Group sessions about different aspects of working in the board of AEGEE-Europe, information about different initiatives that have to be followed up, visits to the European Parliament and other partners and stakeholders and a teambuilding weekend: after an extensive Knowledge Transfer period, taking place from the 14th until the 31st of July and the official start of their term on the 1st of August, the 52nd Comité Directeur (CD) is ready to rock! The AEGEEan interviewed Aleksandra, Antonija, Holger, Ioana, Ivan, Mayri and Paul about their first impressions of Brussels and the CD house, the Knowledge Transfer and their plans for the upcoming year.

A lot was discussed during the two weeks of Knowledge Transfer, so the question that arises is what the most interesting or funny thing that the new CD members have learned is. For the new Projects and Communications Director, Mayri Tiido, this was “a lot of Slovak wisdom thanks to Ivan [Bielik]” while Ivan himself, Human Resources Director, thought the most interesting aspect “was to observe other board members in non-AEGEE-related activities”. Both President Paul Smits and Vice-President/External Relations Director Aleksandra Kluczka agree that it was interesting to get to know the other team members. As Paul explains: “all the AEGEE knowledge was expected – the details were new, but not too surprising. However, with people it is always a new discovery how they feel, think and live.”

Antonija Parat, Secretary General, found it very interesting to see “how AEGEE is perceived here in Brussels, and to learn more about the different organisations and partners we work with”, while Network Director Holger Schmitt had a very interesting experience being interviewed by two journalists about the role of AEGEE as a student organisation and recording AEGEE’s standpoint on education in short clips. “It was the first time of feeling in charge to represent AEGEE and formulate our goals and visions.” He also remarks another responsibility the new Comité Directeur had to take up, namely the fixing of the floors in the dining and meeting room. As Interim Financial Director Ioana Duca summarizes: “Everything was interesting – it’s amazing to learn so many things from the “oldies”!”

Even before their term officially started, the new Comité Directeur already started taking up some of the tasks they are officially fulfilling now. Mayri has been in charge of the social media platforms, while Ivan is keeping himself busy with – of course – Human Resources, internal education and design. Holger has already got in contact with the Network Commission, but also with external partners and stakeholders he will be in charge of. Antonija and Ioana focused on the expected tasks, respectively administrational tasks and finances. Ola has took up the communication with some of the external partners and started to prepare the AEGEE anniversary, while Paul isn’t only busy with his presidential tasks but has also become the “IT-god”, which means that he is arranging that people can actually use their phones and computers in the house.  “Luckily Ivan will take care of the main website and Holger is managing Podio for us.”

Even though their term has already begun, the team members had some tasks they looked forward to taking up. For Ivan this is the position paper on education, while Aleksandra and Antonija are eager to start developing the Activity Plan “and hopefully achieving the goals we set for ourselves”. Holger is looking forward to “finally be entirely in charge of our beloved Network. As Network Director I adopted 13,000 members and 200 locals for whom I feel a lot of responsibility!”. Last but not least, Paul is ready to work on the ongoing communications, but next to that he also wants “to start working on our own ideas after almost three weeks of brainwashing”. Last but not least, Mayri is looking forward to moving into the room, while Ioana says that “it’s not only the tasks, but the beginning of a new life!”

Of course, we were also curious what the team members think of their new house and hometown. “I really like Brussels”, Mayri says, “as it feels like it has a lot to offer in terms of events, people, shops and culture”. Holger adds to this: “I just love to be in a three- or sometimes even four-lingual (Dutch, French, English, German) city and to understand almost everything, although I have to work on my Dutch!”. Paul wasn’t that impressed at first, but luckily it became better after the city tour by Miguel. “I am really curious how my life will be in the upcoming year outside working hours, and I hope to find lots of nice things to do!” As Aleksandra summarizes: “I think that it’s a good place to live – there are a lot of opportunities for development and participation, but also culture and leisure time. At the same time it is quite a small city compared to many capitals, which makes it cosy.”

The Comité Directeur House has also happily been accepted. As Holger tells us: “I really love our CD house and I already feel responsible for keeping it in shape and presentable to our guests. Like some people in the institutions, I also like to call our house the ‘AEGEE Embassy’ where we can present our work and projects to externals. Indeed, we are living very close together, but the house also offers enough space to find your own place to work and relax while you can quickly switch and socialize with your team members or guests in the house if you want to”. All of the members already have a favorite room too. For Ivan this one is the archives, while Mayri prefers the office and Ioana and Aleksandra like to spend their time in the garden. Paul recommends the attic, because “you can watch the stars from there, but it’s dusty and has a bad climate too.” Holger really likes the meeting room “because it is very light, has a nice working atmosphere where you can focus on your own tasks and it is also the room for discussions, meeting and developing new ideas and concepts in the team which I like very much”. For unknown reasons Antonija enjoys sitting on the stairs. “I already have my preferred place on the stairs, and my team members are teasing me for this habit.”

Asked who the mommy of the house will be, all girls agree that this must be Ioana. “She is already the mommy of the house”, Aleksandra tells us. As for cooking, the team will try to cook together as much as possible to ensure some quality time with the team. As mommy Ioana explains: “We’’ll cook all together as a family!” According to Aleksandra, Ioana is also the “most creative cook”. Antonija on the other side puts herself in the “don’t-know-how-to-cook-category, but I’m learning.”

Written by Svenja van der Tol, AEGEE-Nijmegen

Dear Network, once again it is the time to share and prepare you a little bit for who you are going to see at the Autumn Agora in Budapest. We have here with us the president of AEGEE-Cluj-Napoca & former CD Assistant, Ioana Duca, who will be answering a few questions about herself, her candidature for SUCT and future plans.

1) So, Ioana, you are no stranger to AEGEE, locally or Europeanly speaking, tell us a little bit about being president and some challenges you faced during the Summer Universities you organised.

Being president can be more difficult than some of you are thinking. For me it is a pleasure to work with my team and it is not something new. In the previous board I was the Secretary and I worked a lot with our HR responsible, treasurer, PR responsible, let’s say that I was doing a bit of everything and for a president it is really important to know how to deal with all these things. It is a pleasure to share my knowledge with my team and to help the new ones learn more and grow at the same time.

Organising a Summer University is a challenge all the time. Even if you prepare everything in advance, before and during the Summer University, you will still have to change a lot of things. It is a continuous work, using plan B, C and sometimes even D. It is good that the alphabet has so many letters! This summer was the craziest one for me: organising 3 SU’s ( “Cross the ECOpath in Central Europe”, “AEGEEans, Y U No Feel Transylvania” & “The Wild, Wild. ..East!”) and helping the 4^th one (“Romanian Traddictions”), it was a real challenge for me but a real pleasure at the same time. I like to organise, sleep less, spend time finding cheap solutions, take decisions on how to share money or how to save more, be faced with different problems, I like to be very active.

But the biggest challenge  this year was a visa related one. In the first TSU organised by my local, AEGEE-Piliscsaba and AEGEE-Gliwice (“Cross the ECOpath in Central Europe), we had a problem with a Ucranian participant and he couldn’t join us in Hungary. He was forced, at the border with Hungary, to go back to Romania and come directly to Poland. Unfortunately, we keep having this kind of problems.

2) Speaking of Summer Universities, just after it ended, the one organised by AEGEE-Cluj-Napoca-Piliscsaba-Gliwice, made it as The AEGEEan’s SU story of the week. What was it like to find out that your SU was the one voted for?

It was a nice surprise for me to see that our SU was voted as the SU story for one week, but at the same time, it was a confirmation that all the work and all the problems and challenges were not in vain. For me, organising an SU is not a burden, but with any type of event, when you have a lot of problems, you start thinking harder about all your decisions. In the end, we had an amazing  SU – visiting 3 countries, having an extraordinary group of 22 participants and great organisers and helpers -, and it was even better when I saw that by being the SU story of the week, others learned about this, too.

3) Being President is no easy ride, so what made you apply for the position of CD Assistant?

I decided to apply for CD Assistant because I needed a new challenge and I wanted to get more involved. It truly was a challenge to work at the same time in Brussels, as assistant, and in Cluj-Napoca, as President of my new board and as part of several teams of SU organisers. It is good that we have internet, Skype, Facebook and e-mails! All these helped me a lot, because I was living in Brussels, working with the AEGEE archives, but spending a lot of time on the internet as well, in order to do research, have meetings, and basically work for my local and its SUs. Both the previous and the new board of AEGEE-Cluj-Napoca supported me, as my stay in Brussels happened soon after the elections and during the transfer of knowledge period.

4) Was your experience as a CD Assistant that which determined you to run for SUCT?

I was thinking about it before as well, but this experience helped me make the final decision. Being the Assistant of the CD, I had the chance to learn more and so I wanted to get more involved. I also met some new friends, who supported me in the decision to run for SUCT.

5) How does it feel to know that you are running against two other people for the position of Project Director?

It is good to see so many motivated candidates, all wanting to work hard. I know that all of them are really good, with a lot of experience, and one of them is also an old friend of mine (a participant of the first SU I’ve ever organised). I’m sure that we’ll have a perfect and hard working SUCT team.

6) I won’t ask you if you think you are more qualified, but I will ask you: what if you don’t get elected as Project Director? What will you do then?

It is hard to say who is more qualified or who will be elected as Project Manager, but I’m sure that no matter the results, the team will do everything to implement all new ideas and strive to make the best out of their time as SUCT and out of all the upcoming SUs.

7) About the future, regardless of the outcome of the election, are you planning to run again for President of AEGEE-Cluj-Napoca?

Being President has given me the chance to help the others learn more about AEGEE and grow enough as to be themselves future candidates for the position of President. It is very important for a local to have fresh and motivated leaders, so that’s why I’ll let others be next year’s candidates. But because I’m an AEGEE addict, I’ll always continue to help my local, as well as other locals.

The AEGEEan wishes you a lot of luck, Ioana, and we’ll see you in Budapest!

Written by Andra Toma, AEGEE-Bucureşti