During EPM Zagreb, the Civic Education Working Group organised a debate competition, which prize was an Interrail Pass. Domen Brus from AEGEE-Osnabrück was the winner, and he wrote this report of his interesting journey for The AEGEEan.

I started my journey in Ljubljana where I boarded the train headed for Frankfurt, final destination of the day being Konstanz. On the platform, I ran into an old friend of mine who was taking the same train so I was in for a fun drive. However, at that point I had no idea about the “real Deutsche Bahn experience” that was about to follow.

First, we stopped somewhere just across the German border as there was some accident on the tracks. Waiting time: two and a half hours. Luckily such accidents really connect people, so I got to know many nice people and actually had a great time waiting. Fast forward to a couple of hours later, the train stops at Augsburg train station. The board next to the train reads: Delay of 170 min. As I thought things couldn’t get worse the sign changed to: The train is cancelled. So, I boarded a new train and continued my way towards Konstanz. I miraculously caught a connection on the wrong side of Lake Constance and I thought I would actually make it there. As soon as this thought went through my mind the lights flashed and went dark, the train stopped in the middle of a field with a creaking noise and the emergency lights came on. At that moment, it also started to rain. It was already midnight. I knew that if we wouldn’t start moving in exactly eight minutes, then I would miss my last connection and be stranded in a village in the middle of nowhere. Two hours later we were still there. Due to some regulation, they couldn’t let us off the train but sadly they had no actual updates regarding our trip. Finally, a new train arrived and took us to the next station, where a friend of mine awaited me and the first day of travelling thankfully finished.

I spent the next four days in Konstanz. We planned to enjoy the lake, do some kayaking etc. I somehow forgot it’s Germany that I’m talking about so naturally it was more or less raining for four days. Nevertheless, we had a great time. We explored the city and its surroundings and also made some cycling trips to Switzerland. On Monday morning I took the train to Berlin. Due to the experience of the first day I was really paranoid but the trip was actually very enjoyable. I stayed in Berlin until Friday. I was visiting a friend who also lent me her bicycle. I think I made about 150 km in those three days. I was really lucky with the weather so I was able to explore the streets and parks of Berlin thoroughly. I found awesome beach bars, rooftop parties, open air cinemas, dusty record shops, cheap awesome food, cool graffiti and intriguing small galleries. Those few days really reminded me why I fell in love with the city many years ago. I was actually really sad to leave on Friday morning but new adventures awaited me!

It was then that my first class Interrail ticket came in most handy. I took the train to Osnabrück that continued to Amsterdam. When I arrived on the platform there were about 600 young people waiting for the train and for a second I thought I’d have a problem. Well, there were almost no people in the first class and you also get Haribos! I made it to Osnabrück, the best city in the world, just in time to join the local antenna for the canoeing trip. It was really great to see the familiar faces of my old antenna. The canoeing was also just as I remembered it – very rainy but still awesome! Someone mentioned that Osnabrück was the rainiest city in Germany – definitely not something that I knew when choosing my Erasmus destination! After the canoeing, we enjoyed a nice barbecue in front of the city castle and then toured the city till late hours. Next day I first went to the non-existent city of Bielefeld to meet a friend and then finished the day in Verden, a small town close to Bremen where I stayed with a fellow AEGEE friend for a couple of days. Of course, there were again delays and cancellations so yet again I spent many, many hours waiting aimlessly. I used that time mostly for relaxation and to plan my next trip. My original plan was to spend that weekend in Hamburg which turned out to be a horrible idea due to all the craziness that surrounded the G20 meeting. After a few days, I decided to go to Sweden, to Uppsala. When I checked the connection, I saw that I had to change five times and that it would take 14 hours to get there if it all went according to the plan. Since I’m not a smart man I decided to take my chances.

All went surprisingly smooth up until the very end, I was even pleasantly surprised by our whole train taking a ferry. I was asleep at the time so I was quite confused when I woke up inside a ship. I was almost in Stockholm, when there was another “incident” on the tracks so yet again we had to wait for an unknown amount of time. I somehow made to Uppsala by 1:30am, when the night was almost ending since it’s so far up north. The train drive across Sweden was absolutely breath-taking. There are hundreds of little lakes, vast forests and beautiful solitary farms on the grassy fields. The next days I spent too much on bad coffee and overpriced beer. Jokes aside, it was a really nice experience to see a small Swedish student city and the friend whom I was visiting proved to be quite a good city guide.

Only after two days I had to leave again. I travelled to Hamburg to see what the riots did to my beloved Schanzenviertel. To my surprise and amazement there were almost no more traces of the chaos that went on just a few days before. I had a great dinner and too many beers with an Italian friend that I was visiting so I took the morning train almost directly. Not a good idea, I really do not recommend this. I was supposed to be home in 12 hours but by that time I should’ve known better. After many hours of confusion and chaos I made it to München where I took the bus to Ljubljana, since there were no more trains for the day. It was 2pm. After getting home I slept for about two days to recover a bit and set my head straight.

Despite being really unlucky with the trains I really had an amazing time. I saw many people that I hadn’t seen for a really long time, explored many new places, met great new people and generally gained a lot of valuable experience. The only thing I regret is not making my trip longer and seeing even more things.

Written by Domen Brus, AEGEE-Osnabrück

If you have attended EPM Zagreb 2017, you might have assisted to the final round of the debate competition organised by the Civic Education Working Group. The debate in Zagreb was just the last step of a journey started last year in November when Balint Toronyai from AEGEE-Budapest and Doro Harles from AEGEE-Mannheim, members of the CEWG sent an open call for topics. We spoke with them to understand how the competition went. 

Why did you decide to do the competition? 
Bálint: We participated in some amazing debates during the Summer University of AEGEE-Warszawa last summer. We experienced how competitive debating can improve complex and critical thinking in a really fun way. After both of us joined the Civic Education Working Group we decided to organise this competition to strengthen civic competencies and promote debating in the AEGEE community.

How did you select participants? 
Bálint: The application for the competition was open for every AEGEE member; however there were two conditions: the applicants had to be available in Zagreb during the EPM where the final debate took place and they had to apply in pairs (or pair-up with the other single participants) as the debate format and the winning prize were created for such teams. The applicants had to write about their motivation, debating experience and answer some other simple questions, but the true selection was coming in the pre-round of the competition.

Who were the teams? 
Bálint: Most of the teams were formed by people who already knew each other, with one exception where we matched two single participants. It was a really diverse field, seven different AEGEE antennas were proudly represented: Skopje, Heidelberg, Osnabrück, Nijmegen, Bilbao, Zaragoza and Ljubljana. It is easy to say that it was a truly European debate competition.

What was the structure of the debate? 
Bálint: There were two rounds of the debate competition. The pre-round was an online round, where the teams had to prepare video statements with their arguments and send them to us and to their debate opposition. This online way of debating was far from optimal, but it was a compromise we had to take for a Europe-wide debate. The best four teams of the pre-round qualified to the live final which took place at EPM Zagreb. The format of the final was the classical British Parliamentary debate, where two teams have to compete with each other both on the government and the opposition side. This complex way of debating makes it possible to approach issues from multiple angles. 

What were the topics debated? 
Doro: In the pre-round, there were three topics, in debates called proposals, debated on: “This house believes that (THBT) migration should be promoted in the EU”, “THBT an unconditional basic income should be established in the EU” and “THBT people older than 70 should not vote”. The topics were chosen from a bunch of ideas send from the Network in an open call for topics. The proposal at the final was “THBT referendums should be forbidden in national democracies” and fitted to the topic of the EPM “Populism and Anti-European Agitation”.

What was the reaction? Are you satisfied with the result?
Doro: The audience at the final was interested in the topic and the format used to bring the topic closer to people. They could also participate in it by voting before and after the debate which side they were on: for or against the proposal. After the debate, more people were for the proposal than before. In general, the audience liked the event. The participants could develop and practice their skills in public speaking during the competition and all managed the speech in front of a big audience well. We are very satisfied with the development that our participants made over time and that people were interested and not super bored by debating. About the result in the sense of the winners, we cannot say that we would have liked one time better than the other. We are delighted with the winners who are happy about winning the two interrail tickets.

Would you replicate it in other events? 
Doro: We were already thinking about it because a competition is a good way to show that debating can be interesting. Yet, we need to have a fitting event, time to prepare it and find a good prize for the next time. Maybe we are going to do it a bit smaller than this time. Nothing is settled yet but we are working on it.

Is there something you want to add?
Doro: Maybe people got inspired by the debate from EPM and want to organise one in their locals or somewhere else. We have updated the debating toolkit and people can find all relevant information there. Check it out!

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Verona

AEGEE-Europe and the Comité Directeur (CD) are the seven members, elected by the Spring Agora, serving a one-year term living in Brussels, in the AEGEE house or “headoffice”, working as full-time volunteers on AEGEE matters. From financial administration to members lists, from project development to communication, from external relations and lobbying towards EU institutions, the CD is working on many different things each year – all in the best interest of the AEGEE network and its locals.

While the CD might sound like a group of semi-fun bureaucrats, the AEGEE spirit stayed with us!
In the middle of the preparations for EPM Zagreb, spring Network Meetings, Spring Agora Enschede and many many other amazing events, this year, the Comité Directeur has decided to combine travels to EPM Zagreb with a small network trip in order to visit several locals between Brussels and Zagreb taking a trip to get to Zagreb between the 13th and the 22nd of February, and a trip back between the 1st and the 7th of March.

What is CD on Track? Exactly what it sounds like!
Réka, Tekla and Zvonimir will be on the route together and separately visiting AEGEE locals who were kind enough to host, and in return the CD members on track are gladly visiting locals’ partners and university offices, organising sessions for the members of the locals, meetings with the boards, discussions on the present and future of AEGEE, and most importantly: bringing AEGEE-Europe closer to the locals.

The idea came from the Comité Directeur 2016/2017’s common understanding that it is essential for AEGEE-Europe to have a direct experience in order to support the ‘state of the network’ research we are conducting this year. Besides surveys and online consultations, the best way to find out the state of our locals is by understanding their realities and by having an honest conversation with them.

From fundraising matters, to cooperation with other organisations, from development of the area of your local to how to get more active members – we are happy to offer the historic knowledge from head office, lots of good practices and great spirit. As well as we will be happy to listen to your wishes and concerns, your feedback and explore the many different ways we are all experiencing AEGEE.

We have received a lot of excited replies from AEGEE locals requesting sessions about the birth of the Erasmus programme, training for the board members, visiting the mayor’s office and holding information night for university students about what is AEGEE. We will be happy to support their work to fulfill all of them!

If you want to follow CD on Track ( #CDontrack ), you can check out the following routes and cities we will be crossing:

Tekla

Locals: AEGEE-Lille, AEGEE-Torino, AEGEE-Milano, AEGEE-Brescia, AEGEE-Udine, AEGEE-Ljubljana, EPM ZAGREB, AEGEE-Munchen, AEGEE-Stuttgart, AEGEE-Mannheim, AEGEE-Mainz-Wiesbaden, AEGEE-Köln

Zvonimir

Locals: AEGEE-Leon, AEGEE-Torino, AEGEE-Firenze, AEGEE-Bologna, AEGEE-Udine, AEGEE-Ljubljana, EPM ZAGREB, AEGEE-Wien, AEGEE-Passau, AEGEE-Heidelberg, AEGEE-Dusseldorf

Réka

Locals: AEGEE-Toulouse, AEGEE-Torino, AEGEE-Bergamo, AEGEE-Treviso, AEGEE-Udine, AEGEE-Ljubljana, AEGEE-Maribor, EPM ZAGREB, [to be confirmed:] AEGEE-Novi Sad, AEGEE-Beograd, AEGEE-Kragujevac, AEGEE-Nis, AEGEE-Skopje, [final stop to be decided]

And because we strive for transparency in our actions, we would also like to invite you to read the extra section that aims to clarify some of the most frequent reactions we received to the idea of the trip:

Q: Is CD going on holidays?

A: No. We will work during the day on session preparations for you, and will also be continuing our daily office work on the way. We would also like to blog about the trip to show the externals the activities and beauties of your cities, as well as supporting the visited locals on spot and providing sessions/consultation according to their needs.

Q: If Network Director, Financial Director and President are leaving the office, who is going to take care of the most urgent requests and contacts, and the external relations in Brussels?

A: The CD members on track will not be completely offline during the trip. We have learnt to be able to work online among various circumstances, and we are sure the trip will not cause major delays in our work. Besides, the four CD members staying in office will be perfectly able to answer all urgent requests, as well as take care of the external relations and event attendance in Brussels.

Q: CD is supposed to book the cheapest travel option possible according to the rules to all events in order to receive reimbursement. Isn’t this trip more expensive?

A: Our currently expiring contract with InterRail has provided us with the free passes that make the trip together with the reservation fees to result in similar expenses as taking a return flight to Zagreb.
Follow the updates on Facebook / Twitter and #CDonTrack!

Hope to see many of your ‘on the Track’ or in EPM Zagreb!
Warm greetings from Réka, Tekla and Zvonimir,

With the moral support of Joanna, Kasia, Lia and Maarten

With only a few weeks left, European Planning Meeting (EPM) Zagreb is approaching. The conferences and workshops about this year’s topic: Europe under Siege – Populism and Anti-European Agitation. What we will see is the result of the work of two AEGEE members: Eirini Kyriakidi (AEGEE-Athina) and Florian Hauger (AEGEE-Heidelberg). The EPM content managers are working together with the Comité Directeur and local organisers since last November and they will give us a small preview of what participants should expect. 

The AEGEEan: Present yourself.

Eyrin and Florian: Hey, we are Eyrin from AEGEE-Athina and Florian from AEGEE-Heidelberg, as your Content Managers. We are responsible for EPM Zagreb’s thematic conference “Populism and Anti-European Agitation”. Both of us are political science students, local board members and incredibly AEGEE-addicted… oh, and we figured out that the EPM preparation turned us into an old couple. [They smile, ed.]

 
Why did you decide to apply as the content manager of EPM?

Florian: Developing a strategy of how to react on anti-European populism has been one of my best projects since I joined AEGEE in spring 2015. It is an important issue we need to talk about. This is why I decided to propose it as an EPM topic and apply as the content manager.

Eyrin: I wanted to be more active on the European level of AEGEE. Later, the open call for the Content Managers of EPM was announced and I knew I had to apply as soon as I saw the topic! It is an issue that is all around us, not a simple policy on a few papers.

 
What are your previous experience in Populism and the topic of EPM in general?

Florian: Populism and Anti-European Agitation affects both my studies and my work as a parliament employee. I did some research and read quite a lot political science literature on populism. Understanding dynamics and organisation of populist parties or movements is both incredibly interesting and frightening.

Eyrin: I am currently in my last semester of Political Science and International Relations. Therefore, Populism and Anti-European Agitation are more or less part of my everyday life, since I always end up studying about this topic or reading something relevant.

Can you give us a sneak peek of how the content will be? In what will you focus more?

Since Populism and anti-European agitation are deeply interconnected, we couldn’t possibly think of them separating from each other when it came to speakers and workshops. However, our intention is to present many points of view for the same issues, so one could say that we are focusing on the pluralism of opinions.

 
Who are going to be external speakers? What will be more or less the content of workshops?

We are very happy to confirm the engagement of Claudia Chwalisz of Populus UK, LEAP-President Marie-Hélèn Caillol, Gordan Bosanac from the Centre for Peace Studies and Marko Grdosic from the Advisory Council of the Council of Europe. Most of our upcoming workshops proceed to populist mindsets and intentions while others focus further on their strategies, tools and actions.

 
How did you decide to develop the topic? From which perspective will you treat it?

Since the chosen topic is highly controversial, it is absolutely crucial to start with an academic introduction. Lectures and panel discussions will cast light on this subject from diverse points of view.  However, since we both have a political science background, we have already taken into consideration the diversity within AEGEE. So there is no need to be afraid that it will become too much of a lecture! We can actually promise to keep it interesting and engaging for every single one of the participants.

 
How are you connecting the topic with the strategic plan?

Our task is to issue the topic of populism and Euroscepticism and discuss strategies of how to react to its latest developments. The audience will decide if this is put it into action. If you ask us, the new focus areas European Citizenship, Equal Rights, Youth Development and Civic Education could match quite well with topic-related objectives.

 
Who is the CD appointed member?

Maarten de Groot. He is doing a great job and we are incredibly grateful for his support. Thank you, Maarten! You rock! We would also like to thank Viola, who was appointed as a Content Manager at the beginning but had to resign for personal reasons. Thank you for your hard work!

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Verona

At the upcoming European Planning Meeting (EPM) in Zagreb, you will hear more from one of our committees, namely the one that is responsible for monitoring the implementation of the Action Agenda and will be supporting the drafting of the new Action Agenda. Who are we talking about? The Action Agenda Coordination Committee, also known as ACT!

Live Meeting in Brussels

The Action Agenda Coordination Committee (ACT) was officially established as a supporting committee of AEGEE-Europe at Spring Agora Enschede 2012. Our most important task is to have an overview of the implementation of the Action Agenda, which is one of the most important documents created within AEGEE and consists of objectives (goals) that we set for each of our Focus Areas. These objectives have to be implemented by the whole Network, so both locals and European bodies. Do not worry though, because our committee is there to give support!

This year we have 10 team members, who all cooperate with a member of the Network Commission.

Speaker Team:

NWM Barcelona

Svenja van der Tol (Loes Rutten’s couple)

Miljana Vulevic (Mareike Ritter’s couple)

Constantine Bakiris (Aleksandra Mojsova’s couple)

Team members:

Theodora Giakoumelou (PR-responsible and Pablo Palazon’s couple)

Elena Efremova (ACTive Local of the Month responsible and Stanislav Mahula’s couple)

Borja Torres Fuentes (Alejandra Piot’s couple)

Cristina de la Parte Rodriguez (Alin Georgescu’s couple)

Erifyli Evangelou (Spyridon Papadatos’s couple)

Juragis Garcia Perez (Kristina Reshetova’s couple)

Marco Daniele (Gabriele Scollo’s couple)

We are true believers in the importance of having a goal and going fiercely towards it, which is one of the reasons we are gathered in this committee. Throughout our term, new ideas just keep popping up and we can have endless meetings on Skype to discuss them. Although we have a lot of work to do, it is always fun working in this team. Laughs, teasing and internal jokes make everything feel easy peasy. No matter the tasks we are dealing with, the good chemistry, spirits and friendship between us turns our tasks into a hobby.

NWM Beograde

This year we have many ideas to implement. First of all, we have a goal to increase the awareness about the Action Agenda (AA) and Strategic Plan (SP) all over the network. That is why we try to promote the new idea of Action Agenda ambassadors, who are people within a local that are responsible for the implementation and promotion of the Action Agenda and Strategic Plan. Besides that, we plan to have regular meetings with our locals on Action Agenda related topics. Moreover, during the Autumn Network Meetings, we delivered seven workshops on the Action Agenda and Strategic Plan and we plan to continue giving sessions at the upcoming Spring Network Meetings!

Secondly, we try to establish close cooperation with other European Bodies of AEGEE-Europe. This year, we give locals the opportunity to cooperate in the organisation of a Summer University (SU).  Moreover, in cooperation with the Language Interest Group we translated the AA and SP into different languages.  Together with the Working Groups, we are also writing articles about activities that were connected to the AA. And last but not least, cooperating with the awesome people of the Network Commission enables us to receive all the information we need and give our very best to the locals.  

Renove VI

Lastly, we have an idea to set up Standard and Reward Systems. We want to make a set of parameters that clarify which activities exactly fulfil the Action Agenda. That way, locals will know our criteria and be able to address them when planning their activities and we will have a set of standards that will ensure a fair and unified assessment of all activities in the Network. As for the Reward System, we want to give out some prizes to the most deserving locals that gave their contribution to achieve the goals we have all set for ourselves in Leiden.

It is easy to dream what you want to be and achieve, but if you do not have something or someone to measure your progress, remind you of your promise to yourself – your goal – and help you go forward, you will fail. That is what ACT does for AEGEE. If we drafted an Action Agenda during the EPM and the ownership over it was left to the already overburdened CD and dispersed among other bodies, we would be in trouble because – structure works best. Having one committee to take care of the measurement and implementation is the way to go and improve, year after year.

LTC Grodno

ACT is vital for the existence of our organization since it specifically deals with the Action Agenda and the Strategic Plan, which constitute the formula and the aim and goals of our activities. An organization that respects itself and takes seriously the steps it follows, the aim and the vision it applies to its members, has to have a Committee dealing with the stuff ACT does.

This year, we set a difficult but serious goal; to make every single member of AEGEE understand the meaning of the Action Agenda and the Strategic Plan by actively participating in their draft and implementing them during their activities. If we want AEGEE to have a bright future, we need everyone to realise the true vision and importance of the organization’s ethics, found in the AA/SP and implement them in their local’s reality.

More information about Action Agenda and Strategic Plan is here and you can get more information on what ACT does from our new video!

The announce has just been made… the next EPM hosting local is AEGEE-Zagreb from the 23rd to the 27th of February . The Croatian antenna will finally bring back to Balkans a statutory event. Excited? Well… We asked some questions to Zvonimir Canjuga to have the first sneak peek on it.

The AEGEEan: Why did you decide to apply?

Zvonimir: It was not some random decision for us. The idea of organising an EPM at that time in Zagreb was born on EBM Valletta in 2013 which Silvija (ex president) and I attended. As that was my first event, I was impressed with concept and since then I believed that AEGEE-Zagreb was capable to organise such an event. At that point we had all new members in the local so we decided to prepare our local and our members for EPM by organising smaller events like Summer University, and to educate our members about Project Management, event management, time management etc. Such programs took exactly three years from first plans about EPM to be finally realized.

There are several reasons why we wanted and we are organizing EPM. Firstly, we want to show to the youth of Zagreb, but also AEGEE members that Europe and EU is more than traveling without passports. EU offers much more: chance to activate yourself, develop softskills, learn languages, take anactive role in your community or be active in EU circles.

Secondly, with refugee crises we can see how the core values of Europe are weak and some important are threatened. We can see wire fences rising and border patrols all across Europe. We can see some nations want to leave EU. This is not the picture of the Europe that generations before us fighted for. With organising EPM we want to take a chance and participate in fight for rights of youth and values that we cherish.

Thirdly, we want to organise it for all former and current members of AEGEE-Zagreb. As I already said, since 2013 we worked very hard and in several different fields to prepare our members for such big project as European Planning Meeting 2017. We organised a great number of local and European events and we know we are more then ready for task ahead.

Fourthly, we were amazed with the support that we received both from institutional partners and 34 AEGEE locals. With so many people believing in us we owe to them to do our best and work as hard as we can do not let them down.

Last but not least, we want to organise a statutory event on Balkan, the first after Agora Skopje 2011. Balkan countries are all slowly approaching the EU entering process, but we do not see EU as bureaucratic machine, but as community of young people, ideas, knowledge, experiences and inspiration. Organizing the European Planning Meeting 2017 would have great impact for them and their community as well.

What were you doing when the Comité Directeur delivered you the news?

Well it took a long time for the CD to decide who will host EPM, but we knew that it will take time to give someone such great responsibility to organise statutory event. With every email from CD, and we passed two rounds of additional questions, my heart went trough the roof because I was hoping that somewhere in that emails was hidden that we got it. The night when we actually received the good news I was home in my bed almost went to sleep. When I saw email I must admit that I was positively shocked and I started to cry. My mind went crazy and I was wondering “What now? How will we do it?”, but I soon calmed down and i notified my dear Core team. The excitement between the Core team was amazing and  we are very proud when we look on our work in local and on our application. Now we are 100% focused on work for EPM and we cannot wait to host AEGEEans in Zagreb next February.

Please, present your local.

AEGEE-Zagreb was founded in 1993 and now we have around 60 members. I can say that we are a small local,l but we have awesome members with great experience and motivation to work for local. We learned long time ago that a local is our members, and we, leaders of AEGEE-Zagreb are really trying to offer a lot of different things except travels and SUs to them. We meet once per week on our regular weekly meeting in our office, but teams and projects have different meetings days during week. Also our members are active in European bodies of AEGEE-Europe, from project teams to Commissions, and maybe we will have a CD member again soon, who knows. Now we are more focused on local internal work to strengthen our members’ base and work on EPM preparations. All in all this is it, I invite everyone to visit and contact us if someone is in Zagreb.

Who will be in the core team? Do you have already decide?

Core team is consisted of people who were with me from the start. So firstly I want to take opportunity and thank every each of them for their work and support on this. I’m very proud of them. So, I would like to present you my dream team:

1. Vinka Suhin is alongside me most experienced person and person of great trust and she is Vice- Coordinator
2. Andrea Završki  will be Incoming group team leader
3. Nika Krnjak is  our Human Resources group team leader
4. Marina Klanjčić will be IT and PR group team leader with help of Manuela Džankić and Nika Alujević to help her
5. Jakov Rakić will be Fundraising team leader with help of Ana Drmić
6. Lucija Kozjan will be Logistics support team leader
7. Dominik Vukošić will be Social program coordinator
8. Me as Main Coordinator

So this is team that I will lead as Main Coordinator and we are fully confident and prepared to work hard and organize awesome EPM.

Tell us three things that make your local special.

The first thing that makes us special are our members. Although we are a small local, we are full of ambitious, motivated and skillful people who really care about AEGEE and want to make our antenna the best possible. Furthermore, we are very active for a small local. Apart from our weekly meetings, so far this year we have organized exchanges with AEGEE Ljubljana and Amsterdam, various language workshops, PR and public speaking workshops, teambuildings, social drinks, a fundraising concert and so on. Also, we have good relations with other locals and with other student associations in Zagreb.

And now three things that make your city special…

Zagreb is the capital of Croatia, but its main attraction is its peaceful and welcoming atmosphere. It makes you slow down and teaches you how to relax. Although people are very busy, there is always time grab a cup of coffee with your friends or have lunch at delicious nearby restaurants. If you are walking through the centre, don’t be surprised to see cafés full of people all the time. The second thing is that Zagreb has a lot of greenery at the city centre and with mountain Medvednica and lakes Jarun and Bundek within easy reach, you can find spaces for recreation almost anywhere. Finally, most of the city attractions are free and easily reachable by foot, which allows you to really experience the vibe and the atmosphere of Zagreb and discover little things which you cannot find in travel guides. The charming appearance, relaxing atmosphere and accessibility make it very easy to feel like home in Zagreb.

Can you give us already some sneak peeks of what we will see once there?

We were really brainstorming a lot about several options where to hold EPM and we decided that it will be  Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing (FER). This faculty offered us huge gym, 5 workshop rooms and  plenary room within range of 100m. At Student Center which is 300m from FER we will organize all three meals in student canteen per day. In general Faculty is very well connected and its is really easy to reach it from airport, bus or train station which are really close to Faculty.  For more informations about EPM I invite all members to follow us on social media and other channels.

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Verona