Julia Lauren on her AEGEE journey so far

I joined AEGEE about 4,5 years ago. It was early spring 2008 and I started to plan my summer holiday. I wanted to travel somewhere but not alone. Then I received an e-mail about Summer Universities organized by different AEGEE-locals. So I decided to apply for different some in Germany and I got accepted to one. That summer I spent two amazing weeks in Germany with people around Europe and there was no more turning back. After such a great experience I wanted more!

 

After that summer I’ve been in many events around Europe. What makes it easy is to travel with AEGEE is that you can travel alone and end up spending time with new, interesting people around Europe. And what is perfect in AEGEE, is that even if you live far away from your European friends you always meet them in other events and you can visit them.

 

AEGEE also makes it possible to travel more than you ever thought. Everything is organized from students to students, which means that local students will take you to places where they go and you get to see places you wouldn’t find by yourself. The price of the events is also student-friendly, or what do you think of 10-15 euros per day including breakfast, one warm meal, lodging and program during the day?

 

One cool thing in AEGEE for me is that it can take you to places you never thought of visiting, like Struga in Macedonia. You never heard about it? Me neither and then we were hundreds of AEGEE-people there in Agora (a biannual meeting of AEGEE). And this summer I was in Serbia because good Serbian friends of mine asked me to join Guca trumpet music festival event. A music festival and AEGEE-event at the same time, just a perfect combination!

 

I’ve also been active in local level. I was the president of AEGEE-Helsinki over a year, 2011 and a bit more. It was a great experience in many ways. My English skills improved and nowadays it is totally comfortable for me to speak English in any situation. I also gained many new friends in Helsinki and from different cities around Europe. It is also a great feeling to be part of something like AEGEE, a network of students around Europe. I also love the feeling when I’ve worked hard on organizing an event and the event is successful. Being the president also taught me a lot about leadership skills and working in a team with different type of people.

 

Before and after being the president I was involved in organizing Summer University, a

summer event for 25 participants around Europe, in Helsinki. It was my first event as an

organizer and it sure was a great way to become active in local level. For me organizing events has been as fun as participating in them, I recommend to try both! At the moment I keep on saying that I’m not that active member anymore but here I found myself writing about AEGEE, going to our social meetings in Helsinki, attending AEGEE-event during my summer holiday and joining the organizing team of AEGEE-Helsinki 20th birthday event. So I think I have to admit that I’m still in love with AEGEE.

 

All in all, AEGEE has been and is a life changing experience for me. AEGEE is something you will never forget. For all of you I recommend to join AEGEE, see what it is all about and feel the AEGEE-spirit. But I must warn you, you might get addicted to it 😉