Summer has been over for a while now, but AEGEE Valencia keeps offering the opportunity to create unforgettable memories. From the 13th until the 15th of November, Network Meeting Valencia will be hosted in Corbera, a small town located 40km from the region’s capital. Charming Corbera is well known for its monuments and its rich history.

Network Meetings are events where AEGEE members get together to share the problems their antennae are facing and work on finding a way to solve them. New members can greatly benefit from attending a Network Meeting, given that the basics of AEGEE, from its structure to the Strategic Plan, are usually covered. By taking part in NWM Valencia, participants will also expand their knowledge of AEGEE’s European bodies and how to cooperate with them.

AEGEE-Valencia has been looking forward to organising a Network Meeting (NWM) for over two years. According to its main organiser, Consuelo Ródenas “the reason for organising NWM Valencia, apart from our motivation, was that AEGEE-Valencia members need to meet more people, discover and learn more things about AEGEE and the best way was bringing the NWM to our city”. In her opinion, the NWM is a good way to help inactive AEGEE-Valencia members to become more participative: “we have a lot of new and motivated members that are helping with the NWM as organisers, but also many members who are attending the event as participants”.

Participants will be lodged in El Tossal hostel, which will provide them with everything they need to make the most of their stay in the town. Among its facilities, “El Tossal” includes two rooms where workshops, debates and sessions will take place, high-level multimedia equipment and fantastic outdoor areas, including football, basketball and volleyball pitches.  From its privileged location on top of a mountain, participants will enjoy an amazing view of the mountains surrounding Corbera and the Mediterranean Sea.

Those from outside Valencia will be able to explore this beautiful city  in a tour in which they will get to visit Valencia’s most touristic landmarks and uncover its most well hidden secrets.

NWM Valencia will focus on the exchange of best practices among different antennaes in the Mediterranean area. Locals are encouraged to send an analysis of their strengths and weaknesses that will be discussed during the weekend. The event will also include an Open Space Session where some selected topics chosen and proposed by participants will be tackled.

NWM Valencia will start with an Opening Ceremony in which Melissa Carreras, newly elected member of the Network Commission and her subcommissioners will be introduced to the audience. The event will also include a workshop called “Identity and Liberation”, which will be lead by academics Dr. James M. Skelly and Christian Eichenmüller.

NWMs are also a great chance to socialize and make new friends within AEGEE. AEGEE-Valencia is planning two thematic parties that will surely delight the NWM’s participants. The first one will be a Suit Up party which will take place right after the open ceremony. On the second night, there will be a “bad guy in the movie” party, in which participants will have the chance to show how bad they can be by dressing up as their favorite movie villains.

AEGEE-Valencia cannot wait for one of the best events of the year. “Here we are waiting for the event to start and to show the whole Network what we are ready for!” Consuelo exclaimed.

Written by Kimberly Townend, AEGEE-Valencia

Welcome to the fantastic Travel Summer University “Touch the Sky Under the Mediterranean Fire”, organized by two amazing locals: AEGEE-Tarragona and AEGEE-Valencia! You couldn’t even expact the experiences we finally had, coming to the event! Let us show you what happened during two weeks at the Eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula.

Imagine that, from the big amount of applications (150), organizers have chosen the 30 luckiest participants and they start bringing the written program into life. And among them you find your name; the best summer is about to start! The time is coming closer and closer to the first day of this event, and finally it begins: in the middle of August you arrive to a small cozy city, touched by History, and some of its parts remained exactly as they were more than hundreds of years ago.  Tarragona, a city founded by the Romans, was one of the most important cities in the Mediterranean, and when you attend the city tour, prepared for you by experienced guides, you would understand why.

Walking through the ruins of the Roman Empire, you get acquainted with Roman history and imagine yourself in the Ancient Ages, when ruins were buildings and when people were riding horses instead of cars. One of the most impressive constructions is probably the Pont de les Ferreres (Devil’s Bridge). It looks magnificent and scary at the same time. Magnificent, because of the architecture; while scary – you will understand it when you go up and look down. Deepening more into history, you learn to speak Catalan, the language which appeared in the 9th century. Becoming a true Catalonian, you are ready to live the life of the city as its citizens do. Thanks to the human towers’ workshop provided by Xiquets del Serrallo, you will not only see the highest human tower (of more than five floors) in your life, bu you will also try by yourself and touch the sky. During the Festival of Sant Magí, in the afternoon, you see the real show of human castles in the streets. You have mixed feelings: “That was scary (especially when those small kids were climbing to the very very top, and when some of them fell down, fortunately they were safe); that was impressive; that was astonishing, unbelievable, amazing, awesome, exciting! I was looking at them with my breath taken away and my heart beating stronger and faster… I have never seen such thing in my life”, says Hanna Polishchuk, from AEGEE-Kyiv. And at night you go to the Holi Festival, being all painted, and the next night all the group stops by at the Remullada, where gigantic figures explode with water, showering all the dancing people around, while good quality music is playing everywhere around you. Have you experienced this before?

Next day your luggage is already packed, because for the whole day you are leaving to PortAventura, the most visited amusement park in Spain! Are you afraid of heights or speed? Forget your fears, – we are going to explore the craziest and most dangerous rides, are you ready?  First you go to the lift which takes you up, on a very-very high top, and then you experience a free drop, falling down fast in a standing position. That is something! Then you go to the highest rollercoasters in the whole park. From the very beginning you have a feeling of coming out of this ride as you are not used to such big heights, but once you stayed there you are glad you did it. It is unforgettable! Everyone should try this “Shambhala” for sure, and try it several times.

After trying all the most extreme rides, you go back to Tarragona to start a new trip in the morning, and the next city calms you down. You take a bike and discover Barcelona with the whole group. Gosh, this city is so huge, so different, and so multicultural! We were biking next to the sea, to the big gorgeous park, and then riding to the center and other beautiful narrow and wide streets. So many architectural masterpieces, one of which is,  of course, the Sagrada Família, created by Antoni Gaudí!

The next stop is Valencia. If we were to compare the two main cities of the trip, I should say that Tarragona is like a small summer house, built in the Roman style, and located by the beach, where you feel comfortable and warm, and you know all the members of this house and its neighborhood. At the same time, Valencia is a big shopping center, where you can find everything to satisfy any specific taste: popular touristic places, secret places, historical parts, poor quarter, crowded and not-so-crowded beaches. Do you want to have a fancy party, with a good music, nice interior, pleasant view and high service, – go to “Umbracle & Mya”. Maybe you want to relax in a boat sailing the longest lake in Spain – go to El Palmar and take a boat trip along the lake Albufera. What if you want to see something amazing, thrilling? Then you should go to the City of Arts and Science and stop at the biggest aquarium in Europe, the Oceanogràfic. There you will see more than 500 different species including dolphins, huge sharks, belugas, sawfish, jellyfish which were lighting underwater, and much more. You also attend the serious part of the SU with all the workshops, which were never boring, but very engaging, in Universitat Politècnica de València, which cooperated with the local.  In Valencia you will also get to see the old city with its typical architecture, streets and Serrano towers. Prepare to visit Sagunto with its huge castle, the ancient Roman Circus and Theater, go on camping by cars to El Saler, and visit Fallas museum to have an idea what is a true Valencia’s fire.

The cuisine is so different: jamón, chorizo, tortilla, gazpacho, horchata with fartons, and of course paella! The organizers prepared two types of paella for you: the original Valencian one, and the one with noodles, Fideuà. In one of the evenings we discovered different sorts of tapas and see how Spanish pour Sidra. After the sangría workshop, you will come home and prepare it for your family and friends, who are surprised of your magical tricks and delicious taste of the drink.

We had a good teambuilding in the group. At the first day one of our participants lost his luggage and spent all the SU without any of his stuff. And he survived: “I want to say thank you for the 100th time to the organizers for arranging me some clothes so I wasn’t naked during this TSU. I want to also say thanks to everybody for these unforgettable, best two weeks of my life.” Krzysztof Matuszny, AEGEE-Gliwice.

We shared our cultures with one another: “I just want to thank you for your company, for being as you are, for teaching me languages, dances and traditions, for making me laugh, for drinking with me, for always giving a smile even though you were tired; because all of you are amazing”, says the organizer Ruben Navarro, from AEGEE-Tarragona. One of participants, Zach Grenz, AEGEE-Darmstadt shares his opinion: “I hoped to meet a few people from other countries who are nice, but they weren’t nice… they were AMAZING, all of you guys I met. Everyone represented his country in a very positive way and everybody broke their stereotypes”.

What I need to say from myself is that both locals did a great job, they were responsive to our needs, they were adjusting the program to the weather and our physical abilities, some of them walked with us back to hostel at 5 a.m. after the party during one hour by feet instead of calling a taxi, only because we asked to. We took part in endless workshops and learnt a lot about the country, its history, Mediterranean and local culture and people. All the time we were like a big family, keeping the AEGEE spirit up.

There are no words to describe this unforgettable experience. But I would like to finish this article with words of Edyta Matysiak, AEGEE-Warszawa: “Some people say that all good things come to an end. Well, during this TSU someone told me something better, that the best is yet to come”.

 Written by Hanna Polishchuk, AEGEE-Kyiv

The AEGEEan receives a lot of nominations for the Member of the Month and even if certain people are not chosen, they still deserve to be mentioned for their inspiring actions. The AEGEEan met one of those exceptional members, Consuelo Ródenas (AEGEE-Valencia), who told us all the secrets of a successful Antenna. Check this out!

The AEGEEan: Hi Consuelo! Thank you for your time. Can you tell our readers, who still don’t know you, what’s your experience in AEGEE?
Consu: I joined AEGEE, as a lot of Spaniards, because I was attracted by the Summer University project. This was in April 2011, and after my SU I wanted to be more active and I became the secretary of AEGEE-Valencia. At the same time, I attended events like LTCs and NWMs in order to discover more about AEGEE, improved my work and learnt more things. Since then, I have participated in a lot of events and organized some of them, like our famous Fallas Event, and this summer I was one of the main organizers of the TSU with AEGEE-Tarragona. In my work in the local board, I organized local activities for the members (and also for the newbies), like social drinks, barbeques and paellas. I was the manager of the website and the Facebook account, I did the PR and HR work and I attended some Statutory events. By that time, I became president last November.

Describe yourself in three words.
Picking up only three words is very difficult. Let’s say responsible, hard-working and enthusiastic. 

Your Network Commissioner, Carmen María, describes you as a very active and hard-working person since your very early months in AEGEE. What is your source of motivation and energy?
When I love doing something, I always work hard on it. My main source of motivation is the love for this association. AEGEE gave me a lot so I have the duty to give something back to it. Another thing is that I am a perfectionist, and when I say ‘I want to do something’, I don’t stop until it’s not perfect. Apart from that, my energy comes from the unfair things that were happening in this antenna before I arrived and during my almost two years as secretary. It was frustrating having a board that didn’t fight for having new members and improving the local’s activity. I don’t like injustice and I want everybody to enjoy the same as I did. But fighting is always difficult and you need a lot of moral support. And if it wasn’t because of the people who were supporting me, like very active people in Spain, the subcommies Pauline and Carmen María, I wouldn’t have found the strength sometimes. So thank you for telling me not to give up!

You’re one of the main organizers of the Summer University  in Tarragona and Valencia and you made it successful. Which are the secrets of a great SU, in your opinion?
I think the best SU should be a mix of different things: a complete program, which makes the participants learn a lot about the topic while they are having fun. It should offer them interesting activities that make them take part in all of them instead of staying at the lodging sleeping or having a beer. But the most important thing of a successful SU is the team of organizers. If the organizers know each other well and are motivated and hardworking, everything goes well before, while and after the SU. When participants are leaded by a great group, they have the time of their lives.

The image of AEGEE-Valencia definitely improved thanks to your active role. How did you manage to reach this goal?
As we say in Spain, ‘it took me blood, sweat and tears’. But this would be non-sense without knowing the previous situation of the antenna, so here I go: When I joined my antenna, it was lost, with only 20 members and three old active members on the board who only wanted to organize events for themselves and take advantage of the local in many ways. So, first I did a very big SU promotion in order to get more new and motivated members. After the summer, the old members tried to kick out again all the people who tried to work and help in the antenna. Luckily we soon had elections and a team of new people with me as president started to work and ‘defeated’ the old board. With the help of all these amazing guys and around five or six hours per day of work, now AEGEE-Valencia has 15 active and motivated members and a great relationship with the University.

Your multitasking competencies from event organizer to PR are enriched by great HR management skills. How do you motivate the other members of your local?
I like to show them what we do in AEGEE-Valencia: the activities, the events, and at the same time, I ask them one by one which things they would like to do in the antenna and when we organize something, I give them small tasks related with their skills so they help us and at the same time take part to the events. 

We talked about your local work. What can you tell us about your European engagement in AEGEE?
As you can imagine, I didn’t have time to get more involved on the European level. Now that the antenna is strong, I would like to be more active. Right now I’m studying environmental pollution, so I would like to join the EnWG and do interesting things (and suggest one project) with them.

What does AEGEE mean to you?
AEGEE means friendship, experience, learning, development, and satisfaction. My best friends from all over Europe belong to this association. With AEGEE, you have the best experiences of your life, like visiting other places or doing things that you would never do in your everyday life. Working here teaches you how to work in a team (even with negative people), you learn other languages and understand how to work with institutions… things that you would have never thought you were going to learn. But the best part of AEGEE for me is satisfaction. The satisfaction you get after coming back from a SU for the first time when you were afraid of it. The satisfaction you get when you hang up a Skype call with a friend from Greece that you met two years ago. And the satisfaction you get when, after one year of hard work in a SU, the participants the last day come back home crying, saying thank you for your work and the time they spent there.

What are your plans for the future?
I don’t know yet, but my idea is to complete my studies and to find a job. So, depending on this, I will contribute more or less in AEGEE. But for sure, there are still a lot of things to do here and this is not the last year I am going to spend as an active member. Time will say what I will do.

Written by Larisa Smajlagic, AEGEE-Verona

This year, a total of 3312 SU applicants made their choice amongst the 80 available Summer Universities. Among those, five of them stood out, having far more than 100 applications. It won’t be a surprise that we are talking about AEGEE-Cagliari & AEGEE-Napoli’s ‘La vita è bella: Mediterranean coast to coast’ managed to gather 184 applications, but AEGEE-Peiraias’ ‘Sea Wars: The Port strikes again!’, AEGEE-Catania’s ‘The treasure island vol. III – The origins of the crew’, AEGEE-Helsinki & AEGEE-Tartu’s ‘FinEst Way to Push your Limits’ and last but not least AEGEE-Tarragona & AEGEE-Valencia’s ‘Touch the Sky Under the Mediterranean Fire’ did a great job too! The AEGEEan spoke to the organising teams of this Fantastic Five to find out more about their methods.

Of course, the first thing we were wondering is how these Summer Universities managed to attract so many participants. The Fantastic Five agree that it’s thanks to the unique program they offer, for example exploring the Nordic antennas, Greek islands or the Italian culture, but another important aspect is formed by the good ratings given in earlier years. As AEGEE-Cagliari and AEGEE-Napoli summarize: “We think it’s probably due to what we can offer during the event: wonderful cities full of history and art that appeal millions of tourists each year, fantastic seasides and last but not least our typical folk spirit, that fascinates all people.” AEGEE-Peiraias adds to this: “Our positive thinking and belief that we could make it, along with the dedication and hard work we put in this project resulted in this positive outcome.”

Also, a good use of promotion never hurts, which is a tool the Fantastic Five used extensively. Pictures are a popular tool, but most of the Summer Universities also made a promotional video to share with their applicants what they could expect. AEGEE-Catania showed off their earlier held treasure hunt, while AEGEE-Helsinki & AEGEE-Tartu made a series of videos, AEGEE-Peiraias used video too to promote their SU and AEGEE-Cagliari and AEGEE-Napoli filmed a short summary of what to expect. Next to this, another popular method was the creation of a Facebook page, where regular updates about the Summer University were given.

After the successful promotion, it was time for a hard task: deciding on your participants, while having more than hundred applications waiting. How did the teams deal with this? “We first looked at the motivation letter, since our goal was to select participants who really wanted to be here and who would take part in every activity and opportunity to offer”, AEGEE-Helsinki and AEGEE-Tartu tell us. “Since most of them were pretty awesome, we also decided based on the country of residence to have cultural diversity and we also selected participants by gender, to have an equal amount of boys and girls.” The other three use a similar method, also AEGEE-Catania adds that an original and funny motivation letter together with pictures and a video is the way to get through their preliminary selection.

Asked about their tips for organising teams next year, the Fantastic Five have different tips ready. “We just recommend them, first of all, to be a group of very good friends. Having a strong friendship, with confidence in the people you are working with, is the best weapon for facing a challenge like this one. Apart from that, the team has to be motivated and ready to work during some months, with patience, but also enthusiasm.” AEGEE-Helsinki and AEGEE-Tartu add to this that it’s mostly important to imagine yourself being a participant in your SU. As AEGEE-Peiraias summarizes: “Together we stand, divided we fall. Our good cooperation and the respect and love we show for each other are the main ingredients of our team.”

Since three out of five Summer Universities were done in cooperation, we were also curious what the benefits of joining forces are. “We think it’s a good idea, because it brings the possibility to know the people from another antenna better, learn to work with another group of people who can teach you new things for your antenna and also to spend some days in another city”, AEGEE-Tarragona and AEGEE-Valencia says. Another important reason is having a good chemistry between different teams, which happened to AEGEE-Cagliari and AEGEE-Napoli. Still, a Summer University can also be organized by just one local, as AEGEE-Catania and AEGEE-Peiraias proved us.

Either way, whether you do it alone or together, organising a popular Summer University seems to be a mixture of good and extensive promotion, an awesome team, great plans and a lot of enthusiasm to make it happen. For this summer the plans have already been made, but let’s create magic again next summer!

Written by Svenja van der Tol, AEGEE-Nijmegen

Looking to unleash your wild side? Or simply want to experience something really crazy? Let me introduce you the recipe for the best possible summertime event in friendly Valencia region…

Photo by: Serhii Basenko, AEGEE-Odessa

The ingredients are: 21 international participants, five brilliant organizers, caring helpers… Eight days in nine towns in the region of Valencia, a dozen Spanish festivals and parades… Educational city tours, tasty Spanish food, parties, a Sangria workshop, a diversified European night and finally the Europe’s muckiest and liveliest festival: ‘La Tomatina’.

The small village of Buñol hosted 25 000 tomato fans this year. We, a big AEGEE family, were among these thousands of adventure seekers hoping to survive this severe tomato fight. I have seen a lot of Tomatina photos before but I was still pretty shocked when I found myself in the middle of a tomato fight… That hour of chaos was the craziest time of my life.

Photo by Roosmarie Vanrusselt, AEGEE-Leuven

Here are some participants sharing their impressions: Sarah Stockner, AEGEE-Wien says that this was “the craziest event I ever attended and a once-in-a-lifetime-experience. Buñol, the little village, became a real battlefield for 2 hours, so if you got hit by a tomato in your eye like I did you can feel like a real warrior. I will keep on wearing my Tomatina bracelet showing that I survived this massacre and also to keep the memories of the best AEGEE people that I shared this fun with.”

Serhii Basenko, AEGEE-Odessa: “The ‘orange phoenix’ was truly a unique experience for me. During the whole event, I felt like I was being immersed in a completely different world with beautiful nature, great people and a unique Spanish atmosphere. Thanks to our organizers and helpers, the event was organized on the high level.”

Indeed, in these nine days we have managed to see and experience more than one can imagine. We had a chance to observe Muslim and Christian parades, enjoyed marvelous costumes and great performances, participated in bulls running and fire bull festivals, we got acquainted with the splendid city of Valencia and its smaller neighbor cities and we certainly became a part of the world’s largest food fight! Only the nine days in the summer of 2013 left an unforgettable impression for the rest of my whole life!

Written by: Olga Spytsia, AEGEE-Odessa

This year, like many years before, AEGEE-Valencia organised their well-known event dedicated to the world-famous local festival – Las Fallas.

Each year the program of the event attracts many young people from all around Europe who are passionate about having new experiences and addicted to the true AEGEE spirit. This year the event was attended by 22 lucky participants from 13 countries.

I have decided to ask Alexandre Belda Mora, Vice President of AEGEE-Valencia, how the event was this year and about the plans of the antenna for this summer.

 Alex, why did you do this event again? And can you describe the idea which stands behind its name “KEEP CALM AND GO OUT WITH THE BANGGG!!!”?

Well, we were very excited to do this event again after getting very positive feedback from our participants from last year. About the name, during the Fallas festival it is allowed to make more noise than usual, especially to throw firecrackers on the streets. So, every time while you are walking through the streets you hear: “bang bang bang”, and you are going out with the “bang”.
What makes this event different from the previous ones?

We went to the different festival areas (“berbenas”) and of course, the group atmosphere was the as amazing as last year, but still unique. We visited an oceanographic park, the largest oceanographic aquarium in Europe (L’Oceanogràfic), did a city tour in Valencia, visited museums and had paella and sangria workshops. But I guess the most impressive and memorable was burning of the figures of the festival and the Mascletà. If you want to know what is it you will have to come next year!

Thank you, Alex. By the way, what are the plans of AEGEE-Valencia for this summer?

This August we are going to organise a very special event. The idea is to visit another well-known Spanish festival: “La Tomatina” (many people know it as tomato fight) and not that much famous, but very spectacular local festival called “Moros y Cristianos” (amazing mix of music and various costumes based on the history of the country). Just imagine being a part of it and taking the chance to enjoy festivals, golden beaches and sunny Valencia region! So make sure you do not miss it!

Written by Ekaterina Malysheva, PR responsible of AEGEE-Valencia

Being a member of AEGEE-Moskva since 2007, I joined AEGEE-Valencia and later became  Public Relations (PR) Responsible of the Spanish antenna but continued to travel between Russia and Spain.

One evening, having a nice time with my friends in Moscow I got an idea from the ex-fundraising responsible (FR) of AEGEE-Moskva, Alexander Orekhov, to create an agreement where both antennae would be able to have more opportunities to develop themselves and to motivate our members. Next day I sent an e-mail to my board in Valencia and Alexander contacted the board in Moscow. Our Network Commissioner Olga Iatsyna helped us to design the agreement on paper. In less than two months our agreement was signed and it was the first experience of such international cooperation for AEGEE-Valencia and AEGEE-Moskva. Along with this agreement we created a plan of events where members of our antennae would have a possibility to get to know each other better, exchange ideas and thoughts. Not everything came true, but it was a good step to develop our antennae and a new challenge for all of us.

Based on the experience of AEGEE-Valencia I would like to share with you some thoughts on how to get as much as possible from the twin agreement:

– Your antenna should be a strong group of friends where everybody can take responsibility and support this agreement any time needed. It is a long-term commitment.

– Members should be interested in exploring a new culture, be able to take part in the common events and travel to the country of your twin.

– Before making an agreement be sure you know someone from this antenna very well and that s/he is still active and can help you in case of some problems.

– Be ready to encounter problems since you are going to work with people from a different culture for a long period of time. But do not be afraid, you will find a lot of fun behind it, get a new experience and find many new friends.

Board of AEGEE-Valencia.

Alexander Orekhov, FR of AEGEE-Moskva (2010-2011) says: “Having a twin antenna is, in my opinion, one of the most effective ways to share experience, solve visa problems and inform people about your projects. Therefore, “to find a twin” was my goal for several months. I told about it to Ekaterina Malysheva and some time later, AEGEE-Moskva and AEGEE-Valencia officially became twin antennae.”

Ekaterina Kudryavtseva, project coordinator of AEGEE-Moskva, gives her opinion: “The agreement with AEGEE-Valencia brought a breath of fresh air to AEGEE-Moskva. The event in Pamplona became the most vivid impression of this summer. My friends and I went to Valencia some days before the event to get to know our twin antenna better and to see how they prepare for an event and interact with each other. I was impressed by their patience, perseverance and solidarity. To see the real work of another antenna was a good experience, impossible to get from e-mails or Facebook and is usually hidden from the participants. This event left an overall impression – we have a lot to learn! That is why I was so happy to see those guys again in our Travelling Summer University Transsiberian Dream! We still keep in touch and, of course, it would be great to do more exchanges with our twina ntenna, maybe in spring because we do not want to freeze them in winter.”

Written by Ekaterina Malysheva, AEGEE-Valencia

What do you know about Spain? What is the first thing that comes in your mind when you hear the name of this country? Probably corrida (bullfighting), paella, sunny beaches, the sea, crazy parties… and festivals! One of the most famous Spanish festivals is San Fermín, which is internationally known as the event of running from bulls in the streets of the old part of the city. It takes place every year between the 7th and the 14th of July in Pamplona.

Today it would be very hard to believe that AEGEE-Valencia has actually been founded 20 years ago – it still attracts so many young people from the Valencia region and is as energetic as ever in spreading the ideas of united Europe, friendship and cultural exchange in the West of Spain.

Twenty years ago, in the last months of 1991, the team of Juan Carlos Navarro (the first president of AEGEE-Valencia), Jacobo Navarro, Javier Caletrío and Balbina Casas was working hard to ensure that the antenna is recognised. They finally established AEGEE-Valencia on the 31st of January, 1992. Since then the history of antenna is full of outstanding events and activities with support and cooperation from local community and organisations such as Polytechnic University of Valencia, Youth Association of the City of Valencia, Valencian Institute of Youth and Youth Council of the City Council, Erasmus Student Network  and many others. One of the most recent developments in the life of the antenna was becoming a twin antenna with AEGEE-Moskva.

March celebrations

Even though the official birthday already passed, AEGEE-Valencia was celebrating its anniversary in the middle of March. Every year these days antenna usually makes its the most famous event (this year it is called “Fallas 2012: Let’s burn Valencia with the Orange Phoenix!”) which is devoted to the local festival “Las Fallas”. The 19^th of March has been chosen for the big celebration of the antenna since it’s the final night of the celebration and whole city burns effigies created during these days all around Valencia followed by the biggest firework of the year! This brought  truly AEGEEan spirit by celebrating this birthday together with 25 participants from more than 23 antennae! The members of the antenna gathered together with the participants of the event in front of the Central Market and after the botellon continued to enjoy the city and fireworks.

Some faces of AEGEE-Valencia – 2011/2012

These days, much the same as twenty years ago, the antenna traditions and the high level of events are maintained by the group of enthusiastic and motivated young people. The President, Alexandre Belda,  sometimes very serious, makes a perfect balance in the group and is always open to new ideas; he is a good friend and this is why people like and support him. Pau Valero, Vice-President, is well-known in AEGEE for his crazy attitudes, curly hair, jokes and famous pipol. Tono Tormo, Treasurer, is the most calm and smiling person on board. But beneath his calmness hides a true spirit – you will be surprised to learn he never misses a single party in the city. Ekaterina Malysheva, responsible for Public Relations, is putting all of her creativity into antenna work and is really enjoying it. Ismael Salvador is our IT guru and honorary member.  And finally, Consu Rodenas, Secretary, always smiles and laughs which brings a positive atmosphere to the board meetings.

AEGEE-Valencia would like to thank everyone from the previous boards who dedicated a part of their lives to the antenna, to thank the members and simply everyone who has helped to become what they are now – huge thanks to everyone who supported them and continues to do so!

See you soon in sunny Valencia!

Written by Ekaterina Malysheva, AEGEE-Valencia