Designers Meeting Gdansk

AEGEE's Brand is oldfashioned, unattractive and especially inconsistent.

From this viewpoint the initiative to renew AEGEE's Brand was started about half a year ago. And now after a weekend of hard work in Gdansk a clear evaluation of the current situation was finalised, brand values were written down, and a strategy for implementation set up. Mateusz (AEGEE Katowice) and I (Robin) were also so lucky to admire the first drafts of the new AEGEE logo by AEGEE's design guru Bartek. We talked colours, fonts, shapes, fashion, language, the market and brand guidelines. Be ready to be greatly surprised with massive freshness, youthfulness as well as sophistication this EBM!

In the evenings there was time for socialising with AEGEE Gdansk and sightseeing. I hereby declare Gdansk as my favorite Polish city, despite the freezing cold :-)

Thank you Bartek, Mateusz, Asia and AEGEE Gdansk for a great weekend!

CD compilation

Which are the tunes that can be heard walking through the corridors of the headoffice?

Eclectic Anita goes from techno-house to pure rock. She transformed Nickelbeck's song 'Rockstar' into the CD song, every now and then sang on the guitar with Tena and once performed in an empty auditorium in Toulouse.

Dragan a.k.a. the Dancefloor King (who, curiosity, knows an incredible amount of songs' lyrics by heart) gives his best with 'I kissed the girl' by Kate Perry.

Evren is our skilled salsa dancer! `La vida es un carnaval` from Celia Cruz, for him and for all latino lovers.

Ivonne bothers us all the time with the French song 'Ma jeunesse fout l'camp' and with much worse disco music. Unfortunately the house lacks a piano, which she can practice in very rare occasions and only at the neighbour's.

Womanizer depicts Percin's lifestyle, but the already somewhat famous dance was created by our EVS Ilona. Curious to see it? The EBM is your chance.

'Shoo Shoo song' by Cher for Schuschi, i.e. Robin.

To conclude, Tena is the boring one, continuosly complaining about loud-bad-music and turning off the radio. In her attempt to go beyond 70ies, she is not getting her music much happier than John Mayer.

New year with AEGEE: the flyer.

Still want to promote New Year's Events in your city? Click here, choose your language and print out.

Thanks to Michele and Oana!

CoE Conference of Ministers responsible for Youth in Kiev

In October, right after the Agora, Bartek Kotowicz from AEGEE-Gdansk and me represented AEGEE in the CoE conference in Kiev, where the Ministers responsible for Youth of the European governments gathered and decided upon the Agenda 2020 document. The conference was preceeded by a Youth Event organised by the YFJ, whose results are now ready and available online.

Shaping mobility policy and networking at the European Parliament

From rags to riches in 40 minutes? If you’re a CD member, it just happens.
One moment you are struggling with the shower cabin of a kranky house in Schaarbeeck and half an hour later you find yourself in the middle of one of the finest rooms of the European Parliament face-to-face with MEPs and high rank politicians.

Last Thursday Percin and me were invited to take part in a high profile conference organized by the YFJ and PES about the visa regime: The EU visa policy – a perspective from Western Balkans and ENP countries. The focus was on the visa regime present in the Western Balkans and on the countries of the European Neighbourhood Policy agreement.
In spite of the general skepticism about the efficiency of Visa Facilitation Agreements, our president Dragan, back from Serbia with a freshly obtained visa, is convinced they work - and he is the living example!

The ‘serious’ report of the conference can be found here.

Apart from E.U. policy, it was also the perfect networking opportunity: in one afternoon we met - had lunch - a glass of wine with several MEPs, invited them and their assistents at CD’s Christmas conference in Atomium and at Y Vote events, arranged a probable new AEGEE Contact in Mostar (Bosnia) and started the agreements for a partnership with FLARE, apart from, of course, strenghtening the ties with the YFJ Bureau & Secretariat members.

No doubt: spending less time in front of the computer and getting out of the house every now and then really pays off.

Yes we can!

November/December is all about the fame and money while these Brussels based youngsters work on the general subvention, go to cool conferences and receptions to network with celebrities and make an attempt to close some deals with the private sector. It already came up on AEGEE-L so just to assure you: things are happening.

This week AEGEE-Europe got a brand new Golden Partner: Maastricht Graduate School of Governance. The partnership will assure a nice spotlight for the Graduate School in 2009, and I myself have already fallen for their charm and started checking out their Master programmes as yes, there is a life after the CD.

We launched our brand new Career Platform to which 250 members already signed up and nobody less than Google will be one of the first to try it out from 1 January on. So don't miss it, you could be the next Larry Page or Sergey Brin.

Also TOMER is in line for partnering up with AEGEE. As we all love multilingualism. Some other linguistic institutions are still pending, Ilona is chasing them through e-mails and phonecalls. Teamwork is everything.

Which was also proven some days ago when Percin and I went to the Turkish Chamber of Commerce to charm them with the Sustaining our Future project which proved once again to be an excellent private funding magnet. A 3-zero figure sponsorship of the Think Tank made me and Percin jump and scream once we stepped outside back on the street, after a meeting that in advance I feared the most but then turned out to be the easiest fundraising meeting I have had so far.

Life is stressful yet exciting at Rue Nestor de Tiere 15. Emotions go wild when money is involved, but there is nothing better than the adrenaline after a deal gone good or a grant granted.

Cultural Booklet Team Meeting

The CWG Booklet on the cultural differences topic project meeting took place in Brussels 28-30 November finished by clarifying the whole structure of this publication and planning the future of the project. 4 members plus me met for 2 whole days to develop the project from A to Z. At the end, the team has presented their idea to the Comite Directeur.

Here is the future plans of Cultural Booklet team from the mouth of their project manager, Natalia Hubert.

'' Cooperation with other organizations (such as ESN) will be established and many AEGEE members will have the opportunity to show us their writing skills and share the experience. We are also planning splitting the content into 3 parts: 1. theoretical background, 2. personal experiences and 3. intercultural comparison. We want to gain more informed people on cultural issues, young people encouraged to the critical reflection and less superficial prejudices and stereotypes among youngsters. The booklet will be ready until Agora in Kiev 2009. ''

NWM Toulouse

Back to the roots: France, where it once all begun is back in the picture. From the 20th till the 23rd of November there was a NWM in Toulouse showing that France is very much alive as well as neighboring areas.

In unexpectedly great numbers people came from all over Western Europe to be informed about the latest state of affairs in the network. Many challenges where discussed and shared but the enthusiasm to build locals and foster the ones we have was truly inspiring. Next week there will be an LTC in Paris and already many more events are planned.

Also the trainers team was impressive, for a few days Toulouse hosted some of the finest people concerning AEGEE knowledge and experience which resulted in experts on every single topic discussed. But last though not least there were the local organizers, a great team led by Florian who made it all possible.

Thanks to everyone who contributed to make this event such a success already! Only time will tell the results that this NWM will produce in the future...

CD representatives: Anita, Tena

Huge thanks to Inte from NetCom!

Liaison Officers newsletter!!!!

Get familiar with what these brave people were doing, check the LATEST EDITION!

Project Development Meetings, No 1: Cultural Booklet Team

AEGEE has given the new project ideas in our network the chance to come in our mighty CD house and develop their projects for the future, sparing 2000 euros in its budget. We have managed to find 3 different teams with good ideas and teams coming to our house till in November and December, having their project development meetings in the house with my support and attendance.

The first project team who is honouring us with their attendance is, Cultural Booklet team, with their 4 team members present, Natalia Hubert AEGEE-Lyon, Georgios Ampazidis AEGEE-Patra, Andrea Ledwig AEGEE-Augsburg , Michael Makowiecki AEGEE-Hamburg.

2 hectic days have started for us, working full weekend on making the project more tangible and making it real.

More info and results coming soon...

European Boards Meeting in Torino

Yesterday (Monday), i have met with Wouter IJGosse, chairman of the AGORA&EBM, in Rotterdam, for the preparation and structuring of European Boards Meeting that will take place in Torino between 12-15 February 2009.

During our meeting, the programme and the sessions (Action Meetings, Round Table Discussions, Workshops) had been revised and we have discussed what we can add and develop, based on our experiences and the results of the surveys from the last years.

After having the base and developing the structure, we made sure that the process is going smoothly, with the fact that we started working on it in such an early notice.

We believe in creating the sense of belonging to our participants, thus we made sure that in every minute of EBM, the participants will feel involved and have their voices heard.

More information coming soon....

November rocked the Network! (and it's not over yet...)

November Network Meetings. You didn't miss the hottest appointment of the season, did you? Enjoy reading and hurry up to join the next one! Toulouse and Rodos are about to begin...

NWM Coruña 7-9 November
During this weekend a group of 68 persons (53 participants + 6 members of our Netcom Team + Secretary General Evren from CD + 8 local organizers) joined together in a small village near to Coruña. Participants represented locals mainly from Spain & Portugal and the program was based on the exchange of ideas, on identifying common problems and finding solutions. With the help of Evren we talked about European projects in AEGEE (especially YNY, Y-Vote and SUFU), and we also discussed about our participation in Youth Councils. The first European event organized by the enthusiastic and professional team of AEGEE-Coruña showed that they are just starting their successful AEGEE road!!
CD representative: Evren

NWM Novi Sad 6-9 November
Huge comeback of AEGEE Novi Sad! From 6th until 9th November 2008. AEGEE Novi Sad (Serbia) organized a fabulous Network Meeting for around 25 participants. All 4 days packed with interesting lectures, interactive workshops, beautiful sightseeing of Novi Sad, colorful and rich cuisine offer, all topped by unforgettable nights in a unique kafana atmosphere… With this NWM AEGEE Novi Sad once again proved what AEGEE truly is – a network of open minded, positive and ingenious people connecting Europe and building the future today.
CD representative: Tena

NWM Wroclaw 7-10 November
From 7 till 10 of November AEGEE Wroclaw managed to organise a huge NetMet that gathered 165 people (133 participants and 32 organisers) from 22 antennas.
It was four amazing days with workshops, progress meetings, presentations of WGs and projects (expecially YOUrope needs YOU and Y Vote 2009.
There has been also time to enjoy sightseeing in Wroclaw, Wroclaw's clubs and amazing parties!
Participants gained motivation and energy for voluntering in AEGEE in the upcoming months. Until the next NetMet ;-)
CD representative: Dragan

Huge thanks to the NetCommies involved: Virginia, Nikola, Miljan, Dominik

- To serve and protect! -

European Youth Week

The European Youth Week took place from November 2 to 6 in Brussels and gathered together more than a hundred young people from all corners of Europe, among them one AEGEEan in the International Youth NGO delegation, Ildikó Ferencsik from AEGEE-Budapest. I also had the chance to join the last day of this event, to the political debate, where there were young people and parliementers, such as Jan Figel(Commissioner responsible for education, training, culture and youth), debating about the whole week and deciding on which topics to focus for the future, involving the youth opinion. Ildiko and I have approach the parliementers, and introduced them to our projects in AEGEE, and also talked with our current patrons and updated them about the latest news.


Below you can find the article of Ildiko about this whole week:


The event was organised by the European Commission and the European Parliament to celebrate the 20th anniversary of European programmes for youth (Youth in Action) and to contribute, as part of the structured dialogue with young people, to the discussions on the future direction of EU youth policies. Also it aimed to close the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue and to prepare the next framework of co-operation in the youth field for the next period (Open Method of Coordination).

The participants were working on specific youth policy fields and during the political debates they had the chance to present their conclusions to the representatives of EU Institutions, including Mr. Ján Figel (Commissioner responsible for education, training, culture and youth).

http://www.youthweek.eu/european-youth-week-in-brussels/conclusions.html

The event was a great occasion to meet MEPs who are the patrons of the Y Vote 2009 campaign, to build up further cooperation with new partners from the European Parliament, European Youth Forum, youth organisations and national youth councils.

SUPS Leon 2008

Firstly i want to start with the words of the project manager of SUPS:

The Summer University Project School took place last week in the beautiful, full of AEGEE-Spirit, city of Leon. Motivated participants, organized and friendly local organizers and dedicated trainers managed to work during day and party during nights for a whole week.

A training is always a training so intensive workshops, experiential games, useful presentations and case work were monopolizing the time of the brave participants.

But, also, eSpain is always eSpain so tortilla, fiesta, siesta, big meals, nice coffee breaks, sunny and smiling people were present for the time in between the sleeping hours (minutes) and the training sessions.

A big thank you to AEGEE-Leon and the participants for this excellent event. A big thanks to SUCT and the Academy for their support and a big big friendly hug to the tireless trainers Kris, Ankie, Agata, Katrin, Tomek, Nikola and Percin.

Vaggelis Monoguios
Project Manager SUPS 2008

Ok my turn :)

I have already experienced a lot of times that 1 week can change a person's life, as this SUPS did mine, and the participants. I was lucky to be involved in this great event, with great participants and great trainers. Whatever handicap we had, we managed to get over it. Whatever we learn, we put more in it.

With about 20 participants and 8 trainers, and of course with our lovely organizers, SUPS Leon turned out more to be than just an event, but also a place to establish strong friendships, motivation and creativity.

I m sure that the participants of this event will be our next SU organizers and SUCT members, hence check out these photos well, because you will see them soon in AEGEE's European field.

Percin Imrek
AEGEE-Europe Projects Director


*Please fill in the Activity Reports for 2008 and Action Plans for 2009 :)

Cheers

@ BEST President's Meeting

First time for me in Romania, first BEST event. They surely spend a lot of money and FR energy on their PM. 5 star hotel at the Black Sea coast is not bad at all. Surprisingly big fondness of singing in this organisation. President is mascot dancing in the middle of the plenary (Dragan, consider it :p). They also like encouraging people to French kiss and have a somewhat cruel way of dealing with weak locals.

Don't forget to also check Anita's open call below :)

Activity Reports 2008 & Activity Plans 2009 Q:A

Once again the time has come for locals to submit their Activity Reports 2008 and Activity PLANS 2009.

The CD is excited and waiting for your input :)

Don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions, still read the short "questions & answers" form bellow:

Q: Where can I find the AR & AP form?
A: http://www.karl.aegee.org/network.nsf?OpenDatabase

Q:Can I see an example?
A: yes, you can find it HERE
(you need to be logged in with your aegee account)

Q: What is the deadline?
A: The deadline is 21.11.2008

Q: Why do I need to do this?
A: It helps us to exaime the status of our Network + it provides crucial info for the General Subvention

Q: What is a "General Subvention"
A: One of our main sources of funding - the Administrative Grant support that AEGEE recieves from the European Commission

Debate by Margot Wallstrom about Irish ' No '

Today i have attended the debate leaded by Margot Wallstrom, the

vice-president of the European Commission, under the topic of '' EU

Communication After the Irish "No". Mrs. Wallström generally talked

about the effect of Irish ' No ' in to other European Union countries,

the elections in United States and the power of Internet for the PR of

future elections, as well as the influence of young people and their

awareness in such topics.



I asked her the question to what extent she personally is aware of

the initiatives from youth associations and how much she supports

them, and mentioned about our Y VOTE 2009 project, since it was the

most coherent project for the days topic. She replied that she would

love to support such great initiatives and promised to be a part of

our project.



The meeting was held in the Representation of the European Commission

in Belgium, about 30 participants including ex-commissioners,

parliementers and journalists.

Halloween

Happy Halloween from Brussels!

CD cats


Mushroom Pumpkin Soup

1/2 lb. mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 tbsp. butter or oil
2 tbsp. flour
1 tbsp. curry powder
3 cups chicken broth
1 can (1 lb.) pumpkin
1 tbsp. honey
dash nutmeg
salt to taste
pepper to taste
1 cup evaporated milk
optional sour cream or yogurt, topping

Saute mushrooms and onion in butter or oil. Add flour and curry and
stir gradually adding broth. Add all but milk and cook, stirring,
for 10 - 15 minutes. Add milk and heat through without boiling.
May top with sour cream or yogurt.

The way forward?

Three members of the External Relations Department took a field trip to a chique conference of BusinessEurope, the umbrella for Chambers' of Commerce all over Europe. Despite the presence of some fancy speakers (amongst which 3 European Commissioners), a nice new report, their 50th anniversary and it being a sunny autumn day; the mood was somewhat depressed amongst these business men. The financial crisis seemed to dampen the networking mood as the businness leaders gathered in small groups of friends, all speaking in their native languages. Outside the Commission, scared consumer protectors and other political activists demonstrated against this business meeting and the free trade policies of the EU, asking for more protectionsim in troubled times. The businesses and European Commissioners present were not feeling too intimidated. A fitting cartoon in the European Voice explains the issue quite well.


But at least we got to admire the force with which Vice President of the European Commission says 'NO!', met a friendly AIESEC'er with excellent PR skills (yes we're envious), got some more inspiration for companies to stalk and had the general impression to be part of something important.

+ a very extensive lunch buffet
- waking up at 7.30

CD cats =^.^=

Dragan

Evren

Ivonne

Robin

Anita

Tena

Percin

Ilona

Finally

02.33: I took a shower.

And the new bathroom is beautiful.

House of hell, where did the shower cabin go?

Day 1:

Thijs Huijbers arrives.
Last time to shower.
Last and only one to shower: Robin
Shower cabin removed.
End of day: 1 o'clock.

Day 2:

Removing floor and shower cabin.
Sanding starts.
Cleaning shower cabin on the balcony.
Ivonne goes to French class, dusty because of the sanding.
Dragan, Evren and Tena leave us to go to places where there are such things as showers.
End of day: 2 o'clock.

Day 3:

Still no shower.
Sanding the walls.
Started painting.
Wrong paint used.
The people in the house are almost not able to stand each others smell.
Percin leaves the house to help Ana moving. Leaving Robin to paint alone after giving the people in the house uncooked pizza. Bastard!
Ivonne is sick, sanding, taking minutes at the CD meeting, painting and working on the travel overview.
Anita is sanding, painting and working on final report of SUPS Beograd. All night long.
End of day: 3 o'clock (except for Anita).

Day 4:

Still no shower.
Anita missed her French class and is high on cafeïne, not able to sleep.
Ivonne is still sick and working on travel overview.
The people in the house are disliking Thijs more and more. When is this hell going to be over?
Robin went to pick up publications and was stared at in the tram with white paint in her hair.
Cry for help!
External associations offered their showers, but the CD members already have a far developed case of agoraphobia (fear of open space) and are unable to leave the house.
End of day: still ongoing.

Head office under construction

The Comite Directeur abandoned its computers today and is renovating the bathroom and cleaning out the basement.

Pictures of our handy directors under the guidance of Maintenance Manager Thijs Huijbers will follow shortly.

Network Meeting Vilnius

Just before the Agora I attended the NWM in Vilnius as the CD representative. 15 participants who wanted to develop their competencies on training and learn more about AEGEE met in Vilnius, where the Network Commission and AEGEE-Vilnius were organising Autumn Network Meeting "Meet the Network!".

In three days the participants and trainers took part in workshops about AEGEE in general, Project management and our European bodies. Through group work, case studies and theoretical presentations participants improved the most important skills of running an AEGEE antenna. During the second day we asked the participants to show their theoretical skills in the practical part, called "PR action in the streets", where they and also us were approaching Lithuanian youth, telling them about AEGEE and asking for their emails for follow-up and joining AEGEE.

In the social part of the Network Meeting the organisers took us to know the most beautiful parts of Vilnius, told us about their countries and cultures. The participants went outside in the night around the city and of course tried to integrate better with the lovely capital of Lithuania, Vilnius.

This NWM helped especially Baltic locals to integrate better and supported to a more open and friendly environment between themselves. Also this was a good experience for AEGEE-Vilnius, organizing such an important event on European level.. As well as these, I had the chance to talk to Maria Morozova from PRWG , Konstantin from VF WG, Anita from NetCom and Alicja from ITWG.

I would like to thank Anita Kalmane for her contribution in this article.

Y Vote Patrons win MEP Awards 2008

“A night of drama, surprise and celebration” – that is how organizers called this year’s MEP Awards 2008. Together with Anita I joined the gala event at the Renaissance Brussels Hotel Wednesday. We were proud to see two members of the European Parliament who joined Y Vote Launching convention in Vienna last month taking the prize. Ramona Nicole Mănescu is the MEP of the year in the filed of Culture and Education, and Marie Panayotopoulos-Cassiotou won the award in the category of Employment and Social Affairs. Two more Y Vote 2009 patrons were awarded - Claude Turmes for Environment and Gisela Kallenbach for Regional affairs. It is real pride for Y Vote 2009 to have such distinguished supporters.

Y Vote 2009 Launch - Vienna, September 14 - 21, 2008

The not so glamorous parts

CD-life isn't all conferences, networking, representation, finances, application writing and press releases; sometimes the gutter simply clogs, a leak is created and it rains into the office. With cleaning it as only solution.

Y Vote 2009 Playlist

Democratically chosen by the young voters around Europe these songs will mark the Y Vote 2009 campaign!

Launch of Europarl TV

Yesterday a new on-line TV was launched by the European Parliament: Europarl TV.

The headoffice was interviewed to take part in their first reportage about European education, not on-line yet.

You can find more information together with our comments on Euractiv

Collecting business cards at Place Lux

A fancy Y Vote launch in Vienna with many big names as keynote speakers is not a reason to loosen grip on the Brussels' scene - so Ivonne and I put on some fancy clothes and joined former president of AEGEE-Europe Theijs van Welij to the 'Politiek Cafe': a gathering of Dutch politicians, bureaucrats and journalists discussing the theme of the week (Europe and the Media) in informal setting. While enjoying a nice glass of red wine, we were introduced to several MEP's and told them about Y Vote, after which business cards were exchanged with the promise to keep them informed.
A second glass of wine and a cigarette resulted in a long talk outside with two freelance journalists that were pretty fascinated by our life and work in Brussels - again an exchange of business cards and a promise to visit our legendary Headoffice.

The third and last stop at Place Luxembourg - the social hub next to the European Parliament - just outside a cafe where we had one final drink with a group of British and French men. A discussion about traveling, financial management and how to cook Belgian mussels or a traditional British-Indian breakfast resulted in two more business cards and the satisfaction of a highly successful networking night.

NetMetSanPet

Красуйся, град Петров!

Last weekend Peter the Great's magnificent city hosted the first Network Meeting of the term!
Participants from Russia, Ukraine, Finland and even Slovakia took part in the event.
Through the lectures and workshops - delivered, among the others, by the Network Commission, the Academy and the CD - many motivated fresh members got to know the association, while several found their way into their future development in AEGEE.
At least 2 concrete and ambitious plans for new international events were made. Furthermore, the founding of 3 new Contacts (2 in Russia and 1 in Ukraine) is prospected in the near future.
And... new friendships are born!
Long life to AEGEE-Sankt Petersburg and to the marvellous people who made all this possible! To those who built step by step a big local with astonishing variety and potential and to those who are filling it with new energy every day. To you my friends.

Друзья мои, прекрасен наш союз!
Он, как душа, неразделим и вечен —
Неколебим, свободен и беспечен
Срастался он под сенью дружных муз.

Cyprus needs youth

Dragan and I ( Percin ) attended the breakfast policy meeting that was organised by European Policy Center. Turkish Cypriot Leader Mehmet Ali Talat was invited as the speaker for this briefing.

The topics discussed by Mr. Talat were civic dialogue, womens role, the relationship between the two sides, trade, the EU, human migration, his point of view in two sides in Cyprus in general, civil society, Turkish & British troops and religious contacts.
I have asked Mr Talat the question about how he sees the contribution of youth and youth associations in that matter and how he supports this work by organisations. After a long answer, his most memorable sentence was ' Cyprus needs youth '

After the conference, me and Dragan had the chance to approach Mr. Talat and inform him about the Spring AGORA 2009 in Magusa and the general works of AEGEE.

In the News :-)

Also, check my editorial in the European Movement International Newsletter, here.

Member's Manual 2008

The new Member's Manual 2008 - a tool every AEGEE member should always have handy - is ready!

My predecessor, Network Development Director Stefan Wittwer, worked hard on it to obtain a clear structure and update it thoroughly.

Please, make use of the MM! Upload it on your computer, print it and keep it in your local AEGEE office, show it to new members, have a look at it when there is some AEGEE mystery for you to discover. There is always more ;-)

And... comment! Do you think it is an useful tool or would you prefer another one? Printed or online? Should it be implemented? If yes, how?

Looking foward to your input! Download

Building a Better Future Together

So close, yet so unfamiliar with each other - that’s how one could describe the EU and Israel. This week I went to Jerusalem to join a meeting of the EU and Israeli networks of students and young professionals willing to bring these two closer together. Meeting was the first step in a networking initiative by the Young Israeli Forum for Cooperation and Konrad Adenauer Stiftung – aiming to raise the knowledge on Europe and Israel, and consequently cooperation between two civil societies, through activities of young people. All this was discussed for 4 days in Jerusalem and will hopefully result in a set of concrete activities – with study visits for young people of different backgrounds from Israel to Brussels and, vice-versa their European counterparts to Jerusalem, as something where AEGEE could play a great role.

It was of course a memorable experience to visit Jerusalem – city where nations, religions and cultures have been meeting for centuries – now so bitterly divided by long lasting conflict and a rather new fence.

AEGEE Family getting bigger

Yesterday the CD approved 4 new Contacts in fashionable Antwerpen, imperial Magdeburg, perspective Velika Gorica and lovely Banja Luka. Last week, Catanzaro, Linkoping, Lutsk and Ozurgeti were approved by the outgoing CD. A warm welcome to them!

Furthermore, Darmstadt and Ogre were upgraded from Contact Antenna to Antenna. Congratulations!

Several Contacts are now running for signing the Convension d'Adhésion at Agora Aachen, with the Juridical Commission taking care of checking and approving their statutes. We wish them all good luck!

How to become part of the AEGEE world? Check it out on www.aegee.org/network.

What Do You Think?

This Autumn Agora will be a rather special one - as in Aachen we are going to adopt a brand new Strategic Plan 2009 - 2011. As a part of consultation process for the drafting of this important document two surveys were presented to the network. One was addressing individual members on the matters of AEGEE thematic focus; the second one was targeted at local boards and their organisational needs.

Here are the first results of both surveys.

3 - 2 - 1: New Term!

On September 1, exactly at midnight, the new AEGEE European Board of Directors came into force.

It's all about networking!

In the eve of the new term we welcomed European boards of our fellow international student associations based in Brussels - ESN, BEST, ELSA, JADE, IAAS and EPSA. Just as in our case all of them have fresh, newly elected teams ready for new partnerships and joint successes. We will keep you posted about further cooperation - both the parties and the serious work :-)

Team building Luxembourg

My personal highlight of the knowledge transfer period: three days in Luxembourg to get to know each other a little better in informal setting, explore one of the European capitals, and recharge our batteries for the last week of knowledge transfer and strategic planning. Special thanks to AEGEE-Luxembourg-member Giselle who showed us the hotspots of the city's nightlife.

Team building efficiency: 100% :-)

Our Great European Bodies in Brussels

Strategic Planning Meeting - the final stage in 5 months long consultations for the drafting of the Strategic Plan 2009 - 2011 - brought together members of the old and new CD, and representatives of the Academy, IPWG, HRWG, PRWG, Netcom, SUCT, EnWG, LO, LA, SuFu... 22 in total! During three long days (August 15 - 17) they discussed the history and organization of AEGEE, current developments in the world, revised vision, mission and values statements for organization's identity and started defining new focus areas for next three years. The nights were as much exiting with floral carpet exhibition at Grand Place (showcased only once every 2 years) and Miljan's and Tena's marvelous guitar concerts ;-) Big thanks to everybody!

Arrival of the new Comite Directeur in Brussels

Three months after their election at the Agora in Ljubljana (AEGEE's general assembly), the six new members of the Comite Directeur 2008-2009 joined Dragan in the Brussels' Headoffice for a one month training and knowledge transfer period. During this first week, the individual CD members spent several days with their successors guiding them through the Headoffice infrastructures, taking them to meetings with potential sponsors and explaining the ins and outs of their task. Day to day life at Rue Nestor de Tiere 15 also got some deserved attention when the new residents rolled up their sleeves to transform the garden and polish the bathroom.

Stay tuned :)