Key 2003/2004 - AEGEE Europe

European School Ihe European School (ES) is the event for people who want to discover AEGEE and learn how to run an antenna. A balancedTmixture of lectures and casework in multinational teams offers the participants the chance to gain hard skills such as eventorganisation, public relations and fundraising as well as soft skills such as teamwork and intercultural communication.Tartu8-16 March 2003Betina Szkudlarek (AEGEE-Katowice), ManagerWhat was your biggest concern during the preparationphase of the ES?Managing an international group of trainers who were alsomy good friends was a big challenge. I was very muchaware of cultural differences and thefact that we had a lot of work to dowith a lot of stress and time pressure.I knew one thing - whatever happenedI did not want to lose those people asfriends. I think this friendship amongthe staff members made this event sospecial; we worked together, laughedtogether and we tried to solve all theproblems together. It was not alwayseasy, but I think at the end of the dayit was not only the participants whose motivation andenthusiasm increased but also we, the staff team, who gotan even bigger drive to work for AEGEE, and for theAcademy in particular.What was the most rewarding about organising the ES?I think that the answer to this question cannot beexpressed in the past tense. The rewarding part of theEuropean School is coming to me every day that I seeanother participant becoming a member of a local board,project team, Working Group board, a Commission or eventhe Comité Directeur; or when I see another trainerbecome a manager of another Internal Education event.These are the moments that show me that several monthsof work on the European School made sense, and that I ampretty lucky to be able to be, in some sense, a small partof people's happiness and success. That's an experiencethat nothing else can replace.Torino16-24 April 2003Jaap Commijs (AEGEE-Rotterdam), ManagerWhat makes the concept of the European School so special?The ES concept embodies the entire philosophy of theAcademy, lifting individual members to a higher level andmotivating them to use their newly acquired knowledge inthe framework of AEGEE. The ES concept gives the participantsinsight into all aspects of voluntary work in theAlistair de Gaetano (AEGEE-Valletta), participantWhat was the biggest challenge of theevent?What do you do when you suddenlyfind yourself in a team of people, fromdifferent nationalities, with mentalitiesdifferent from yours? When you aretold that you are the board of anantenna, and have to create andorganize an event, within strict deadlines?It was quite an experience - rough but enriching. Whatkind of hierarchy there should be, if any; what a deadlinemeans to different people; who is good at what and who isgoing to do what. At the end of one tough week, one hasto learn what it means to survive with different peopledoing things slightly different from what you originallyexpected, and take in the art of compromise: to achieveyour goals, within the deadlines, and avoid falling behind!What was the funniest moment of the European School?Remember when at school they used to tell you to keepserious when someone is talking? Stand up straight, haverespect?We were presenting our 'event programme' to the rest ofthe ES. One member was making the presentation, while Iwas holding up a chart with another person. Suddenly, theother person turned to me and said something. I saidsomething. Innocent. We tried to hold back our laughter,but after a few moments it was impossible. People werewondering, but the person doing the presentationremained dead serious. No one seems to have understood.Nervous laughing fits... thankfully, neither me, nor theother person holding the chart (Wiebke Hahn, nowSecretary-General of AEGEE-Europe) have repeated thescene at an Agora - at least until now...organisation, and confronts them with thechallenges as well as with the pleasures oforganising, which will help them in theiryears in AEGEE and beyond.The ES concept is not fixed, but is a learningprocess; not only for participants, butalso for staff. The outcome of a ES istherefore threefold. Not only do we createa tightly bonded group of participants thatwill "grow" into the association, and traintrainers to be of high value in terms of Human Resources,but also in all respects we try to improve the concept; byevaluating and retrying it carefully, we strive for perfection.The European School in Torino took place in a monastery.Did it cause any difficulties?There was one difficult moment during the EuropeanSchool in Torino: the choice of the back office location. Theback office is the place where the staff works for the entireweek. There was only one room left: a little chapel. Forme, having an atheistic background, this didn't cause aproblem, but half of the staff was Catholic, as were manyparticipants and also the local organizers. After a lot ofinternal debates, discussions with the local monk and therelocation of certain sacred articles, we decided to haveour back office there. On my chimney there is still a pictureof Ennio Legrottaglie, the president of AEGEE-Torinoat that time, and me, together with the almighty whosupervised us during the entire week.Annette Maier (AEGEE-Mainz/Wiesbaden), participantWhat was the most unexpected problem you had to faceduring the ES?The things I least expected from the event were the simpleeveryday problems, which I found staggering. To completethe assignments on time and become a team whileworking together was my favourite challenge. Havingworked with foreign students many times already, Ithought myself open-minded enough, but during feedbackIstanbul20-28 September 2003Sena Latif (AEGEE-Bucuresti),ManagerWhat was the most unusual aspect ofthe ES in Istanbul?I guess a big surprise for everyone wasthe very distinctive way we werelodged: half of the building assigned for girls and half forboys, without the possibility of crossing to the other side.This of course challenged the mischievous tendencies ineach of us, so that we were always trying to pass theboundary, either with a nice smile to the guardians, or tryingto get past unnoticed. The best part came in theevenings, after the "very integrating" parties: the image ofcouples saying good-bye over the line was heartbreaking,real Romeo and Juliet stories.Is the European School only about serious lectures andworkshops?Of course not! Let me give an example. During the ES wetry to invent some fictional new antennae. We try to makethem as funny as possible, and I think the new antenna inES Istanbul was one of the most original: AEGEE-Hamam.If you don't know what Hamam is, then ask a Turkishfriend, or better go there: you will enjoy a completelyrelaxing Turkish bath. Some of our staff and participantscould not resist this temptation during the ES, and havingexperienced its wonders, they established AEGEE-Hamam!When they pretended to sign the Convention d'Adhesion,rounds with our tutors, who assisted every team duringthe casework, they and other participants revealed smalldetails that I had never thought to be a problem.As we learned more theory and became more aware of theobstacles, we managed our tasks more easily, and afterthis work we could really feel how a group of totally differentpeople could come to work, everyone in their own way,but efficiently and above all successfully in the team tasks.Why a European School?During a European School you can learn a lot aboutAEGEE, about yourself and others, and there is a specialatmosphere when you work and have fun together withmore than 20 European students younever saw before: the AEGEE spiritalive. It is not always easy, but it ispossible because people give theirbest. I learned how to deal with misunderstandings,and how to be sensitive,because everyone is right insome sense and conflicts always neednew "out-of-the box" solutions.Diversity is the key! It might be a longway to travel to those places whereInternal Education events take place, but the lectures,smiles and enthusiasm of staff, local organisers and participantsleave their message and will also spice up yourlife!they also gave a small presentation of how this originallocal functions: it was absolutely amazing and made everybodylaugh tears to see two members of our staff halfnaked, just with a towel around their waists, playing anddancing to the delight of the spectators.Joanna Piskunowicz (AEGEE-Poznan), participantWhat was the most surprising thing about the ES?I was surprised with the fact that people can be so open,friendly and enthusiastic about meeting others! Webecame close to each other very fast and created a greatteam. It was astonishing for me that after spending only afew days with these people I could call some of them mytrue friends, when in other situations I needed at least ayear for that. And although we cannot see each other toooften, and our contact is rather limited, whenever we meetsomewhere in Europe we feel as if we have been apart foronly a short moment: it feels as if we were back inIstanbul.Would you advise other people to takepart in this event?Maybe I'd put it this way: If you wantto lead a quiet, slow life, stay in oneplace and let your dreams stay dreamsforever, then don't ever go to aEuropean School. Otherwise, don'tthink twice: just apply! Why? Becauseit will, most probably, be the beginningof a totally new period in your life, the best learning experienceever. You will discover a world that you neverthought could exist, a world of young idealistic people whobelieve they can change things, then go out and do it!What AEGEE means to me Focus on training Fields of action What is AEGEE? Introduction44 Key to Europe 2003/2004Key to Europe 2003/200445