EPM Burgos 2015 – The AEGEEan – AEGEE's online magazine – AEGEE-Europe ../../.. AEGEE's Online Magazine Sun, 12 Apr 2015 13:16:10 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.8.7 ../../../wp-content/uploads/cropped-The-AEGEEan_logo-FBprofile-32x32.png EPM Burgos 2015 – The AEGEEan – AEGEE's online magazine – AEGEE-Europe ../../.. 32 32 AEGEE-Burgos, Local of the Month: “After an EPM, Maybe in Some Years We Will Have an Agora in Burgos!” ../../../2015/04/13/aegee-burgos-local-of-the-month-after-an-epm-maybe-in-some-years-we-will-have-an-agora-in-burgos/ Mon, 13 Apr 2015 15:00:36 +0000 ../../../?p=30208 AEGEE-Burgos was born only six years ago, and since then, they haven’t stopped facing one challenge after another one: organising Summer Universities, Network Meetings, a Renove, several training courses… The ‘peak’ came only last February, when they organised a European Planning Meeting. Many agree that it has been one of the best statutory events in the past years, and they… Read more →

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AEGEE-Burgos was born only six years ago, and since then, they haven’t stopped facing one challenge after another one: organising Summer Universities, Network Meetings, a Renove, several training courses… The ‘peak’ came only last February, when they organised a European Planning Meeting. Many agree that it has been one of the best statutory events in the past years, and they have unanimously been elected as Local of the Month of March! The AEGEEan has spoken to Rubén Sanz, main organiser of the EPM Burgos and one of the people who made AEGEE-Burgos grow so successfully in the past years. Now watch out… as they have some new challenges in mind!

The AEGEEan: First of all, congratulations! You just came back from organising the European Planning Meeting in Burgos, what was the feedback that you got from the participants?
Rubén Sanz, AEGEE-Burgos: Thanks a lot for this prize, dear AEGEEan! We always support you as much as we can, and you have made us very happy when you nominated us [at the past two editions of The AEGEEan’s Choice Awards, ed.] as “Best merchandising” for our famous pink style, and Morcillote for “Best Mascot”. This is the first time we win in one of The AEGEEan’s awards and you can not imagine how happy we are.

The feedback was awesome, all people have written really nice things about us. You know, Burgos is one of the smallest AEGEE cities and universities, so we have to work more than others to get good results. All the work has been rewarded when you constantly hear that all the small details were thought of. I always say that big things are the link between a lot of small ones, so first of all we took care of all the small details, and we made a big effort to try to avoid problems. When somebody asked anything, we always had the answer prepared, people were aware of it it and that was the result. In the words of the Comité Directeur at the closing ceremony: “the best organised event ever”.

Which are, according to you, the ingredients that made the EPM such a good event?
I think the mix of experienced members and newbies with a lot of motivation. What made the EPM so incredible was the group, there is no doubt about this, with about 30 people from Burgos and 12 helpers from other cities with a lot of experience. We had a lot of training weekends for all the organisers, so we were prepared for this. But to me, the most important thing is that we have become friends, all of us, so when one organiser could be tired…  another one was always going to help him, so the support and the motivation were absolutley amazing. This was team work, and it ended as a group of friends doing a common project. This recognition is the recognition to all of them.

Were there any “congratulation” messages that made you particularly happy or proud?
Yes, I was completely impressed when I got a congratulation message from a board member of AEGEE-Leiden. You know that there was a race between AEGEE-Burgos and AEGEE-Leiden in order to organise this EPM. We got it, and since then, there was a big controversy about our choice. Receiving a message with such good things about us really made me break some stereotypes. Especially in AEGEE, Dutchies and Spaniards usually have rather different points of view, and I can say it clearly, when I received it, they really increased in value to me, and I feel really proud of being part of the same association.

What was the best thing of organising the EPM, for you?
I think the most important thing for AEGEE is that we showed to all of Europe that small antennae can organise big events too. You only need a motivated group, having this and a bit of coordination you will be able to solve all the challenges.

And the biggest challenge you had to overcome?
Of course we had a lot of “surprises” and things that went in a different way we thought. Our big challenge was to solve all situations fastly. It was not easy but we were successful because I think participants didn’t realise about them.

Now, can you tell us a bit more about our new Local of the Month, AEGEE-Burgos? 
AEGEE-Burgos was founded just six years ago. We have 60 members but we have a good knowledge transfer system that made us have more than 30 active members, and one third of them have been main organiser of some events. We have a weekly meeting, and in the last three years we have organised almost all the events (Summer Universities, a Network Meeting, Renove, Local Training Courses, our yearly event “Burgos me pone Morcillote”, and now this EPM). We work hard, helping and organising activities for Erasmus and international students in Burgos, and a lot of trips and exchanges with friends from other cities.

What does the future hold for AEGEE-Burgos? Any ambitious plans coming?
Now we have a lot of newbies which are ultra-motivated, so… After an EPM, there can be only one further step… So who knows… Maybe in some years we will have an Agora in Burgos! People checked and we are able to do it. Now all of Europe knows we can do everything.

What makes your antenna so special?
We are growing a lot as an antenna, year by year new people join our group, and the factor that makes us different is that we are a group of friends, a hard core that can easily add people to the team. Even when there are no meetings, we have social meetings, and from one event we always start to prepare the next one.

Anything else you would like to add?

Finally I would like to say “thank you” to all the organizers, I am really proud of you, I am really happy for having been able to do this in Burgos. Thank you to all our friends that came to support us and to all participants who came to Burgos, too. I hope you enjoyed, we tried to do our best, thanks to all! Now you have a bit of Burgos and a bit of us in your hearts… because “Burgos won’t leave you cold” / “Burgos no te dejará frío”.

Written by Anna Gumbau, AEGEE-Barcelona

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Meet EPM Burgos Content Managers: Adrian and Nikolay ../../../2015/02/18/meet-epm-burgos-content-managers-adrian-and-nikolay/ Wed, 18 Feb 2015 11:54:22 +0000 ../../../?p=28915 The European Planning Meeting (EPM) will officially start on the 18th of February and the topic choosen during Autumn Agora Cagliari is “Europe and Russia, view from the youth prospective”. In order to develop the topic in the best way possible, two content managers were appointed, with the help of Lavinia Manea (AEGEE-București), Content manager of EBM Lublin 2014 (European… Read more →

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The European Planning Meeting (EPM) will officially start on the 18th of February and the topic choosen during Autumn Agora Cagliari is “Europe and Russia, view from the youth prospective”. In order to develop the topic in the best way possible, two content managers were appointed, with the help of Lavinia Manea (AEGEE-București), Content manager of EBM Lublin 2014 (European Boards Meeting, now known as EPM). Content managers of the EPM are Nikolay Kazantsev (AEGEE-Moskva) and, after the resignation of Roland Papp (AEGEE-Budapest), Adrian Browarczyk (AEGEE-Poznań). We spoke with them to understand why this topic is so important!

Adrian, you were part of the core team from the Eastern Partnership II, who proposed this topic. Why?

Adrian: Our project aims to, amongst other things, create an opportunity for discussion. The Eastern Partnership region seems today highly interesting in terms of sociopolitical developments. Ukraine became the country that struggled the most lately with its, yet another, unsuccessful call for democracy and freedom. Russia became at the same time one of the key players in the geopolitical game in the eastern part of Europe and having these two arguments in mind we could not resist bringing in up to the Network. First talks on a possible topic suggestion took place in October 2014 and involved AEGEEans from different European bodies. We all developed the idea of the current EPM topic, being aware of the need of youth involvement in the ongoing processes for reconciliation and peace building. We knew that it was time for a debate on how we, all, can contribute to conflict resolution and that is why we took such an initiative.

What is your background in this field?

Adrian: Europe, as a whole, was always an area of particular interest for me. I joined AEGEE with the aim of broadening horizons and getting to know the complexity of the society we all live in. Since the very beginning I was very much into international cooperation and policy-making processes and that is why I chose the Eastern Partnership Project (EaP) as a platform for self- and skills development. Nonetheless these factors were not the key ones that made me decide on joining the project. Eastern Europe since 2009 has become a zone of a specific European concern and it was actually Poland who supported vividly the democratic developments in the region. Coherently speaking, I followed the path of our policy-makers and since 2012 have tried to bring the EaP’s issue to the Network. Falling in love with the region’s extensiveness, in a group of three we re-launched the Eastern Partnership Project in 2013 and since that time I have grown my understanding of the needs and challenges Eastern Europe deals with nowadays. Our project made me decide to step even further and dedicate my academic career to this part of Europe: I am reading now the politics, economy and history of Russia, Central and Eastern Europe at one of the most prestigious British universities in the analysis of the post-Soviet countries. This is what I call my thematic background.

Why did you apply to become a content manager?

Nikolay: During my work with youth policies I was always interested in EU-Russia relationships. This topic traces its roots in a long-term discussion about western vs. national values in Russia (and therefore country development direction) that took part during the last 150 years. An interesting point is that before the tatar invasion of Russia/Ukraine (a common state once known as Kievan Rus) during 13th century, both countries undoubtedly were accepted as “European” (through their connection with Bizantinum and a common religion). The later history structured both countries in the frame of the Russian Empire with “western” powers, especially during XIX and XX centuries. After the end of the Cold War we had a chance to move towards prosperity and the bright future of a culturally united Europe. However that did not happen, but we still have a big potential developing the youth – as we successfully do in AEGEE. The last conflict in Ukraine has shown that despite of the  clash of medias, AEGEEans keep communicating and working together.

Are there still spheres of EU/Russia influence? Should Russia be accepted as EU candidate/close partner or its position is deeply in Asia? How could we bring Russia and EU together? The answers to those questions pulled me towards my decision to apply for a Content Manager position. And I want to thank Comité Directeur sincerely for their trust.

Why do you think it’s important for us, as an aassociation, to discuss the topic?

Adrian: We all face similar challenges that were raised after the widespread international tension between Russia and the rest of Europe in recent months. Everyone is basically influenced by the events happening not only in Georgia, Armenia or the eastern part of Ukraine and we all must be aware that our input is highly needed in this time of turmoil and international instability. I see the power of our association in building bridges of trust and cooperation. We have a strong voice in policy shaping and a are taking steps towards peace building, therefore I do believe this EPM is going to come up with a large list of solutions and suggestions on possible joint initiatives that could contribute to linking what has not been lost yet.

Nikolay: It is important for us because AEGEE unites border-less youths and its a large pool of active citizens able to change their surrounding environment, but before we act we need to align our knowledge on this large scale historical problem, because the access to real information is constrained, there is a lot of misinterpretation from both sides. We need to connect the youth, the experts and politicians to plan possible actions towards warming relationships between the EU and Russia on the youth level.

What do you think is the status of the relationship between EU and Russia?

Nikolay: The current status is “frozen”, not a “cold war” of course, that we can hear from media, but both sides have undoubtedly fears caused by uncertainty, for instance European countries because of the annexation of Crimea, Russia because of its traditional fear of NATO and the US, and the rise of nationalism in Ukraine.

Adrian: I would go for an explanation that I tend to use quite frequently: I find the relationship very tense, but believe simultaneously there is room for improvement. I would not limit the problem to the EU only, as there are many actors involved here who do not belong to our great united family. All six Eastern Partnership countries, but also Turkey and the Balkans should redefine their attitude towards Russia (or Kremlin being more precise) in order to go back to times when peace and stability ruled over the continent. Recent events in the eastern part of Ukraine proved however that one side of the conflict seems to be ready to let the blood of innocent people be shed. If it goes in this direction, the tension may evolve into a greater clash of interests.

There were few applications for participating at the EPM, why do you think this happened?

Adrian: There are many speculations about it, but there are two arguments that apparently win in my opinion: the coincidence of having two statutory events in one country within few weeks and the fact that Burgos is not easily reachable for those really interested in the event made it impossible for them to apply.

Nikolay: The Agora also takes place in Spain and members from Russia and Ukraine are affected by recent financial situation: their currencies have fallen down. We took some measures to support both teams from embassies.

Which are your desired outcomes from this event?

Adrian: I would love to come back from Burgos being aware that the participants properly learned the profile of the crisis and drew conclusions on how we, young European leaders, can influence changes in a common understanding. I want to end up with a list of joint initiatives to be implemented this year with a particular focus on conflict resolution and on  the Europe-Russia growing tension. My personal aim is to be ready to present a position of AEGEE towards today’s challenges to our respective policy-makers and people who directly work on the above mentioned matters. I believe we are capable to lead sophisticated discussions on crucial challenges our community faces and hope we all are going to enjoy our time in Burgos to the fullest, getting acquainted with the complexity of problems of our times.

Nikolay: I would like to see new commitments to partnerships on youth level and the development of more projects for 2015.

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Venezia

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Looks like we have a new Chair Team! ../../../2015/02/05/looks-like-we-have-a-new-chair-team-2/ Thu, 05 Feb 2015 15:56:34 +0000 ../../../?p=27993 The Chair Team is changing its members during every Autumn Agora. The newly elected team is preparing for the statutory events that are coming, because preparation is the key to a successful event, in this case first of all for the European Planning Meeting (EPM). They have responsibilities that need to be respected so that the event goes on as… Read more →

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The Chair Team is changing its members during every Autumn Agora. The newly elected team is preparing for the statutory events that are coming, because preparation is the key to a successful event, in this case first of all for the European Planning Meeting (EPM). They have responsibilities that need to be respected so that the event goes on as planned. The AEGEEan got in touch with Tom, Andrea, Svenja and Gianmarco in order to find out more about the new team.

As many of us already know, the Chair Team was elected during Autumn Agora Cagliari. It is represented by four people: the Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson, Secretary and IT Responsible. The Chairperson, in this case Tom Simons (AEGEE-Enschede), as well as the Vice-Chairperson, Andrea Ugrinoska (AEGEE-Skopje), lead the meetings. The Secretary, Svenja van der Tol (AEGEE-Nijmegen), is responsible for taking the minutes of the sessions and the IT responsible, Gianmarco Rodriguez Aviles (AEGEE-Genova), has to take care of all technology needed during the events. The Chair Team is responsible for two Agorae and one European Planning Meeting (EPM).

The first event where the Chair Team will have to deal with their responsibilities is right around the corner. There are only few weeks left until the EPM in Burgos will take place. The Chair Team already had their meetings on Skype, discussing who is going to do what, and also one in Brussels, but unfortunately not everyone could make it there. Of course, that does not represent an impediment, because there is always time to send an e-mail, and many other ways to keep in touch. They work really close, all together, like they should, also with the CD, local organisers and content managers.

When asked about how he is preparing for the statutory event as the new IT responsible, Gianmarco said: ”I have to start at the point where Fotis, the previous IT responsible, left off and contribute with my knowledge everywhere it is necessary. If anything bad were to happen during the statutory event, I will use my superpowers to fix the things.”

Apparently, the Chair Team does not have so many things to be stressed about, yet. They started to work on everything on time, and if the rythm is the same, everything will go smoothly. Even so, Andrea said that “as much as we planned everything, there will always be some last moment cancellations and need for adopting, and this is something that we cannot avoid anyhow. But we are fully aware and ready for it”.

Being elected as the new Chair Team made them jump, scream and everything that a happy person does. There is no limit when a person is excited about something, even less when it is something that they wanted really, really bad. Their excitement motivates them to keep on working on the things they love and wanted for a long time.

Svenja is also ready for the EPM, because the previous secretary shared with her “all the tips and tricks” in order for her to be “as prepared for the statutory events as she should be”.

All the previous Chair Team members shared their practices, ideas, tips with the new elected one, in order to continue the good job.

Even though they do not know each other very well, Tom said that he is “confident we will have a great time with the entire team”. They will not work only on their position, but also on everything that is necessary, and on enjoying their time together and creating great friendships.

Good practices have been exchanged, notes have been made, plans have been established. Now let the EPM come, because the new Chair Team is ready to show what they can do on their first event. As Andrea said: ”If we’re doing something, we better do it the best way there is!”

Written by Raluca Radu, AEGEE-Cluj-Napoca

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EMP Burgos Main Organiser says “it will be a great surprise for all the participants” ../../../2015/01/13/emp-burgos-main-organiser-says-it-will-be-a-great-surprise-for-all-the-participants/ Tue, 13 Jan 2015 20:55:08 +0000 ../../../?p=27879 In little more than a month, the spotlights will be on Burgos where the EPM (formerly known as European boards meeting, EBM) will take place. Historic capital of Castile, this northern city will captivate participants, according to Rubén Sanz Martínez, main organiser of the EPM. We interviewed him to get to know what he and his antenna have in store… Read more →

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In little more than a month, the spotlights will be on Burgos where the EPM (formerly known as European boards meeting, EBM) will take place. Historic capital of Castile, this northern city will captivate participants, according to Rubén Sanz Martínez, main organiser of the EPM. We interviewed him to get to know what he and his antenna have in store for us.


The AEGEEan: When and why did you decide to apply to organise the EPM 2015?

Rubén: After we organised a NWM and a Renove (one of the biggest events for Spanish, French and Portuguese speaking locals), we realised we have a lot of very active members with a lot of experience on organising big events. Since our antenna is growing up very fast and we were full of motivation, we wanted to apply for an Agora at first, but the University of Burgos is one of the smallest in Spain, so we decided that an EPM would be the perfect challenge for us. We made a good program focused on participants and … we were elected! Since then, we are working very hard on this.

What will await the participants in Burgos?

Burgos is the capital of the Old Kingdom of Castile, an amazing city where all stones have a lot of history.  During the middle ages all Spanish kings lived here, some were even crowned and buried here. Even Christopher Columbus came here to see the Spanish king after one of his trips to America. Moreover, it’s the birth place of El Cid, a Spanish hero, and the cathedral of Burgos appears in all art books as one of the top gothic cathedrals of the world. I know that Burgos is a bit unknown outside of Spain, but it will be a great surprise for all the participants. Nonetheless, Burgos was selected last year as one of the top 25 places you must go to by The New York Times.

How are the lodging and the plenary halls? Are the facilities cloes to each other?

It will be an event focused on participants. Even though we will walk from the gym to plenaries, all buildings are in the same area. Also, the places for social program will be close and we will walk there.

Let’s talk about food. Spain is famous for its cuisine, what do participants have to expect?

In 2013, Burgos had the honor of being the Spanish Capital of Gastronomy and our cuisine is one of the most popular in Spain. Even in the most remote corner of the country you can find Burgos cheese and Burgos sausage (also knows as morcilla). We are planning to have typical products of Burgos for dinner after the closing ceremony to share it with all the participants.

We are currently facing an economic depression phase. Have you had any difficulties in finding sponsors and partners?

I always say: “The most important things in life are for free” and here it’s the same. The economical situation is not the best, but we are a big team full of ultra motivated people and we are trying to get as much as possible by working hard. Step by step we are reaching all our goals. We already have all the basic features, now we are working hard for get more for all participants.

How many active members do you have in your antenna? How will you ensure that you have enough organisers and helpers?

Now AEGEE Burgos has about sixty members only, but we have fourty active members (five of them are from other cities living in Burgos) and we have chosen ten members with a lot of experience in order to have a final number of five. We can say that there will be one of us always ready to to help participants.

Why will EPM Burgos be unforgettable?

It enough to go to our website to see how nice the city is, all the work we’ve done so far, how easy it is to reach Burgos, etc…  For sure it will be an unforgettable experience for all of you!

According to the statistics on Zeus, only 290 people applied (and now applications are open again), a lot less compared to the previous EBM in Lublin. Why do you think applications decreased? Were you disappointed by the results?

Well, all of us knew there would be less participants than the previous ones. The application period was during Christmas holidays, when all people were spending time with family or focused on exams. The topic is Russia and EU, but it will be on the opposite corner of Europe, and Agora will be during Easter in Spain too, so almost all people have chosen to attend this or the other event, but I am sure and I can say proudly that nobody who comes to EPM Burgos will regret it.

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Venezia

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RENOVE IV, where everything started ../../../2014/11/04/renove-iv-where-everything-started/ Tue, 04 Nov 2014 14:44:14 +0000 ../../../?p=26176 There we were again. Back in Manjirón, where this popular event took place for the very first time back in 2011 and where some of the most active members of our area nowadays also started! In some way, this event became kind of compulsory for the members of our area (La Nave, the area of the French-, Portuguese- and Spanish-speaking… Read more →

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There we were again. Back in Manjirón, where this popular event took place for the very first time back in 2011 and where some of the most active members of our area nowadays also started!

In some way, this event became kind of compulsory for the members of our area (La Nave, the area of the French-, Portuguese- and Spanish-speaking antennae). We cannot finish a summer period without celebrating a Renove. The main purpose of this event is to have a big reunion of motivated members, to make participants have a good time after a wonderful and exciting experience in their Summer Universities, to let them discover a bit more about AEGEE and to gather together newbies and oldies from each antennae so they can make future plans for the upcoming year. Fun, experiences and team-building are the key elements of the event.

After great organisational work from AEGEE-Madrid, we can say the event was a success and people came back home full of happiness and motivation. Thank you for it and congratulations!

As a starter, participants were divided in groups representing different urban tribes in a good combination of oldies and newbies from different antennae to help people meet each other even before the event. Emos, rappers, heavies, hunkies, hipsters, chavs, hicks, preppies, nerds and hippies went around the lodging, even if the first night it was more animal like as we started with a Cat party (Madrileños’ style).

Next day in the morning we went for a walk: to some people a delight and to others mostly annoyance. We talked about our experiences in AEGEE in groups which is interesting and also inspiring for others. There was a fun gymkhana on Saturday afternoon where all groups worked together and did their best to complete every task. And after it… let’s go for recovery tasks! As there was an antenna which kidnapped loads of mascots from other close (or not so close) antennae, there were tasks to get them back for nearly everyone. Thank you, AEGEE-Oviedo!

 

At night it was time to let the tribes out and most of them impressed us with their characterisation and performance during the party. On Sunday it was time for some serious stuff; workshops and talks. Before the event, La Tripulación (NetCom Team) asked all members to send their SU pictures and share their experiences with a sentence. A video was released there for the joy of the lucky participants.

The sessions started with “AEGEE in your resume” held by Gerardo García, Olga Rivero (AEGEE-Oviedo), Marta Martinez (AEGEE-Santander) and Iker Iraizoz (AEGEE-Valladolid) followed by “My life in AEGEE” by Álvaro Espinosa, Fernando Campo (AEGEE-Santander), Pablo Ruiz (AEGEE-Zaragoza) and myself. Last but not least, there was time for AEGEE-Burgos to inform everyone about the upcoming EPM Burgos 2015, to present their project and their team; as well as for AEGEE-Oviedo to present Autumn AgorAsturias.

 

People left on Sunday after lunch and, after a short but intense weekend full of AEGEE spirit, farewell time was as difficult as in a SU. We believe many new members will be active after Renove IV… let’s keep working and being awesome!

Written by Carmen María López Banegas (AEGEE-Alicante)

Pictures by Ksenia Lupanova (AEGEE-Moskva) and Alberto Arroyo (AEGEE-Madrid)

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AEGEE-Madrid Brings Renove Back to its roots ../../../2014/06/28/aegee-madrid-brings-renove-back-to-its-roots/ Sat, 28 Jun 2014 09:00:58 +0000 ../../../?p=24071 Renove is a common term for members of La Nave, the nickname for the locals in France, Spain, Portugal and AEGEE-Brussels/Bruxelles. This year the 4th edition of Renove will be hosted, bringing back the event to where it originally started, namely in a small village close to Madrid. AEGEE-Madrid will already host the fourth edition of Renove, but even though… Read more →

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Renove is a common term for members of La Nave, the nickname for the locals in France, Spain, Portugal and AEGEE-Brussels/Bruxelles. This year the 4th edition of Renove will be hosted, bringing back the event to where it originally started, namely in a small village close to Madrid.

AEGEE-Madrid will already host the fourth edition of Renove, but even though the event has existed for years, still not many members outside of La Nave know about it. The AEGEEan therefore interviewed newly elected NetCom assistant Carmen Maria about the idea behind the event. The idea was to have a common event right after the period of Summer Universities (when new members are really motivated and want to know more about AEGEE). An event which combines funny activities and information about AEGEE in the right doses, as well as allows antennae members to get to know each other by mixing oldies and newbies while promoting teambuilding.”

After the first edition of the event, Antonio Velez then President of AEGEE-Madrid explained to The AEGEEan that the idea included having a team based competition, some light workshops and a lot of fun and parties to make it an attractive event for newbies. “As one of the main objectives (and results) of this event was to activate new people in order to gain new board members, Maria Laglera (PR of SUCT 2011) suggested the name Renove, which in Spain is the name of a goverment program to replace old cars, and we all agreed,” he told the magazine when being interviewed by The AEGEEan in 2011.

In the last years the event has been hosted by AEGEE-Madrid, AEGEE-Valladolid and AEGEE-Burgos. The NetCom team, La Tripulación, ensured that the event created back in 2011 kept its original spirit and main purpose and has over the years taken further control of the content in order for it not to divert its aim.

As mentioned, the event this year goes back to where it started, in a small village close to the Spanish capital and again hosted by AEGEE-Madrid. Carmen Maria tells us: “Clearly, Madrid is geographically the most convenient city for the whole area. Connections are better and easier for people than to other cities. It will also be good for the antenna to motivate and activate members which is a bit difficult in such a big city.”

Renove in Valladolid

As always it will be a busy autumn for the antennae in “La Nave” having several interesting events to go to. There will be Renove in September, sending delegates and visitors to the Autumn Agora in Cagliari in October and the Autumn Network Meeting in November in Zaragoza. The AEGEEan asked Carmen Maria if she believes the event participation in Renove and later the NWM in Zaragoza will be affected by the busy schedule and she says: “Renove is taking place right in the middle of Spain and Zaragoza is in the Northwest. These cities have quite a good location regarding the rest of the antennae of our area so we don’t really see a problem. The content and aim of these events are also pretty different so they can attract a wide variety of members. Moreover, we love Renoves and NWMs!”

Next to these events, early next year there will also be plenty of work for AEGEE antennae as the EPM will take place in Burgos in February and a few months later there will be the Spring Agora in Gijon organized by AEGEE-Oviedo. The Autumn NWM as well as Renove will be of great importance for these two statutory events They will be really relevant as many people might get active and find the motivation to take part in these upcoming events. They will also be the perfect place to learn a bit more about event’s organisation, functioning of the teams and so on, so we expect these events to be a help for the future organisers and helpers of the EPM and the Agora. They will be perfect places to bond together,” Carmen Maria tells The AEGEEan.

Renove hosted by AEGEE-Burgos

Of course The AEGEEan also interview the board of AEGEE-Madrid about their motivation to organise the event. It was already said last year that the antenna wanted to organise the event again but in the end the participants enjoyed a fruitful event hosted by AEGEE-Burgos. So instead of Renove 3.0 it turned out that Renove 4.0 would be the follow-up event for AEGEE-Madrid on their great success in 2011 and they tell us: Well, for us, it was about time to do it.  Last year we were in a rush and we didn’t have enough time to prepare a project like this one. This year, with a fresh new board and some new active members there was a constant factor that always appeared in our projects: Renove IV. Since the very beginning, it was proposed to organise the Renove in 2014, and all the new and old board member agreed on that. As the time was passing, we were more and more excited about the idea of organising an event like this for our region.We have worked hard lately on it and finally we decided to send our application to “La Tripulación”.”

Even though about three years have gone by, there are still people in AEGEE-Madrid that have the experience of hosting the first event that will offer their expertise for the 4th edition, for example Sergio Recuero, who was part of the team that organized the first Renove. For Renove 4.0, he will be in charge of the social programme and activities before and during the event. Also Antonio Vélez who used to be a subcommisioner for the Network Commission, and who is another experienced member from AEGEE-Madrid will help the antenna with the organisation of this big project. Javier Uceda, the Vice president, was also involved with the same enthusiasm in the first one as he is in this one. “With their experience, ideas, patience and hard work, we are sure we will make the difference for Renove IV,” the rest of the board of AEGEE-Madrid ensures The AEGEEan.

These experienced members work together with the group of organisers with new motivated members such as Alberto Arroyo and Silvia de Gregorio that are very motivated and want to get involved in the organization of such an event for the whole region. They will also make use of the experience of Cintia Pérez, Eva Alcolea and Ana Gómez (Anita), who have already organized events not only on a local level, but also in the European level, which surely will be a great contribution.

 However, the event won’t all be the same as the first year. First of all, the first thing that will be different is the accommodation. The lodging has been renovated during the last year and the participants will be in wood huts instead of a hostel. Furthermore, the owners of the place have also renovated the facilities and there will also be a greater arrangement of the parties this time around. But changes aren’t only made to the accommodation, AEGEE-Madrid has a lot of surprises in mind as well as activities, games, a big gymkana and the thematic for this Renove that they unfortunately cannot reveal yet, but they ensure that everyone is going to have a great time. “The key of the last success was the place chosen, Manjirón, (which, would be the same but a little bit changed) but also the new team of organisers, one of them will be organiser of this Renove too (Sergio Recuero) and the social programme. We would like to contribute to repeat that success this year with fresh ideas and activities to make sure everyone is going to remember this event. However, as everyone knows, we will keep in mind what happened during the first Renove, but we won’t like to reenact it, as if we were reenacting a historical battle. As Heraclitus said: “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man,” the board says.

Former Network Commissioner Pauline at Renove in Burgos. The Network Commission is of course also very involved in Renove 4.0 that will be in Madrid

AEGEE-Madrid has many plans for the events and have already chosen the thematic for the making of the groups, as in other Renoves the participants will be divided into different groups during the event. “It is so great that we cannot tell you anything else, it is a secret (part of the surprises that we are planning). However, we know that you will love it. Our idea is to bring people from different places together and mixed the “oldies” with the “start-to-be-active” and “newbies”, so the event can be more fun and productive. Through this groups, we will make contact with all the participants and it will increase the relations of the people before and after the event,” the board finishes the interview with excitement for the event.

Renove is not the only event that AEGEE-Madrid is working on. Every week they gather the members to motivate new ones and get them in contact with the board and the rest of the people from AEGEE either at a meeting or a social drink. Besides that, as many other antennae, AEGEE-Madrid is also busy working on their upcoming Summer University and they have plenty more events in mind to ensure that AEGEE members will enjoy happenings hosted by their antenna several times of the year in different shapes of events.

Written by Patricia Anthony, AEGEE-Zaragoza.

 

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