The upcoming organisers of Autumn Agora Zaragoza are infamous for their ability to steal flags and mascots. Moreover, they are also well-known for being a big antenna that has active members involved in many well-thought decisions. Even when they chose which mascot(s) should represent their city in the centre of Europe in the middle of nowhere?

Ander Guerrero Ruiz who is one of the many AEGEEan freelance journalists from AEGEE-Zaragoza gives you here the story behind their mascot Deborah.

Why is your mascot a cobra?

In AEGEE-Zaragoza we were bored with all the “innocent” mascots around AEGEE, and, therefore, in Zaragoza we thought we had to find something more passionate, spicier and exotic to show how we are in Zaragoza.

We are famous for our love for Jamón, the Ebro, and the river of tequila and kingdom of anti-cobras. So after some ideas, the decision was clear… a cobra would be the perfect mascot for us!

Why is it named Deborah Cobra?

So… if you have met any member of AEGEE-Zaragoza you should know it. Deborah is the live result of the technique known as “Anti-cobra”. Many people already know it and/or have been delighted by one of our members doing it, but we will explain it for virgin people. “Anti-cobra” is an originally created name and technique that comes from a normal “cobra”: you are in a bar, in a club, in an AEGEE event, everywhere and one boy or girl is really close (more than you would like to, in this case…) to you, you can see their intentions and they decide to make the move and kiss you, you have to be quick to avoid the kiss and the move you make is similar to the movement of a Cobra.

Coming from this “do the cobra” expression, there are other techniques called “Anti-cobra”, “Double anti-cobra, “Anti-cobra extreme”, etc… but those are for experts. We will not describe it for you, but in case you don’t know about it yet then you can discover through asking some representatives from AEGEE-Zaragoza.

When did you get your mascot?

The mascot will turn one year soon. One year ago we thought that it was time already for AEGEE-Zaragoza to have a mascot, so we started to think about “the chosen one” (type and name) and we decided by an overall majority that Deborah Cobra should be the mascot of AEGEE-Zaragoza.

Is it true that you have 12 copies of your mascot? Why is that the case? Are you planning to give her away like your friends from León do with Leoncio?

Yes! Deborah Cobra is actually a crew of Deborahs! To be honest, it was something unexpected. We saw a suitable cuddly toy to be the icon of Deborah, we ordered her through Internet and it came from a long, long distance. Although we thought it was a bit expensive for being just a mascot, it was our lovely and valuable mascot, so we paid for it. The surprise was that once we opened the box… one, two, three, four… up to twelve Deborah Cobras appeared! However, Deborah likes to take too many risks, travel a lot, etc.; so, it’s her life insurance! If something happens, or she needs to take a break to “change her skin”…. we still need our mascot! That is why we are not planning to give any Deborah away.

Do you have any stories featuring your mascot already? A little birdie says that one of your 12 mascots was broken by a member from AEGEE-Helsinki? Is that true, and how?

As we have said, Deborah in her short life has experienced a lot (the crazy Summer University of Zaragoza, Valladolid, Budapest, Erasmus Trips etc.) and a lot of stories could be told… because Deborah has lived and seen a lot, but she is really cautious and there are some AEGEE-Zaragoza Top Secrets.

To enhance the legend of Deborah Cobra it’s true that a well-known AEGEE-Helsinki member almost killed Deborah in the middle of a silly game with other well-known member of AEGEE-Zaragoza… but, Deborah has pure AEGEE-Zaragoza spirit so she is tough, resistant and immortal. Long live to Deborah Cobra!!!

Written by Ander Guerrero Ruiz, AEGEE-Zaragoza.

Recently AEGEE-Europe published a video about taking a look back at 2012 and in The AEGEEan would like to do the same. Last year’s The AEGEEans Choice Awards was a success and will be repeated in Spring Agora Rhein-Neckar. However, we do not have any nominations yet…

Last year was the first time this initiative was organised and it was clear to us that changes were needed to improve the idea. Just like last year, there will be five nominations for each category. However, nominations for each category will be selected in a different way. A competent jury will be chosen for each of the seven categories (with exception of the cutest mascot category that already has five nominees, found through our Facebook page). These juries will consist of experienced AEGEE members who work with topics related to our categories on a daily basis and their expertise should ensure there is a fair evaluation of the nominees (and the outcome is not affected by which antenna has most friends and/or members on Facebook).

Having said that, it will still be The AEGEEans’ Choice Awards, meaning that in the end the members of the Network help us find the winners of each category. There are two ways in which you, as a member, can have an impact. First of all, it is possible to send suggestions for nominations for the different categories through contacting the magazine. Secondly, whenever the juries have voted and decided upon the final nominees for the different categories the lines will be open for voting. Voting will take place between EBM Valletta and Spring Agora Rhein-Neckar so that the awards can be handed out during the Spring Agora.

Some categories have been kept, others have been changed or removed. These are the categories of the 2013 elections:

Categories

Cutest Mascot (nominees already found)

Most Impressive Roll Call

Most Active Working Group

Best Team Achievement

Most Successful Thematic Event

Best Video

Best Merchandise

We’ve added the “best video” category and we would like to show our appreciation for creativity through this category. Videos can be submitted to the e-mail address of the magazine and the videos with most views will become the five nominees for the best video category.

Last year, three Spanish antennae returned from Enschede with three different awards. AEGEE-Zaragoza won the Best Merchandise category, AEGEE-Madrid won the Best Roll Call and AEGEE-Alicante won Best Event. These categories have not been deleted but changed. As The AEGEEan would like to have a more thematic focus, we would like to honor the “Most Successful Thematic Event” this time.

Remaining on the European level The AEGEEan will once again focus on the wide range of teams that are involved actively in AEGEE. This is done through the two categories: “Most Active Working Group” and “Best Team Achievement”.

Remember that all ideas for nominations that you may have can only be nominated if they took place between the first of January in 2012 and the last day of 2012 in December. And please vote for your favorites when the time has come to vote.

Written by Patricia Anthony, AEGEE-København

Organising an event for 200 people is no easy task. However, it is a task that is possible to overcome, and it does not matter whether or not the antenna hosting it is young or experienced. The secret recipe is to have a strong supportive network and motivation, and the result is Renove. An event that you could read about in The AEGEEan the other day and an event that made The AEGEEan team choose AEGEE-Valladolid to be honored as this month’s Local of the Month.

For many members of the Spanish speaking locals this “Renove” event has gained a special place in their hearts, despite only being an event organised once in 2011, and the second time about two weeks ago. However, this event might be even more special for AEGEE-Valladolid members because it is the first event that this antenna has organised since being “brought back from the dead” when they became an antenna in Spring Agora Enschede 2012, and the succesful organisation of this event made them deserve the title as this month’s “Local of the Month”.

One of the organisers, Patricia Garcia, is new in AEGEE too, and she told The AEGEEan about how she joined the Network more or less one year ago: “It all started in September of the past year. One day I was thinking about joining a student association, something I always wanted, but in Valladolid I only knew about Board of European Students of Technology (BEST, for engineers). Then I remembered that my cousin told me once how she had travelled to Brussels with one association that existed in León. I phoned her and she told me about AEGEE. I liked what I heard so she told me about Sergio Oliveros who was trying to create an antenna in Valladolid. Half an hour later I was talking to Sergio on Facebook, a week later I met him and Alberto Cuesta Noriega (AEGEE-Oviedo) and the following week I went to Renove in Madrid.”

Soon she became a part of the team trying to bring AEGEE to Valladolid, and together with Sergio and others she kept fighting for the creation of the antenna because they were all convinced that it was possible and worth it. Then, as history tells us, the antenna was fully created in May and soon the preparation for Renove 2.0 began. A big event to host for a new antenna, and possibly an even bigger event to handle for a first-time organiser, but Patricia managed to enjoy it:  “My first event in AEGEE was Renove so I was looking forward to assisting Renove 2.0. When we knew it would be in Valladolid I was enthusiastic about organising it. I must say it was overwhelming. It was my third event and my first time organising so I had to learn while doing everything, which made things a bit… chaotic,” she laughs and continues “It was really difficult on some occasions to manage with more than 200 people but we did our best and Renove had stuck us together. Besides people from AEGEE-Valladolid, there were helpers from other antennae that made things easier. Organisers, helpers, participants…  Thank you all!”

Another organiser of the Renove 2.0 was Sergio Oliveros, president and founder of AEGEE-Valladolid. The AEGEEan managed to catch him as well, congratulate him on being president of Local of the Month, and hear about the future of AEGEE-Valladolid.

The AEGEEan:  Congratulations on becoming “Local of the month” – what does this mean to you?

Sergio: First of all, thank you very much for this award. This is something very very special and important for us. We are a new antenna (just since Agora Enschede). It was our first event, and the challenge was very big: 200 people. As president, and one of the most experienced members or our antenna, I am proud of AEGEE Valladolid’s team, and all of our helpers of almost all the Spanish antennae, for being able to organise and manage such a big and amazing event.

Last time you told The AEGEEan that you had tripled your number of members, what does the member situation look like in AEGEE-Valladolid today?

Well, summer is a difficult time to recruit members, because of the holidays, Summer Universities (SU) etc. But after summer is the perfect moment to activate them, and the aim of this event was exactly to do so. The situation is almost the same since SU campaign but thanks to Renove 2.0 we have motivated some more people, almost all of our members were helpers/organisers in the event, and their motivation right now is close to the sky. Thanks to that we will be able to organise a lot of activities during this season and we hope to increase our number of members with them. We will also organise a Local Training Course (LTC) in November for all of our new members and newbies of the closer antennae.

Also, last time you said that AEGEE-Valladolid was interested in having a volunteer through European Service Voluntary (EVS) in your city, what does the situation look like today?

Yes, and we still are very interested in it, but it is a hard process. We have every document, and whatever we can do, but now the biggest problem is that the university cannot provide us with one office, and that fact is blocking our plans. But anyway we are going to re-start the dialogue with the university in the next week trying to get it, and finally use the possibility of EVS in our antennae, only option of EVS in the city.

You organised Renove 2.0 last weekend, how did it go? Did you have any difficulties organising the event?

AEGEE-Valladolid members at Renove in 2011

Well, all of the members of the team were newbies in organisation of events (also the main organiser), so we had to do our best to learn very fast and not to make mistakes. A big event like that requires very important logistics and coordination, but finally we got good places for sleeping, workshops, activities, meals and social programme, and all of them closer than 150m to the gym.

Organising the groups for team-building activities, dividing them and moving them for the cultural visits due to the huge amount of people, coordinating an interactive wine tasting with all the participants… But luckily, we were able to do everything thanks to the support of Serrada’s City Hall, the village where the event took place.

At the beginning we felt nervous, also sometimes kind of lost, but bit by bit everything was better and better – the nervousness became fun, and we got a nice event.

So what lies in the future of AEGEE-Valladolid?

Our feelings are amazing right now. Our motivation is really high, our team spirit is completely alive. The team is meeting once per week, increasing our motivation. Our next activity will be an LTC, to be organised the week after Agora Budapest, and then we will develop our activity plan and strategy during the upcoming season.

We will explain to our new members what AEGEE is, on a local and European level. Moreover we will have workshops about how to manage the antenna, how to work as a treasurer or a secretary, how to work in group… Everything needed for being active in our antennae.

Part of your antenna is your mascot Chazo… Why is it called Chazo and what kind of an animal is it?

The newlyweds

It was not easy to find a name for our lovely mascot. First of all we wanted to choose something representative of our city, and that animal is the most typical of our gastronomy. A lechazo is a baby lamb that has not eaten anything but milk. It is a typical meal in this province in addition to wine. Then, the name of Chazo comes from this animal, but the original name is “Chazo le Chazo” (like the 007 agent), but Chazo for friends.

Is it true that he got married during Renove 2.0?

Yes, that is true, in Renove Chazo he got married to Latxa Pela, a beautiful sheep from Bilbao, and the wedding was like a real one. We sent invitations to all of our participants, including them in one group depending of their relation with the couple, for example “Ex”, “Singles”, “Family”, “Lovers” and so on for 12 groups.

The event started with the open ceremony, presentation and live music. It was followed by an interactive wine tasting, European night and stag party, and a full programme on Friday night. After cultural visits and team-building games in the afternoon, the wedding ceremony took place. It included speeches and presents of every group. Finally the whole thing ended with a joyful dinner and party. But the wedding was much more than that. We are going to start new activities with our “wife antenna”, exchanges, and we are also thinking about the next Travelling SU (TSU) Bilbao-Valladolid.

It seems that AEGEE-Valladolid has many plans in store for the future. The AEGEEan congratulates them once more on being the Local of the Month and on the wedding of their mascot… May everybody live happy ever after!

Written by Patricia Anthony, AEGEE-København

Attention: If you think you know an antenna, which deserves to be honoured as “Local of the Month”, send an email with the locals’ name and the reason for nominating to aegeean@aegee.org.

Renovar is Spanish for “Renovate”, which, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary means:

1: To restore to a former better state (as by cleaning, repairing, or rebuilding)

2: To restore to life, vigor, or activity : revive <the church was renovated by a new ecumenical spirit>

Years ago, the Spanish government started a plan called “Renove” which consisted of giving an amount of money to everyone who wanted to change his car for a new one, renovating the fleet of cars and trying to get more environmental friendly ones. Later on, many projects were called “Renove”, all of them with the same spirit: restoring something to a better state. Of course AEGEE couldn’t be an exception.

AEGEE is pretty strong in Spain, but let’s not forget that in many antennae the same group of people have been working throughout many years, without a proper generational change. That’s why the idea of renovating the boards surfaced at the NWM in Granada, and one antenna was the perfect place to put it into practice: AEGEE-Madrid.

Opening ceremony

The idea was to have one event right after the period of Summer Universities (when most of the new members are willing to hear more about AEGEE), with a big amount of fun and the correct amount of information about AEGEE, mixed with some time for the antennae to bring together oldies and newbies and create a team.

The event itself was so succesfull that people were asking: “So… where is it going to be next year?”. The seed was sown and no one could stop it, we needed a Renove 2.

After some months, Sergio Oliveros, from AEGEE-Madrid, the person trying to create once again the antenna of AEGEE-Valladolid, came up with the idea: “I have the perfect place to hold Renove 2!”, and at the NWM in Burgos, the same event where he signed the Convention d’Adhésion for AEGEE-Valladolid, he shared the great news: they were willing to organise Renove 2.

Of course, it’s not easy to organise an event like this one (200 participants is like a small EBM!), especially for a newly created antenna, with a main organiser (Sergio Oliveros) experienced in AEGEE, but an organiser for the first time nevertheless, and most of the other organisers as newbies, with no experience either. It wasn’t easy, but just like last year, many people from all around Spain offered to help. This is the AEGEE spirit, and this is how we live in our Network.

The gym with the 210 participants

The event started on Thursday, with the first people arriving in Valladolid, but the main programme started on Friday, when the 200 participants and organisers were all together in Serrada (the village where we stayed). Due to the magnitude of the event (for a new antenna like AEGEE-Valladolid this was like organising an Agora), they decided to start the event with a special opening ceremony: singing! With the guitars of Anita and Consu (from AEGEE-Coruña and AEGEE-Valencia, respectively), the amazing voices of Olga, Cristina and Espe (AEGEE-Oviedo, AEGEE-Santander and AEGEE-Las Palmas) and the… let’s say “crying-cat-like” voice of Sergio Oliveros.

Right after the show, since we were in the land of wine (Serrada is in the middle of a Protected Designation of Origin area of wine), we enjoyed some wine tasting (12 different wines in total) with “tapas” (small complement of food usually offered with wine in bars). This was right before the European Night, which was, actually, the strangest I’ve ever been to, since the place was so small that we needed to go from table to table and ask “Where are you from and what did you bring?”.

On Saturday, after a really cold night in the gym, we woke up to enjoy the morning activity: visiting a wine cellar and a vineyard. And right after lunch, the most famous part of Renove: the group games. Unfortunately, there was a problem with the place where we were supposed to enjoy the games and the organisers had to change the location to a wheat field, which was full of stubble. Due to this, the organisers had to change most of the games (which included running barefoot or crawling) in the very last moment, which was far from easy.

At night, the main event: the wedding of the mascots of AEGEE-Bilbao (a sheep) and AEGEE-Valladolid (a lamb). In my opinion, the most incredible fact of the wedding was that a truce was agreed before the event and most of the mascots attended the wedding without anyone trying to steal them (at least for few minutes). Of course, the different groups of the event, this time based on the different characters that can be found at a Spanish wedding (aunts, grandmas, drunks, gatecrashers, etc.), dedicated poems, dances, and even hip hop songs to the couple (yes, this is weird, but it’s AEGEE, and we sing French songs in European meetings…).

Finally, on Sunday, we enjoyed the training part of the event, starting with the amazing presentation of “What is AEGEE”, held by Fernando Campo from AEGEE-Santander. It was his last event in AEGEE and he wanted to say goodbye somewhere where the sky was the limit. Although this presentation was usually held by Juan Hernandez with huuuge success, Fernando chose to hold it this time, and it was more than amazing. Everybody enjoyed it quite a lot.

To finish the event, everyone was grouped in antennae and talked about their future and what people could do for the antennae. I’m pretty sure many new members will be active after Renove… once again!

Games during Renove

My congratulations to AEGEE-Valladolid for being such a new antenna and having the courage to organise such a big event like this one.

See you at Renove 3!!!

Written by Juan Sordo, AEGEE-Oviedo

At EBM Izmir, remember The AEGEEan interviewing locals at the AEGEE Fair? First up were AEGEE-Beograd and AEGEE-Istanbul and for the second round Stephanie Müller, our editor-in-chief, interviewed AEGEE-León and AEGEE-Peiraias, as these antennae are twin antennae, they have been for quite a while, and are setting a good example of why the twin antenna program works. This month, one of the four mentioned antennae is the local of the month because they organised two Summer Universities (SU) this summer, whereas one of them stood out from the crowd with its IT theme.

Last time The AEGEEan wrote about AEGEE-Peiraias was when we were preparing for The AEGEEans Choice Awards, trying to find the best flag/mascot stealers. AEGEE-Peiraias had managed to steal the AEGEE-Enschede flag and, in reward, the Spring Agora organisers of 2012 provided the delegates and visitors of AEGEE-Peiraias with 12 comfortable beds. The  lucky sleeping beauties described it as “the most comfortable sleep in a gym they ever had”.

Founded in 1995, this Greek seaside antenna has grown to be a large one, with 100-120 members, of which most are active. This probably indicates why AEGEE-Peiraias took up the challenge that their twin antenna, AEGEE-León, took last year: to organise two Summer Universities within a short period of time. So The AEGEEan asked the local a few questions about this.

How did you manage to organise two Summer Universities?

Organising two SUs was much easier than it sounded! AEGEE-Patra & AEGEE-Peiraias helped a lot the IT SU with fundraising. When it comes to actual organising, there were different people working on each SU!

About the IT SU, one of our members,  Manos Valasis, has recently become the Development Manager of the new Online Membership System of AEGEE. While trying to enroll more people to get involved on all levels (programming, design, testing, etc), he came up with the idea of organising an event in which participants would increase their knowledge, get practice by working on the real systems of AEGEE, and also get involved in the IT life of AEGEE. And all that in the context of a Summer University! George Dimitrakopoulos (AEGEE-Patra, Information Technology Committee Speaker) and Costas Deltouzos (AEGEE-Patra, SUCT IT) were eagerly enrolled and that is how the journey started. Later on, we decided to hold in parallel another training that would introduce AEGEE to participants, and that is the moment where Hara Kogkou (AEGEE-Peiraias, SUCT Manager) and Alma Mozgovaja (AEGEE-Riga, Comité Directeur) joined the team!

In the end, the participants enjoyed the relaxed learning by creating a great atmosphere and were even able to complete several tasks during the Summer University. Now, they are a small nice company of friends developing the Online Membership System. So, all-in-all, it went excellent, we would say!

Certainly, the event was of great added value for AEGEE and for the participants themselves. In fact, we encourage all other locals to take up such an attempt and organise an event with real content themselves! It should definitely be repeated, but this is up to the Information Technology Committee to decide – if there is any local interested in organising it next year, please approach George at itc@aegee.org.

Your mascot was stolen during this SU, proving that you are not the only ones who are good at this popular AEGEE game. What did you have to do to get it back?

First of all, the story about our mascot is really special. It was a gift from a member of AEGEE-Peiraias, who before the EBM in Riga entered a gift shop in Zürich and considered that a dolphin would be a really special gift for our antenna! The name of our mascot is Delfinopoulos, and it consists of two derivatives: Dolphin (Δελφίνι in greek) and -όπουλος (the most common  suffix for surnames in Greece), so Δελφινόπουλος (or Delfinopoulos) was ‘born’ the first day of EBM Riga, February 23rd 2011, making his zodiac sign Pisces. The reason we considered having a dolphin as a mascot was that Peiraias is the biggest port in Greece and the dark blue color which is in the antenna’s logo also, is a symbol of the Greek sea.

We had our mascot stolen many times. The first time was right after its birthday in EBM Riga, where Juan Sordo Barreiro (AEGEE-Oviedo) stole it and we only got it back after we danced the infamous ‘Melon-Sandia’.

It was also stolen from our headquarters in Peiraias, by a member of AEGEE-Tallinn. That time, our task was to act like dolphins at AGORA-Alicante in front of everyone! Another time was in Crete, during our previous Summer University, but as you may know, we had to wait months before our beloved mascot was returned to the local organisers. The last time we lost it was during our Summer University in Kefalonia this summer! Our task was to clean every toilet/shower in the dormitories, even though we believed the mascot was stolen in an unfair manner. Finally, we took Delfinopoulos back, but we are sure that it is going to be stolen again.

Getting back to more serious stuff, what are the future plans of AEGEE-Peiraias?

We are currently applying for a Youth in Action grant for an exchange with AEGEE-Las Palmas, AEGEE-Riga and AEGEE-Yerevan of  which we are waiting to see if we will finally organise our event. We also want to organise a Local Training Course and after the summer we will discuss organising more events!

The AEGEEan is looking forward to hearing about more initiatives of AEGEE-Peiraias and hopes that other antennae will follow their example. Once again, congratulations for being the local of the month!

Written by Patricia Anthony, AEGEE-København

Attention: If you think you know an antenna, which deserves to be honoured as “Local of the Month”, send an email with the locals’ name and the reason for nominating to aegeean@aegee.org.

It is no secret that because of the revolution of Facebook we sometimes stumble upon seeing friends congratulating another person because of his/her birthday. This is normal, but what might seem less normal is when the same people post a “happy birthday” message on the wall of a stuffed animal. However, that is exactly what is happening on more and more occasions.

AEGEE-København has Gorm Junior, AEGEE-Lund has Pippi Longstocking, AEGEE-Madrid has Retirito, and the list goes on. They have Facebook profiles, they have birthdays, and they are hosting AEGEE events! It has become more and more common for antennae to have a mascot that they bring to different AEGEE events.

Other antennae have real animals as mascots. It might seem that this is due to the cute AEGEE-Izmir dog spreading love around the gym during EBM. This dog, which is named Arzu Lu, is however not the AEGEE-Izmir mascot but “only” belongs to AEGEE-Izmir member Simge Gizem. Actually AEGEE-Izmir does not have any mascot at all and for sure there are some people that think that they should have a stuffed look-a-like dog named Arzu II to represent them. Antennae that actually do have a real-life mascot are, e.g., AEGEE-Düsseldorf (a dog named Luna) and AEGEE-Piliscsaba (a cat named Cicus Pazmaneus whose story is elaborated further down in the article).

Development of AEGEE Awards 2012

The AEGEEan is working hard on organizing AEGEE Awards 2012 and the idea of rewarding the antenna with the best mascot came up. For this reason, The AEGEEan made a poll on our Facebook page last month in which we asked which ist he cutest mascot. Many AEGEE members pitched in and five particular mascots became the nominees for “Cutest mascot 2012.” And the nominees are:

The famous badger

If you have attended an event with AEGEE-Eskisehir you will most likely recognize their mascot on the picture to the left. It is featured on the sweaters from the local and their stickers too. Stickers which they, as any other antenna, put everywhere! Its name is Masagor which is a combination of MAScot and AGORa because it was designed for the Autumn Agora Eskisehir 2007. The European badger, whose birthday is October 1st 2007, was chosen as a symbol for the antenna because Eskisehir has a river in the city center which is very famous in Turkey. This river is called Porsuk which is the Turkish word for “badger”. “Also important to mention is that badgers are lovable and brave animals,” says Engin Ergezer, president of AEGEE- Eskisehir. The mascot itself is not a stuffed nor a real life animal, but a costume ready to wear.

Leoncio and all his brothers

Leoncio celebrating Christmas in Italy

It is to no huge surprise that Leoncio, the mascot of AEGEE-León, was amongst the popular mascots in The AEGEEans poll since he is one of the most famous mascots out there. There is a Leoncio in Denmark, a Leoncio in Italy, and of course a Leoncio in León but most likely other European places, too. The original Leoncio, although no one knows where he is today, was “born” in 2008. As some of you might guess, the name derives from the name of the city, which also the reason why it is a lion. León means “a lion” in Spanish and moreover it is the symbol of their city.  AEGEE-León is very generous and shows its appreciation to people whom the local cherishes (and who value AEGEE-León) by giving them a Leoncio. It started as a way of promoting the local when the antenna was small and members wanted to gain fame in Europe. “In all manners, Leoncio is like the precious ring from The Lords of the rings, it always comes back to its owner. Leoncio always has sad eyes, he is only happy whenever he is in León,” fundraiser for the Youth Unemployment project David García Rodriguez says about the mascot of AEGEE-León.

"Uca's" t-shirt

The notorious Spanish cow with her own t-shirt

Another Spanish mascot in the race to win the award is Uca, the mascot of AEGEE-Santander. She was born a little after the antenna was founded back in the summer of 2008 in connection with their first Summer University. According to her Facebook profile the birthday has been set to be the 23^rd of August. She was named Uca because UCA is the Cantabrian way of ending words. All Cantabrian words always ends with –uco or –uca. The choice of having a cow representing the antenna is because cows are amongst the characteristics that are part of the landscape of Santander. Uca ALWAYS comes along whenever AEGEE-Santander is travelling with Erasmus, going to a local training course (LTC) or a Network meeting (NWM). She also travelled to the Agora in Skopje etc. The T-Shirt of AEGEE-Santander will be launched soon and Uca is of course the main feature on it.

An addition to the Greek family

Sofoklis is one of the newest mascots in the network. He belongs to AEGEE-Thessaloniki and was added to their family just before their last NWM back in October 2011. He got his name from his godmother, the secretary of AEGEE-Thessaloniki, Konstantina Katrimpouza who named him Sofoklis because of its beautiful eyes that emit wisdom. The Greek antenna chose an elephant because it is the most faithful animal to its family. All members close to AEGEE-Thessaloniki treat each other as if they were blood-related so they could not have chosen a more appropriate mascot to add to their family. He is eager to travel, but always return to home. Sofoklis is too young to have T-Shirts, brothers, or legendary stories – but AEGEE-Thessaloniki cannot wait to release him in Europe and they are sure that he will gain interesting tales rather sooner than later.

The Hungarian university cat

His name is Cicus pazmaneus and belongs to AEGEE-Piliscsaba. The University of Piliscasaba is catholic and therefore all its buildings have Latin names, even the university bar got a Latin name invented by the students, so it was a no-brainer that the cat should have a Latin name too. He belongs to everybody and hangs around the university spending his time begging for food and listening to presentations. At night he is locked inside the building which causes trouble for the security guards who has to hurry to the university whenever the alarm system goes off only to find out that it was caused by Cicus Pazmaneus strolling around the building. In this case the mascot of AEGEE-Piliscasaba was not invented by the antenna itself. He rose to fame on Facebook, after a mysterious guy created a Facebook account for it, and the cat then became a real star. People tend to post photos on his page where he is in funny situations e.g. in a flower pot or in front of a computer in the computer room.

“We chose him as our mascot because we wanted a real showman cat who is the most likely to bring us luck,” Kata Szabó says about making Cicus Pazmaneus mascot of AEGEE-Piliscasaba. However, the Hungarian antenna has realized that they cannot bring him for AEGEE events around Europe. The solution to this is that they are right now are looking for a stuffed look-a-like cat, not to replace him but so that they can bring his spirit whereever they go.

The final voting for the “cutest mascot” award will begin, alongside with the voting for the other categories, Monday 2^nd of April 2012.

The final voting for the “cutest mascot” award will begin, alongside with the voting for the other categories, Monday 2^nd of April 2012.

Written by Patricia Anthony, AEGEE-København

Thanks to Anil Kacan, Kata Szabó, Engin Ergezer, Ilenia Gurnale & Eleni Buni for contributing with pictures for the article.

Over the years the flag stealing game in AEGEE has developed to a battle in between locals in stealing not only flags, but also mascots and toilet paper belonging to other locals or their members.

Pre-Agora Skopje 2011 participants with the stolen AEGEE-Sofia flag

If you ever consider taking the risk of stealing a flag or another valuable item from another antenna, there are a few things to consider at first. The base of the game is that the aim is to steal a flag or an icon from another local in order to bring the locals closer together, but it is not as simple as it sounds, there are rules.

The basic rules of the game

You can steal everything from the presidential hammer, flags and receptions books till mascots, things with logos etc. when it is publically exposed. It does not count if you take it from personal belongings or in the house of your host which happened when AEGEE-Madrid mascot Retirito was stolen. It had to be given back, without any punishment, because the game has to be done in fair-play.

Faruk is trying to steal AEGEE-Lund/AEGEE-København flag

Now you have the possibility to identify what you can steal, the next step is to know how. First of all, one of the main rules is that you have to steal the item unnoticed/leaving the room without getting caught or you will have to give it back. This is the part where you analyse your opponent and the nearest exit.

During EBM Izmir 2012 Faruk Sayin, President of AEGEE-Canakkale, seemed to have analysed the exit but forgot to analyse his opponent Ilker Bildircin when he tried to steal the twin-flag of AEGEE-København and AEGEE-Lund. Faruk started running towards the nearest exit but Ilker caught up with him and tackled him in true American football style, which is exactly what Ilker practices in his spare time.

A good excuse to enjoy some beers

If you actually do manage to escape with the flag, it is time to come up with an idea for the punishment. The rule is that you are allowed to come up with a punishment that the local has to do in order to get the flag back, as long as the antenna agree to do it.

AEGEE-Budapest in flag-stealing action

This is what happend when AEGEE-Budapest  representative Gábor Pető stole AEGEE-Passau flag during an AEGEE conference with social business as a theme in Passau.  During the event AEGEE-Passau put the flag up everywhere in order to promote AEGEE, but Gábor had something else in his mind. It was an event full of new AEGEE people who were unaware of the flag stealing game, so Gábor found a co-partner in crime from Passau with whom he managed to steal the flag after one session.

Gábor explains the story saying:  “We stole the flag after a session on the last day, but it was quite adventurous. That day it was put in the biggest conference room and it was always crowded. When we almost took down the flag a girl came up to us asking whether we liked the program of the event etc. Later we found out that she was the president of the local, but she did not notice that we are about to steal her flag, which was quite funny because the flag was literally in our hands.”

The flag was returned at the Agora Skopje in which a beer-drinking competion was held between AEGEE-Budapest and AEGEE-Passau because of the interest in Bavarian beers. This all proves that it actually do bring the locals together.

A flag about to be returned to its owner after being away from home for many years

Another succesfull story contains AEGEE-Izmir legendary members Berat Ezel and Ufuk Bal who stole the AEGEE-Europe flag one month before Agora Izmir in 2005. AEGEE-Praha had organized AEGEE’s 20th year celebration event “The Happening.” The flag was stolen in the Czech Senato Building where the workshops and the plenary meetings of the event took place.

AEGEE-Izmir’s member  Tunca Ayyilidiz tells the story with a smile: “The way they stole the flag makes the whole story even funnier, because the two guys recognized that the flag was on the table in the plenary hall and there was only one person from AEGEE-Europe next to the flag, doing some things

AEGEE-Izmir revealing the punishment for the CD house during EBM Izmir

on the table. They asked him for a “scissor” and the guy was so helpful that he gave it to them. But the thing is that they asked for this scissor to cut the strings which attached the flag to the table. So in a blink of an eye, while he was not looking, they took the flag and ran out of the plenary hall.” The flag has yet to be returned to the CD house and the punishment was actually given during EBM Izmir ’12 which requires the CD to send a historic and symbolic item from the CD house in Brussels to AEGEE-Izmir and then the flag will be returned.

AEGEE-Peiraias looking forward soft accomodation during Agora Enschede ’12

These are only two examples of numerous “crimes” that have taken place in our organization, and the creativity regarding the punishment task is indeed wide. AEGEE-Oviedo’s representative Juan Sordo Barriero had to speak negatively about Asturias in a duration of five minutes during the Network Meeting (NWM) in Porto after the WDEE flag got stolen.

Others are more experience flag-stealers such as AEGEE-Peiraias representative Manos Valasis who was responsible of two punishmnets during Agora Skopje. He managed to steal the AEGEE-Enschede flag when it was left ungarded before the opening plenary which required AEGEE-Enschede to sign an agreement that they will provide lucky AEGEE-Peiraias members with up to 12 members

Proof of AEGEE-Enschede's signature on agreeing to provide 12 beds for AEGEE-Peiraias

with beds during the upcomming Agora, in order to get it back. Another flag that Manos had managed to steal during a visit to the CD house in Brussels belongs to AEGEE-Zagreb. CD member Marko and other representatives from AEGEE-Zagreb had to entertain the Agora participatns with performing “I just had sex”, which they succesfully managed to do and got their flag back.

The last case includes Chair team members Yvonne Antonovic and Percin Imrek who entertained a full plenary room during Agora Skopje with their cover version of the Danish pop plague “Barbie Girl” after the Where Does Europe End flag was stolen.

In the end, do not be scared to bring mascots and flags to AEGEE events but hold on tight, especially during Agora’s and EBM’s.

Written by Patricia Anthony, AEGEE-København

Main Photo courtesy of Tunca Ayyildiz, AEGEE-Izmir

Thanks to Tunca Ayyildiz, Dasha Panther, Deby Gabisson, Hara Kogkou and  Gábor Pető for providing pictures.