Europe on Track is a project by AEGEE-Europe, run by young volunteers who aim to raise awareness, to create a space for discussion and to capture the opinions of youth in Europe on important social issues. Now this is, in a nutshell, what every edition of Europe on Track aims to achieve.

Each year, the topic of Europe on Track is different, and this time the theme was “Europe on Track 6: Which Track? Looking for the Future of Europe through Youth Participation”. Throughout the whole duration of the project the Project Team and the Ambassadors worked hard in order to both identify and discuss critical issues in Europe and empower young Europeans to be the actors of today’s democracy.

The sixth edition of Europe on Track began already one year ago, when the new project team was selected. After thorough work dividing the portfolios, selecting the hosting cities, setting up the routes, choosing the Ambassadors and much more, EoT was officially launched on the 11^th of March in Istanbul, Turkey. There, a training of 10 days took place, the longest one in the history of the project, which translated into the most prepared Ambassadors in the history of the whole project.

The end of the training marked the beginning of the routes, and Team Blue headed to Bergamo whereas Team Red travelled to Ankara. It would be after an intense one-month-long voyage that all the Ambassadors met again, this time in Brussels, for the closing event. However, they would not be the same people as when they took that first train in the colossal metropolis of Istanbul. What they learnt, and attempted to share with the rest of the world, was more than words can describe: the colourful canvas of perspectives on current issues in Europe; the diversity of problems faced in each country; the dreams and concerns of youth in different corners of the continent.

Words cannot describe what Europe on Track 6 meant, but numbers may provide a more accurate description. What made Europe on Track 6 so special?

Everything started with

1 project team consisting of
10 young volunteers working for
1 full year with the support of
200+ local volunteers

Everything was made possible thanks to

6 Ambassadors selected out of
413 applicants from over
83 countries

The teams visited
20 cities all over Europe in
10 different countries for the period of
1 month while travelling with

40+ trains

Ambassadors reached a total of
1011 participants  
80+ hours of workshops in multiple events and conferences

Finally, we cannot finish this article without thanking Interrail and the  Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union for supporting us, and of course, all the AEGEE locals and local volunteers that made this edition a huge success.

There are many ways to make a change and make the voice of youth heard in society. And Europe on Track is certainly my favourite one.

Europe on Track is a project run by young volunteers who aim to raise awareness, to create a space for discussion and to capture the opinions of youth in Europe on important social issues. Thanks to Interrail, the  ambassadors in teams of 3 (one videographer, one photographer and one interviewer per team) will travel by train across 20 countries in one month to deliver workshops, interview young people and organise events in cooperation with 200 volunteers from 30 cities in Europe. Let’s take a closer look at this amazing project!

The AEGEEan: What is your definition of Europe on Track? 

Erifyli and Ola: For many people Europe on Track is the most exciting AEGEE project, also quite often called the “dream” one. The idea is that selected ambassadors travel by train across Europe for one month to deliver workshops, interview young people and organise local events in cooperation with AEGEE antennae about the main topic of each edition. But the aim of Europe on Track is not only to travel and have fun but above all to raise awareness, to create a space for discussion and to capture the opinions of youth in Europe on important social issues while having an amazing time and connecting different parts of our continent (or even further!). This is an unbelievable journey for everyone involved in the project – ambassadors, project team and local organisers. One month full of adventures, events with great content and visible outcomes.

Tell us more about the project’s past achievements. 

Erifyli and Ola: We are working now on the fifth edition of Europe on Track which means the project is already known by some AEGEEans (but not all of them and we want to change it!) and has many things
to be proud of! Each edition of the project tackled a different civic topic, relevant for European youth. The first edition of the project, launched in 2013, won the European Charlemagne Youth Prize which is awarded annually to a project that fosters a shared sense of European identity and integration among young people.
Last edition, Europe on Track 4, was the winner of the Franck Biancheri Award and organised an amazing kick-off conference in cooperation with AEGEE-Budapest and the Civic Education Working Group. During their journey, the ambassadors were able to reach 1000 young Europeans in 26 different cities. After last edition’s success, many people became interested in the project and decided to continue the journey with Europe on Track 5!

How is the team being formed?

Erifyli and Ola: Our Project Team, consisting of 16 people, was already selected in June and has been working on the project for six months! In August, three assistants joined our team to help us in specific areas – Fundraising and IT. Since the beginning we can count also on our CD appointed member Maria, who was the Content Manager of EoT 3 and 4, so she’s a really great help for us! In October we found 34 awesome AEGEE locals which will prepare Europe on Track stops in their cities. The local organisers are a crucial part of our project because thanks to them we can engage different people and be present at universities, have meetings with local authorities, NGOs etc. Now we are looking for the last important part of the team – our ambassadors! This edition, we don’t need six, but nine travellers who will join Europe on Track. To have a bigger impact, we decided to create three teams, one more than in previous editions, and we are currently looking for the perfect candidates! If you know someone who’s inspiring, wants to have a life-changing experience traveling all around Europe while discussing and giving workshops about Sustainability and Climate Change, share our Open Call with her/him.

How and why did you choose the topic for the new edition?

Erifyli and Ola: Firstly we collected ideas from the network. Then we split inside the project team into smaller groups and researched each of the 32 submitted topics: possible activities, grants, cooperation, funds, etc. It took us more than one month to select the final one! The topic of ‘Sustainability and Climate Change’ under the motto “Can you hear the ECO?” is extremely important these days! We are dealing with an environmental crisis caused by irresponsible human behavior but we don’t want to only talk about it, we want to take action. That’s why we will make our project CO2 neutral, we will plant trees (also in your name if you donate to our crowdfunding campaign) and we will gather opinions of young people and inform them about how to act and how to have an impact on the Earth.

What plans do you have in store?

Erifyli and Ola: We said in the beginning that we will take Europe on Track to the next level and so far we think we are doing it! Three routes, nine ambassadors, 34 hosting locals and our crowdfunding campaign are just the beginning of big surprises. We are focusing now on the Open Call for ambassadors and the crowdfunding campaign. Then we will work closely with locals to prepare high level and contentful events and to make them use the opportunity to be a part of big European project. We are also planning our kick-off conference in Thessaloniki and the Environmental Action Week. We are constantly working on Fundraising and External Relations. We hope to reveal some more big surprises very soon!

Who can become an ambassador of Europe on Track 5?

Erifyli and Ola: First of all, we are looking for people for specific positions: photographer, videographer and blogger. Also, we don’t mind if you can do two or all things, in the end you always have to choose one role!
We want to find people who are inspiring, have experience in travelling and delivering workshops as well as knowledge about Sustainability and Climate Change. You need to be open-minded, responsible and, what’s very important, resistant to stress and physical fatigue. Travelling for one month, sleeping in trains, changing place every two or three days can be tiresome and we need to be sure that our potential ambassadors are prepared for it. And in the end, we are looking for candidates with initiative who will make this trip an unforgettable
experience both for themselves and everyone involved in the project.

Is there anything you would like to add?

Erifyli and Ola: We think that what makes this edition special is that we have so many extremely motivated people working on the project and we are really aiming big! Our project manager, Jorge, was an ambassador of EoT4 and has a lot of experience so he always pushes us to do more, think out of the box and do things that have never been done before like having three teams or the crowdfunding campaign. We had a live meeting in Brussels in October and the atmosphere inside the project team is just great! Although the most important thing is that we really want to bring Sustainability and Climate Change closer to AEGEE and young people.

Our initiative is needed and we, as Europe on Track, want to act and help the planet as much as we can. And with our motivation and your help we believe we can do a lot!

Are you curious to find out what young people really think about Sustainability and Climate Change? Are you passionate about travelling? Do you like giving presentations and workshops? Do you want to spend one month doing all of these around Europe?

Then join Europe on Track 5!
Become an #ambassador! We are looking for photographers, videomakers and bloggers/interviewers who wish to travel for one month and bring the topic of sustainability and climate change closer to European youth. You can find Open Call for ambassadors here:bit.ly/ambassadorEOT5
Support our #crowdfunding campaign! Together with Youth 4 Public Transport we will measure our carbon footprint and plant enough trees to make our project CO2 neutral. We need your help for that! Check out our perks and more about our project from the 10th of November.
Organise and participate in local events! You can get involved in organising activities connected with Europe on Track during our Environmental Action Week, or during the route of our ambassadors. You’ll see the list of events on our website soon.
Follow our journey in Social Media!

Facebook: Europe on Track
Instagram: www.instagram.com/europeontrack/
Youtube: Europe on Track https://goo.gl/w1PCcv
Website: www.europeontrack.org

Written by Aliona Sytnyk, AEGEE-Berlin

In 2013 the Europe on Track project got launched, sending out young people to cross the European continent searching for answers to questions like: ‘Why should more young people become actors in the European Project?’ and ‘How can we get young people more engaged in the European agenda?’ The project turned out to be a huge success, even winning the Charlemagne Youth Prize in 2013, so a second edition was organized this year. The AEGEEan spoke to the travelers of this edition to find out more about their motivation, journey and memories they keep.

From April 9^th until May 10^th six young Europeans decided to take up the challenge, and cross Europe by train in two teams. Team Blue was formed by Yana Brovdij (AEGEE-Wien), Javier Castillo (AEGEE-Las Palmas) and Wessel Reijers (AEGEE-Enschede), while Team Red had Monica Nica (AEGEE-Aachen), Lucia Sobekova (AEGEE-Bratislava) and Gergõ Kalamár (AEGEE-Budapest) as team members. Both teams started their journey at NWM Leiden, but split ways immediately. Team Blue travelled eastwards, visiting cities like Berlin, Praha, Warsaw, Minsk, Kyiv and Budapest, while Team Red went to the south, visiting cities like Zaragoza, Patra, Léon, Naples, Zagreb, Sofia and Pécs.

The first question to ask, of course, is why these six people decided to join the project. Although the exact reasons vary, they all mention their love for travelling and involvement with Europe’s future. Gergõ actually thought he had tried everything in AEGEE, but then realized he had never participated in an AEGEE-Europe project. “I thought this project was the best opportunity to meet a lot of young people, travel around Europe and do something really useful for our future.” Yana shares a similar motivation, telling us: “This project was giving me an unique opportunity to combine the three passions of my life: European affairs, writing and travelling.” Monika adds to this: “I believe it’s crucial for Europe’s future to meaningfully include young people in the decision-making process, and it’s time for politicians to listen to what they have to say.” Wessel thinks there is also a role for AEGEEans here, saying: “Since we as AEGEEans proclaim to have a certain vision about Europe, it is important to stay focused on the ‘why’ of this vision.” Next to developing Europe, they also wanted to develop their personal skills. “I am a Media Communication student, so I wanted to put my video skills into practice”, Javier tells us.

Travelling for a month normally means that you are leaving your home, but for one of the travelers it was actually a chance to go back home. As Yana tells us: “I have been living abroad for eight years, so it has been great to be able to visit my country and see my family, especially during this hard times.” The other travelers however weren’t this lucky, so they missed things from home, varying from Spanish food (Javier) to family and friends (Gergõ) or the ability to sleep in the same bed for more than two nights in a row (Monica).

The journey wasn’t only a matter of missing things though, since the travelers all had a hard time picking their favorite moments of their travels. Wessel says it’s hard to pick one favorite moment, but he had the most memorable time in Minsk, Belarus. “The people in Minsk were simply amazing, we had a great time talking to them and making music together, and there is a great sense of hope for the future amongst young people in Belarus.” Javier had a similar positive experience with citizens of Prague they met in the tram on the way to their hostel. “We met some musicians from different nationalities and we decided to go to a really underground pub and talk for hours about our experiences while travelling.” Yana tells us there were a lot of unforgettable moments, but the visit to Ukraine stands out for her. “Due to the events of the last months in Ukraine, being able to visit Maidan and see the places where people gave their lives for the better future of their country was very emotional.” For Gergõ it was really hard to pick one favorite moment, because every moment was great. “I loved to run to catch a train, it was fantastic to travel, the places we visited were beautiful and the people we met were wonderful.”

The travelers agree that they didn’t come home only with great memories, but also a changed vision about Europe, AEGEE, places they visited or all of the three mentioned before. “I have really hanged my vision about certain places I visited; especially about Belarus and Ukraine”, Wessel tells us. “It was great to experience the actual spirit in those countries and the disposition of young people to really change the status quo.” Javier adds to this: “It gave me an overall view of what youngers think about Europe, and it made me feel lucky to live in a really big country that we call the European Union, where it’s so easy to travel and to meet people all around the continent.” To Monica it changed her view on Europe in a positive way. “Europe on Track gave me more confidence in Europe’s future, meeting so many dedicated, professional and positive people.”

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that all of the travelers would go on a journey like this again. Most of the travelers agree that the concept right now is close to perfect already. As Wessel tells us: “I would keep most of the project the same, because in general it’s really an awesome project!” Yana even wants to take a second round of Europe on Track to the next level. “Not only would I do it again, I wouldn’t mind doing something similar for the whole year, because the experiences you get are unforgettable and you learn and grow so much in the process.

Want to stay updated about the project? Follow Europe on Track on Facebook!

Written by Svenja van der Tol, AEGEE-Nijmegen

Last time The AEGEEan spoke about the Europe on Track (EoT) project was in October, when the open call for the project manager was issued. Réka Salamon (AEGEE-Aachen/AEGEE-Debrecen) was choosen for the second time to be the coordinator of the project, together with Rocío Leza (AEGEE-Brussel/Bruxelles) and Turgut Tosun (AEGEE-Ankara). Last year the project won the European Charlemagne Youth Prize, so the AEGEEan was interested to learn more about the second edition starting this April.

EoT progress meeting in Spring Agora Rhein-Neckar 2013

Europe on track was the most successful project of AEGEE-Europe in 2012. Six young ambassadors travelled around the European continent by train: from Belgium to Spain, Italy and the Balkans. The ambassadors were divided in two teams, each of them following their own route. There were three topics on which the ambassadors interviewed the young people they met: youth participation, sustainability and enterpreneurship.

Last October Réka Salamon was chosen for the second time to be the project manager. “EoT is probably one of the greatest achievement of my life. It is like my baby, I hope I don’t sound too emotional.” – she said. “I saw all the potential and the success it achieved, but I also saw all the flaws, so I will do my best to correct them in this edition with the rest of the Coordination Team.”

Topics of EoT 2014

This year the topics are going to be very different. “While choosing the main topics of this year’s edition, we wanted to take into account not only general youth issues, but also current events so one of the main topics is going to be ‘Mobility’.” – explains Réka. “We believe the newly ratified ‘Erasmus+’ program is going to have a great impact on youth for the upcoming years, so with the coordinators and Comité Directeur (CD) we decided this would be one of the topics. We also want to focus on the active involvement of young people in the decision-making processes on a higher level and help the Y-Vote project to spread the word about the European Parliamentary Elections. Thus we decided to choose this as the second main topic of the project.”

Next to these topics the ambassadors will also touch upon other topics on which AEGEE will be working according to the new Strategic Plan, like ‘youth mobility, youth employment, civic education and even EU neighborhood policy’.

EoT Route 2014

The draft routes of the travellers

These are not the only changes in the program. Of course the routes won’t be the same, even if a lot of locals who hosted the project last time applied again. The responses and the final route showed that the Network is interested in the project and wants to participate.

Germany, Italy and Greece were the three countries with most applications from locals. With three applications from Greece, the plan is to bring one of the team straight to Spring Agora Patra, and because Greece is starting its semester of Presidency of European Council, ending in Patra will be even more meaningful. This year the plan is to send a team of ambassadors to Riga and to Kyiv as well, due to the great interest from the locals and to the possible impact an EoTconference can have in these cities.

However, there were also surprises as well, Réka tells us: “We didn’t receive any application from France”.  The teams still need to cross it though, since there are stops planned in Spain.

The biggest Challenge

When asked about the biggest challenge of the previous EoT she replied: “The most pressing issue last edition was time. There wasn’t much time available to plan and implement the idea we had for the project. In this edition it is definitely an advantage that we had almost half a year to plan and arrange everything. Also the locals won’t have the pressure to organize someting on a very short notice.”

Apart from the timing, the last time, the project lacked external financial support to cover the costs of ambassadors for taking nighttrains and making reservations. This year the CD and the Coordination Team found a solution. “Last time we had the InterRail passes and we relied upon the network” (for food and accommodation ed.) Réka explains. “This time we have applied to the Open Society Foundation for grants. Now we can also financially support the locals and travellers for the costs of their accommodation.”

Selection of Ambassadors

A thing that raised some controversy last time was the fact that there was an opportunity for non-AEGEEans to participate in the project. Réka explains the reasons for this decision as follows: “in AEGEE we tend to live in our own ‘bubble’, seeing things from one certain perspective. These people can bring a fresh new insight and a different kind of approach to the project and the discussions.”

“But because after all, the ambassadors who, at the time, were not members of any  local eventually joined AEGEE, the Coordinators and CD decided to again open the applications for non-AEGEEans in this year’s edition.” (However the downside is that you know less about these participants and it has been proven difficult to check the skills and experience they put forward in their application, Ed.). You can meet the ambassadors of the project in the following link.

Réka Salamon is known to be involved in many projects and committees and she’s never hid her plans to run for the Comité Directeur during Spring Agora Patra. Being so involved in AEGEE and at the same time preparing her candidature could be difficult but Réka is sure she can manage. “I have learned how to manage my time effectively and even if April is going to be the most intense month for the project, I believe that if everything is going to be ready on time, I don’t see any obstacles in the way of my candidature for President of AEGEE-Europe.”

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Venezia