AEGEE-Maribor organised its 9^th NYE (New Year’s Event), one of the most amazing AEGEE events which were held between the last week of 2015 and the first one of 2016, thanks to a very experienced team managed by Petra Zula and to fifty participants who wanted to have a lot of fun. The journalist Matteo Lai took part in the event and he reveals his own emotions regarding it. We also spoke with Maja Bunderla, 24 years old, one of the most beloved female organisers, who tells us something about the NYE programme, the participants’ mood, love stories, and satisfaction concerning the event, as well as some information about the next NYE.

This magnificent Slovenian adventure began on 27^th of December with the reception and registration of the participants during the evening. After that, some Italian guests from AEGEE-Catania and I were invited to have a shower, dress quickly and have dinner with the other participants, in a restaurant very close to the gym where we would have slept for one week. It was not so cold, as there were 10 degrees in Maribor. I felt so happy

to take part in one of the most appreciated AEGEE events by the AEGEE-Cagliari members: historically, many love stories were born between Sardinians and Slovenians, in addition to a lot of new special friendships. Maybe it is not just a coincidence the fact that the symbol of AEGEE-Maribor is a red heart. After I had eaten a plate of chicken steaks in natural sauce with rice, and I had chatted a bit with some new friends at my table, there was the organisers’ presentation of the group – thirty guys from several countries all over Europe, as it follows: Petra Zula, Gregor Susanj, Maja Bunderla, Jan Viher (who was also a participant of AEGEE-Cagliari SU 2015: “Cagliarifornia”), Ajda Prusek, Dijana Samperl, Miha Cerovsek, Katja Yermak, Nina Pibercnik, Irena Loncar Zorman, Goran Hrovat, Tadeja Babic, Mateja Belej, Mateja Piciga, Sara Kaiser, Mojca Jeromel, Sanela Zahovic, Simona Bibic, Jani Dugonik, Aljaz Hericko, Matej Suman, Robert Sket, Nusa Pecnik, Ziga Cimerlajt, Bine Gegic, Lovro Rojko. It was clear that just eleven organisers were boys, while almost all of them were girls.

We spent the first party in a Latino club called “Fuego” where we danced until early in the morning. In particular, for that party (Traffic Light Party) we put on clothes in different colours and each colour had a specific meaning. For example, if you had put on green, it would have meant that you were single, or if you had preferred violet, it would have meant that you were up for a threesome. Monday 28^th of December was the first day allocated to the winter sport we had chosen before we went to Maribor. Some people had chosen snowboarding, while some others had opted for skiing.

Moreover, the event was also available for those who would have followed an alternative programme which did not include skiing or snowboarding. Anyway, we enjoyed three mornings in the snow in Rogla and Pohorje Resorts. The participants who still preferred skiing, beginners and hopeless cases like me, were supervised by three different teachers on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday: Ajda, Katja, and Miha. The first day in Pohorje was a real disaster but on the second day, I admit I had learned the basics in skiing, after about twenty fallings. I had taken much time to “make a plow” as the skiing teacher Katja Yermak requested. Those days in the snow were the perfect occasion to taste Slovenian warm white wine and to make many nice pictures with the organisers and the participants. It was not so cold and, in fact, there was artificial snow in the resorts. On the third day, I tried skiing while it was snowing.

During AEGEE-Maribor NYE, the European Night turned out to be the party which had completely broken the ice between participants. In particular, Gregor showed the tables of every country present at the event. The table which aroused more curiosity was the one of Slovenia. You could taste Lasko, a Slovenian traditional beer, o Cockta, a soft sparkling drink very similar to Coke, but without caffeine. About food, there was green “pumpkin oil”, a typical Slovenian oil you could try with a piece of bread. Dijana Samperl made the participants try a traditional drink called “Spricer”, which is prepared with white wine and sparkling water. The night continued involving participants in dancing some Latin songs such as “Macarena”, “El Taxi”, and so on. At the same time, the organisers came up with the very good idea of a “UV Party”, where you got painted and shiny under UV lights in a club (for that party, the participants should have brought some clothes that they would not mind to get dirty or ruined).

On the last day of 2015, the participants spent the night in a hall very close to the accommodation, where they were provided with a DJ-set, a professional photographer and a delicious dinner. Then, we should not forget the “Fairytale Party”: for a night, you could have become a princess, a prince or whatever fairytale character you wanted. Maja Bunderla, one of the youngest Slovenian organisers, gave her opinion about this NYE. She has been in AEGEE for almost three years, considering it one of the best decisions that she has ever made. Although she was not the main organiser or a Board member, Maja was one of the most sought-after female organisers. Regarding her teaching skills in snowboarding, she got positive results which made her extremely happy. The first day was really terrible and hard for her because people were not able to even stand on the snowboard. “We were just two teachers for a group of 13 people without any experience. But on the last day (out of three), I was really astonished to see the participants actually doing the turns and everything. They got rid of the fear and that day everyone went to the most difficult slope in Rogla Ski Resort. It was a very nice and positive experience for me and I would be happy to do it again”, says Maja. Before the event, Maja had been responsible for the parties and decorations (with the help of many people), while during the event she was a snowboarding teacher. She was also helping with the ice breaking games and leading the night with “The Best of” prizes. As Maja confirms, Maribor is a place where you can easily make a lot of new friends, but also meet some people from previous Summer Universities.

For AEGEE-Cagliari, AEGEE-Maribor is the antenna where the most beautiful love stories among AEGEE members are born up until now, such as the one between Yu Tang and Anastasia Kosmacheva. Regarding the participants’ mood, “I think participants were extremely happy with the event. Lots of them told us the last day that it had been the best event for them so far, so I think this is the best thing you can get from an event like this. Nice words and satisfied people”, adds Maja. The organiser tells us she appreciated the amazing people who took part in the event because they were friendly, funny, patient, relaxed, and thankful folks. She admired the motivation and persistence of the people who were skiing and snowboarding for the first time, as they did not quit even if they were all covered in bruises the next day. Maribor NYE ended with a visit at Bled Lake where you could have thrown a coin and made a wish. I reveal my wish: to live another Slovenian adventure! In Maribor, personally, I met very interesting people, not only funny guys whose English accent I did not always understand like Rob, and hearty eaters like Guillermo, but also nice and smiling girls like Katja, Tamara, Julia, Katty, Dijana, Coral, Maribel, and “party animals” like Yolene.

AEGEE-Maribor does not lose time and is already preparing the next Summer University. Without any doubt, it will be at least as amazing as this NYE . About the overall satisfaction of the organisers with this NYE, “There is always something to improve. Sometimes things do not go as smoothly as in theory. But we were trying to do our best and I am sure every next event will be even better”, admits Maja.

Written by Matteo Lai, AEGEE-Cagliari

Have you ever noticed similarities between your country’s and other countries’ traditions for Christmas? There are many symbols attached to this holiday in Europe, and each country has kept its own identity and traditions, while enriching them with influences form various other sources. This diversity and richness prove the importance given by Europeans to the Christmas holiday. This year the AEGEEan asked and found out how people celebrate Christmas in Greece, Hungary, Moldova, Romania, Turkey and Ukraine.

Let’s start from the place where the festive period begins really early. In Romania, celebrations start on November 30th, the day of Saint Andrew. Customs say everyone should hang plenty of garlic and a crucifix next to all doors and windows of the house to keep evil spirits away from their home. At the beginning of December, the Christmas lights are turned on all over the streets. Moş Nicolae comes and gives children presents. Children receive their gifts early in the morning of December 6th, or late at night on December 5th; traditionally, gifts are put in their laced up boots. On December 20th, Saint Ignatius Day, Romanians start the last preparations for Christmas. On this date, they slaughter pigs for the Christmas Eve supper. “Around this date, people usually buy their Christmas trees from public markets or supermarkets.”, Ioana Nedelcu (AEGEE-Ploieşti) told us.
December 24rd it’s Noaptea de ajun, the day children usually start caroling their neighbours. Music is an important part of Christmas celebration all over Romania. There is a special genre of music, related to Christmas carols but with more traditional/Christian lyrics. These are named colindă, which are also popular in Moldova. On the same date, women bake traditional cookies to give children for their caroling. By this time, the Christmas tree must usually already be decorated. During Christmas, Romanians bake or buy various special dishes, including desserts and sweets. Romanians most usually bake cozonac, a type of sweet bread. You can fill the cozonac with walnuts, cocoa, raisins, Turkish delight and in Transylvania: poppy seed paste (cozonac cu mac). Plates heaped with small pastries and cakes (corni și baclava) are prepared to serve to carollers when they call. A boiled vegetable and chicken salad held together with mayonnaise and decorated with olives and boiled eggs is often prepared. It is called Salată de boeuf (from French), although it usually does not contain beef. Other Christmas dishes include piftie, sarmale and pork dishes.

In Moldova, although Christmas is celebrated on December 25th like in Romania, January 7th is also recognised as an official holiday. On Christmas Day, families are having breakfast and/or lunch together.

In Greece, Christmas caroling is also very popular and there are actually three official caroling days. The custom is that children go from house to house singing the carol, with the accompaniment of a triangle, and residents of the house give them a small amount of money. Greek Christmas carols (calanda) are sung on the mornings of Christmas Eve, New Year’s Eve and January 5, the Eve of the Epiphany. About thirty to twenty years ago, carolers were getting cookies for singing the calanda.

Homemade kourabiedes

Melomakarona and kourabiedes are the two varieties of Christmas and New Year’s cookies in Greece. The first are semolina, cinnamon, and clove cookies drenched in honey, while the second are fresh butter cookies sprinkled with powdered sugar that are normally served on New Year’s, but many succumb to temptation and begin consuming them earlier. Vasilopita is a cake that is eaten on New Year’s Day. Before the cake is baked, a coin covered in foil is placed in it. The person who cuts the cake makes the sign of the cross three times above it and then starts serving the pieces, one to each person, the house, Christ, The Virgin Mary and Saint Vasileios. Whoever has the coin in his piece of cake will have luck for the rest of the year.
On the 1st of January, Saint Vasileios (Saint Basil the Great) from Caesarea, Cappadocia (Turkey), brings the gifts to the children. People in Greece also celebrate Epiphany on the 6th January. In the Greek Orthodox Church, Epiphany celebrates Jesus’s baptism when he was a man. There are many events throughout the country where young men dive into really cold lakes, rivers and the sea to try to be the first to get a cross which has been blessed by a priest and thrown into the water. Whoever gets the cross first is meant to have good luck during the coming year.

“Noeliniz Ve Yeni Yiliniz Kutlu Olsun” this is how you say “Merry Christmas” in Turkish. However, how Christmas and the new year is perceived depends on where you are in Turkey. Christians who live in Turkey celebrate Christmas at churches or with family gatherings. In many districts of major cities the lights, Christmas decorations and trees appear in early December. In Turkey Christmas is of course not celebrated as a religious holiday. It can, in many ways, be comparable to Father’s day, Mother’s Day, Valentines Day and so on. Christmas is brought to Turkey by the major stores and supermarkets who have seen their chance to implement this festive celebration. There are some very natural differences to the way other Christian countries celebrate Christmas. In Turkey there is no dancing around the Christmas tree and sing Christmas carols, just like Christmas cookies and socks over the fireplace are not a part of the tradition yet. But they have Christmas trees and Santa Claus and gifts! In the last years in Turkey they started celebrating the New Year by exchanging gifts.

On the other hand, in Ukraine the festive period starts on New Years Eve. Ukrainians usually congregate in a house of their families and/or friends. They have many dishes at the table, so they start with food, watching different TV shows and chatting. When it is 00:00 the champagne is opened, and there are exclamations “Urrraaaa” (Hurrah) and people wishing everyone Happy New Year. “After midnight, children find their presents under the New Year tree, some other people are just exchanging presents, telling nice words to people. Then Ukrainians call other friends, who are not celebrating with them and congratulate everyone they think is important. Very often the mobile network is overloaded. Then we have parties till the morning, and go to bed at 02:00-08:00 (it depends). In the morning celebration continues.”, says Hanna Polishchuk (AEGEE-Kyiv).
On the 6th of January it is Sviat Vechir (Holy Evening). In the evening, after 6pm all family congregates at the table, which has 12 dishes (obligatory). The main dish is called Kutia (sweet grain pudding), and everyone should eat at least one spoon of this dish first. After dinner, children (and sometimes adults) wear traditional clothes and go around carol singing. People give them sweets and close friends give also money. The next day (January 7th) is Christmas. In the morning people tell each family member “The Christ was born”, and they answer “Glory to Him”. They tell this three times, and each time people kiss the cheek of the person, to whom they tell these words. On this day people continue going round carol-singing. There is a tradition to forgive everyone on this day.

Photo by Szabina Hellinger

In Hungary, Santa is called Mikulás and comes on the 6th of December instead of Christmas. He brings presents to children in their boots in case they have been behaving well all throughout the year. If they have been naughty, they get some rods (for being whipped with) from krampuses instead. “On Christmas night, the 24th of December (Szenteste = Holy Night) we decorate our Christmas tree indoors and “Little Jesus” (Jézuska) is supposed to bring nice presents for the kids untill the next morning, placing them under the tree.”, Balázs Kovács (AEGEE-Debrecen) told us. The Christmas decoration involves szaloncukor, special Hungarian goodies.

Hoping you enjoyed reading this article, the AEGEEan would like to wish you Merry Christmas anywhere you are!

Written by Lia Tuska, AEGEE-Kastoria/Sofia

In late November I started thinking about joining one of AEGEE’s New Year events. I considered Maribor, Riga, Madeira or Samara but in the end I settled on Amsterdam.  The cold weather of the Netherlands scared me a bit, but I was quite confident in my decision and paid the fee for AEGEE-Amsterdam’s “Snoway” event. This is a story of my experiences there.

On the 28^th of December, on the flight from Brindisi to Eindhoven, I met Angela Seg Muñoz from Spain. We quickly became friends – she was so funny with her Andalusian accent and time flew fast with her. Our final destination was Scouting Phoenix, in the dark zone of Amsterdam. Fortunately we met an organiser, Selma Dorrestein, who explained the way to the house and we got there in the end.

“Hello everybody I’m Savino!” Introductions started, and the first party followed. It was the most important one – European Night. Italians, with an extraordinary participation of Silvio Berlusconi, brought limoncello for everyone. After our national anthem, the other presentations followed: from Estonia Vana Tallinn; from Russia, Ukraine, Latvia and Poland vodka; from Turkey a strange magic drink; from Germany raw meat, Jägermeister and of course beer; from Spain tasty ham and sangria; and last but not least, the Netherlands with their cheese and jenever. The party started off good with the introductions, but finished even better, with all of us very happy together even if we only knew each other for a couple of hours.

The next day the organisers informed us about the culture of drugs during the first workshop. Then an amazing canal cruise followed, where we got to see all the attractions of Venice of the North. After the cruise we headed off to the Gooyer: a cute windmill in the city centre in which a brewery with traditionally brewed organic beer is situated.

There was a need for caffeine during the Dutch language course, where I learned the basics like “Mijn naam is Savino” and even “Wij smachten naar achtentachting prachtige nachten bij achtentachtig prachtige grachten” (just read Dutch for Dummies). Organiser Jeroen Bernouw gave us a really nice city tour which finished at the Anne Frank Museum. Here we got some free time and the opportunity to get to know the Dutch culture and prepare ourselves for the Dutch night.

I kept it simple and dressed up with my orange tie, whereas the Dutch people were – of course – completely orange. It was a crazy event: they expected us to dance our butts off, and we stupidly followed their lead. We also played many games and sports, like beer pong.

I learned that Amsterdam is more than the stereotypical image of drugs and prostitution that many people believe in. It has beautiful museums (the highest number of museums of all cities in the world – 51) and we got the chance to choose between five of these magnificent museums for an afternoon visit. Another thing that cannot be missed if you go to the Netherlands is cycling, and we cycled all over. We quickly learned not to follow the Dutch way though, because – trust me – you wouldn’t survive!

Before we knew it, it was the 31^st of December and we were preparing to enter into 2013. The party at Studio K was awesome – there was even a cinema in the club – and we kept dancing until the early morning. On that first cold morning of 2013 we headed to Zandvoort aan Zee. We went diving into the North Sea at 0°C. I thought I would never do it, but in the end I did, and even though I did not feel my legs for quite some time, it was nice to start 2013 in a fresh way (plus we got some Unox soup to help us get heated up again).

On the final day, everybody was ready for the photo game: we had to take strange pictures with Asian people, old people, children, eating odd things, sleep on the ground, and a lot of pictures that are not suitable to ever be published. After moving through the entire centre of Amsterdam, we enjoyed a nice Italian dinner and it was time for the last party. The best one in my opinion. The only unfortunate thing was that the party and the event came to an end that night and it was time to go home…

Written by Savino Delfino, AEGEE-Genova

AEGEE-Napoli has a new board, with plenty of members fully motivated to use the AEGEE spirit and Napoli, and celebrate the 20^th anniversary of the antenna.

The new board of AEGEE-Napoli was announced to the Network the 22^nd of September in a more creative way than usually seen before. The new board was not only consisting of nine different board members, which managed to impress The AEGEEan, but the mail also arose curiosity by additional names added to the e-mail. By additional names we mean nicknames, and an example of that is the Giovanni “slashman” Cerullo who is the Oresident of the antenna. He explains to The AEGEEan that it is typical custom for the Napolitan to have nicknames that either arises from an incident or which describes the person very well. In the board you have a rabbit, a Maltese, a “cubano” and even a saint, but it seems clear that to understand these different names one would have to meet these people either around Europe or at an event in Naples.

However, there are two members of the board who have not been fortunate enough, yet, to receive such nickname. One might lead to think that these two members are new to AEGEE and Giovanni also explains that “in our antenna we really have a lot of enthusiasm and when someone comes to one of our meetings he or she really feels the AEGEE spirit, so even members who are not really aged AEGEE members want to be active and give their support to the association by becoming more involved. In our new board we have achieved a great mix of experienced members and new members. We were able to combine the experience of oldies with the enthusiasm of youth. Personally I think this is our biggest asset that will allow us to achieve bigger and bigger goals!”

And AEGEE-Napoli does have big ambitions. They plan to organise three events within the next year. First of all, they have the “curious case of AEGEE-Napoli” which will take place this winter, then when it comes to the spring the antenna will celebrate their 20^th anniversary, and above all the antenna is also planning to bring the Summer University project to Naples. In addition to these European events, the antenna also organises local initiatives for members of the antenna and those adjacent to foster a sense of belonging to this great family that is called “AEGEE”.

Back to the New Year’s Eve event, Giovanni explains that it will be the craziest event in Naples in the history of the local. “We have organised an event which will proceed in reverse, the participants will have the awards ceremony and farewell party on the first day, and proceed back in the days, until the welcome party on the last day. The trip back will be done in the 20 years of our antenna (inviting old members and founders to be able to compare our visions of Europe in 20 years away), we will travel into the past of Naples and Europe! This all in all will be a memorable event, and of course, anyone who wants to live a unique experience, should apply as soon as possible,” Giovanni once again manages to promote his antenna.

É buon AEGEE-Napoli, The AEGEEan is looking forward to hearing more about the nicknames, the events and the antenna itself!

Written by Patricia Anthony, AEGEE-København