Agora Enschede is approaching and as the past Agora, the AEGEEan will try to help you to understand more the Proposals which will be discussed during the Prytania. These four are about the Locals and how they function.

Improving Regulations on Contracts

Proposed by Jorge Sánchez Hernández on behalf of AEGEE-Dresden. During Autumn Agora Cagliari 2014 the denomination given to a contact was changed from “Contact of AEGEE-Europe in cityname” to “AEGEE Contact in cityname”. This was decided to make PR easier for Contacts. At that time this change was not included in the CIA, so this is the case.

Furthermore, the proposer would like to allow Contacts to send more than two observers to the Agorae, in order to educate the new members that attending an Agora is a very important matter for an AEGEEan. This has also the aim to decrease the number of people going to an Agora as Visitors just to visit the hosting city and party hard.

You can read the full proposal here.

Updated Cd’A of AEGEE-Academy

Lia Tuska and Zvonimir Canjuga on behalf of Comité Directeur are proposing to strengthen the cooperation between AEGEE-Europe and AEGEE-Academy by updating the Convention d’Adehsion of the latter.

The commitment of AEGEE-Academy to provide training to AEGEE-Europe will be more specific. So not only AEGEE-Academy has to provide trainings to the individual members of Locals, but also skills development opportunities, based on Non-Formal Education methodologies, to AEGEE locals, as well as their individual members of Locals. Moreover AEGEE-Europe will recognise The Academy as the official pool of trainers of AEGEE-Europe.

AEGEE-Academy as a training organisation has developed during the years of its existence partnerships and relationships with other organisations, so in this proposal we can find more specific information about how and with whom it can cooperate. This has the purpose to give more independency to the Academy, which will have the right to collaborate with any organisation with similar scope, except for the ones in which AEGEE-Europe holds a position as member, partner, advisor or consultative status.

Moreover the Comité Directeur will appoint a member to be part of the board of the Academy who will have the same rights and obligations of the others elected board members. The Academy should also commit to support AEGEE-Europe and all its members, partner organisations and organs in all the internal educational needs with relevant training activities.

You can read the full proposal here.

Rewriting the Antenna Criterion number 12 included in: Antenna – Remaining an Antenna

Let’s start explaining what we are talking about (if you know how the Action Agenda and Strategic Plan work you can skip the first paragraph)!

The Strategic Plan (SP) is drafted every three years during an event called Planning Meeting. In the thematic part of this document you can find the Focus Areas on which AEGEE will concentrate its activities and events. The ones we will have starting from the 1st of August will be Civic Education, European Citizenship, Youth Development and Equal Rights. The Action Agenda (AA) is drafted each year in an event called European Planning Meeting (EPM). This is like a yearly list of objectives that tries to put into practice what is written in the Strategic Plan. So it can happen that if you organise an event about Youth Development (Focus Areas of the SP) but you do not fulfill the Action Agenda objectives related to that Focus Area, it is not counted as an event that contributes to the Action Agenda. The Action Agenda Coordination Committee (ACT) is the one who controls and approves if the locals have organised or not activities which contribute to the Action Agenda.

Experiencing this everyday, Juragis García, Cristina de la Parte and Svenja van der Tool on behalf of Action Agenda Coordination Committee would like to change the 12th criterion for remaining an Antenna. Right now it states that it’s a duty of an antenna to organise at least once every two years a European Event that contributes to the Strategic Plan. In case a local cannot organise it, it can be replaced by two local activities contributing to the Strategic Plan.

This proposal will make the locals organise two local activities each year (which can be replaced by a European Event – the opposite of how it is now) which contribute to the Action Agenda and not the Strategic Plan anymore. These activities must be approved by the Action Agenda Coordination Committee beforehand. This process is structured like this: the local sends an email to the ACT explaining the activity they would like to organise. Afterward the ACT will approve or not the activity. Moreover, this criterion obliges locals to maintain an active communication with the ACT, via the ACTie they have been assigned to.

You can read the full proposal here.

Antennae Criteria Reform proposal

Six months ago the Network Commission handed out a survey to gather opinions of the locals regarding Antenna Criteria. After processing all these data, Alejandra Piot Pérez-Abadín, Aleksandra Mojsova, Alin Andrei Georgescu, Gabriele Scollo, Kristina Reshetova, Loes Rutten, Mareike Ritter, Pablo Palazón Riquelme, Spyros Papadatos and Stanislav Mahula on behalf of the Network Commission drafted an Antenna Criteria Reform Proposal that is presented. Here below in bullet points the list of changes.

Remaining a Contact Antenna:

• The Contact Antennae will not have to create a bank account to keep that status, but only to become Antennae.

Remaining an Antenna:

• Now locals should send delegates to at least one out of the last three Statutory Events (usually 2 agorae and 1 EPM). With this proposal locals will have to send their delegates at least to one of the last two Agorae.
• Locals should send at least one of their board members to a NWM. With this proposal, if none of the board members can join this event, they can appoint an active member who will represent the Antenna in a NWM. This request will need to be approved by the Network Commission or the Comité Directeur.
• Each Board should send an Activity Plan to the NetCom within one month since they are elected and an Activity Report within two weeks from the end of their term. This proposal would like to extend both these deadlines to two months. Moreover the Activity Plan will need to be discussed with their Network Commissioner in a meeting arranged by the local. Same thing with the Activity Report, but the conclusions will need to be written down in an Evaluation Report. Unfortunately it is not possible to understand which conclusions the proposers are talking about. We will discover more on Prytannium!

You can read the full proposal here.

Written by Lisa Gregis, AEGEE-Bergamo & AEGEE-Verona

On the 9th of September, a new addition to the AEGEE family was announced, namely a Contact of AEGEE-Europe in Luxembourg. The AEGEEan spoke to Teona Khubutia to find out more about this new contact!

Originally from Georgia, Teona, who studied International Relations in Tbilisi and is now following the bilingual Master’s program of European Governance at the University of Luxembourg, took part in different conferences, seminars and trainings, where she found out about AEGEE. “I met some young people who were related to this large European organisation”, she tells us. “I became familiar with it, but I never thought of setting up a contact in my country”.

However, when she moved to Luxembourg for her studies, she didn’t have an active student life like she used to anymore because of a lack of youth organisations in her new hometown. “This is quite unfortunate, because the student diversity in Luxembourg could be a target group for any international youth organisation”, she tells us. “The university hosts about 100 different nationalities and represents one of the most multilingual and multicultural universities in Europe.”

Once she realised about it, Teona decided to set up a youth organisation on her own, creating a platform which would enable students to be active in a non-formal field, meet other young talents and live the dynamic student life to its fullest. With the criteria of finding a large youth organisation with a good reputation and representation in several countries, some recommendations from the university and advices from colleagues around Europe, in the end Teona decided to contact AEGEE about her plans. “The team of AEGEE has been so helpful, active and positive that I realized I made the right choice. I found a place where my fellows and I would like to belong”, she concludes. Welcome, Luxembourg!

Written by Svenja van der Tol, AEGEE-Nijmegen

During Spring Agora Patra two new Contacts were announced to the Network, namely the Contacts in Dresden and Podgorica. The AEGEEan spoke with the founders of the new Contacts, Jorge Sánchez Hernández and Filip Rasovic to find out more about these new additions to the AEGEE network.

Jorge Sánchez Hernández became a member of AEGEE-Alicante in April 2013 to go on a Summer University, without knowing anything about AEGEE, but during the Summer University he quickly fell in love with it. “But when I moved to Dresden last October, there was no AEGEE here”, Jorge says. “I wanted to meet more ‘AEGEE kind of people’, so with the help of the old board, some friends and a lot of time we revived AEGEE in Dresden again.”

At the moment two people are involved in AEGEE-Dresden, and another four are helping out with a project that is planned to be launched in the next summer semester. Through local trainings, activities with other non-governmental organisations (NGOs), a buddy program and exchanges the team wants to promote AEGEE in Dresden. “We want to reach a group of motivated, fun and hardworking people, who are willing to grow and learn”, Jorge says. The new contact is not alone in this search, since the local gets support from both AEGEE-Aachen and AEGEE-Alicante. “Next to this, we cooperate with Erfurt, Leipzig and München and the rest of the German locals are also helping out wherever they can”, Jorge says. “I did not know that the German network of active members is so good!”

Filip Rasovic had been a member of AEGEE-Novi Sad for a few years, where he organised a number of different workshops, motivation weekends and Summer Universities. Next to this, he was also PR Responsible in the board. “I come from Podgorica myself”, Filip says, “and I think that students in Montenegro should be acquainted with AEGEE too. In my opinion, Podgorica is AEGEE in small. Montenegro is very multi-ethnic as well as multicultural, and especially Podgorica is basically a student’s town. It’s the essence of AEGEE in a city.”

At the moment twelve students are involved in the contact, by working on a promotion campaign. “Our first plan is to have an official call for interested students that want to become a part of the AEGEE-family”, Filip says. “To attract as many students as possible, we will hold introduction panels at the different universities in Podgorica, make good use of promotion material and social media, collaborate with the media scene in Montenegro and other NGOs.” Next to this, the contact is also planning to organise an interdisciplinary panel discussion in Podgorica. To fulfill their plans, support has been offered by AEGEE-Leiden and locals in Serbia and Croatia. “We will meet the members of AEGEE-Leiden in June”, Filip says. “And we are hoping to get in contact with many more AEGEE locals!”

Written by Svenja van der Tol, AEGEE-Nijmegen

After the Spring Agora Rhein Neckar , two new contacts were established: Bihać , located in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Bologna, a city in central Italy. The AEGEEan interviewed both of the contacts in order to get more information about the next AEGEE antennae.

On one hand, Bihać…

The AEGEEan: What pushed you to try to establish an AEGEE contact in Bihać?

Jasmin Balić: We wanted to try something new and to get the chance to travel to other countries, to learn about their cultures, to meet new people, have fun, get new experiences that would raise our knowledge, and all the things that this organization can provide us.

Except from the Saint Graal, the city is not so popular among European  people as other cities, so how will you draw the attention of the  AEGEEans upon the city and upon the new contact?

Our city may be small, but I bet everyone would like it. Bihać is a charming little town centered on the banks of the river Una. The town is teeming with cafe’s that inevitably gravitate around the beautiful Una. It is more than worth to visit Bihać and stay for a few days, walk along the banks, raft down its amazing falls or simply sit and listen to the wise tales water always tells.

Our people are warm, welcoming and love to interact with foreigners, so we’re sure they would enjoy here and have a good time.

The city university is quite new, yet it’s a big students’ centre, so do you expect to recruit many future AEGEEans?

Yes, we do expect to recruit many future AEGEEans. As soon as everyone hear the idea of AEGEE, I’m sure they will want to be part of this big team.

Which are your goals until the next Autumn Agora in Zaragoza?

We’re going to the Network Meeting (NWM) in Ljubljana, to get new ideas about projects and meetings we can do for AEGEE in Bihać.  We hope that we will spend some quality time with other AEGEEans and learn more about AEGEE.

On the other hand, Bologna…

AEGEEan: How did you come up with the idea of AEGEE-Bologna’s revival?

 Roberto Molica: I was surprised that in a place like Bologna there wasn’t an AEGEE antenna, so I decided to build it.
I was lucky that a lot of people were interested in this project (before even starting we were 10-15 people). I felt very motivated at the beginning  and we started very fast.

Unfortunately we do not have the recognition from the university yet. Because of this we were stuck in a bureaucratic deadlock for a while. In order to request the contact we needed the letter of intention from the university, but we couldn’t get it because we weren’t an association yet. It was dramatic. But in the end we convinced the Comité Directeur to accept our request without the letter. We were (and still are) active and we want to bring the AEGEE spirit in Bologna so we proved that we were a lot and we successed to obtain the state of Contact under my name, but I want to remember I’m not alone.

So who helped you to start the contact?

The people that helped me a lot with the creation of the new antenna are: Szabina Hellinger- the whole process started with her, Léa Charlet, president of AEGEE-Paris,  was with us for the first months and she helped me a lot in recruiting new possible members. And then obviously  Beata Matuzska from the Comité Directeur.

Bologna is the most ancient university of the Western world therefore a big students centre, so do you expect to recruit many future AEGEEans?

Now we are starting the process to create the Contact Antenna.
We are ready but we probably have to wait till Agora Zaragoza to sign the Convention d’Adhésion. Doing it before October would be better, in order to start with the recruiting process (starting a real recruiting campain without having the status of association it would be pointless).

What are your goals until the next Autumn Agora in Zaragoza?

We are lucky that practically nobody knows what happened to the ancient AEGEE-Bologna so we can say we are a new thing and except Erasmus Student Network (ESN) there aren’t a lot of international associations (AIESEC is starting too by the way).
It’s a unique value and we have to use it to reach many people as possible. Our target is to have an association with more than 50 member before the end of the year (and it will be possible if we create the association before Zaragoza).

Written by Cosmina Bisboaca, AEGEE-Torino

Meet the new contact of AEGEE-Europe in The Netherlands: Den Haag (in English – The Hague)!

 “The Hague, also called the International City of Peace and Justice, is a very suitable city for an AEGEE-local. (…) The fact that the Peace Palace, the Humanity House and the Clingendael Institute of International Relations are located in this city gives numerous opportunities to work together with institutions on thematics, attend lectures and workshops, and make ourselves known as a good partner to address the youth of the city. (…) AEGEE could be the link between those young students and all that The Hague has to offer when it comes to teaching them about international relations and human rights.” ( extract from the motivation letter to become a Contact)

The birth of this Contact is a result of the work of the NetCom Team for Dutch speaking locals, meaning Wieke van der Kroef, and her subcommissioners Mathieu Soete, Paul Smits and Marije Arentze.

Marije starts telling this story: “The day right after the Agora, it was my birthday, I received the request from the Faculty Board of the Campus Den Haag, part of Leiden University,with the question if we wanted to start an AEGEE-local there. Fortunately, the four of us stayed in Enschede a little longer, to celebrate the fact that we were chosen as a team and to brainstorm about some ideas for the upcoming year for Wieke’s Activity Plan. We directly started deliberating all possibilities, and making some ideas for cooperation with institutions in The Hague. So right there, while we were all having a big hangover from the Agora, the plans for an AEGEE-Europe contact in Den Haag began to materialise”.

Despite they did not have a thought-out strategy, they did effective guerrilla-promotion and it worked! “We went to Den Haag one afternoon in early September when the introduction festival took place. Paul brought two vertical banners from AEGEE-Enschede, I brought a banner from AEGEE-Leiden, some Summer University (SU) booklets and a map of the Network and Mathieu brought some Project Result Booklets and Key to Europe’s from the Comité Directeur-house. Two board members of AEGEE-Leiden, Boudewijn and Aida, joined us later on and we just tried to talk to as many students as possible and tell them about the work of AEGEE in an enthusiastic way. At the end of the day we had a list of around 30 interested people, and that list has been growing ever since” explains Marije.

Aron Miszlivetz, student of the Bachelor International Studies, and a fresh member, presents how promotion will continue: “Monday we will have a presentation right after the lecture of Dr. Griffiths, where we will explain what AEGEE is, why people should join, and how people can benefit from AEGEE. After that we hope a lot of people will sign in.” This professor appeared to be a big fan of AEGEE, as he recommended it to his students even without being asked to.

Esther van Tveen, also enrolled in the Bachelor of International Studies, points out one of the reasons why our association conquered her and has potential for development: “Our studies fits perfectly with the fields of actions and focus areas of AEGEE, so a lot of students have the right mindset to join AEGEE.”

Despite the city being seat of several international organisations, AEGEE covers a niche that has complements the rest: according to Zaynab Lasshab, “what makes AEGEE different from other organisations is that AEGEE focuses on youth. So AEGEE will be a complementary organisation in Den Haag, because we address the students, and student life is only just starting to develop here.” Plus, as Baykan Yilmaz expresses, “What makes us special is our big Network with antennae all over Europe. We are one of a kind.”

As you could have notice from the names, the interim board includes a diversity of nationalities: from Lithuanian to Hungarian, from Turkish to, of course, Dutch! This is an asset of the contact that could be the starting point for a thematic event. “I am Turkish and I have some experiences with the Turkish Embassy. I know that the Turkish government is making some steps to abolish visa restrictions for students and maybe we can provide our input. We could benefit from all the international institutions in Den Haag to raise the topic of visa problems and organise activities about it. An idea is to set up some kind of a relationship with Turkish locals. Ieva could do the same in Lithuania and Aron in Hungary,” explains Baykan.

Thematic events would not be the only reason to visit The Hague: Zaynab points out the beach and the green heart natural park, supported by Ester saying that: “we are unique because at the same time, there is beautiful nature just around the corner.” Ieva Punyte, with the enthusiasm of someone who has  been in town for just one month adds that “the people here are super friendly, really willing to help if you have a problem. It is really nice to be here, and it is very cosy (gezellig!). And Egbert concludes saying that “I am nice, Esther is smart, Aron looks good and The Hague is an awesome city!”

The future of AEGEE-Europe contact in Den Haag… quite a discussion took place about the name of the soon-to-be-established association. AEGEE-‘s-Gravenhage was the second option: this is the official, historical name of the city and it provides a certain cultural identity. “We decided to let the members vote upon this issue on the first local Agora, and now we are making sure that they are aware of the arguments from both sides in order for them to cast an informed vote,” explains Marije.

The name “Den Haag” resulted as winner: no one in The Hague uses the name ‘s-Gravenhage in a regular conversation and a lot of international students have never heard of it, let alone that they are able to pronounce it!

As you could see already from this article, team-work is a key component of this newly born antenna. In fact, when asked for suggestions about how to establish a Contact, they focus on people: “Find a couple of people and just go to sites and contact people. Spread the word! The more interested people you have, the more ideas you have to share” (Baykan). Also through their experience with AEGEE-Leiden, they can suggest to “Get a good “mama” (or daddy), a mentor from a more established local, who takes care of all the important stuff and makes sure you know what to do” (Egbert).

Becoming a contact antenna was the first step to cut the umbilical cord. Now, the future of AEGEE-Europe contact in Den Haag starts developing by itself and surely it will reach great destinations.

Written by Martina Zanero, AEGEE-Torino

Recently AEGEE-Europe announced that Nicosia is a new shining contact of our Network. This progress is a very positive  step for our AEGEE family.

The reason is – Nicosia is located in Cyprus. Most probably, most of you know that Cyprus is an Mediterranean island which has two communities: Greek and Turkish Cypriots. At the moment there is only one antenna, AEGEE-Mağusa, which is situated on the northern part of the island. Now AEGEE contact in Nicosia has been established in the southern part of the island.

The AEGEEan got in touch with Marios Efthymiou from Nicosia to learn more about them and their future plans.

How did you come to the idea of creating a contact of AEGEE in Nicosia?

I am also the president of another organisation who participated in a youth exchange. One of our partners was an AEGEE antenna and we started to speak about AEGEE. I liked the idea of the organisation and I was very surprised that there was not another one in Cyprus apart from AEGEE-Mağusa.  As we have a lot of students in Cyprus I felt that AEGEE was needed to keep our students active and involved so I started the procedures to establish AEGEE-Nicosia.

What are your future plans connected to AEGEE in Nicosia?

I have many plans for AEGEE-Nicosia.  I hope to unite the students of Cyprus through AEGEE-Nicosia with an abundance of events and activities that are both fun and informative.  Of course we also plan to do projects of a more serious nature.  We will be looking at two main themes over the next year, namely environmental issues and employment issues. For next year we have International Summer Weeks planned for participants all over the world and we are also hoping to have at least one Summer University.  We are already in the process of applying as partners with other organisation in Europe and abroad for youth projects for 2013. We are also planning to undertake a bi-communal project.

Can you describe yourselves and tell us what is special about AEGEE contact in Nicosia so far?

I think the best word to describe us is “active”: we plan to be as active as possible in order to make changes in our community that are so desperately needed.  We already have a good network of partners on an international level and with AEGEE we can do so much more.

How many people are there who started the contact?

There are five people who were active in setting up the future AEGEE-Nicosia but so many more eager future members who contributed in so many ways.

Do you plan to be upgraded during Agora Budapest?

If this is possible then yes, we will do everything in our power to go as far as we can with AEGEE-Nicosia.

What do you think about the cooperation with AEGEE-Mağusa in terms of any kind of projects?

I am very interested in this cooperation and as mentioned above I already have some ideas for bi-communal projects and it is our hope that we can be partners with AEGEE-Mağusa on these.  It is organisations like ours that will pave the way for a better future for our people.

Written by Erman Berkay, AEGEE-Mağusa

Get excited! From now on it might become easier for you to travel to a corner of Europe located between the Mediterranean Sea and the Middle East… In case you stay in the good graces of the local members in Hatay, Turkey. But that should not be a problem!

Hatay was approved as a new AEGEE Contact during the previous Spring Agora in Enschede.

It certainly has great potential for the network. Located on the border to Syria, Hatay is characterized by a Mediterranean climate, and offers a lot of historical sights to tourists and visitors,  among which an important archaeological museum and Saint Pierre Church, said to be the first Catholic church in the world. “We will invite students from abroad”, promises Onur Ölmez, the leader of the new Contact, who studies Public Administration at the local university in Antakya.

A new Contact? Not exactly. There was an antenna in Hatay before, until the board stopped working. Now, six young people prove the will to start a new one from the very beginning. They paid the remaining debts of the former board at the Agora and already selected candidates for future new board which now is organising the activities until the start of the new term. Community seems a key concept when Ölmez speaks about his colleagues as his “team”, and motivation is high. “Our basic plan is a Summer University of course!”, the leader of Contact points out.

As Summer University is unique for antenna, they can not yet put this plan into effect, but Ölmez and his team successfully planned local trainings on the topics of volunteering and project management at their university. Each of them is bringing Hatay one step closer to their goal of re-establishing the antenna AEGEE-Hatay. The next phase will be proceeding to a Contact Antenna status, for which the rules of AEGEE require a list of at least ten members.

The foundations have been laid: in consequence of the workshops held, AEGEE is getting more popular at the Mustafa Kemal University in Antakya. With their enthusiasm, the team will certainly attract more supporters soon.

Written by Birte Huntemann, AEGEE-Mannheim

You know them… You have seen them before… Where? In Skopje and most recently at Agora Enschede where they were approved as a new contact. Their name Kastoria, contact Kastoria!

The AEGEEan interviewed Nicholas Varveris, the founder of the new Greek contact.

1) So congratulations for the new contact! Now the question everyone is dying to know the answer to – whose idea was it to establish this new AEGEE contact? 

Thank you very much for your kind words and of course for the interest in writing about us and finding out more about what we do here in Kastoria. Over the past year I was the Public Relations Coordinator  for the administrative board of AEGEE-Thessaloniki, where I learnt a lot and travelled to many places.  I can say with great confidence that I fell in love with it. As I’m studying in Kastoria, many of my fellow students were asking me about it and after some discussions with my department’s administration, I realized that they were very willing to help us create our own antenna, here in Kastoria. Surely, Kastoria’s geography and beauty made this idea even better.  

2) What difficulties did you encounter along the way?  

I had never before worked to create an antenna nor did I have experience with the paperwork that a non-governmental organisation (NGO) requires, so in the beginning it all looked huge. I had to present the organization to the administration of my department, in order to have their approval but also their support. At the same time, I had to stay consistent with my obligations to the Comité Directeur, I want to thank Jüri Kirpu for supporting us, as well as all the members of the Comité Directeur, Manos Valasis (Former President of AEGEE-Europe), and all the members of the other Greek-speaking locals who showed us the way and made things easier with their help. And of course my fellow students who without yet knowing much about what AEGEE exactly is, showed willingness to learn and organize, we wouldn’t have done so much so quickly.  

3) How many members do you have until now? 

About 20 members have signed up so far, but the friends of the future AEGEE-Kastoria are quite a lot and increasing! As you know Greece is experiencing the economic crisis quite harshly and students are reluctant to give money to an NGO, even if the fee is really small. We are determined though to find ways for everyone who wants to join to be able to do so!

4) How have you been promoting your local so far?

We have already started printing out information leaflets for those wishing to get a first taste. Nevertheless, I am a supporter of ‘word-of-mouth’ promotion; almost everyone in Kastoria has heard about us, and we are still a contact.  

5) Any future plans or events you want to share with the network?  

There are two main directions on which we will for now be focusing in future AEEGEE-Kastoria:

a) First is an experimental phase which means we will try to operate all the European Working Groups at a local level (results will then be forwarded to the administrators of the working groups at the European level).

b) Secondly, in co-operation with the contact in Ioannina, we will establish a Balkan environmental collaboration focusing on the lakes of the surrounding geographical area (Ioannina, Kastoria, Prespa, Ohrid).  

6) Do you have an advice for others on how to get started at a local level and then get to the European one? 

I honestly have no advice to give. Anyone who wants to create something will do it. After all, facing difficulties and trying to put into effect what you love can offer you immense knowledge. The only thing I have to say to anyone who has ideas is: don’t be afraid and don’t be lazy!

7) Name 5 reasons for people to visit Kastoria and its’ AEGEE crew!

a) Wonderful natural beauty found in such a small city.

b) Geographical location which links Kastoria to the entire Northern Greece and the Balkans.

c) Immense support from the community of Kastoria and the administration of our home institution.

d) Co-operation with all local organisations (which gives us all the opportunity to experience a great deal of activities).

e) We love what we do and we promise an amazing stay with surprises no one will expect!

Thank you and good luck for the future, Kastoria!

Written by Andra Toma, AEGEE-Bucureşti

It is not a secret that new locals are being created within our big AEGEE-Europe family, so recently we have one more joining… We are talking about a recently established contact in Greece called Ioannina.

The AEGEEan is proud to present to you Ioannina through its president Dionisis Tzavaras.
1) Dionisi, whose brilliant idea was it to create this local?

To begin with, we would like to thank everyone that helped us and welcomed us by expressing every kind of positive feeling, regarding our try to broaden the Network by being a part of it! Special thanks to the Comité Directeur (CD) and Network for accepting us as another child of the AEGEE Family!
As far as the idea of the creation, we can now say that it was such a brilliant idea, indeed! Actually, there is a little story behind all this.
It all started up a semester ago, when I had a chance to go to Spain, to the city of Granada, as an Erasmus student! Granada was definitely the start of the inspiration for what was about to be continued. As I stayed there for the whole semester, I had the opportunity to get in touch with AEGEE. I participated in many events that the local of Granada did, and I can easily say that I was more than impressed by actions of the organisation. So, when I finished my Erasmus studies, I got back to Greece, while trying to get in touch with students in my city, and after spreading the news about AEGEE, by now I can easily say that we have many students interested in AEGEE, ready to help and contribute in every way that is needed!

2) Were there difficulties you encountered before getting to this point and establishing the local?

The only thing that was kind of difficult was the bureaucracy. As we had to prepare some documents that had to do with the confirmation and the support that our university was about to provide us regarding the foundation of the local, we had to wait quite a long time until the Rector approved us. But finally, everything went as we wanted, while now our university is willing to support us whenever we need it. It was really worth waiting!

3) How many members do you have so far?

By now we are about 18 members, but we hope that in the near future we will be even more. Since the day that we made AEGEE known at our university, every day we have students that are interested in joining our local, coming from every single department of each faculty!

4) Did your Network Commissioner (NetCommie) play an important role in the decision to create this local, and if yes how so?

As we were quite inexperienced about establishing and generally about all themes that refer to AEGEE, in our try to create a new contact, it was essential that we needed help and support, and as a result, we decided to ask for help. So we got in touch with Sofia Kaskari, the current president of AEGEE-Peiraias! She was such a big help to us, she supported us a lot with every single thing that had to do with the process of the establishing and she defined to be our subcommissioner! AEGEE-Peiraias offered us their approval and support. Moreover, it is ready to provide us with any help needed!

5) What is your biggest achievement so far?

Regarding our achievements, considering the fact that we are a newborn member of the Network, we have not managed to do big things yet. Nevertheless, as a remarkable movement one could consider our to try to inform every single university department separately to convince as many students as we could, in order to join our team!

6) We all know promoting a local is a hard task, how have you been managing it so far?

Well, we can easily say that the section of promotion is rather a simple thing. In cooperation with the Office of International Relations we have managed to do a really good job, while we have arranged lectures during which we inform students about AEGEE and its actions. Unexpectedly, during first events we did not have the participation that we wanted, but every week we gladly have more and more students interested in AEGEE, and that makes us really happy and optimistic for the future of our local!

7) Tells us some of your future plans for this semester or year if there are some!

We are trying to make AEGEE known to the students as much as we can. As we have the support of our university, of our own rector, of the Office of International Relations, of the Office of Europe Direct as well, we are planning to do some thematic events for the students of Greek locals, but also we have in our plans to do events opened to all locals across Europe!

8 ) Ioannina, tell us about the vision how to attract students next season to your local!

Ioannina is the biggest city of Epirus region, the capital as well, and one of the biggest cities in Greece, having more than 120.000 residents. Regarding the university, there are 14 departments, and more than 20.000 students. Among others, Ioannina is famous for its big lake with an inhabited island, the only one in Greece that is situated in a lake! There is also a famous cave, the cave of Perama, which is one of the biggest in Greece. Ioannina is well-known in history, since the Ottoman Empire acted here, leaving plenty of residues, like the tomb of Αli-Pasha. It is such a beautiful city, really. It attracts a lot of tourists from many Greek cities and beyond!

9) You had the courage to establish this local, what would you advise others in order to achieve this in the near future?

Well, establishing a local is quite a responsibility. We suggest that they do it carefully and not trivially, by following the steps that are needed. It is possible to come across obstacles, but they should not give up. They have to be pacient until the approval comes, and then I am sure that they will feel absolutely satisfied! They will come up to say that it definitely worth it!

10) Last question. I am a fan of Greece in general, having lived there and I would clearly join your upcoming event but give me two good reasons why anyone else should?

As we have already said, Ioannina is one of the most beautiful cities in Greece! It is well-situated, just 3 hours from the second biggest city in Greece, Salonika, and 5 hours from the capital, Athens. It is a great destination for people who adore nature combined with the riches of a beautiful city!
It is a palette of many colours, blue, due to the big deep lake, green, due to the rich nature all over the city, brown, due to big mountains that surround the city. It is situated next to the Ionian Islands, that’s why is a famous destination!
People visiting Ioannina will be amazed by many beauties that it has, by the capacity of combining water, trees, mountains, clear air, and friendly people! I think these reasons are more than just two, aren’t they?!

Thank you and good luck for the future Ioannina!

Written by Andra Toma, AEGEE-Bucuresti

When I heard the Polish city of  Opole is the newest addition to our network I was really happy. During my Erasmus in Wrocław I only saw it when passing by by train. Getting a hold of M. K. was not easy, he is busy doing many interesting things. Take a look at how AEGEE is getting popular in Opole.

How did you hear about AEGEE?

I have heard about AEGEE in Stuttgart where I did my Erasmus and I became a member of AEGEE-Stuttgart.

Was it hard to form a team?

It wasn’t hard because many people from Opole want to join AEGEE. Most of my friends are really interested in AEGEE and each meeting has more and more members.

What was  the biggest challenge on the way to joining the network?

Honestly, becoming a contact antenna was really easy. Members from Opole were really motivated to become a contact antenna and we did a great job.

Have you ever been to an AEGEE event? If so, what motivated you?

Yes, I have been to an AEGEE event, it was really great. I was in Romania twice for a Summer University. Upon returning to Poland I decided to found an AEGEE contact in my city. I was motivated because I missed AEGEE.

What do you plan to be your first event?

We plan a local training course (LTC) for our members. This event will also serve as recruitment for new members in Opole.

Which of the projects or Main Fields of Action do you like best?

Summer Universities, because you can see more of Europe and meet many interesting people.

Do you have experience in a non-governmental organisation?

Yes, I was a member of two scientific clubs throughout university. I was a programmer and technician for .NET and InfoVOLT. I coorganised IT days where we invited many software specialists. InfoVolt is connected to AEGEE in Opole.

Where you the driving force behind the process? If so, what motivates you?

Yes, I was the driving force behind founding a contact antenna in Opole. I am motivated because when I saw how AEGEE works in Stuttgart, I wanted to see AEGEE at Opole University of Technology where I’m a PhD student.

Tell our readers something.

Feel free to visit Opole for our first European event! Everyone is always welcome in Opole!

Written by Liliya Buyukliyska, AEGEE-Sofia