBT event. How was it? 

The name of the event was Colours Without Borders. We had participants from seven different countries, which gave discussions about LGBT+ issues (for example during our dialogue workshop) an interesting turn, as situations regarding LGBT+ issues are very different in all countries. Think of Turkey vs. Spain for example. We organised several activities, we worked together with Utrecht’s Gay Student Association ‘Anteros’; we organised a pubquiz and a party together with their members. Another remarkable activity was a lecture that was featured on the programme of Utrecht’s 20th edition of the ‘Midzomergrachtfestival’ which is about Sexual and Gender Diversity. Of course, participants also came to our social night, we had sightseeing activities such as a boat tour through the canals, and enjoyed the biggest LGBT+ party of the year in our city.

AEGEE-Utrecht during Agora Bergamo

The event has been a big success for multiple reasons; it was the first time we worked together so closely with another student organisation and this was a very positive experience. We highly recommend other locals to also seek cooperation with associations that can help give your topic more depth. Moreover, participants learned a lot about the LGBT+ situation in the Netherlands and in each other’s countries, and they learned from each other’s personal stories.

In the nomination, you were defined as “always been a super gay-friendly association within Utrecht”. How important are the LGBT+ issues within your local?

It is very nice to hear that this definition has been attributed to us. I would definitely agree. We have quite some members who belong to the LGBT+ community, and as far as I know, the open character of our local has always provided a safe space for every member to be able to completely be themselves. LGBT+ issues are very important within our local, not just because many of us have friends who belong to the LGBT+ community, but also because, as a local, we stand for equal rights for everyone.

How important is this issue, according to you, to AEGEE as a whole? Do you think we are in a good situation in our organisation now, or should we take other steps?

I think giving more attention to LGBT+ issues is very important for AEGEE as a whole; both internally and externally. Internally, I think we are quite okay, but in many cases it still can depend heavily on the country you are from; the level of knowledge on LGBT+ issues and its acceptance. With more workshops or a project we could help educate our members, and create a safer space for everyone to be themselves. Externally, I also think it is very important for AEGEE to take a stand on LGBT+ matters.

AEGEE-Utrecht promoting their antenna

The current (political) situation in Europe shows that LGBT+ rights, as well as human rights in general, are not always getting better, but instead risk to get worse in quite some countries. AEGEE, as a European student association, could give an important message by giving importance to LGBT+ rights, but also to equal rights in general.

What are the new plans of AEGEE-Utrecht?

Well, there is a lot of them, because we are celebrating our VIth Lustrum [30th anniversary, ed.]! We are going to organise a congress with the theme: “Mental Health and Youth”, a European School, a spectacular Gala and many more events and activities. So be on the lookout for us!

Define your local in three words

”Gezellig” [a typical Dutch expression for warmth, cosiness and fun, ed.], Awesome, Active!

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Verona

Loving whoever you want to love, it seems such a simple concept, but hardly anywhere in our beloved Europe is this concept fully accepted. In a lot of places taboos, restrictions or normative heterosexual laws are still in place. In our diverse AEGEE, lots of people feel the burden of that reality, and that is what motivated the organisers of “Colours without Borders” to organise their LGBT+ themed event. With a new Focus Area on Equal Rights, these kinds of events are becoming more and more important in AEGEE!

The idea for this event came from Carina van Hoof, at the time a board member of AEGEE-Utrecht. She put out an open call for members who were interested in organising such an event. Kiki, one of the organisers, told us:  “Our event focused on a theme and a group of people that in my opinion deserves more attention and acceptation.”

The first day started with a city tour to get to know the city of Utrecht better. Highlighted in this tour where the LGBT+ facts and sights, like the rainbow pedestrian cross-over. The informative and social activities that followed over the following days were all related to the LGBT+ topic in one way or another. Some highlights from the programme were the lectures about sexual diversity, a LGBT+ crazy88 [a city quest, ed.] in Amsterdam, an awareness-workshop, and going to the biggest LGBT+ student party in the Netherlands.

The participants formed a rainbow of nationalities and diversity among themselves: they came from Italy, Belgium, Hungary, Bulgaria, Turkey, Spain, Ukraine and Germany. Seven of them were men and six were women. Some participants personally connected to the LGBT+ community, some were just interested in the topic. With this wide range of countries, every participant brought their own experiences with them. In the Netherlands people take pride in being one of the first progressive countries to legalise gay marriage. However, the reality sometimes doesn’t reflect this reputation. The word ‘homo’ is still often used as a swearword, and same-sex couples still feel uncomfortable walking hand-in-hand down the street.

The organisers deliberately planned their event during the 20^th edition of the ‘Midzomergracht festival’, during which the city of Utrecht celebrates sexual and gender diversity. For this festival the event organised a lecture on the same topic and a ‘gender in the blender’ themed party, both open for anyone who wanted to attend. Besides this, the participants got acquainted with students from the Utrecht Gay Student Association ‘Anteros’ during a LGBT+ themed pub quiz. Lucia Conde of AEGEE-Bilbao said: “The workshop’s approach was great: before the group discussion, the room was divided into ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ areas and we had to personally answer to LGBT related questions and statements by physically moving to one of them. It was a very visual (and sometimes shocking) way of seeing the reality of the LGBT situation socially and personally for each of us.”

Some participants had a happy message about the situation in their country, others not so much. But all found an event like this to be a safe place to discuss these topics . “Safe clubs can be found, safe parties can be set everywhere. The feeling of being free to be as I am that was supplied by the safe atmosphere of Utrecht and the Netherlands was the best feeling. Of course the parties and the activities were so great, but I didn’t feel as free as I felt in Utrecht in my country”, explained a participant from Turkey. The atmosphere meant a lot to everyone, because they were able to talk freely about their daily struggles regarding this subject. Bali, from AEGEE-Debrecen and AEGEE-Budapest said: “Being able to compare the LGBT+ situation and some of its matters of my home country with several others at one single international event is a special opportunity.”

When asked about the future of the LGTB+ topic in AEGEE-Europe, everyone agreed on one thing: there needs to be more attention to  it and more events like this. Anastasia from AEGEE-Bruxelles agreed that we should discuss more about this topic in AEGEE: “It would be great if events like these were organised in different countries. I can’t imagine what would it be like if there is an event like this in Ukraine”. A few weeks after the event, the official LGBT+ Interest Group was created. Others added that a Focus Area on equality or love would be great (and apparently the Agora agreed, since Equal Rights ranked number one on the Focus Area list)!

The organisers loved the chill and informal atmosphere of the group. One of the yells during the event was ”GAAAAAYYYYYY”, which showed everyone was poking fun at each other. Whoever spent time at the event noticed what it meant to each of the participants and the organisers. A quote from Julia (AEGEE-Frankfurt) uses exactly the right words to reflect on this event:  “If you arrive at an event and immediately feel like you have been with these people all your life, then that’s a good sign. This group turned out as one of the safest and joyful groups I have ever had an event with and I think this was partly because of the honesty and authenticity of each individual” .

 Just a small note to end this article:

A week ago, when writing this article, the world celebrated ‘International Coming Out day’. A day to speak out your support for people who feel like they have to hide their sexual orientation. These kind of events could contribute to prevent anyone in AEGEE to ever feel marginalised. This event has already found a successor. It has been announced that AEGEE-Amsterdam will organise a similar but more informative event on the subject, called “Whatever Floats Your Rainboat!”.

Read more about it in the upcoming interview with Romy Cartiere, organiser of this event, and stay updated on the LGBT+ topic within AEGEE-Europe by becoming part of the Interest Group’s Facebook group.

Written by Mireille Voorendt, AEGEE-Utrecht

From the 21th of July to the 5th of August, 24 crazy participants were ready for a new adventure: discovering the “other side” of the Netherlands by joining the Travelling Summer University (TSU) of  Utrecht, Delft & Amsterdam: Discover Your New Partner in Crime. During these two weeks everyone found their partners, worked together on several tasks and got to experience the real Dutch culture.

The adventure started in Utrecht: the city that hosted the start of the Tour the France. The city was discovered firstly by following the Trajectum Lumen: a city tour passing by different light artworks in the city centre.  However, a different side of Utrecht could be experienced through the Underground Tour. In this tour an ex-homeless/addicted person told his life story while showing the places in the city where he lived and slept. The tour was not finished, because there was a possibility to see the ancient city in the DomUnder tour discovering the ancient ruins of the old city of Utrecht. By canoeing through the channels and climbing the Domtower, the city of Utrecht was discovered from all different views.

But there was more to discover than just the city. In a Dutch course the participants got an opportunity to improve their Dutch skills and practice their typical Dutch G (Gezellig!). With the help of these language skills the Crazy 88 was easy: 88 crazy challenges in which the participants could show their crazy and criminal side. Asking a stranger to marry them or ordering oysters at McDonalds, nothing was too much for the amazing participants. Also the trade game was a big success: the participants had to trade a tea bag for something of more value. Many people were surprised by the helpfulness to participate in the games stating: “This would be impossible in my country”. More Dutch experiences were given by typical Dutch dishes, a lecture on criminality in the Netherlands by a professor of criminology and typical Dutch games in the park.

After five fun days in Utrecht it was time to go to the next destination: Delft. And what better way to travel through the country than by hitchhiking? Although for many people it was their first experience with this way to travel, everyone arrived safely with nice stories to the university campus of Delft.

Here the participants had to face another Dutch experience: rain in summer. However, this didn’t stop anyone from enjoying the programme in Delft to the fullest. While discovering the beauty of Delft, people began to find their partners in crime and the group became closer and closer. In the days that followed a lot of games and activities took place. From being tied up to a partner, to pretending to be an airplane, everybody was in for anything. With the energy provided from tosties (grilled cheese sandwiches which are eaten a lot by Dutch students) the groups of participants tried their best to win the challenges and be their best at everything.

A trip to the political capital of the Netherlands was also on the programme. The Hague was popular and the rain decided to stop. This motivated some brave people to take this opportunity to swim in the sea when the beach near the Hague (Scheveningen) was visited. Others watched while drinking hot chocolate with their sweaters on. What a difference. After this little trip, the European Night was on the programme. Everybody put a lot of effort in cooking delicious food, teaching the toasting habits and motivating people into tasting their national dishes.  The night became one big party, the morning a little less. But despite the hangover, people worked hard to produce the best smoothie in a real smoothie competition. Strengthened by the power of the tosti some really delicious beauties were produced. The last night a real moonlight cinema was organised which meant being cozy in the sleeping bag while watching a movie in the open air.

After the relaxed times in Delft, everyone hitchhiked to the next and most famous location: Amsterdam. During the days in Amsterdam the participants got to see a different side of Amsterdam than most tourists do. The days in Amsterdam started of with a city tour which, besides the famous sights, showed locations of recent topics like the student revolutions and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT). People were very impressed by the big rainbow flag which was hanging from a church, something that says a lot about the attitude towards LGBT people in the Netherlands. The whole city was full of rainbows for one important reason: the Gay pride. After some introduction and workshops on the topic, a nice sunny afternoon was spend at the Canal Parade, where different organisations showed their support for LGBT people in a boat parade. Although for some people it was kind of out of their comfort zone, it was a great party.

Amsterdam as its seen by its inhabitants was also shown in a tour of a local brewery, a red light district tour and a pub-crawl through the Jordaan, the old part of the city. Between the different pubs, there were several challenges which had to be completed. So once again the teams got ready for selfies with public toilets, sharing of clothes etc. Luckily by this time the group was close enough to not care about this.  Furthermore the weather had decided to be good for a change, so there was also time for chilling at the city beach.

The last night ended perfectly with a boat ride through the channels of Amsterdam. And what do you do when no music is allowed? Exactly,  – you sing yourself! All countries presented a famous song: a perfect way to finish a perfect Summer University.

For the organisers and participants one important goal was achieved: the real Dutch culture was discovered. The last night ended with a lot of smiles and tears: we all found a lot of new partners, but not only in crime.

Written by Diede Oudenampsen, AEGEE-Utrecht

A new month comes with a new ACTive Local of the Month. This month, the Dutch local AEGEE-Utrecht was elected for covering all of the Focus Areas of the Strategic Plan within one month organising four different activities. We spoke to the President of the local, Folckert van der Molen, to find out more about this local and their Action Agenda involvement!  

First of all, can you tell us a bit more about your local?
AEGEE-Utrecht was founded in 1987 by a group of local law students. Now we have grown to be one of the largest locals in the network, with nearly 300 members. It is headed by a full-time board of five people. In total there are about 20 committees with a total of 125 members in active positions. This allows for a full calendar of activities, with an average of 3 activities per week.

Which activities related to the Action Agenda/Strategic Plan did you organise?
We organised a workshop on professional profiling, an international night, a vegetarian dinner and an outgoing exchange with AEGEE-Budapest. Our workshop, contributing to the Focus Area of Youth Employment, aimed to teach participants how to profile themselves in the labour market. A lot of present people later mentioned they found it very inspirational and helpful.

Our International Night, contributing to the Focus Area of Spreading Europtimism, was organised in cooperation with other internationally oriented student associations in Utrecht and gave us the chance to bring together international and local students for a memorable night.

Our vegetarian dinner, contributing to the Focus Area of Civic Education, contributed to the 40 days without meat action organised by AEGEE-Leuven. One of our committees already organises dinners for our members once every month around a theme. This time they decided to go with a Greek and vegetarian theme. Although the Greek cuisine is known for their delicious meat dishes, they managed to create some outstanding vegetarian Greek dishes.

Last but not least, our exchange, contributing to the Focus Area of Youth Mobility, was organised in cooperation with our twin antenna AEGEE-Budapest. As part of our twin antenna agreement, we hold at least one exchange per year. This time, we also invited AEGEE-Barcelona to join us for five days of sightseeing, fun and new and old friendships.

Why did you decide to organise these activities?
As one of the larger locals, we feel we should strive to maximize that potential. That’s why for every idea for an activity, we ask ourselves a simple question: is this a true AEGEE activity? That means, how do we contribute to the goals we set out to achieve? For all these activities we think we managed to give the real AEGEE spirit to the participants and certainly bring Europe a little closer to home!

What were the results of your activities?
Actually all activities had a great number of participants. The International Night for example attracted almost 500 people. For the exchange we even had to disappoint some people for whom there was no more room. Even the workshop had a pretty good attendance, while we have in the past found it difficult to get a lot of people for that kind of activity.

Do you have any other activities related to the Action Agenda planned?
Our plans mainly focus on getting our members more active in Europe and not only in Utrecht. While not directly related to a specific focus area, this should have a positive impact. That said, we do have a couple of activities planned. For example, a hitchhiking competition in cooperation with other locals, or a trip to The Hague, to visit the Humanity House where you can experience life as a refugee. Also, we are one of the organising locals for the Democracy in Practice training courses, which of course is a big contribution to the Civic Education focus area. There are more examples, but let’s not name them all here!

Do you have any other big plans for the upcoming year?

Always! We are planning to throw the best gala we have ever seen, in the most amazing location available in Utrecht. Shortly after that we will celebrate our birthday and have a lot more activities that together we call our theme month. This year the theme is stories, which gives a lot of room for great activities. In the summer we will organise our Summer University “Meet your new partners in crime”, in cooperation with AEGEE-Delft and AEGEE-Amsterdam. And after that the focus will be on recruitment and introduction, because before the start of the next academic year we hope to find about 100 new members for AEGEE-Utrecht.

Why should other locals organise activities related to the Action Agenda?
Because any organisation can throw social nights or whatever, but as AEGEE we can do much more than that. Our whole raison d’être is to make Europe more connected and to be the voice of young people. The AEGEE network provides amazing opportunities to make an impact. It would be a waste not to take advantage of that!

Do you have any tips for organising thematic activities?
Involve as many people as possible! It is tempting to do everything by yourself or even with just the board members, since a lot of times it’s even more efficient that way. A big part of the impact of organising these kind of activities however is in giving people the experience to organise and connect themselves to the European Project. Get some inexperienced members on the team or find partnerships with other associations. The joy of seeing other people grow is just as great as putting all the pieces together yourself.

Which objective of the new Action Agenda do you look forward to working with the most?
Actually I am pretty happy about all of them. As we have many active committees, it is up to them to decide what they think is interesting or important. We don’t need to focus on just one of the aims. AEGEE belongs to all members and I am looking forward to seeing what each of them comes up with on their own. As President of AEGEE-Utrecht I am looking forward most of all to facilitating all the crazy ideas they bring to us and supporting them in making them a reality.

Written by Svenja van der Tol, AEGEE-Nijmegen

AEGEE-Utrecht has many committees that are in charge of different events and actions. One of these committees, the charity committee (GoCie), organised an auction on the 26th of November to collect money for their charity of the year to help children in Romania. The AEGEEan found out more about these two events by speaking to Mireille Voorendt, member of the Charity Commission and Sien Rongen, board member of AEGEE-Utrecht.

One AEGEE-Utrecht’s committees is the charity committee, called GoCie (an abbreviation for “Goede Doelen Commissie” which translates to “charity commission”). This commission is rather new and consists of seven members who decided to pick one charity organisation to support every year. The organisation has to located in Europe and should be rather small and run by volunteers. The charity of this year was the “Stichting Roemeense Kinderhulp” (“Romanian Children Help”), a Dutch charity that has a children’s home in Romania, where 21 children get a chance for a future. “SRKH provides a home for these children”, Mireille tells us. “These children are not orphans, but either abandoned or neglected children. Here, the children are raised like in a normal family, with Romanian parents, who are selected carefully.”

The GoCie has grown very close with SRKH and they are in contact quite often. The chairman and his wife even came to AEGEE-Utrecht’s weekly social drink once. “They blew the audience away with their stories”, Mireille says excitedly.

It is therefore no wonder that the commission tries to raise as much money as possible for these nice people and their great organisation. Throughout the year, they have many activities on their agenda to collect money, such as a sponsored run, a charity concert or selling food on their weekly “borrel”. By November, they came up with another great idea: an auction!

Members of AEGEE-Utrecht could participate in two ways – either by bidding during the auction, or by offering something that the others would bid on. Firstly, a mail was sent to the members of AEGEE-Utrecht concerning the question of who would like to offer anything, in this case not anything material, but a “service” (“not like that, you dirty AEGEE minds”, Mireille jokes). The offered services ranged from making a dinner over a singing or guitar lesson to even teaching someone how to juggle.

On the evening of the 26th of November 2014, as on every Wednesday, members of AEGEE-Utrecht gathered for their “borrel” (social drink) on a boat to socialise. It was open to everyone and around 50 people participated. 20 of them had some auction items to offer while the other 30 were bidders.

As in a regular auction, the auction leader firstly introduced the offers and showed them on powerpoint slides. Then, the members who provided the services got the chance to come forward and explain some more details. In the end, the bidders could raise their hands and all the offers were sold. The outcome, 316 euros, and the fact that everyone present had so much fun that almost all the people on the boat took part in the bidding shows what a great idea the whole event was!

Sien, board member of AEGEE-Utrecht, concludes: “We as a board are very lucky with such active and enthusiastic members. If they did not have the time and the passion to do it, we as a local could not fulfill all those activities.”

Written by Katja Sontag, AEGEE-Aachen

For some, New Year’s Eve is about friends and family, for some it’s about partying, while others focus on reflection about the year that is passing… But some of us decided that this New Year would be about adventure and discoveries.

This New Year Event (NYE) took place in Utrecht, the Netherlands, so of course visiting and getting to know the city was a must, and a delight. On our first day there, we challenged our shyness in order to fulfil as many tasks as possible in a crazy city rally; the tasks varied from ordering oysters in fast food restaurants to proposing to strangers, but they also included some that allowed us to get familiar with the city as well as with the Dutch culture. Another activity that was really interesting for us was an atypical city tour offered by a man that had been homeless.

One of the highlights of the program was a conference held on the second day of the event at the university about the conflict in Former Yugoslavia and the peace movements that aroused during those years. Given the actual political and economical situation in Europe, the conference was incredibly interesting and enlightening for us. On that same day, we also visited The Hague (or Den Haag in Dutch), a beautiful and historical city that serves both as headquarter of the Dutch government and as international court of justice. In order to get our energy levels filled up again, and also to rest from the last day’s visit, the last day of the year was mostly dedicated to a workshop about minorities, discrimination and conflicts. However, due to our great interest in the conference, the workshop ended in a lively and interesting debate about conflict-solving, peace and the use of violence in the actual world.

The New Year’s celebration was held at the top floor of a student’s dorm building, from where we had the pleasure of seeing the whole city bloom with joy and fireworks at midnight. The first of January, challenging our tiredness, the freezing wind and the cold weather, we joined the Dutch people in the New Years Dive, and wearing the typical orange hats, we dived in the cold sea to come back minutes later, freezing, but immensely happy and proud of our achievement. Certainly, few of us are likely to forget the experience any time soon.

Changing the typical winter holidays scenario of home and family for an unknown city and a “bunch of strangers”, may seem weird at first, but attending a NYE is a decision you’ll hardly regret. If you ask me about the highlights of those days I would say they were the conference, the New Years Dive and the workshop (especially the debate) but there’s more than just that. Of course, a NYE should be entertaining and funny, but I’m glad to say that not only do I come back with funny memories of a different New Year, but I also brought new ideas and broadened views with me .

However, there is also one factor that I cannot omit, and it is the group with whom I shared this event. Indeed, if there is something I truly love about AEGEE and its events it is the possibility it brings to interact with so many different people with different nationalities, who have been brought up surrounded by different cultures. We had the luck to count with an amazing and funny group of participants and a dedicated team of organisers, that added the extra ingredient to this NYE that made this event even more unique and unforgettable. I could certainly keep writing about this fantastic and groovy NYE, but there would still be a part of it that words won’t be able to grasp. I hope I have succeeded in encouraging you to join a NYE yourself, because isn’t New Year about change? Therefore, what better way to spend it than travelling, which is all about change and opening your mind?

Written by Eugenia “Ena” Casariego Artola, AEGEE-Oviedo

You have been an active AEGEEan for quite some time, you have organised several events, been involved in projects, and taken up responsibility and duties inside the organisation. However, you notice something is missing. The motivational spark is starting to fade out…

The first edition of SES took place in 2013

Do you identify yourself with these lines? If so, you better save the dates from 22^nd to 28^th of March, which are the days the Self-Development European School 2015 (SES) will take place. The AEGEE Academy and AEGEE-Utrecht are partnering for the second time in order to bring you an inspiring event, where you will get to know yourself better, set goals to keep improving yourself, and light the spark again.

The first edition of SES took place back in 2013 in Utrecht, at a time where The Academy decided to introduce a new thematic to the European Schools. Despite being a pilot project, many participants described it as a “life-changing” event. Now, the Self-Development European School comes back to where it started. “The previous SES was a huge success for participants, trainers and organisers, and there were no doubts to apply again!”, Martijn Weekenstroo, main organiser of AEGEE-Utrecht told The AEGEEan.

Twenty lucky participants will embark in a week-long journey through self-development, with several workshops and sessions ranging from self-awareness, emotional intelligence, effective goal setting, stress management and self-leadership among others, under the management of Paweł Cieślak, experienced member of The Academy.

AEGEE-Utrecht has been preparing for this challenge for a long time, from designing the visual identity and PR materials of SES and settling the logistics to organising teambuilding activities for the organisers. They revealed some of the activities that will be taking place during the social program: “The social program will be a bit quieter than regular AEGEE events. You can think of activities like storytelling with a bonfire and playing some games”. And a European Night, of course! What’s more, we have been told that participants “will sleep in luxurious bungalows just outside of Utrecht”.

According to the organisers, Utrecht “is a thrilling student city with lots of young creative people. The city centre is not too large which makes it very cosy; it has a lot of bars and restaurants alongside the water”. The participants of SES will also get to visit the Dom tower and Dom church, which was destroyed by a tornado, and there will be an option to climb the tower and see the surroundings, and to visit the famous “boat” where AEGEE-Utrecht has its weekly social drinks!

Appealing, right? Get to know yourself, boost your confidence, set motivational goals and embark to an inspiring journey by the channels of this stunning Dutch city. But don’t miss the deadline – you can apply until February 1st. If you want to make “that” change happen this 2015, Self-Development European School is the event for you!

Written by Anna Gumbau, AEGEE-Barcelona

Halfway December a group of AEGEE members gathered in Utrecht for the Network Meeting (NWM) ‘Key to your AEGEE future’. It was a weekend full of brainstorming about AEGEE and developing your personal skills: two aspects you need in order to work on the key to your AEGEE future! The amount of sessions and social activities were well balanced, resulting in a productive and inspiring NWM that was very well hosted by AEGEE-Utrecht.

The participants were lodged in the ‘Centre for the World, Peace and Environment’, which sounded already as a suitable location for an AEGEE event. In the course of Friday evening, AEGEE members were arriving mainly from Dutch, Belgian, French and German locals. On behalf of the Comité Directeur (CD), Anna Gots from AEGEE-Kyïv was present to support and contribute to the NWM. Louise Noël, from the partner organization Board of European Students of Technology (BEST), joined the NWM as well.

The first important things was to get to know each other and to have a nice start of our time together in Utrecht. Therefore, a pub crawl was planned, where participants had to battle in groups against each other. Probably, the usual sense of mutual solidarity in AEGEE was even strengthened by the Christmas feeling that was present at all pubs and squares in town.

On the next morning the NWM was kicked off by a session about the Action Agenda Coordination Committee (ACT) and the Strategic Plan. CD member Anna Gots, Ana Potočnik from AEGEE-Ljubljana and Anna van den Berg from AEGEE-Groningen discussed the Action Agenda 2013-2014, which contains the concrete guidelines for AEGEE until August 2014. From the three focus areas, Youth Participation, Bridging Europe and Social Inclusion, aims were discussed and objectives that could be implemented by local boards were highlighted. During the conversation about Bridging Europe, the contribution from Anna Gots about the current situation in Ukraine, and the one from Rasim Zulfigarov (AEGEE-Bakı) about the tension between Armenia and Azerbaijan were very valuable. The overall message was that not only the CD, but also locals can easily implement the objectives of the Action Agenda in their local activities.

Louise Noël gave an introduction about BEST before Mayri Tiido from AEGEE-Tartu started her workshop about teamwork and communication. Don’t think you could have a rest sitting on a chair during that session! By means of small games, exercises and tasks, Mayri Tiido showed the importance of communication and explained you can make a big impact with small changes. Besides, improvisation games were played during this active session in order to trigger the participants’ creativity and to think out of the box.

And, how do you gain and keep enough AEGEE members? How do you gain and transfer the knowledge in your local? According to Dominique Lenssen from AEGEE-Leiden and Tom Simons from AEGEE-Enschede, your local needs a good Human Resources cycle, as they explained during their practical session about HR. As a part of the recruitment step, elevator pitches about AEGEE were developed and practiced. Furthermore, the importance and implementation of the integration of new members, their maintaining and their knowledge transfer steps in the HR cycle were discussed.

Besides, there is no progress in AEGEE without goal-setting. To achieve these goals, you need a good time management and motivation. These elements together formed the topic of the session given by Maartje Natrop from AEGEE-Utrecht, speaker of the AEGEE Academy (ACA). The participants were asked to think about their personal goals in AEGEE in 2014 and to determine the order of their priority. “Time management is not always that easy”, Maartje admitted. Therefore she handed the crucial ingredients for a good time management. With this eye-opening session, we were all ready to achieve our goals in 2014!

It was time for drinks, dinner and a good night out in Utrecht. Even more participants arrived and local members from AEGEE-Utrecht joined as well. It was time to relax and to look back at the inspiring sessions. Eventually it was time to dance together in the historical cellars of Utrecht, located adjacent to canals in the city centre.

On Sunday, already the last whole day of the NWM, we started with a brainstorm session about the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) of the locals that were present. Members of the same local gathered together and made a SWOT analysis of their local which they presented to the group. It became clear the locals present have aspects in common but also differ a lot from each other. A weakness that have several locals in common, is a low numbers of (active) members. The presence of many other student associations besides AEGEE was often considered as a threat to the locals. Large differences were observed in the knowledge transfer, the fundraising possibilities, the activity on European level and the number and character of local activities. We could see how other locals are organized and we could learn a lot from each other.

CD member Anna Gots gave an update on the AEGEE Identity presented and ratified during the Autumn Agora 2013 in Zaragoza. She gave an inspiring speech about the importance of our identity and her strong belief in it was convincing and motivating to come in action. During a brainstorming session, the tools, mission and vision of AEGEE were implemented in new elevator pitches.

Do you know all countries in the European Union? Do you know all countries in which you can pay with Euro? Matthijs Overhaal visualized Europe with the help of the participants and explained more details about the history, challenges and future of the EU and the European Parliament. This session was logically followed by a session on the Y Vote 2014 project, given by Léa Charlet from AEGEE-Paris, Project Manager of the Y Vote 2014 project. Léa explained the approach of the project, which aims to motivate and increase the number of young European citizens that will vote during the European Parliament elections taking place in May 2014. We contributed to the program by thinking about ways to promote the project and the elections. How would you motivate young people on the street or at your university to vote?

Iris Hordijk from AEGEE-Utrecht, former speaker of the Environmental Working Group (EnWG) and the current Policy Officer on Sustainability, gave a session on sustainable development. There was a brainstorming session about sustainability in our universities in order to contribute to Iris’ position paper on this same topic.

The final session of the day was offered by the Dutch National Youth Council (NJR). As external trainers, they succeeded very well in implementing many aspects of AEGEE and the NWM in their session. They focused on the planning and structure of projects. The session ended with the question: how would you describe this NWM in one word? Among others, the NWM was labelled as inspiring, different, motivating and awesome.

As an overall impression of the NWM, it can be said there was a good balance between session with an AEGEE topic and sessions about personal development. The NWM has been considered by many participants as very good and productive. There was enough time and space to have discussions, to inspire each other, to make new friends, to have fun and to create lots of memories and new plans.

Thanks to AEGEE-Utrecht, thanks to our Network Commissioner Dominique Lenssen, thanks to all the trainers of this NWM and thanks to all the participants for the inspiring, motivating, awesome event!

Written by Margo van Berkum, AEGEE-Leiden

Pictures taken by Sandrine Lafay, AEGEE-Leiden

Let’s illustrate an image together, shall we? Let’s imagine people getting together to develop themselves. Self-realization through different exercises, and getting to know yourself in the present: who you are, your environment, and how it influences you. Then, realizing your past through different techniques, and learning to cherish the good times and letting go of the bad. Finally, looking into the future and realizing what you want from it, what your goals are, and where you’re heading towards. 

What was the background you chose for this? A deep spiritual Asian temple, which included techniques such as meditation, cross-legged in a harmonious natural environment? Yes, that could be the case, but not in this situation! The background of the image is quite realistic taking place in the beautiful Dutch city, Utrecht. It was very European, and very realistic, organized by members of AEGEE-Utrecht, trainers from the AEGEE-Academy coming from five different corners of Europe, and 15 participants coming from all different corners of Europe. They all gathered with one common aim: self-development.
 The AEGEE-Academy took itself to a whole different level, introducing a new type of training which they named Self-Development European School (SES) and was organized between the th 4 and the 11 to use during the SES, creating a basis for a future of this type of European School. th of May. Trainers put their minds together to figure out the right techniques.

Through self-realization exercises, and self confidence boosters, everyone involved in the event got to know each other even better! Of course, let’s not forget the incredible social program the organizers prepared, including a Dutch evening hosted by a queen of queens, a festival, and also a ball! Also, the participants set their goals and thought of the things they personally wanted to reach and manage to do with themselves, with short-term and longterm goals. Finally, the participants received an empowerment boost, to last them after the event, and to manage to not forget what they learnt from that week in Utrecht.

When participants were asked to summarize the event into one word, some expressed themselves using “life-changing” and “deep”! Clearly, this feedback mustn’t go to waste. And even though this was a pilot, there were difficulties to overcome. But even the overheated training room, or the slightly bad hostel food couldn’t hold us back from having a great time during the SES week! That’s why the Academy has decided to repeat the SES in 2014. Congratulations to the organizers, well done to the trainers, and great job to all the participants for all their hard work! This was surely one of the best events of the year!

Written by John Eikosidekas, AEGEE-Patra

Photos courtesy of Bence Ujlaki AEGEE-Budapest