AEGEE’s Culture Interest Group saw a flourishing under the guide of Sergio Genovesi and Alessandro Montefameglio, previous coordinators of the CIG. Recently, new coordinators Marta Pagnini and Anna Inozemceva were elected, and they started working intensively to explore all the opportunities that this Interest Group can offer to AEGEE members. The AEGEEan interviewed them for you.

Old and new coordinators, please introduce yourselves.

Sergio: I am 26 and I live in Bonn, Germany, where I am doing a PhD in philosophy. In my previous AEGEE experience I was a very active member of AEGEE-Torino. In 2015 I was also elected president of this antenna. My dream job would be to work in the cultural field, either as a cultural event manager or as a teacher. Or both. [he smiles, ed.] Alessandro is 25 years old, he lives in Padova, where he is doing a Master in philosophy. He collaborated actively with AEGEE-Pisa. He is a literature lover and a writer. He lived in Belgium for six months, where he did his Erasmus. He is addicted to anything that belongs to humanities and arts.

Marta: I am 23 years old and I used to live in Paris where I studied sociology and international politics. Now I live in London where I am doing a master in educational planning and international development. I have been an active member in AEGEE since 2014 and in particular in the organisation of local events and SU universities. My dream job would be working as an education-policy planner for the UE institutions.

Anna: I am 21 and I live in Belarus, in a cozy city called Grodno, where I am finishing my bachelor in translation and intercultural communication. I also work as a teacher of English and do translations as well. I am a member of AEGEE since 2016, a not so long but very active and productive period, I can admit. I am the president of AEGEE-Grodno and during this year I was the main organiser of three European events in Grodno (Cultural winter event, EoT4 and Summer university in colloboration with AEGEE-Warszawa). AEGEE gave me a lot during this period, for me it is something completely special and life-changing even. [she smiles, ed.] Concerning my dream job, I would like to be connected with languages and culture for sure, especially with the Italian language as it is my greatest passion. [she smiles, ed.]

Sergio and Alessandro, you brough the Culture Interest Group back to life after Agora Asturias and now you are leaving it -in good hands-: did you achieve all that you planned at the beginning?

Yes, we did. We increased our visibility, and we set strong basis both for the development of our cultural blog, which focuses on a number of different themes related to culture, and the realization of branded AEGEE-CIG events (take a look at our booklet!). We hope we caught the attention of many people and we made them understand the importance of culture for the European project. Now it is time to bring some fresh air and some new ideas, in order to let our Interest Group grow further.

How did your initial plans change, if they did?

We actually did not expect to be able to organise so many events. At the very beginning we thought that being able to edit the cultural blog was already a big challenge. Thanks to our amazing team we also managed to organise two photo contests, an art exhibition in Köln, the book crossing and the AEGEE-Culture Training in Bruxelles. Moreover, we also delivered two CIG workshops at NWM-Mannheim and NWM-Moskva. I do not know if in the future the CIG will invest more energy on the editorial project or on the organisation of cultural events. In any case, we are happy we were able to explore both paths.

I can’t help but notice that your logo and blog, while very evocative, don’t really follow the common Visual Identity. Is that a precise style choice or do you plan to integrate your image with the common style in the future?

Thank you for the question, you are not the first one asking this to me and I would like to answer properly. The logo actually does follow the common Visual Identity: it does not contravene any rule and it was formally approved by our Interest Group responsible in CD. However, you are right: it does not look like other AEGEE logos. We wanted a logo that could express the meaning of our motto, the famous Schiller’s verse “wo dein sanfter Flügel weit” and the book-winged eagle turned out to be a perfect embodiment of this idea. We worked very hard with our designer, Claudia Cassina, to follow our inspiration and at the same time fit the AEGEE standards. You cannot imagine how many drafts I have on my computer and how much time this thing took. I’d like to thank Claudia very much because she is a professional (actually a very good one) and she did everything for free, just because she believed in our project and for the sake of the challenge. Now the new coordinators are free to do whatever they want. If they want to change or improve the logo they can. But honestly, I hope that they will spend their time and energies in more meaningful and productive activities. There is so much to do and their work can really have a big impact on the AEGEE network and beyond.

Anna and Marta: what brought you to the CIG and what convinced you to take up this new challenge?

Marta: I first heard about the Culture Interest Group last spring, when I met Sergio in Paris. I saw him walking in the Quartier Latin and realised I had already met him in a summer university in Italy. Was it by chance that I met him? The path that began that day in the CIG group would not say so!

He explained me patiently all the information about the CIG and integrated me immediately in the group. I first wrote an article for the CIG after a few weeks on the Disney film Mary Poppins with a gender-interested lens. What I really loved about the CIG was the courage Sergio and Alessandro, its coordinators, gave me to express myself openly; they gave me a lot of trust even if they had know me only for few days.

When I discovered that there was a vacancy in the role of coordinators, I proposed myself as a candidate. I felt that I needed to improve my leadership skills and in AEGEE everybody always told me: “Volunteering for AEGEE is a great opportunity to make mistakes without formal consequences”. AEGEE for me is a gym for professional life, where I can firstly take a responsibility role with the help of wonderful people that can assist me whenever I need them.

Additionally, I consider that volunteering for AEGEE is also a chance to develop networks with international students and stimulate enriching discussions about cultural issues.

Anna: As I have already mentioned my experience in AEGEE is short but enermously rapid. [she smiles, ed.] I wanted to take part in everything where I could be useful and that could help me to develop as well. That is why when I met Sergio during a network meeting in Moscow, I was captivated by his presentation of the CIG, as this world seemed to me a great platform where I could learn a lot and contribute a lot, taking into consideration that culture is also my major at university. I wrote him just after my return home with the request to explain me how everything worked and how I could be the part of the team.

From that moment my relations with the CIG actually started and seems that they are long-lasting. [she smiles, ed.] I started to write articles for Momus as writing is my second passion – after Italian, of course. [she laughs, ed.] Then Sergio proposed to organise a CIG live meeting at the AEGEE- house and that idea was marvellous indeed. We got acquainted with each other at first, spent fantastic time everyday sharing ideas which can be easily implemented in every local and maybe right there we understood that the CIG would live long and prosper. And I can tell that our Booklet is the “baby” of that meeting.

Then in summer Sergio approached me with a proposal unbelivable for me – to become a coordinator of the CIG! I am not going to lie, I was surprised, excited, a bit thriled but without any shade of a doubt I accepted his proposal at once. For me it is one more chance to develop and be developed at the same time, to do the things that I love, to be a part of an amazing international team and expand our cultural wings further. I believe that AEGEE needs it as our organisation is all about culture and its aspects. So this year promises to be hot. [she smiles, ed.]

PS: I would really like to thank Sergio and Alessandro for discovering the CIG, for their passionate and enthusiatic work there, for their trust, their help and their wise advise to the new coordinators now.

In your blog, Momus, you state that you want to “start spreading and producing fresh European culture”: what is your definition of European culture and why do you think this endeavour is important nowadays?

We think that it is really hard to define a European culture, which is all but homogeneous and unified. However, we consider that the multiple cultural settings that frame European identities can mix with each other and create a common and respective interest among people. Additionally, we think that, although it is so diversified, cultural exchanges are the key to a more peaceful and tolerant society. Culture is an invincible power because it unifies people and it increases social and economic mobility.

In the past spring you conducted an edition of bookcrossing: what do you think of it as a way to spread culture?

The purpose of the bookcrossing is to exchange books a person feels passionate about and encourage cultural exchanges. We are proposing a book crossing event at the beginning of our coordination experience because it is actually quite simple to organise but can have a real impact on people. Reading paper books is more and more a rare activity and we are now encouraging this practice among the young generation.

Can you give us a sneak peek of what you have in store for the future?

The Official Culture Interest Group of the year 2017/2018 has just been created. It shows the activities we will implement in the antennas that will collaborate with us. The first event of the year took place at the end of September during Agora Catania. We are referring to the book crossing: during Autumn Agora participants exchanged books with a partner met at the event. This will encourage intellectual exchanges and stimulating discussions between the participants. Additionally, we are planning to continue enriching our official blog, Momus, with stimulating articles and organise cultural debates and games in the antennae.

How can AEGEEans reach you? Who should be joining?

Everyone who is interested in culture is warmly welcome! The Culture Interest Group lives thanks to the input of new members. They come from a variety of experiences, backgrounds and cultural settings. We really suggest to be part of the CIG because we strongly believe in the power of culture: everyone needs it to fully enjoy social relations. Here, you can have the opportunity to express your creativity with a team of assistants that will help you write articles or create cultural events. Culture is a key to successful communication, without doubts.

Written by Federica Soro, AEGEE-Cagliari

AEGEEans love to share their opinions, ideas, but also gadgets, stickers and postcards. AEGEE-Warszawa knows best because they have been organising for some years now the famous Christmas Postcrossing. The Culture Interest Group, created last year, decide to take this sharing attitude of AEGEEans to the next level by organising the first edition of the BookCrossing. Alessandro Montefameglio, one of the founders, told us something more. Deadline? The 5th of February! Hurry up and fill the form to share your favourite book. 

Alessandro Montefameglio

The AEGEEan: Please introduce you and the CIG. 

Alessandro: My name’s Alessandro Montefameglio and I founded CIG together with Sergio Genovesi. The main purpose of CIG is to spread good European culture, offer valuable cultural contents, from literature, philosophy, music, visual arts to cinema. The very heart of the project is a cultural blog called Momus which now celebrates its first birthday. A little about me? I am doing my master in Philosophy in Padua, I am an avid reader and I love writing.

What is BookCrossing?

BookCrossing is the first big initiative that we (as CIG) made this year. Our project is to let all the members of AEGEE, from every antenna, share their passion for books and literature. The important thing is that we are trying to avoid digital devices and Internet: one member send as a gift an actual book with an actual letter to another member and the other member do the same. From that point they can talk about the book they read and meet each other.

Culture Interest Group during Spring Agora Bergamo

Why did you decide to launch this initiative?

Because we enthusiastically think that literature and, above all, books are not a memory from the past. Even if today, in the digital era, people read less, books remain something that we cannot avoid to refer to, to use, to enjoy. We are not nostalgic people, even if it seems so: we strongly believe that the truth is that a book is still something beautiful to share. Literature put together people in such a human way that no Kindle or Netflix can compete.

How will it work?

It’s a very simple process: a member of an antenna send a book via post, which has been significant to her or him, and the other member do the same. They also have to tell each other why they chose that book and not that other book. We hope noy only a discussion can start, but also a friendship between two members.

When is the deadline?

The 5th of February.

You wrote only paper books. Do you think that paper books are still the favourites or PFDs or E-books are the future?

Absolutely. We are not just talking about the simple pleasure that a paper book can give to the reader. We think that paper books are not only more practical and useful than an eBook, but that no digital content can beat the one of a book or of a library. When you want to know something – if you really want to know it and not just have the resume of the resume – you have to go to a library, not on the Internet. Paper is never going to die (hopefully!).

A book is the window to infinite universes, what is the most magical thing about reading a book?

I will always think that reading literature or whatever is written is an experience so different from listening to music or watching a movie. I do not want to compare them: there is Shakespeare, there is Schubert and there is Terry Gilliam. But there is something in literature that the other arts will never have. Literature can tell a story, can show a feeling and say a concept in a way that a painting or a sonata or a movie cannot do, because in literature imagination have more freedom than in other places. While reading, you can truly live what you are reading.

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Verona

When the proposal about the working groups passed at Argora Asturias, several of them ceased to exist. One of them was the Culture Working Group. Some months later, two Italian members decided that it was about time to bring back the cultural side to the Network. We spoke with Sergio (AEGEE-Torino) who, together with Alessandro (AEGEE-Pisa), is already very active in recruiting new members and preparing a new platform to share culture. 

Sergio from AEGEE-Torino

The AEGEEan: Describe yourselves. 

Sergio: We are two enthusiastic AEGEE members (and two really good friends), both philosophy students with a strong interest in culture.

I am 24 years old and I am now doing a PhD in Bonn, where I just moved. I am member of AEGEE since September 2014. During this time I was Erasmus Responsible at first, and then President of AEGEE-Torino. I have a big passion for music and art and I really enjoy writing about that. What I like more about AEGEE, is the possibility of travelling, discovering new places and cultures and speaking many languages.

Alessandro is 23 years old, he lives in Tuscany and he just graduated. He is quite a new AEGEE member, but he already collaborates activelly with  AEGEE-Pisa. He is a literature lover and a writer, both in prose and poetry. His last work is a forthcoming postmodern novel called The City (La Città). He lived in Belgium for six months, where he did his Erasmus. He is addicted to anything that belongs to humanities and arts.
Why did you decided to establish the Culture Interest Group?

Because of my studies I recently moved to Bonn, where there is no AEGEE Local. For this reason I would like to keep being an active AEGEE member by working in an international interest group. Ever since I found out that the CWG was closing, I thought that AEGEE should not stay without a cultural interest group: European identity and europtimism are possible only existent on the basis of a solid shared culture.

Together with Alessandro, I would like to give my contribution to the cultural cause. We both have experience in managing cultural projects, both under the administrative and creative profile. We are interested in spreading culture in each form, from the very folkloristic one to the international, in order to create a good way to access a true European culture.  And we would be extremely keen on embarking on such a new adventure in the AEGEE community.
Can you give us a sneak peek of the work of the CIG in the upcoming months?

The first thing we would like to do with the Culture Interest Group is editing a multicultural and multilinguistic blog. This blog will be divided in many sections, such as Literature, Music, Visual Art, Cinema, Folklore etc. Each section will have a thematic supervisor and anyone can submit articles to be published. Moreover, we are thinking about organising other cultural activities such as debates, exhibitions, contests, group meetings and thematic events.

During the next week, we will plan the CIG’s next steps and organise our future activities, mainly through Skype meetings and social networks. Everyone who wants to join us is invited!
What is culture for you?

To us, culture is not only a matter of entertainment or a way to spend free time. We recognise culture as a primary need of our society and we believe that only culture can cement European identity. Moreover, spreading culture is what we would like to do in life. We are both philosophy students with a big passion for literature, music and art and we want to put our knowledge into practice in everyday life by making culture accessible and understandable to everybody who is interested.
Do you think that culture can bring us together, despite all the differences?

Of course! In my opinion, culture is always a matter of difference. In our society, the media, trends and global market want us to be all the same and cause a progressive cultural and linguistical flattening. However, globalisation (and Europeanisation too) should not mean that we have to adopt the same costumes, but rather that we can share our diversity without being afraid of cultural differences.
Where can AEGEEans find you?
We will share all the news about the CIG on our facebook page.

Furthermore, in a few days, our cultural blog Momus will be online. We will share the link to the website as soon as possible. The best way to contact us is to write a message to our Facebook page. We will answer within a few hours. If you do not have Facebook or if you want to communicate in an alternative way, it is possible to write to our unofficial email address aegeecig@gmail.com.

Alessandro from AEGEE-Pisa

Who should be joining?

Everyone who is interested in culture and who is keen on discussing his or her cultural interest with other people. If you like reading, writing, listening to music, going to cinema, theatre or exhibitions, if you like the AEGEE atmosphere and you would like to deepen your international engagement, or even if you are just curious, you should definitively join us!

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Verona

Even though AEGEE-Minsk is only a contact antenna they are already very active and now working on being upgraded. Moreover, they are also organising an event later this year giving AEGEEans a chance to take part in an international event and get to know their city. The AEGEEan interviewed Alesia Vorobyova and Nadezhda Fomenok about their antenna AEGEE-Minsk and their upcoming event taking place this summer.

Organizers of the summer event

Alesia is the PR-responsible of AEGEE-Minsk, is 23 years old and an international law graduate. She got inspired by AEGEE from her classmate, previous AEGEE-Minsk President. Ever since she wanted to improve the visibility of the antenna and it was her who said “AEGEE-Minsk needs an international event”, and persuaded the local to believe in it. Apart from AEGEE Alesia is working as an editor at a newspaper, dancing salsa and exploring the world around her. Nadezhda (or Nadia) Fomenok, the President of AEGEE-Minsk, is 22 years old, and currently graduating from the international law department. During her term she wanted to work on uniting the antenna locally, but got caught by the vision of Alesia on the international event. Since January Nadia, together with Alesia, coordinated the process of organizing the event. In addition to AEGEE, Nadia is assisting in a law firm, drawing and dreaming of an after-graduation trip.

The AEGEEan: Can you tell us a bit about your antenna? When were you founded?

Certainly! This year is of special importance for us since we host Europe on track, hold many local events, and, for sure, our first in years international event “Discover Belarus” takes place! We indeed believe that AEGEE-Minsk has fully recovered from its sleep. This year we expect to be upgraded and get an antenna status (now we are a contact-antenna). A lot of effort was put towards this, both by previous and our board.  Speaking of the history, AEGEE-Minsk was founded on March 9, 1999 by the students from European Humanities University. Recently we have celebrated our 15th anniversary with the members. The birthday celebration was very interesting since we had both AEGEE “newbies” and “oldies” present, and all of them shared their vision towards the future of the antenna.

Birthday celebration

How many members do you have? Are you very active?

We have 49 members in our antenna (according to the Agora reports), and a good half of them is active. Most of them decided to join either after friends’ suggestions or due to the information on Facebook groups. After getting to know other antennae one thing is clear: we lack time to be active as an AEGEEan. The reason is that getting a master degree, PhD or studying for a long time (in comparison to EU) is not very common for us. Usually, by 23 young people in Minsk already have their degree finished and start working (not to mention getting married). Getting the first job while being a student is also a very common thing. For sure, that all makes combining life with AEGEE pretty complicated, and our job is to show that combining is worth it!

How do you help the members of your antenna applying for SUs?

On March 22, we organized a special educational event where we shared experiences about the possibilities of low cost travelling, visas and described in the most detailed way the whole application process for the SU for the other members and newcomers. Our board is open to answer all questions. Additionally, on the Facebook page of AEGEE-Minsk you can find our FAQ-tab, which was also updated with the information about Summer Universities.

How do you try to keep the members active after the SUs?

Good question! As a rule, members appear before SU period, and we do not have to specifically “look” for them. As for the “keeping”, it is hard to keep the members if SU is the only thing happening in the antenna. We work on changing that – in many spheres. In addition, we think that many members got inspired by our event “Discover Belarus”. It shows that being with AEGEE-Minsk is interesting. It is too early to make conclusions for sure, but we expect that this year our members will want to stay with AEGEE even during the “boring” after-SU time and make it just as unforgettable as their summer.

How is the relation between your antenna and the university?

Currently our antenna works without university support. Most of our universities are using state budget – that is the reason they have no possibility to offer us any sponsorship. Additionally, in my opinion, universities do not see any practical value for students from organisations as AEGEE as a whole. As a consequence, we lack cooperation with them. Anyway, we are open to start such partnership as soon as we find mutual interest. We consider that if we manage to show that additional activity in AEGEE adds to the study process (but not endangers its quality due to constant missing of lectures), then our universities will be more willing to assist us. We work on that, and let’s see if we make any progress soon!

What is special about the city of Minsk?

We post such kind of information in our FB group of the event (both about Belarus and Minsk), to give the prospective participant a hint on what a unique place to visit Minsk is. Minsk will not remind you of any other city you have ever been to. Firstly, because Belarus suffered most during the Second World War, which influenced the architecture enormously. Secondly, we have a Soviet Union background (we admit the impact it had on our culture). Thirdly, Minsk is really a good place for those who are interested in sports: there is a beautiful cycling road going throughout a big part of the city and all its main parks; lots of new willing to take up sports objects with and designed in a modern way; we host a hockey championship this May. Recently we have started a hashtag #discoverbelarus on Instagram, so check it yourself!

What experience do you have with organizing events in your antenna?

Our antenna has a huge event-organising experience. In the past AEGEE-Minsk organised summer universities. The most recent international event was the Maslenitsa event organised by AEGEE-Minsk in cooperation with Grodno local in 2012. Organising events is interesting, since it tests your ability to coordinate the team. The main problem we have to combat is the disbelief that other AEGEEans are interested in Belarus. This year we were very lucky to find the support of Hostel Trinity, which not only believed that the event would happen and offered us a discount; but also became the first hostel in Belarus to give discounts (and assist with visa) to any AEGEEan who decides to travel to Minsk. Make sure not to miss this opportunity!

What is your event about?

Our event is about discovering Belarus for yourself. Many young Europeans have already travelled the whole Schengen zone by their 25, but only a few have seen Belarus. Therefore, most of them know about the culture of the country based on the rare appearances of Belarus in TV. We will offer a chance to learn a bit of Belarus’ history, see our nightlife and talk to real Belarusians, turn into a Soviet citizen for one day, we will share the experience of a typical Belarusian village and we will do our best to surprise you with our food, music, dances and nature!

Why should people apply for your event?

That is the easiest way to discover Belarus. We will offer our best support in visa process, will help you to find the cheapest way to arrive, and will ensure the best of entertainment when in Belarus. We are sure that will be interesting for the true adventurer, and we will do our best to make the participants have an unforgettable time in Belarus.

Do you consider it a challenge that the event is around the same time as the SUs?

No, we do not consider it a challenge to say the truth. We aim at the AEGEEan who is ready to meet and learn a new part of Europe – which for some reason seems hard to travel to and to explore. For certain during our event a lot of stereotypes and unwritten fears will be broken. That is of great value for us – make Belarusians closer to other locals of AEGEE, show that we share a lot despite our differences. When next year we hold a SU, then SUs are to see us as a challenge.

What else are you working on in your antenna these days?

We are looking forward to enlarging the activity in our antenna this year. We plan to promote the information about AEGEE (especially among junior students) and gather together more often during our so-called “eternal circulating event” happening every second weekend. We also expect to have more educational, charity and experience exchanging events to attract various kinds of people. Thus, recently we have initiated a meeting “advice on cheap travel” and all the money from this meeting will go to the foster house. That is something new to AEGEE-Minsk, and there are many more interesting ideas to come.

Written by Patricia Anthony, AEGEE-Zaragoza

During Agora Rhein-Neckar, the Visa Freedom Working Group (VFWG) organized quite a successful workshop! The main leader and speaker of the workshop was an American citizen living in Germany and the Czech Republic, Mrs. Kimberli Jo Lewis, who has a certificate from the London Coaching Academy.

Kimberli Lewis, International CEO, executive coach, and mentor, talked about transitioning and being culturally transitioned both in the private and work life. Kimberli has over 22 years CEO experience in 10 countries and has a lighthearted view on how to manage transition. She is an executive coach of cultural transition and expatriate all over the world. Kimberli is the CEO of globalbusinesstherapy.com and ponytaletalk.com.

We had around 60 members at the workshop, which was quite a surprise considering the fact that it was already the third day of the Agora and right after lunch.

The first part of the workshop was an introduction of Kimberli, her short life story. How she moved from the USA to Europe. How different it was to see and live with the people here. She went to Germany, where she met her current husband and settled down. She explained how Germans are able to walk around the town with no specific aim, while in the US people usually go for shopping at weekends. She told us that after some time living in Germany, she was able to accept the traditional morning beer. The biggest problem for Kimberli was to learn the time perception in Germany, when suddenly she had to be everywhere on time and keep the deadlines. 

That changed a bit after going to the Czech Republic. The Czech Republic was a bit more relaxed. But on the other hand, life was harder there. People were not that helpful anymore and you have to deal with a lot of problems alone. The rusty system of the Czech Republic’s bureaucracy requires a lot of paperwork and patience, because the Czechs are: 1) not keeping the deadlines, only if it is for money; 2) usually are tired and bored from their jobs, so they just do not care about your problems. On the other hand, Czechs know how to sell you the beauty of their country.

Kimberli gave a short presentation about the effects of travelling into different countries, cultures and environments. You should be careful not to start being all sad and depressed when you are coming from your “honeymoon phase”. You miss those beautiful places and the great people, just like our Post-Agora-Syndrome. All the small differences and details that you can recognize after coming back home are actually pushing you to think more about going abroad again and try to explore other places more often. The voice in your head is telling you that what makes you excited makes you happy too. And that you should use your chance. The weather is so bad all the time anyways and the job is boring. That is the point when you decide that you need a change – so you start travelling. And one day you find yourself not living your “old” life anymore.

What comes next, Kimberli said, is the cultural shock and basically “waking up” from your beautiful pink dream. You have to deal with everyday stuff. How to ask for bread, when you actually do not know the name of it in the other language? Where can you exchange money? Is it possible to drive a car here or do I need a special license? Why the flat rent is so high and why is it hard to find a good restaurant? Why are people so closed and always in a hurry? Why can’t I understand the joke?

But after some time, you adapt. You are not scared by the really bad traffic in the morning, as you got a book to read while sitting on the bus. You learn the language well enough to understand the jokes and order in a restaurant. You can feel proud that you have seen more sights than the domestic people. You make friends and plan a trip to a city nearby. You go to a really good party. You do things that locals do too and you do not find it weird anymore. Everything seems to be easier and more enjoyable again. You get a job and you feel really happy because you walked so far and survived!

In the second part of the workshop, we got a small homework. We were supposed to define the word “culture” and its meaning. Culture is not only related to the country or people’s behavior – culture is also your neighborhood, your school, free time activity, an event spent abroad with a mix of foreigners and more. We split into groups and we were defining our own culture. The strongest features and what we find weird about ourselves and our cultures. What is the contradiction to our cultures and how we should deal with it. Then representatives from Germany, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, Poland, Ukraine and Greece presented results of their culture description. Germans and Greeks – like two different worlds! Are Spanish lazy? Are Turkish always on time? What about the driving skills of Polish people? You could have heard that and much more  during our workshop. If you missed it, do not be sad, because the Visa Freedom Working Group is organizing a workshop for Agora Zaragoza again!

Written by Visa Freedom Working Group

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

Recently we published the article giving you an insight into the story behind 2^nd place winner of the Events Committee’s (EvC) Facebook competition. Now it is time to reveal the winner which includes not only AEGEE-Oviedo but also AEGEE-Yerevan and the Eastern Partnership Project Team.

The winning photo

The Peace Building in Europe took place in Gijón last year, and the EvC’s competition has granted us the opportunity to get to know more about the event, how it came about, and the significance of exchanges among AEGEE antennae. Several of the participants of the event took their time to contribute to an interesting interview which you can read below.

Congratulations on winning the competition, why did you take part in it?

Tereza Tokmajyan (AEGEE-Yerevan) Thanks! It all begins with checking the dozens of AEGEE-emails in my inbox. I know every AEGEEan feel this every day and every week.  And while I was reading the info about what we need for participating in this great competition, the photo of our crazy event came out. I just wanted everyone to know all the amazing people who have organised this project.

What does it make you feel that you managed to win?

Gerardo García Díaz (AEGEE-Oviedo): I’m really happy and also proud because we managed to win, and because we won just for “being ourselves”.

Panagiotis Barlampas (AEGEE-Athina): Friends from the Network  helped us spread the joy

Tereza: And it was like: HELL YES we did it.

Take us back to the event, who came up with the idea to organize a YiA project between AEGEE-Yerevan and AEGEE-Oviedo?

Tereza: As far as I know, it was not directly the idea of AEGEE-Yerevan or AEGEE-Oviedo. The project was proposed by the AEGEE Eastern Partnership Project Team (EaP) back in summer 2011. Armenak Minasyants, who at that time was member of that team, developed and reshaped the project with the AEGEE EaP Team. Later on AEGEE-Oviedo was approached and to be honest, for the first application in 2011 the guys failed and the project got the rejection and lots of people thought that it was the big ned of a cooperation that had not even really started yet. It was a big disappointment. Amazingly, Armenak,  AEGEE-Yerevan’s ex-president, and Alberto Cuesta Noriega, from AEGEE-Oviedo, with the big support of AEGEE EaP Project Manager Alla Resheten, found totally new motivation and inspiring hope for rechecking the whole application, making plenty new amendments to it, developing a new agenda and concept and of course applying for the EU Youth in Action funding. It took from the both of lots of hard work, patience and dedication but in the end of the day the result you may already see on your own.

When asked why the choice of AEGEE-Yerevan and AEGEE-Oviedo for the project Tereza said with a smile “Maybe we are the marvelous, absolutely fabulous antennae in AEGEE Network?” and continued “But if we talk more seriously, the partnership was firstly based on the big personal trust of our above mentioned main organisers. Additionally it should be mentioned that the participants were not only from AEGEE-Oviedo or AEGEE-Yerevan. The organisers have involved as the partner promoters AEGEE-Athina, AEGEE-Tbilisi, AEGEE-Kyiv, AEGEE-Budapest, and Moldavian National Youth Council. In the end we got totally crazy and motivated participants plus awesome trainers’ team”.

What did you do in Oviedo?

Gerardo: Actually the event took place in Gijón. Oviedo is the Capital of the Principality of Asturias and the University of Asturias is the University of Oviedo. But the largest city on the region and the biggest campus of this University in is Gijón.

Armenak Minasyants (AEGEE-Yerevan): It was a great selection of the location: Atlantic Ocean on your one side, beautiful Asturian forests and nature on the other side… What could be better place for making such a project?

Christos Gkagkas (AEGEE-Patra): We had trainings on conflicts and different stereotypes, we learn how to recognize them and work on them in order to be able and overcome them. I think we manage to see that each culture is important and respectful.

Tereza: Adding to that in spite of this was a YIA project and we had non-AEGEE members we did not forget to show them all what AEGEE Spirit is.

Panagiotis: Which is why in the end, we left everyone speechless by our awesomeness.

What did you like about the event?

Panagiotis: In seven days we made friends from six different countries and learned about their culture, conflicts (internal, external), and language!

Christos: I liked most the conversations we had after the trainings, in which we found out that each culture is sharing something with other cultures and some of them are strongly connected.

Tereza: We had super great trainers. Every session was interesting and unique itself, even the ice-breaking games were amazing.

Gerardo: It was an awesome group of awesome people, and we had a really good time together.

Gerardo from Oviedo

In AEGEE we focus a lot on cultural exchanges and this was indeed one of those. Would you encourage others to take part/organise exchanges?

Tereza: As a person who has directly participated to such type of the project, I would not only encourage but, as the Vice-President and HR of my local, even officially suggest on the behalf of AEGEE-Yerevan to organise such exchanges as much as possible! Through such exchanges we are getting a quite unique chance not only to get familiar with other people’s culture, but also to represent ours.

Gerardo: There’s no better way to get to know other cultures and ways of thinking than actually living with people from other places and getting immersed in their stuff. Even that this event was short in time, lessons learnt will last forever.

Christos: I will give you one example. Before the event in Gijon I did not know where Armenia was but I fell in love with my Armenian friends and after this event I wanted to learn more about their ways of living so I applied and went to another YiA in Yerevan.

Panagiotis: For sure when you will come home after an event like this you will be a little different, more open minded.

Written by Patricia Anthony, AEGEE-København

In this term, the Culture Working Group (CWG) started a new initiative that will make our streets and societies more cultural by very easy actions that can be carried out by individuals or by locals. In other words, the aim is to have Culture Everywhere, which is also the name of the action.

Each month CWG members decide upon a cultural topic, and gather online to brainstorm about possible activities. Later on all these ideas are shared with the AEGEE boards in order to encourage them to improve the cultural situation in the places they live in. Of course, all the suggestions are collected in the CWG website as well.

Last month the kick off topic was literature and AEGEE-Budapest was one of the locals that got very enthusiastic when they got to know about it. On a cold evening in December some of their members met at a really artistic place of Budapest, to be able to feel inspired by the culture and the arts and the good work started.

They wanted to prepare something simple but interesting at the same time. In the end among all the suggestions they decided to combine two of them to get a more effective result: a flash mob to promote public book sharing.

Some days later, six of them met at the Móricz Zsigmond körtér, one of Budapest’s most crowded places, with the intention to show how rich and important the Hungarian literature is. The plan was as follows: some of them would stand in different parts of the square and start reading passages of Füveskönyv, one of the books of Sándor Márai, where this famous Hungarian writer and poet quotes everyday life. After a while the courageous readers would stop reading and leave the books on the benches next to them.

At first nobody was interested in the performance, but later more and more people started to listen to it. Most of the people were retired, but there were a lot of children too.

In any case, the experience was worth it, and even if no one dared to ask them what all this was about, people were enjoying: ”We felt that we did something cultural, and we gave some beauty to the grey and boring weekdays. I think it was a great start of the project and we are excited about the next topics”, says Dóra Andorkó, coordinator of the event of AEGEE-Budapest.

Now the CWG is in the month of photography, so what are you waiting for? Let’s have Culture Everywhere!

Written by Dóra Andorkó, AEGEE-Budapest and Guillermo García Tabarés, AEGEE-Barcelona and member of the Culture Working Group

Photos by Zsanett Dobra, AEGEE-Budapest.

“Do the textbooks we learn from in school reveal and shape national attitudes?” This was the title for the first online thematic discussion of the renewed Culture Working Group (CWG) that was held in early December 2012. Even though it was a rather cold evening, there we were ten enthusiast members to discuss the power of textbooks and to influence one another from a cultural and national point of view.

So, why focusing on such a topic? After all, textbooks are the first books that children have in their hands and that somehow shape their first perceptions of the world. Their contents are mostly decided upon by governments, who might use their influence to introduce a rather nationalistic component. As the discussion went further, we realized that this was more complicated than it seemed.

West vs. East: Do we as Europeans learn the same?

One of the things that shocked most of us immediately was that, whereas most of the Central and Eastern European countries have a wider overview on Europe’s history, Western European students tend to focus more on their area and simply forget about the East. “We only learn about the USSR, the fall of the Soviet Union, and not much more”, most of them recalled.

All the members agreed that, as Europeisation is going further, it is essential to learn more about our neighbours and try avoiding such Western-centrism. Kristóf Papp, from AEGEE-Budapest, mentioned this point as a key to strengthening a European identity. Guillermo García Tabarés, from AEGEE-Barcelona and CWG speaker, suggested that maybe “we shouldn’t go so deep into local level history, because it can promote nationalism without any based root, and go a bit more international to be able to understand our neighbours and accept them not as the traditional enemies”.

However, it’s true that it would be hard for most European countries to have the same attitude towards wars or some other recent events in our history, as Ola Zalecka, from AEGEE-Toruń, mentioned. Sebastian Hitz, from AEGEE-Heidelberg, added that “history teaching is not only about facts, but about analysis and interpretation” and that “nationalisms are shaped when history is taught in such a judging way”.

So, should we learn regional, state or international level?

In this sense, there is a strong division among countries. On the one hand, the Spanish and Italian participants that were at the discussion agreed that regional history, language and literature have a strong presence in textbooks’ contents. This can lead sometimes to a political confrontation between the centrist and nationalist parties ruling their country.

On the other hand, we learnt that other countries, such as Poland or Hungary, don’t pay extra attention to regions as much as national and international history. But we could observe some differences even in the same country, like in Italy. Alessio Caddeo from AEGEE-Venezia and Claudia Maria Scampinato from AEGEE-Catania exposed their views: whereas in Sardinia the content is more focused on Italian history, students in Sicily tend to learn more on their regional history.

With this in mind, the discussion led to two other questions. The first one was: Should Europeans learn about history focused more in a regional, national or international level, or even creating an European textbook? Even though we aim to create a European identity, we agreed that we shouldn’t keep our nations or regions aside, as Europe is based on its diversity.

We also discussed about the periods of history we should learn about. Should we focus on recent history rather than ancient one, in order to understand better our current situation? This led to a strong debate. Whereas some thought that we should indeed give more importance to contemporary history, others argued that we can learn a lot from the past, and that we often “have to go one step back in history to understand people’s behaviour”.

What can AEGEE do? 

However, we agreed that there’s still a long way to go to increase our awareness. Fortunately, we could count on some proposals for projects that could be developed within the CWG by our active members, and this was indeed very encouraging. After two hours and a half discussing we reached to the conclusion that AEGEE, as an organization concerned about European cultural awareness, plays an important and successful role.

We are on the right track since we have noticed that many of the Westerners have known and understood better the Eastern European history through other AEGEE members and the other way round.

Do you want to know more about textbooks? The following links will provide you with more information on the topic:

The Economist

CDSEE.org 

A textbook for Europe? 

Written by Anna Gumbau, AEGEE-Barcelona and member of the Culture Working Group

We all know what AEGEE is: a student organisation that unites different people (students and adults with a young soul) in one big international group with common interests and dreams of travelling. And of course, in this group, like in every other groups of people there are different customs and traditions. Among them are the European Night, Summer and Winter Universities, Agora, NWM and many others.

But it is not a secret that this group of so many people from different parts of Europe has its own language that people use among each other. And I mean not only the special AEGEE terms, as for example antenna or Agora that are special parts of the language. The singularity of the AEGEE language is its international character. The AEGEE language is pretty much like Esperanto.

Only in AEGEE you can meet people who know four or five words in all the European languages and use them often in their speeches. And what is really wonderful is that there are totally no problems with understanding. The standard AEGEE set is: English background with some words in German — for example, «Prost», «Guten Tag» and «Bis bald», one ore two phrases in French — «Bon appetit» or «Bonjour», a song in Italian — «Bella ciao», then «Uno, Dos, Tres, Cuatro» in Spanish, definitely one of the Polish tongue twisters, that everybody knows but nobody can say right — for example, «wyrewolwerowany kaloryfer». Further diversification depends on the events in which the person has participated — Dutch, Belgian, Serbian, Hungarian, even Russian for those who love the extreme.

In all countries in Europe and the whole world, languages are strongly connected to customs and culture. When foreign people get in touch with the language, they begin to learn more about the culture of the country and the country itself and knowledge is the beginning of understanding and tolerance. It is especially important when we have an aim to build up a new society in which people identify with one big country whose name is «the world».

Written by Alexandra Antokhina, AEGEE-Moskva