Zvonimir in Passau

After the superbly organised EPM in Zagreb, and a short break with all CD members in my hometown, it was time to move forward with the second part of CD on Track. After eleven hours of train, my first destination was AEGEE-Wien. I spent my short stay in Wien with Bernhard and Christian, current and ex-president of AEGEE-Wien. In the discussion with them I got to understand that AEGEE-Wien is a small, but stable local. They have around 20 members, but they expect to have twice as much after the SU application period. They have around ten active members throughout the year and five former members that are helping when or if needed.  In last years, they organised mostly fun local events, but recently they got involved in meeting events with migrants, and events about environment and sustainability. They also shared their views on AEGEE as an organisation today and concluded that we are focusing on finding the identity and becoming more professional, but AEGEE is still offering more than enough place to have fun and AEGEE is open to everybody.

After a short morning trip from Wien to Passau, I was welcomed by Dominic, president of AEGEE-Passau. We were joined by more members for a nice city tour and we managed to discuss the local context in a nutshell.

I was planning to go to Passau for a long time, as I heard many stories about the local and how well they perform concerning antenna management. AEGEE-Passau has almost 200 members with around 40 active members, working mainly with international students. They have a close and good relation with the International Office of the University from which they receive most of the support. Also, a few members of the local are employed in the office. Dominic arranged the meeting with them where we discussed the collaboration of AEGEE-Passau and the International Office, but also the potential collaboration of the International Office and AEGEE-Europe.

Later in the evening, we had a meeting with the rest of the board and a few more members. They described how they see their local now and what they would like to see in the future. I am happy to see that board is listening to its members and more activities are in plans to be organised.  Also, we discussed the current political situation in Europe and engaged in an interesting discussion after it. After the meeting, we concluded our visit by checking the AEGEE-Passau office, in which I saw nice memories from the past years.

You can check here the interview with Dominic, President of AEGEE-Passau.

Written by Zvonimir Canjuga, Financial Director of AEGEE-Europe

19th and 20th of February – Réka, Tekla and Zvonimir

Next stop on my route was AEGEE-Udine. On my way from Bologna to the Udine, I stopped in Mestre to have a short meeting and discussion with Erika Bettin, our lovely support from The AEGEEan and Interim Vice-Chair. Yet, let’s go back to the AEGEE-Udine, whose Summer University was the best in 2016, and I expected to see enthusiastic and young people, new leaders and plans for new Summer University that will be one of the best again. Those expectations were met, even if the local is facing a change of the generations. As soon as I arrived I was welcomed by Filippo, president of AEGEE-Udine, and we went to the city tour where I reunited with Tekla, and later with Reka. During a nice Italian dinner, we had some informal talks about events and European Schools.

On the 20th, our day started with a meeting of the representative of the International Office at the University of Udine, where we gave a short overview of what AEGEE’s contribution is in Brussels, and what the possibilities are to collaborate with both AEGEE-Udine and AEGEE-Europe. Before the meeting in the afternoon with members, through some adventures, we managed to enter our host’s place and work/prepare a bit. In the afternoon, we had a meeting with the whole board and with some of the active members of AEGEE-Udine where we introduced our work in CD, discussed some upcoming plans of the local and gave some recommendations on how to collaborate with nearby locals, how to improve their collaboration with the university and with other possible partners, and how to activate their members. The evening was closed with the birthday celebrations of AEGEE-Udine, as the local turned 25, and for us to take the next train towards Ljubljana, our next stop for CD on Track.

In addition please check the short interview with Filippo, president of AEGEE-Udine.

Written by Zvonimir Canjuga, Financial Director of AEGEE-Europe, and Tekla Hajdu, Network Director

Day 17 – 18 – 19 – Köln, Mainz-Wiesbaden and back to Brussels (3rd – 5th March)

Tekla with AEGEE-Köln

As all good things come to an end, CD on Track is also finishing soon for all of us: for me, the last two stops were in Köln and in Mainz to visit AEGEE-Köln and AEGEE-Mainz-Wiesbaden, which are among the older locals in our Network.

My second to last stop was Köln, where I spent a nice Saturday brunch with the Board and the members of AEGEE-Köln. We mostly focused on how to plan the semester for the members to keep them active and how to participate in Erasmus+ exchanges and trainings as a local. The afternoon continued with a trip to Mainz, where I observed the General Assembly of AEGEE-Mainz-Wiesbaden and introduced who is in CD 54 and what are we doing in Brussels.

Tekla with AEGEE-Mainz-Wiesbaden members

In the evening, I returned to Köln to discover the city a bit and to prepare for my last train ride back to Brussels on Sunday in order to return to office work from Monday.

Even though the trip has ended for me, it brought a lot of experience, memories and things to reflect on for the upcoming months of my term. I would like to thank once again all the locals and AEGEEans who took part in this journey, hosted us, had a meeting with us, showed their cities or just dared to ask questions and be open to know more about AEGEE.

Written by Tekla Hajdu, Network Director

Day 15 – 16 – 17– München, Stuttgart and Mannheim (1st – 3rd March)

Tekla with the board and members of AEGEE-München

As we tried to cover as many locals as possible, CD on Track continued with three completely different routes after EPM Zagreb, and my first stop was München after spending a day in Zvonimir’s hometown and enjoying his family’s great hospitality. Starting with a very early train (around 5 AM) and a long train ride, I arrived in the early afternoon to the city of München, where we had the meeting with the members and the Board of AEGEE-Münich in their cosy office. Amongst many topics, we mostly focused on recruitment, as München is a very international city with lots of opportunities, and on how to mentor the newly joined members in order to keep them in the organisation.

Tekla with Robert, the President of AEGEE-Stuttgart

The next day continued with two stops in two different cities: in the afternoon, I managed to have a short meeting with Robert, the President of AEGEE-Stuttgart where we mostly discussed the current situation of the local, some of the upcoming plans (including a European event, stay tuned) and how to improve collaboration with nearby locals and with other student organisations.

In the evening, I arrived in Mannheim, where apart from some of the board members and the active members of AEGEE-Mannheim, Mareike Ritter (the Network Commissioner of AEGEE-Mannheim) could also join us for the meeting. We have mostly covered the topic of Erasmus+ and how locals can benefit from the programme, but we also discussed how the policy work and Liaison officers work for AEGEE-Europe.

With members of AEGEE-Mannheim

The evening closed with a short night city tour of Mannheim which included many interesting fun facts – for example, the office of AEGEE-Mannheim is situated in a castle (as the University is using the former castle as the campus), and the welcome events are often held in the catacombs of the building.

The trip is not over yet – on Saturday and Sunday, I’ll pay a visit to AEGEE-Mainz-Wiesbaden and to AEGEE-Köln before travelling back to Brussels and returning to the office.

Written by Tekla Hajdu, Network Director

Many people might know that the Comité Directeur, the executive Board of AEGEE-Europe (who is elected by the Agora) is based in Brussels near the European Commission, in a house that can be recognised mostly by the plaquette on the door. But how many of you have seen how the daily life goes for all the CD members? What do we do during our everyday work? Read on to find out!

As we are elected by the Agora, the Comité Directeur’s main task is to work for the members and locals of AEGEE-Europe. This is highlighted especially in my position as the Network Director, as almost all of my tasks revolve around supporting the locals and the Network. I have 5 main “tracks” in my portfolio: Network management (which is the biggest) together with the Network Commission; Strategic Plan and Action Agenda fulfillment together with the Action Agenda Coordination Committee – which also includes the drafting part of the European Planning Meeting; Visual Identity together with the Public Relations Committee; taking care of the topic of Entrepreneurship, including the management of the external MY-WAY project as CD responsible (together with Pablo Hernández as the project responsible); and I am also CD Observer for the the Juridical Commission.

Since my position includes a lot of administrative tasks, I can usually be found either in the office, in the meeting room (as I generally have quite a lot of Skype meetings due to being CD responsible for many bodies) or in the archives digging up documents, but I also do some external representation (as all of us in the CD). In general, I start my day by reading my e-mails (even sometimes in bed [she smiles, ed.]) and trying to get awake as I am not really a morning person. Then, the day continues with either doing my regular tasks (which often include some ad-hoc requests from locals) or having morning meetings with the rest of the CD about important topics such as EPM preparations, etc. Then, after our lunch break (when I try to cook something nice) I return to my office computer and keep on working until the evening when my Skype meetings are usually scheduled – then I move to the meeting room and finish my day officially after the Skype meetings. Of course, my schedule is different when I travel– in that case I do a lot of on-the-spot tasks and the e-mails/administratives are put a bit behind. I do enjoy travelling, getting to know new places and people no matter the type of the event (internal AEGEE-events or external representation), nonetheless work is first for these kind of travels.

On paper, my position might not look super exciting, but as I am working a lot with the Network there is never a day that is the same: sometimes people ask for information or help with some tasks, other days you get interested people asking how to found a new contact – sometimes I might see that I am a lot on Facebook and other social media, but I get approached in many platforms, so I will just adapt to whichever is more comfortable for the locals or for my teams. One thing that I really enjoyed until now is the CD on Track because I have had the opportunity to meet and get to know the locals better in their own cities and see how they manage in their everyday environment – hopefully, I can help and support them in case they need it.

Written by Tekla Hajdu, Network Director of AEGEE-Europe

Réka, Tekla and Zvonimir: Day 7 and 8 – Ljubljana (21st – 22nd February)

Having our last stop in Italy in Udine, we continued our journey to Ljubljana, where we got via two night trains and a long waiting period in Villach, so the morning for us started with getting to our host’s place and catching up with some sleep.

After having a traditional Slovenian lunch, we went to the new student centre in the city where we prepared three sessions for AEGEE-Ljubljana: HR, Fundraising and Financial Management. During the sessions, we discussed why their members joined AEGEE and how to build on this, some smaller tips to keep the members active by organising regular activities, how to build on the support from the university or municipality and the fact that last year they were Green capital of the EU. For AEGEE-Ljubljana members, the main reason to join AEGEE is travelling and self-development: we discussed how to take advantage of this factor as the city already offers a wide range of training activities, but there are still some niches where AEGEE could offer something unique. They also got some tips from Zvonimir about how to better control finances, a detailed explanation on Membership fees, and Réka gave a summary about Erasmus+ and how to use these opportunities for the local activities. In the evening we just stayed at our host’s place and tried out some games and we prepared for EPM due to the event coming up within a few days.

The next day Zvonimir and I took the train to Zagreb to be more  involved in the preparations of the EPM, while Réka departed for Maribor, her last stop before EPM. CD on Track will resume after EPM – stay tuned for more articles in March!

Written by Tekla Hajdu, Network Director

After the most romantic city in the world, Firenze, it was time to visit the next city on my route, a city with the oldest university in Europe and the birth place of the current education system, the beautiful Bologna.  Thanks to Interrail I had a chance to take the famous Red Arrow high-speed train, which I could not enjoy more because it was a  35 minutes journey. When I arrived in cold but sun-bathed Bologna, I met with the President of AEGEE-Bologna Kabir. As the meeting with members was planned for the evening, he took me on a city tour and showed me part of the seven secrets of Bologna. If you want to find out what the secrets are, I am inviting you to apply to AEGEE-Bologna’s next events.

Kabir explained to me that AEGEE-Bologna was re-established in 2012, signed the Convention d’Adhésion in 2013 and then they gather around 50 members yearly. Even as a student organisation, AEGEE-Bologna is still not recognised by the University of Bologna, due to the strict rules that organisation need to reach in order to get acknowledgement. The institution that is supporting the local is the municipality, which is offering them support for local activities and logistical support. The Antenna is also a member of one bigger umbrella organisation that is offering additional individual benefits on the base of the membership.

The strongest activity of AEGEE-Bologna is the University Tandem-Language Exchange. They are organising it very often and it is slowly turning into a trademark of the local. In cooperation with the municipality, AEGEE-Bologna will start to organise tandems from the other members of the community. Tandems will happen ten times and every time they will have a different topic to discuss in order to get people active and interested in the project. This year, the local is also organising a Summer University with four more Italian locals, which will give them a new experience.

As for the problems that the local is facing, we discussed the lack of active members and some advice was shared with Kabir. So stay tuned, members of AEGEE-Bologna, as more activities are coming. We also discussed the monthly reports that need to be filled in for the Network Commission. The general opinion is that the form could be simpler, less demanding and that it would be good to receive some concrete feedback from the respective Netcommie. We concluded the day with the social programme with several members of AEGEE-Bologna. I am inviting you to check the interview with Kabir, and check what message he has for you, dear members. My next stop is AEGEE-Udine, so expect the article from there soon.

Hosting an Agora is as much excitement as it is a challenge for any local. In an ideal case, it builds generations together, by offering the chance for a fresh new team to take over the management of the local, and to a team of more experienced members to organise one of the biggest statutory events in AEGEE history. Excitement and challenge it is, but AEGEE-Bergamo managed to face this challenge and has been growing stronger, combining both a strong local presence, Erasmus activities and trust of city officials, and also the opening of the local to hosting thematic projects, international context, a new twin antenna and lots of great ideas.

Even during the too short visit, there was a chance to get a glimpse into AEGEE-Bergamo’s work with Erasmus students during a getaway to the mountains, to remember the spirit of the Erasmus programme and the celebration of 30 years of Erasmus in 2017, and the group was great!

In the following meetings with the board, we discussed the relations between the European level and the local level of AEGEE, and how to increase the number of active members in the local for the realisation of all the great ideas. Great ideas like a career fair, like the new project with high school students and like the Erasmus buddy system. With a new office, an old-new team of hard-working people and lots of great ideas – you will surely hear more from AEGEE-Bergamo, and you should not miss the chance to visit this wonderful city!

Written by Zvonimir Canjuga, Financial Director of AEGEE-Europe, and Réka Salamon, President of AEGEE-Europe

Tekla: Day 5 and 6 – Brescia (18th-19th February)

The next stop in my track was Brescia, where I arrived early Saturday afternoon. As the weather was nice and timing was good, I had the city tour in the afternoon with some members of AEGEE-Brescia who told me many fun facts about their city and their sights – we even managed to bump into a running competition while visiting the castle [She smiles, ed.].

The day continued with the evening meeting in the office of AEGEE-Brescia, when firstly I introduced the work of the Comité Directeur and who is doing which portfolio this year. After the introductory part, we continued with the topic of Summer Universities, the upcoming AEGEE-Brescia Summer University and some tips for compulsory sessions for the SU. We also covered some best practices for recruitment and how to prepare the members for the SU – both for organising and applying to one. The evening was closed with the open space part, where there was interest about Agora reform and a few questions regarding Membership fees. It was very interesting to see how the Summer Universities, as the biggest project of AEGEE, have a significant impression for locals, as for the members of AEGEE-Brescia this is one of the biggest motivations to join the organisation – either as a participant or as a helper.

The night continued at the house of Michele Minuti, former President of AEGEE-Brescia and Treasurer of the Academy, where we spent a nice evening with pizza, pirlo (similar to Aperol Spritz), some nice talks and some games. As a surprise, I also received a T-shirt of AEGEE-Brescia – once again, thank you guys for the nice surprise!

The next stop for all of us is Udine, where I will reunite again with Réka and Zvonimir to have a joint session about the future plans for AEGEE, what has been done by the CD in Brussels so far and about the opportunities AEGEE offers for members and for externals.

Stay tuned and follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

Written by Tekla Hajdu, Network Director 

Tekla with AEGEE-Milano Members

Tekla Day 4 and 5 – Milano (17th-18th February)

After parting again to continue my journey, my next stop was Milano for the evening after a rather short train ride from Torino. We spent a nice dinner together with some of the Board members and the active members of AEGEE-Milano, when we discussed several topics: first of all, how to manage a local next to having a full-time job, as the majority of the members and the Board are already working in a full-time position, and they organise their events and activities next to their jobs. Second, we also talked about the upcoming Summer University of AEGEE-Milano, with AEGEE-Bologna, AEGEE-Treviso, AEGEE-Pisa and AEGEE-Bari. It will be the first Summer University in Milano after a long time, thus providing an opportunity, but also a challenge at the same time for all the locals, as the SU will cover both the Northern and Southern part of Italy.

Milano by night

We also discussed how recruitment faces challenges in big international cities such as Milano, where there are many opportunities and huge competition regarding students’ organisations and NGOs – again we agreed that the power of people and having a friendly environment can keep the members within AEGEE. Last, but not least, I mentioned some opportunities for Erasmus+ and how the locals can use the programme for their activities.

The evening continued with a special night edition of the city tour in Milano where the guys showed me the city centre in a nutshell – it was a really special experience as I was able to get a less touristic view of the city and more the inhabitants’ perspective of the sights and the nightlife. The next day started with packing and departing as usual for the next stop, Brescia – but not before getting useful tips about how to cook pasta the best way [She smiles, ed.].

Zvonimir Day 5 – Firenze (17th of February)

Zvonimir with AEGEE-Firenze members

After very long travels to Leon and Torino, and after talks and activities with those locals, it is time for shorter travels. The third local  I visited was AEGEE-Firenze. Shortly after I arrived to the city, I met with Marella, president of AEGEE-Firenze. After a conversation with her and a city tour around the beautiful city of Firenze, we met with the rest of the members.

AEGEE-Firenze has around 100 members, but we discussed that not that many members of the local are active. Firstly, we started discussing potential solutions on how to tackle this problem and involve more people, because this is not something that is universal and that is not easy to implement.

Zvonimir with Marella

The local is doing quite a lot activities with Erasmus students in the University, such as parties, trips  and other local activities. In the group there were also Isidora and Nico, presidents of AEGEE-Beograd and AEGEE-Pisa, but two potential members of AEGEE-Firenze, too. We all shared our experiences: why we joined, what motivate us to work in AEGEE, and we manage to get two new members for AEGEE-Firenze. Guys, welcome in our big family!

Lastly, we concluded our meeting with a chat with Marella, Nico and Gabriele about the structure of AEGEE, antenna criteria, and how we can make our structure more flexible regarding decision-making and engaging for members, concerning Network Meetings, European Planning Meeting and Agoras. You can also check the interview with Marella and see what she has to say about AEGEE and what is her message for you!

The next local that I will visit is AEGEE-Bologna, so stay tuned for more information from them.

Written by Tekla Haydu and Zvonimir Canjuga, Comité Directeur

Day 3 and 4 – Torino (16th-17th February)

In order to get in time to Torino, all of us had a long journey to take: Zvonimir from León, Réka from Toulouse, and me from Lille. Thus our programme first started in late afternoon with an interview with Giulia Melis, President of AEGEE-Torino, then a meeting with the Board and the members of AEGEE-Torino. The three of us all spoke about our experiences in AEGEE (what we did before CD and why did we decide to run for a position in the Comité Directeur), what motivates us to contribute more to the organisation, and we also gave an overview on the structure of AEGEE and what our European Bodies are doing. We also asked AEGEE-Torino members why did they join and why did they stay in the organisation.

We all agreed that the keywords are people and the community: most of us joined because their friends or acquaintances recommended AEGEE, and everyone said that they stayed because of the people they met and the friends they made inside the organisation. The same applies for motivation: most of us want to help in order to support others – being them Erasmus students, newly acquired members or students in our city, etc. We also saw a remarkable interest towards some of the thematic topics AEGEE is having now (such as the new Focus Areas of the Interest Groups).

In the evening we closed the day with the Aperitivo of AEGEE-Torino, where we could meet the rest of AEGEE-Torino members, and also the Erasmus students and other students and people from Torino who are regular participants of these events.

The next day before our departure, we got a nice (and fast) city tour of Torino – it is amazing how rich the cultural heritage is in the city – and a lunch together with some of the active members of AEGEE-Torino where we also had time to discuss some other topics concerning AEGEE. We again parted for three different routes: Zvonimir to Firenze, Réka to Bergamo and me to Milano.

Here the interview with AEGEE-Torino President Giulia Melis:

Written by Tekla Hajdu, Network Director