AEGEE-Zaragoza was chosen as the Local of the Month of December. However, with so many locals to choose from, what did this enthusiastic local from the northeast of Spain do to earn it, and what are its  plans for the future? AEGEE-Zaragoza explains.

The AEGEEan: Could you tell us something about your local?

AEGEE-Zaragoza: AEGEE Zaragoza is a very active local in the center of Europe in the middle of nowhere. Currently we are a family of 153 members that meet regularly and organise cultural and fun events throughout the year. We are motivated to learn new things and improve the job we do (even if this year we turn 18).

We are well-known for our amazing “I love Jamón” t-shirts, our endless energy and our invasions to events (because for us one loud “maño” is not enough, we send 30!). If you still don’t know anybody from Zaragoza (!) ask your friends how a real AEGEEan looks like.

You were selected to be the Local of the Month, in part because of your New Year’s Event. Could you tell us a bit more about that?

It was around October when we found ourselves looking for a good plan for New Year’s Eve. After a long conversation, we were convinced that the best idea was to make it on our own, and that’s how everything started! Five hard-worker organisers, forty-five European friends, and a program full of crazy and never seen activities were only some of the ingredients of a perfect cocktail of fun. In the end, everyone had a great time in Zaragoza and we are really proud of that.

Another reason why AEGEE-Zaragoza got selected was because of the great care you take of participants in your events. Could you elaborate on this a bit more? And how especially can this inspire other locals to treat participants with the same care?

For us, participants always come first. Before the event, we take every single decision thinking on them: if something is not good enough, we change it. During the event, problems are inevitable, so the best thing is to solve them with good mood and a smile on your face. In our opinion, what really makes the difference between a good event and an unforgettable one is to pay attention to the details.

In our opinion, the best way to learn is to see the things with your own eyes, so we encourage other locals to come to Zaragoza and enjoy our awesome events!

And of course, if someone needs some advice, we are willing to help!

Does AEGEE-Zaragoza have any regular social activities for their own members?

We have a formal weekly meeting in our office to catch up and it’s always followed by a “beer meeting”. These weekly events make us feel like a group of friends rather than a group of members of an association. And when new members join AEGEE-Zaragoza, we push them to join in order to feel integrated and linked. That’s what makes us grow together.

What, in your opinion, sets AEGEE-Zaragoza apart from other locals?

We often wonder that and we really think that what makes us different is that we feel like a big family. It’s really easy to work with all the members of this antenna because they are your friends, and there is always motivation to work in new projects.

In AEGEE-Zaragoza you are always surrounded by very energetic people that try very hard to make everybody feel comfortable and that love taking care of new members and participants of its events.

AEGEE-Zaragoza has organised an Autumn Agora in 2003 and in 2013. Will you organise another statutory event soon, and are there any plans for an Autumn Agora in 2023?

At the moment, we don’t intend to organise any other statutory event. However, we admit that in our minds remains the idea of seeing our future children managing their own Agora in  2033 or 2043 (who knows), as it is not a secret that our antenna has produced many couples which might have ‘pure blood’ members in the future. Wouldn’t it be nice to stare at our offspring repeating our biggest pride?

What about ZarAGORA 2023?

I think we’ll have to leave that mission to our little brothers and cousins for the time being.

Could you tell us something about some of AEGEE-Zaragoza’s plans for the future?

In some weeks we will have a Local Training Course where we will have different training sessions, team building activities and a lot of fun!

The following event will be, as it’s becoming a tradition, the fifth edition of the Maños! We expect many motivated participants, many innovative activities and a cool social programme.

Is there a question that wasn’t raised, but that you would like to be included in the interview? 

We just want to add that we are organising an awesome SU this year. We will travel around our region and we will visit amazing places. Last year we had really really good marks from our participants so we want to keep on improving our results.

Written by Willem Laurentzen, AEGEE-Nijmegen

In Agora Zaragoza we saw changes to the Network Commission. Emotional goodbyes had to be said to Claudio Armandi, Bartek Sudorowski, Pilar Lop, Inez Wenta, and Andra Toma. At the same time the ZarAgora gave a warm welcome to Arsenis Tselengidis, Pauline Létard, Holger Schmidt, Mateusz Dokurno and Mattia Abis. In this NetCom telegram you will get to hear about what Bartek, Inez, Vira, Dominique, Patricia, Pauline and Claudio did the months prior to the big event in Zaragoza, while working for the Network Commission. 

Bartek

Bartek Sudorowski

Recently I have been struggling with an unpleasant event in my family life. This was the main reason that I decided o detach from any other activities for a short period of time. However, that does not mean that I did not work. I am working on preparation for Autumn Network Meeting together with my fellow Network Commissioner Inez Wenta and AEGEE-Poznań. I am also keeping in touch with the coordinators of EBM in Lublin. I have a fresh update of progress on the preparation of the project. From 6th to 12th September I was co-organizing the Academic Campus Swinoujscie 2013, the event where freshmen students can adapt to students’ life. I was promoting AEGEE and I was giving trainings on PR, HR, and public speaking. I also have changed the team of AEGEE.pl website and am working on finalizing the work. Moreover I’m working on the expansion of the Network, but this case is so fresh that I don’t want to say anything more about it untill it will happen.

Claudio

Claudio Armandi

I cannot write my last NetCom Telegram without getting a bit emotional. It’s been a great year that will leave me with a lot of wonderful memories. They normally say “Netcommie once, Netcommie forever”. I will feel always a bit responsible and protective towards my beloved locals, even if I am sure they will be in safe hands for the upcoming years.

In August, most of my locals were busy with their Summer Universities and they sometimes needed just small advise. Two of my Contacts were busy preparing their statutes for the big moment in which they signed the Convention d’Adhésion in Zaragoza.

September has been quite hectic. There were many candidates from my locals, and I was in touch with all of them. Furthermore, many locals needed a bit of assistance for Agora-related bureaucracy. In this month I also selected participants for my last Network Meeting in Foggia and defined the program.

September was also the month of my final and biggest achievement. Italian locals finally submitted an official request to join their national Youth Forum. It was the only point in my plans that I hadn’t fulfilled yet. Now I can say I did my homework!

Dominique

Dominique Lenssen

Now Summer has ended and everything is getting back to normal. Well, ‘normal’…. With the Agora coming closer and closer, my work as a NetCommie was as busy as always! Staying in touch with locals to remind them about all the deadlines, answering questions, checking the status of locals together with Beata Matuszka and so on.

Where August was for my locals all about gaining new members during their introduction weeks, September was the month in which the boards of most of my locals changed. This meant getting to know the new board members! A perfect opportunity to do this are ‘constitution drinks’, where board members come to a local to congratulate the new board. I have been to these meetings of AEGEE-Enschede, AEGEE-Delft and AEGEE-Leiden, which was a perfect opportunity to meet many new boards at the same time.

Also the preparations for the NWM are going well. In my last Activity Report you could read that the NWM would take place in Nijmegen, but due to logistical reasons this has been moved to Utrecht. The theme for NWM Utrecht is ‘Key to your AEGEE future’, so apply now if you want to learn everything about the future of AEGEE, the development of your local and so much more in the beautiful city of Utrecht.

Inez

Inez Wenta

The Summer ended, but… the whole new academic year started! As you know there’re many new boards starting their work, so also many hours of knowledge transfer! It’s great to see all the motivation and passion for AEGEE and I hope everyone will succeed in their amazing plans.

Also preparation for the NWM Poznań “Share your secret. AEGEE Know-How.” started to be really intensive. Together with Bartek and the coordinator Justyna Zielska from AEGEE-Poznań, we want to create an unforgettable experiance for you all. I hope that this will be the opportunity to meet, discuss and create new ideas for people all over the Network!   Almost 200 AEGEEans in one place? And it’s not EBM? It’s possible! Just come to Poznań!

I’m very happy to say that I see the Network evolving and exploring new grounds – amazing projects are coming up! We’re trying to make some more steps. Even if Summer ended and we’re again working and studying, in the new academic year we gain a fresh start, great ideas and an amazing amount of positive energy! How can you not love AEGEE?

Vira

Vira Kakhnych

It has been a stressful month due to Agora preparations and organizing a Network Meeting. Trying to keep in constant contact with a variety of AEGEEans (considering a huge time difference) was very challenging. A big huge ‘thank you’ to my subcommissioners and the excellent team of Rostov-na-Donu for their efficiency in collaboration and great ideas. Unfortunately, I did not have the chance to attend this Agora, but I have heard it was awesome.

I would also like to take this opportunity and welcome the new colleagues in Network Commission! Guys, I wish you all the best for this term! Welcome to our family!

Patricia

Patricia Anthony

Before the Agora I was finishing up my internship in Valladolid (Spain) and at the same time I had to deal with personal health matters. Luckily I have an amazing team helping with preparation of the upcoming Network Meeting in Tartu. Maria Arends and Sergio Oliveros have been working hard on preparing the program for it and I am sure that it will be great and I am beyond jealous that I cannot go, as taking part in NWMs is one of my favorite things in AEGEE. Instead I keep trying to find ways to help the antennae from home with improving and before the Agora I tried in every possible way to ensure that the delegates came prepared to Spain, and indeed they came to Zaragoza full of knowledge about the event.

Pauline together with fellow Network Commissioner Mattia Abis – Picture courtesy of Golden Times

Pauline Létard

October was a month quite busy for me because I have been preparing the Agora in three ways. First as a delegate of AEGEE-Toulouse, I read all the candidatures, proposals and activity reports and talked about it with my antenna and some friends of mine. Then as subcommie, I worked together with Pilar and the Tripulación 5.1 to make sure all the delegates of our area were getting all the information needed for the Agora through the Facebook group we created. Guillermo Macia Diaz, from AEGEE-Alicante, summed up the proposals in Spanish. Based on his work, we wrote a guide for delegates in English: a sum up of the proposals and a voting guide “how to choose the best candidate”. I contacted all the bodies whose members would be elected at the Agora in order to give to the delegate an idea of what is the “ideal candidate” for the positions concerned. Thirdly I was also preparing the Agora as candidate for Netcom. For this reason this Agora was really special for me, a new step in my AEGEE life, the Agora during which I became Netcommie!

Written by the Network Commission