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

And the Local of the Month of July is…. AEGEE-Udine. Located in north-east of Italy, AEGEE-Udine “in the last months was the most dynamic within my area (Italian speaking locals, AEGEE-Valletta and Contact of AEGEE-Europe in Lugano ed.), and probably in the whole Network” quoting the words of Mattia Abis, Network Commissioner (AEGEE-Cagliari). We spoke with the President Alberto De Nardi and two active members, namely Laura Garbelotto and Giancarlo Nicolò, about their past events and their upcoming plans.

The AEGEEan: Tell us a little bit about the history of your local.

Alberto: I could write a book! Where should I start? I’d say that we are experiencing a positive trend started more than one year ago, characterized by an increasing number of active members, projects, partnerships and promotional activities. In the first months of the year we introduced many changes, mainly with the purpose of giving visibility to the antenna and creating a distinctive image of the association to the external public: new logo and stickers, new t-shirt and hoody, new mascot (Mandi), new flag and banner, new web site. The next phase of this improvement process has just started. It will be deeper and it will take some time. It’s a structural change in the antenna and in the human resources management. We are introducing the committees, the mentor system and a kind of membership criteria that each member has to fulfill. It won’t be easy to implement, but the idea is to have active and motivated members from the moment of their subscription. They have to feel like part of a family and we wish that they don’t take the membership for granted, but as something that has to be conquered.

The AEGEEan: You organized a conference about CIEs (immigrants’ detention centers) and immigration problem in Europe. Why choose such a delicate topic? How was the reception?

Laura: We believe that caring about this topic is our responsibility, as citizens and AEGEE members. Being aware about the social and political reality around us doesn’t mean only to learn how to socialize and respect the different culture of the European natives. We need to consider also how the freedom of people’s mobility inside the European Union emphasizes the existence of an external border around Europe and raises the difference in the rights between European citizens and those who comes from outside, who do not have the same freedom of movement. After the conference, more than a few were surprised and astonished. People would have never expected that this could be happening inside the borders of the civilized and advanced EU, a few kilometers away from their houses, in the total silence of the mainstream media.

The AEGEEan: Not only Udine, but the entire region of Friuli Venezia Giulia. The EVS Tour with Europe Direct was organized in Trieste, can you tell us more about that? Why Trieste?

Alberto: Despite the fact that our region, Friuli Venezia Giulia, is quite small, there are two universities: Udine and Trieste. As Udine is the only local of our region (AEGEE-Trieste was deleted during Autumn Agora Budapest 2012), we decided to promote AEGEE in the city of Trieste too. The promotion is of course not as intense as in Udine, but we still manage to publish some posts online about AEGEE events. The EVS Tour was organized by the youth association Europe Direct Trieste, and consisted in the organization of many events around the region to present the EVS project. We thought: what a good chance to promote AEGEE amongst youth locals. So we contacted them and attended two meetings introducing our association and activities.

The AEGEEan: The BBalkans were hit by floods and a lot of locals and members showed a lot of support. You organized an info desk to get funds/goods for the flood victims. How did you come up with the idea? How did it go?

Giancarlo: As soon as the floods hit the Balkans we wanted to do something to help our neighbors, so we decided to contact the local Balkan community. Udine is close to the border and lots of people from the Balkans live in our region. The first idea was to inform and make students aware of the situation, so we began to collaborate with other university associations in order to be more efficient, according to the Balkan example United we stand. The result was a conference to explain the project, to inform about the emergency, the sanitary problems, the needs and the collection points. Then we created an info-desk inside the university campus to give information and collect goods to ship to the flooded territories. The whole process was very difficult to manage due to time limits and very slow official communication channels of the university, but thanks to the AEGEE spirit the result was great.

The AEGEEan: AEGEE-Udine in the last year almost doubled the number of members and elected a brand new board. How do you deal with knowledge transfer and activating fresh members?

Alberto: At the moment,  knowledge transfer is the most important task of our local. That’s why we organized a Regional Training Course (RTC) in December and a Local Training Course (LTC) in April. The timing of the LTC was strategic: right after the end of the application period for the SUs, because we had the highest number of fresher members. The LTC took place for two full days during the weekend (no classes), far away from exam sessions, not overlapping other events and completely for free. Then we created an online database to store all the useful materials we need such as documents, forms, tool kits, flyers, presentations, contacts and so on. Finally, besides the direct knowledge transfer between each role of former and new board, we just started to introduce the mentor system and the committees as these are two powerful ways of training and integrating new members in the team.

The AEGEEan: Three of your members went to the European School 1 (ES1) in Enschede and one to the Summer University Project School (SUPS). How was it? How important are for you those kind of trainings?

Alberto: Besides them four, another member attended the Training for Trainers (T4T) and one more applied to the IT School, but it was unfortunately cancelled. Personally I attended the ES1 and I’m extremely satisfied with the program and the trainers of the Academy. We covered all the important managerial aspects for a local, the sessions were stimulating and most important the School was inspiring because I came back with some very useful suggestions that we already started to implement. In the same way, another member went to SUPS in Izmir and claimed that it was an incredible experience as well. Trainers were really experienced and motivating and they shared a lot of good ideas. So we strongly believe in the power and utility of trainings and European schools, we always push our members to attend them giving also a partial reimbursement.

The AEGEEans: What are the next plans of your local?

Alberto: First of all, our Travel Summer University, that will start in Ljubljana in a couple of days. We’ll spend seven days in Slovenia and seven in Italy. Everything is ready and we are very happy about the collaboration with AEGEE-Ljubljana. There is a big team of motivated organizers and the program is fantastic, so we have all the ingredients for a great event. But we have also started to work already on the next big event organized by our antenna…drum roll…the 3rd RTC in a row. The first two were memorable, so we are thinking to repeat it every year. Last year we had 60 participants and we reached the limit of the lodging place and we don’t expect less people to come this year. The dates are already set: 5th-8th of December.

Written by Erika Bettin, AEGEE-Venezia

AEGEE-Sankt Peterburg is one of the most northern antennae in the AEGEE Network. However, that is not the most special part about this interesting antenna. Discover the story behind it in this interview with the President of AEGEE-Sankt Peterburg where you get insight details into how they motivate their many members and organise events taking place far away from their own city. 

It is a paradox, but AEGEE-Sankt Peterburg was founded in 1996 – at one of the most difficult periods of modern Russian history.  But the antenna has survived and until now the members have done their best to contribute to the development of the AEGEE community. Dozens of different events were organised during these years, but there is one very special project, and different from all the others, by its scale and ambitions. This is the legendary “Transsiberian Dream” that was invented by AEGEE-Sankt Peterburg. For sure it became the «brand» and now everyone in AEGEE knows about this outstanding project crushing all the borders. The total amount of members have been more or less stable during the latter years. At the moment, the antenna holds 74 members of which about 20 of them are active and some even on the European level of AEGEE. As in many other cases, the amount of members usually increases around the Summer University (SU) application period and in this antenna’s case the number of members rises up to 100.

The AEGEEan interviewed the President of AEGEE-Sankt Peterburg, Yulia Bezhenova, about the upcoming board elections, Winter University and more.

The AEGEEan: You will elect a new board soon, how has it been in the board of your antenna for the past year?

Being in the board is a big challenge and responsibility, but it gives you a lot for the self-development and brings really great feelings when the prospected projects are successfully done. Not all of our board members managed to complete their terms, nevertheless it was one more challenge for the team to face, to stand and to learn. We were a great crew, it was a pleasure to work with such responsible and reliable people, sharing together late evenings by Skype or sitting in the almost closing café, discussing, arguing and strategizing. We would highly recommend everyone to take this responsibility: to be in the board and manage long-term tasks – that’s how you grow.

Would anyone of you like to continue in the board?

The best option for productive work is to combine experience and new ideas. We hope the next board will use best practices from the previous one in implementing fresh concepts. Elections will show…Nevertheless, former board being officially as supervisors or as helpers will support and advise the new one.

Making the promotion video for the Summer University 2013

What local activities do you organise to motivate your members?

We usually organise two local training courses (LTC) during the year. This is an opportunity for us to build the bridge between newbies and experienced members. That’s where knowledge and inspiration transfer takes place. Besides that, we always try to delegate some small tasks while organizing events to the members who just joined or were “warmed up” by SU experience. This is how they become a part of the team and learn to take responsibility. Later, as most of us experienced, they are ready to manage more serious tasks.

It’s also important to bring the European level of AEGEE closer to our members. For this purpose we inform them about opportunities to join some projects. In our upcoming Local Training Course (LTC) there will be a special session led by our members who present Audit Commission and International Politics Working Group (IPWG). Sharing personal experience is much more effective in promoting than just general words.

Are you already thinking about organizing a Summer University next year?

Yes, we will for sure. The white nights of Sankt-Petersburg will open their doors for about 20 lucky participants. We are also open for possible cooperation.

Why did you choose to organize the Winter University?

For the last few years we’ve usually carried out the winter event. It’s definitely worth to visit Russia in winter, it’s so special! We would like to share with participants а magic winter, the beauty of our country. That’s why it’s a pleasure for us to keep up this good tradition and we are inviting everyone to participate in our Russian Winterventure.

Is it difficult to organize an event with AEGEE-Moskva which is far away from your city?

In the country we live in, to travel 600 km from Moscow to St. Petersburg is like going to the next door in a campus!  Seriously, guys from AEGEE-Moskva are our partners and friends for years  so there is no problem to cooperate with them.

Distance is a challenge but not a problem. For instance, we have experience in managing events in cooperation with Sevastopol which is more than 2000 km far away from our city.

The special thing with Winterventure event is that it will be organized only by us, even if the program includes two cities.

Dancing Ball

What is special about the event?

Winterventure will bring our participants to the 18^th century dancing ball, to the gorgeous halls of the Emperor family’s palace and open the treasures of  the Hermitage. The train will take brave travelers from majestic St. Petersburg to dynamic Moscow, which never sleeps. During the adventure, participants will be accompanied by cheerful and careful organizers.

What other things lie in the future plans of AEGEE-Sankt Peterburg?

Every year we organize a SU, winter event and exchange with some other antennae. Every time we try to bring new ideas, that’s why we are ready to set up new contacts, discover new destinations and implement new projects.

On the local level, currently we are working on “Speaking Club” and “Travelers Club”. These projects are also supposed to gather already active members and new ones and by this, to solve such strategic issues like team-building and attracting new members.

One year ago we had already a “speaking club” and now we would like to bring this project back. It will be led by several people who will be in charge of developing different topics and preparing materials for every meeting. Usually it’s performed in a discussion format. Some people are afraid to participate in international events because of lack of foreign language skills. It’s still an issue in Russia. And through this project, we would like to help them to break this barrier. The second project will gather travel-lovers. It will be organized by volunteers among our members and their friends who would like to share their experience of traveling. Also we are planning to invite native representatives, foreign students, to these meetings. The list of possible topics for any country is endless: food, traditions, habits, …This is our plan for the upcoming year. For sure the theme of international communication and traveling will attract and bring quite a lot of new people.

Written by Patricia Anthony, AEGEE-København 

There is a place. Like no place on Earth. A land where every night is a new sleepless adventure. Some say to survive it: You need to be as mad as Hatter. The place in Beograd and The AEGEEan caught up with the antenna in the Serbian capital about what they are working on lately.

Board AEGEE-Beograd 2012.-2013.

The AEGEEan talked with Jelena Stanković and Ivana Miljanac who are part of the coordinating team for the upcoming New Years Eve event in Beograd later this year. There will be board elections in Beograd in December and talking about the experience in the board they say “For two of us, it was interesting experience to work in a board with a lot of different but inspiring people. This year was an existing voyage full of possibilities of learning something new and to transfer our knowledge to others.” It is likely that some of the current members will continue in the new board or become part of the advisory board. The girls also tell The AEGEEan that there are many new members in the antenna who are motivated to contribute to AEGEE-Beograd in this way. The board has since the beginning of their mandate last year been writing a knowledge transfer manual for every function separately to ensure that the new board will manage to do their job well.

When talking about the history and the story behind the antenna the girls get a bit nostalgic. “It seems like it was yesterday, that AEGEE-Beograd became member of AEGEE-Europe, and during these 18 years, sometimes difficult, we managed to become one of the most active locals, with over 60 projects. All this is, of course, because of the people who put a lot of effort and faith into this organization, and that is what makes us special. Keep on smiling even if the ice is breaking.”

AEGEE-Beograd is an antenna with 90 members, where a percentage of about 20% are active. What Ivana and Jelena especially have noticed is that a lot of the new members are as mentioned above interested in participating more, and also especially in the organization of the New Years event they are organizing at the moment.

In order to motivate the members on local level AEGEE-Beograd organizes a Local Training Course (LTC) every year as well as different trainings, social meetings and hangouts. “We are trying to find a way to motivate our members to become and, what is more important, stay active.”

Organizing a New Years event (NYE) is some kind of tradition for AEGEE-Beograd, before this NYE they had DANCE FEEL LOVE vol.1 and vol.2, Crazy Winter Tour vol.1 and vol.2. After AGORA Rhein-Neckar, inspired by AEGEE spirit and people, Jelena decided to organize this event once again, she made a proposal to the board, gathered  a team and the adventure began.

The event has the name “Wonderland” where everything is special and different, and people should expect the unexpected. Moreover, AEGEE-Beograd is also really focusing on the cultural exchange part of organizing events. “As people who attended our events already know, we are always trying to be the best hosts. We want to create a relaxing atmosphere in which participants can actually learn something about Belgrade and Serbian culture.”

In terms of what plans AEGEE-Beograd has for 2014 Jelena and Ivana say that the new board should have the opportunity to decide on this. However, they both promise that the antenna will become more active on the European Level as well.

Written by Patricia Anthony, AEGEE-København

Anyone who has once held a responsible position will tell you that the hardest part is letting go. As a former board member and current Advisory Board member of AEGEE-Leiden I fully agree with that. You start your term with the best intentions, you care, you sacrifice, you give and you learn. And then, one day, a new generation will stand up, take over, and before you know it all there is left for you is to do is watch from the sidelines and –if they ask for it– give advice. They might make the exact same mistakes you did and even though you know they have the right to, at times you will be tempted to intervene… How to let go?

“It is always hard to let go of your tasks, your position, lots of tears might be involved. However, I have to say it is always a pleasure to see how my successors are doing well. When they are following my previous work it feels great, but every single thing they improve or every completely new idea they come up with makes me feel very proud.”
-Marko Grdošić, AEGEE-Zagreb

The beauty of responsibility
You are elected for a position. You held your speech, you tried to convince everyone that you are the right person for the job. They trust you with it, which fills you with pride, and you start working with endless enthusiasm. You respect your predecessors and you try to be better than them. After a few weeks you realize that you still have a lot to learn and that you have to grow into your position. You make mistakes and learn from them, and sometimes you will think you’re the only one who really understands what it is like. You’re probably right, but it’s okay. All you need for a little reward is seeing that, even if they don’t show, the people you do it all for are thankful.

I enjoyed being in the board and I was relatively sad that it ended somehow so fast. I wanted to share every little detail I had learned, so they wouldn’t make the same mistakes as I did. It took some patience to start trusting the new board, but eventually you let go and see that everything still works!”
– Mayri Tiido, AEGEE-Tartu

Letting go
Just when you feel like you have fully grown into your position and you are starting to see some results, you have to start looking for successors. In the beginning no one seems good enough. You’re afraid they won’t be able to handle the responsibility – you already concluded that they don’t know what it is like. But then you realize this doesn’t mean that they are not fit for the job. You didn’t know either. And of course they will make mistakes. You did too. The only thing you can do is prepare them as thoroughly as possible and give them all the trust they need. So you do the best you can, and to your own surprise it makes you proud to see the enthusiasm in their eyes. They make new plans, great plans, some things you didn’t think of yourself and some you don’t agree with. And although you are still convinced that your way is the right way, you know they have to seek for their own. You watch them with a smile, while the moment of stepping aside is coming closer.

“You feel like the old and grumpy one whenever you want to remind your Antenna of old decisions or traditions. It took me one year to find my spot in the Antenna again, but looking back now on my time as president I realize that I learned a lot and it helped me to develop my skills through experience.”
– Annika Lüdeking, AEGEE-Heidelberg

The aftermath
Your successors held their speech, they tried to convince everyone that they are the right persons for the job. Everyone trusts them with it, which fills you with pride. You take some distance – for many reasons you feel it is the right thing to do. But now you are curious about how they are doing and what you see makes you proud. They are outgrowing you, which is good. And you will see that even though you taught them to seek for their own way, they will come to you for advice and you feel honoured because you know it is not because they still see you as the authority, but because they value your opinion. You feel proud when they follow it and you are not offended when they don’t. Slowly you begin to realize that letting go is not about whether you trust your successors or not, it’s about knowing that you prepared them the best way possible.

Written by Marije Arentze, AEGEE-Leiden