The Agora in Zaragoza is getting closer and The AEGEEan is preparing you for the big event! Here you get some inside into what information AEGEE’s online magazine brings you
John Eikosidekas on the Greatness of AEGEE’s European Level
John Eikosidekas is one of the Agora Patra organisers. He is originally from the big land of USA but resides in Greece while his dream is to reside in Denmark in the future. In this article you can get to know more about John’s history and his interest in the European Level of AEGEE.
Nordic Stars; Starring Janely, Karolina, Maria, Mayri, Patricia, Ruta & Sergio
Though in AEGEE nothing seems as obvious as having a Network Commissioner (Netcommie), subcommies and an organising local for the next Network Meeting (NWM), actually nothing is more special.
We will take a closer look at the Nordic Stars, the Stars of Netcommie Patricia Anthony!
Patricia has been a happy Netcommie since Agora Rhein-Neckar. “Honestly, this has been my best AEGEE experience and the best team I have worked in so far!”, she exclaims. She loves working with the NetCom team, the CD, and her subcommies. Her best experience so far has been meeting the other NetCommies in Brussels, and the moment she heard that AEGEE-Tartu would organise the next NWM!
The coolness of the North… How cool is that exactly?
Patricia: “Even though it is no secret that the country I have fallen in love with (Spain) is not at all Nordic , for me, the coolness relates rather to the fact of how much the people of the Nordic antennae care about the organisation, but it definitely does not have anything to do with northern Europeans being cold as ice cubes; on the contrary: when talking to them it always makes me warm inside, because of how warm hearted they are.”
Mayri Tiido, one of the organisers of the NWM in Tartu, could not agree more with her. “Although the whole land is frozen and cold and depressing, the people remain cool in every meaning!” What makes her a Nordic Star is that she is always cold, literally.
Sergio Gómez Oliveros is from AEGEE-Valladolid, so not really Nordic. “Thanks for pointing that out,” he says, while he explains that he came to Estonia to find a job, but in the end he found his heart there. “Estonia is a very interesting country, modern, good at technology and English, which were the reasons to go there, but it is so much more than that!” On top of that, Janely Pae, organiser of the NWM in Tartu, mentions that you can do so many cool activities thanks to the cold weather and the snow.
The next challenge: NWM Tartu, discover the coolness of the North!
NetCommie Patricia has never been to any of the Baltic countries, and she is really excited to go there and to get the chance to see the members of the antennae in person. “I wanted to be NetCom, because I genuinely strive to help the antennae as good as possible, and this is why a NWM is so special for me: here I get the chance to do this!”
Janely is quite a new member in AEGEE, and together with her fellow board members, she is really looking forward to learn, through hosting this event, more about AEGEE’s European level and about improving the communication between the Nordic antennae. Maria Arends, subcommie for AEGEE-Durham, AEGEE-London, and AEGEE-Sheffield, can confirm that Janely’s dreams will come true: “the programme will bring both the thematic side as the organisational side of AEGEE-Europe to the Nordic Stars”.
Mayri adds that “you should attend this NWM, because it will show you how cool the North actually is!” Well, we can be sure about that: sauna parties, chances of snow… It simply sounds perfect!
Sergio has, as he lives in Estonia, has been to Tartu before. He attended a part of their SU this year, and “I was simply impressed by their amazing job. The prefect coordination, amazing programme, and the lovely organisers… It made me so happy to see that they applied to organise this NWM, because AEGEE-Tartu as organising local is already a guarantee of a great event!”
My time with AEGEE-London
My time with AEGEE-London has been very brief, so I’m gunning for quality over quantity in this piece. I heard about AEGEE through a friend I made during an equally brief stint in a postgraduate course, and contacted the AEGEE-London team in March of this year. By April I had found myself as the IT director, and my journey had begun! It should be mentioned that this makes me one of life’s rarest of creatures, being both a member of AEGEE and a British citizen.
AEGEE-London has not been idle: we have organised many events in the past few months, put together all the usual social media razzamatazz, and done our best to grow the antenna. I myself have participated in a trip to the Houses of Parliament with Youth UPF (a branch of the Universal Peace Federation, which promotes cross-cultural dialogue), an exchange with AEGEE-Berlin, networking with the Churchill group (a collection of pro-European organisations based in the UK), as well as enjoying the many opportunities for socialising within our growing circle.
Trips, like the one to AEGEE-Berlin, were the main reason I wanted to join this organisation, and I was not disappointed! The host group was extremely warm and welcoming, to say nothing of the activities themselves. From late morning of each day, to early morning the following, we did everything for site-seeing, alternative site-seeing (there’s a difference!), partying, and most importantly socialising. It would be hard to give a particular personal highlight – too many. Most importantly though, despite having visited Berlin some years beforehand, I’d never really experienced the city as I had during those three-and-a-bit days. I can’t wait to host the AEGEE-Berlin team later this year.
AEGEE-London is a growing and vibrant community, which offer a range of activities from the fun, social gatherings, as above, to the less fun, but more edifying forums for debate and discussion, primarily on EU-wide topics. Our group is planning several major events, the first few as an antenna, for the end of this year, namely playing host to AEGEE-Berlin and organising the “European Youth vs. Euro-Scepticism,” in association with the Youth in Action programme and the British Council. The latter event will take place as a training course, focusing on youth issues in Europe. The former event is hopefully self-explanatory! Specific to my role, I would like to put together a purpose built website at some stage, as well as further growing the range of social media available to us.
I cannot stress enough the range of experiences available at AEGEE. We have people from all walks of life, and all ages, looking to experience the most of Europe – and ever so slightly further afield. I am really excited to see what we can do in London over the next few years, and hope more of you can take part in this journey.
Please feel free to reach out the AEGEE-London team at either our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/AegeeLondon, Twitter account @AEGEE_London or website http://aegeelondon.wix.com/aegee-london.
Story of Nordic Stars Subcommie Maria Arends
I am Maria from AEGEE-Groningen, and my story may be a bit different from others, and as someone told me lately, this may be because ‘I am from the Netherlands’. People that know me also know that this is not something I usually state in my introduction as I am not the one that gets all dressed up in orange on Queen’s Day, but I figured this person was right.
Events Newsletter June 2013
June is already here and that means the events newsletter is here too! Skaistė Šmatauskaitė from AEGEE-Kaunas is the fantastic person who helped out this month with compiling all the events of our Network that you and your members can apply for now! Take a look which:
Surveys of the week
It might be difficult to keep track of the surveys that arrive in your inbox frequently and that is completly understandable. Here you get a clear overview of the surveys pending at the moment. In case you use the 30 minutes or less that it would take to submit them then you would make a lot of people happy and contribute greatly to our organisation. Youth Participation, Strategic Plan and AEGEE Identity might all sound like big words but the common factor is that all those projects needs YOU to share your opinion, ideals, ideas and more.
AEGEE Identity – Who are we?
Maria Arends who is the subcommie of the Nordic Stars team responsible of the UK locals would like to make you aware of a survey that has been sent by the Comité Directeur lately. It is about the identity of AEGEE, which is, as you may know, a hot topic. The problem that we are facing is that nobody is really able to describe in a couple of words what AEGEE is and what we do. “I believe that it is very important that this is going to be defined, because it would make it so much easier for your campaigns or people that are interested to join your locals to explain them what AEGEE is and what it is that they can do. And why, of course, they should join your wonderful antennae!” Maria says with a smile when communicating with AEGEE-Sheffield, AEGEE-Durham and AEGEE-London.
Basically, it is not a hard survey, and the link can be found here:
Please share it with your members also, as there is a bonus… The local with the most respondents gets the opportunity to spend a weekend at the CD house. The tickets are not included, but they do provide you a city tour and make you familiar with their work, the house and for sure you will have a good time! You can fill it in until June 6th!
Join the NetCom team and attend the “Strengthening ties and cooperation between European youth” conference in Croatia!
What do you know about Croatia other than they have this very hot summer anthem that crazy netcommies like to dance along to? Something you should know is that Croatia is joining the EU soon and that AEGEE-Europe has established a partnership with the DG Enlargemen of the European Commission. They are currently working together on the organization of a big Youth Conference in Zagreb which will take place from 24th to 26th of June 2013, to welcome Croatia as new Member State of the European Union!
And you can go to the conference as well! This conference is the result of a cooperation between the European Commission, AEGEE-Europe, the European Youth Forum and European Youth Press. The conference will debate on the accession of the new members state, and about “Strengthening ties and cooperation between European youth”
As you might have soon on ANNOUNCE-L and/or on the mailing list of the Nordic Stars there are many places avaliable for AEGEE people! (Accommodation and flights are 100% covered).
So if you have not done it yet then please apply ASAP, because the first people to apply will be the ones getting the places.
The conference will count in total with 200 places to be shared among all the youth organisations. So be fast!
Here, you can find the invitation letter, draft programme of the conference and the registration form which you have to fill in and send before tomorrow – 30th of May to Philipp.Weber@grayling.com.
AEGEE Games bringing 200 Sportive People to León
Nordic People – this is your chance!
To show the Network that we exist – to go a big event in the Northern part of Spain and take part in the biggest sportive event in our organisation so far!
In the first week of October – just after MOVE Week AEGEE-León is organising the first AEGEE Games together with the Sports Working Group of AEGEE-Europe.
The applications are already open and it is possible to apply for this amazing event until June 20th, but why not apply already now?
The exact date is: From 30 of September to 06 of October.
We might not be able to give you the program yet, but we can tell you that this event is designed for 200 people from all over Europe, members of AEGEE and potentially other associations who want to practice healthy activities, promoting integration and working in our sport topics. Many Sports, dances, non-formal education, cultural exchange, monuments, Nature, hiking, workshops, parties, celebrations, sport celebrities and international sports exchanges, all together in a sport meeting for young people in León.
If you want to know more about the event then go to the website of the event that gives you much more information http://aegeegames.wordpress.com/event/
Nordic Stars 