First SU, first report, first of many! If being in a foreign country (lovely Czech Republic) and meeting Aeggeans of all across Europe is not enough, developing ourselves and getting to know better AEGEE has been great.

Before even arriving in Brno, our host city, we  already met some other participants and started to plan our trip with foreigners. A broken bus, some delayed flights and the language barriers wouldn’t stop us. After all, we all were determined to have an awesome time and make the most of the SU!

Once we arrived, and after some ice breaking games and super-fast Czech lessons, we started to know each other; only 12 participants and other 12 organisers. Being a small group led to better interactions and made it easier to know each other. Since the very first minute we mixed, almost with no difference. They even slept with us in the gym and every night went partying. The last ones standing were always the Spanish, Czech and Slovaks!

Teambuilding was the main topic for this SU.  Workshops taught by professional coaches, with the help of Tereza as a translator, were an absolute success. Team cooperation and group dynamics workshops taught us mainly how to deal with decisions within a bunch of people and how to make everyone  commit to the group. It also let us see the cultural differences between countries and regions, as leadership and teambuilding is really shown in different ways depending on that.

Feedback, coaching and conflict dealing where the other  main workshops and made us realise how important it was to give feedback properly to make others improve and how to help others to develop not only themselves but the group as a whole. All these workshops led to results ASAP. For example, whenever we went to a trip, even in smaller groups, everyone had its role, we knew how to deal properly with conflicts and even make decisions satisfying everyone. Personally, I had never felt so comfy within a group of people.

From an AEGEEan’s viewpoint, workshops on Civic education, Eurooptimism and Interculturality were also superb. Listening to opinions from all across Europe on how the education and customs influence our point of view or on how we perceive the EU have really opened our minds. Together with all this, we came to understanding other cultural differences deeper, thanks to a well-organised European night, to an awesome orienteering role game and to other many small games where we had to mix with each other. It was not easy for us (we were 6 Spaniards out of 12 participants) but I think we succeed. By the final days, we weren’t divided into small groups but we acted, thought, decided and worked as a single one. Amazing.

Brno, Mikulov, Lednice, Viena, Brnos’ Dam… We went to so many places… We visited two different chateaus, a wine-cellar, and so many pubs… Katka, Zuzana, Eva, Petra, Lenka and Lucie became tour guides for us, teaching both cultural issues and local habits. We learnt a lot about local culture, habits, behaviours, (huge) meals… All this thanks to activities such hiking, going to the swimming pool/dam, wine tasting, beer tasting (of course) or just by hanging out for a drink at evening. Organisers were great. Lubomir, Matej and Juraj made sure no one got bored, and that there was someone to party with.

Lovely place, great people, awesome experience. Looking forward to meeting again and for the next one! Díky a na shledanou!

Written by Jesús Pérez Gil, AEGEE-Bilbao

The city of Brno, Czech Republic, lies in the very heart of Central Europe. It was at one point home to Napoleon Bonaparte, Gregor Mendel, the Father of Genetics; and is now home of a small, but very active, AEGEE local. Because European interconnectedness is kind of our favourite thing at the AEGEEan, we decided to interview the PR Group of AEGEE-Brno and see what they have to say.

The AEGEEan: Could you tell us something about yourself?

Tereza (PR Group AEGEE-Brno): We are the PR working group of AEGEE-Brno, which we established one and half years ago. We are responsible for the promotion of our great antenna and we will try to convince you that if you don’t know us yet, you will want to meet us in the near future. Maybe on our Summer University 2016, focused on team cooperation.

Could you tell us something about your local (and its history)?

AEGEE-Brno was founded relatively early in 1993, but it ceased to function due to lack of members.  Nevertheless, the idea of running AEGEE- Brno came again to a group of student, who in 2007 attended one of the events organised by AEGEE – Model of European Union.

Today, we have more than 60 members and around 15 – 20 of them are active. The active members meet every Tuesday in a café.

What’s the most amazing or memorable event AEGEE-Brno ever organised?

It is not easy to say, because every event is, in some way, amazing and memorable. Among the most memorable, we would like to mention the conference “EaP countries on the way to EU integration” in cooperation with the Eastern Partnership Project in 2012,  as well as the  Network Meeting, which AEGEE-BRNO held last spring, which was a memorable and extraordinary experience for us (and for sure for the participants as well), because it was something that doesn’t take place in Brno every day.

Could you tell us something about the events that AEGEE-Brno is organising this year?

I can say that there will be an SU for sure again, and this year it will focus on group dynamics.

But before the SU, we would also like to organise some smaller events for our local members, but also for the public! We are planning to hold another International Dinner (which is basically the concept of European night with local foreigners, not just AEGEE members). Except that, there will also be some public lectures, an LTC for our local members and much more. [she smiles]

For the past five years, AEGEE-BRNO has organised Summer Universities that focussed on trainings, personal development, and also on adventurous components. Does AEGEE-Brno also host similar events for its members throughout the year?

Yes, we do. It is our long-term plan to focus more on trainings and personal development and that is the reason why our last three SUs had professional workshops with practical games. But we have also done some pretty funny and adventurous stuff like sleeping outside in the forest just under the sky, hiking, and many active games outside. And this is the spirit we are trying to keep in our antenna during the whole year.

Even though Brno lies in the Czech Republic, AEGEE-Wien (Austria) and AEGEE-Bratislava (Slovakia) are somewhat closer to your local. Do you organise more events with them, other Czech-speaking AEGEE locals, or neither?

We meet together with AEGEE-Praha and AEGEE-Bratislava regularly at the event called ‘Czechoslovak weekend’, where we plan some activities together and share the knowledge. It is organised around the 17th of November – the anniversary of the Velvet revolution (fall of communism in CSR). We also meet with these antennae just to hang out on Christmas markets etc.

Written by Willem Laurentzen, AEGEE-Nijmegen