One of the most popular pre-events of Agora Zaragoza was “AGORAPHOBIA” organised by AEGEE-Barcelona and as it has been shown from pictures that were published on the Facebook page of AEGEE-Barcelona as well as Facebook profiles of the participants and organizers, and from their big smiles, it was really successful!

When my airplane landed I could not wait to go to the hostel and start meeting forty AEGEEans! Tired enough from my flight, but felt really fresh when reaching the dining room I heard the sounds of participants and organizers! They were laughing, they were talking… they were happy for being in Barcelona and let the event begin! How did it officially begin? By important and funny, and at the same time AGORAPHOBIC introductions from Nacho López del Blanco (organiser from AEGEE-Barcelona)! And what do AEGEE people need to start coming closer? Ice-breaking games of course! The group got out in Barcelona streets and played some funny and energetic games! Next stop – party! What else? The spirit was drinking beer, dancing, making crazy moves, funny AEGEEans, laughter and amazing time!

Next morning even if it seemed difficult to wake up, the sunny day and the thought of the first walk in Barcelona made it much easier! First stop: “Plaza España”! That was the best way to see how beautiful this city is – by walking in Barcelona’s big streets, watching the amazing edifices and the awesome water fountains. It was so nice to start “getting lost” in Barcelona! And what was the best price for being exhausted by walking so many hours? Paella! Some of the organisers had already gone to a big area, a bit out of the city, where people usually go to eat with their friends and being entertained. When the rest of the group reached them, cold sangria and some snacks were there waiting for the hungry participants. After having enjoyed one of the best paellas, three Spanish guys decided to entertain everyone more by playing songs in their guitars (David Martín Pérez, and El Juli Pallares Garcia, organizers from AEGEE-Barcelona, Ander Fernández, participant from AEGEE-Bilbao) and that is how that lunch turned out awesome! What was next? The AGORAPHOBIC night city tour! Did the participants dare to go? They did! Did they regret it? NO! People were all asked to get dressed in dark clothes and have candles… The meeting point was outside of the cathedral of the old town of Barcelona. That was the beginning…Two weird ladies (organisers) started to unravel a story… a scary story that was coming alive in front of the participants’ eyes!!! Some scary people (the organisers) were presenting a scary deadly story in parallel with the visit of the old town… In the aftermath their performance was great and made the night really worthwhile!

The next bright day in Barcelona started. What was first? Some weird but at the same time really interesting activities about trusting others, familiar and non-familiar. But the most impressive activity was the one that the group had their eyes covered – each sat at the opposite side of another person and had a material between them (something like clay) that could be formed in any shape. By cooperating with the other person the result was awesome. Everyone made some really nice objects. The event continued with the bike city tour. Two hours riding a bike and at the same time visiting the impeccable city of Barcelona was a fantastic experience!

The sense of riding a bicycle in a marine area with people full of AEGEE spirit along with the freedom that accelerating the bike offers was one of the moments of the event that will not be forgotten. Such a unique feeling that still feels hard to describe. The rule of the night was to be dressed frighteningly as it was the Halloween period! Everyone’s scary face made the night priceless! Spanish terror night was an amazing experience as participants had the chance to taste traditional drinks and food, all prepared perfectly by the organisers! After having a great time there eating, drinking and laughing, participants were ready to terrify the residents of Barcelona in a club! Full of joy, enthusiasm and energy, happy AEGEE people danced till dawn!

“Para bailar la bamba, Para bailar la bamba se necesita una poca de gracia, una poca de gracia para mi para ti y arriba y arriba y arriba y arriba por ti sere, por ti sere, por ti sere” This is how the last day in Barcelona started. Why? AEGEE-Bilbao had stolen the flag of AEGEE-Praha and here was the punishment. Participants from AEGEE-Praha had to find five random people during breakfast and persuade them to sing “La Bamba” in front of everyone so as to take back their flag! And they made it! The three participants from AEGEE-Praha (Lucie Zágorová, Pavel Jíša, Milena Jurigova) who were singing and dancing with the strangers, along with the guitar escort of Ander Fernández (AEGEE-Bilbao) made the day start with plenty of positive energy. Now it was the right time to start walking on the streets of the city! The group was walking for a long time but did not care as they were lucky to be gathered in an amazing city and make new friends.

The day passed by talking, laughing, watching incredible Barcelona, getting crazy and capturing mad moments that will remain the best souvenir! The last city tour culminated with a visit to a university where participants obtained knowledge about the first steps of cinema. Interesting even for those who are not passionate about this field! AGORAPHOBIA ended with a Suit Up party. The last night everyone was looking even more sexy in their fancy clothes! Drinking, dancing and partying with the most excited people made the night!

And it is always difficult when the departure day comes! Difficult to say goodbye to your new friends, but their warm hugs, their smiles and their “See you again” promises make it less hard to leave and make you feel blessed for having such an experience with these exact people, their exact smiles and positive energy that made you happy everyday!

Written by Dimitra Fratzeskou (AEGEE-Peiraias)

Between the 27th and the 31st of October 2012, AEGEE-Cluj-Napoca brought together 11 AEGEEans for a spooky, fun filled AGORA pre-event, and they all got to experience Halloween in the country of vampires, ghosts and gools – Transylvania.

“Halloween is coming. The streets are dark, the pubs turn into castles, and everything becomes creepy. All this happens all over the world, but how about spending Halloween in the land of Dracula? We’ll turn the darkest holiday in the calendar into the craziest adventure and face the famous and fierce Agora of Thrones with courage and high spirits!”

This was the text that attracted the 11 participants to spend five days in Cluj-Napoca and experience life in the heart of Transylvania. Karaoke night, city tour, guided visit of the oldest cemetery in the city, pub crawling, scary European Night and Dracula Party were only a few of the things on the schedule prepared for the event.

On the first day, the participants were greeted with warm welcomes and a funny welcome package. The organisers wanted everybody to feel the Halloween spirit right from the start, so besides the map of the city, the schedule of the event, and a badge, each participant received some scary eye-shaped candy and a clove of garlic, to protect them from the vampires of Transylvania.

By far, one of the most popular activities was the “Pumpkin carving workshop”, held right before the scary European Night. The organisers provided some nice and big pumpkins and some sharp knives, while the participants got to show their creativity. The first few cuts were the hardest, but the concentrated faces of the carvers were great material for some very funny pictures. Once the top of the pumpkin was off, people got more into it, and all sort of funny, scary, and happy faces appeared. By the end of the workshop, 15 Halloween pumpkins were proudly decorating the basement where the European Night took place.

Timely to the Halloween theme, we had the most amazing pumpkin carving workshop. Most of us had never carved pumpkins before and though it was a lot more demanding than one would think (raw strength was needed!) everyone got to express their creativity and the results were, well, not that scary, but definitely fun! (Heini Myllylä, AEGEE-Helsinki)

The evening started with all the participants presenting the products they brought from their countries. Dressed in scary costumes and in the light of our new decorations, we got to taste stroopwafels, salmiakki, pufuleţi, Italian wine, Turkish rakı, and much more. 

The European Night had a special spooky Halloween theme. We decorated the cavernous basement of the hostel with pumpkins we had already carved in the afternoon, to make the setting as atmospheric as possible for the night. An old phonograph playing a record with live songs from The Beatles made everything even more perfect, as from the outside people could probably only hear the screams of the girls in the band’s audience, making it sound like people were being killed in the basement during the European Night. (Koen Berghuis, AEGEE-Utrecht)

The event ended with one last memorable party – Dracula Party. Everybody got dressed as well and as creative as they could and we all went out to celebrate Halloween one day earlier. The night continued with another fun karaoke contest in the club where we went dancing. In the early hours of the morning we went back to the hostel, only to find that we were not tired yet and that we still had so much more to talk about.

Halloween in Transylvania – the unique way to feel and enjoy it is AEGEE-Cluj-Napoca: unforgettable memories, the best parties, rich and colourful cultural programme, everything that one participant could want was collected in one place… Big thanks to the organisers who changed the boring reality to a nice and funny Tim Burton movie. (Cafer Saatchi, AEGEE-Sofia)

The event came to an end too quickly and before we knew it, the participants and AEGEE Cluj-Napoca’s Agora delegation had to catch the bus to Budapest. With sleepy eyes and no mood to leave, bags were packed, goodbyes were said and people parted ways, until some other event would offer the chance of a reunion.

Fantastic event, it was so nice to meet old friends again (mostly AEGEE-Cluj-Napoca members) and make new ones. I learned that AEGEE-Cluj-Napoca has only got fantastic and charismatic members (I wonder if you hide the others in cellars or kick them out of your antenna…) and that Finnish people wake up in the middle of the night if you say words like “Beer!” or “ Vodka!”, as they seem to be the only people who play drinking games alone… Miss you all! (Thomas Müller, AEGEE- Konstanz)

Written by Sabina Guja, AEGEE-Cluj-Napoca

Photos by Sabina Guja, AEGEE-Cluj-Napoca, and Koen Berghuis, AEGEE-Utrecht