Paolo Carta 4 May 1973 - 27 February 2012

Paolo… our friend…

Many of you know AEGEE-Cagliari, many of you have met in the past different people coming from the sunny Sardinia, but most of you don’t have a clue how it has all begun back in 1995. So let’s start!

In 1993 Marcello Floris had founded ELSA in Cagliari, another great idea but limited to law students. After finding an article in a magazine named Campus, he came to the idea to create an antenna of AEGEE in Sardinia. He needed to find people willing and able to create interest and consensus around him. It is worth to know that Marcello called the writer of that article, Luchino Lepore, AEGEE-Milano member. Luchino, Balyno and Bali became from that moment main supporters of AEGEE-Cagliari, sending all the material, the statute and more from Milan – everything needed to start up…

The project to have an association for all the students was a great initiative, but he felt the need to find other people younger than him to come into action. Among his friends he asked a young man, Paolo, to involve his friends in this new project and also Enrico, with whom he was already in ELSA.

AEGEE-Cagliari at the PM in Barcelona 1995

Marcello met Paolo by coincidence in 1994, in the law faculty. Despite different political opinions they became immediately friends, maybe because of the common Mid-Sardinian origins. In his words: “I spoke with Paolo, I remember the lighting smile when I told him that he was the right person to begin this dream… he simply said: well we can try!”

Paolo did more… all the preliminary meetings he arranged, all his friends involved, and more… Finally the first board was elected, and Paolo became the first President of AEGEE-Cagliari. Not only a President, he was the main column of something which was still not clear, but with a great future ahead. In fact, AEGEE-Cagliari became really important in a very short time.

Paolo and Nicola Filippi were very active in the student life in Cagliari. They had been previously elected student representative in Law and Economics schools and had previously founded a student organization, because they wanted to offer to their colleagues and friends the opportunity to make new experiences, to share a more active student life than what you could actually find at that time in Cagliari. They first published a student magazine called “Ateneo” and planned other activities until Paolo, who was in charge of networking, met Marcello.

Nicola still remembers the phonecall with Paolo, when they discussed whether they should accept Marcello’s proposal. Nicola discouraged him to start a new organization at first. Nicola agreed after a long discussion on the phone, but believed that it would become too much work for them. They still had other activities as student representatives at the university. To be honest, Nicola was wrong. 17 years later you can recognise the vision of a leader.

Paolo Carta (2nd from right) at the SU Cagliari 2003

They held the first meeting in the student hall in Cagliari, where nearly 40 people participated – Nicola Cadelano, Antonio Mereu, Michele Meloni, Daniele Carboni and many more. A few weeks later Enrico, Marcello, Michele Pisano, Christian Ortu, Michela Deiana and Nicola signed their contract with AEGEE. During the summer they drew up the future of AEGEE-Cagliari and at the end of September 1995, Paolo, Nicola and Vanna Testoni flew to the Presidents Meeting in Barcelona to sign the Convention d’Adhesion.

Their English was very bad at that time and they had a lot of problems to understand their colleagues in AEGEE. Then they participated in a Human Rights Working Group meeting and met people like Antonio, Mario and also Giacomo Marini from AEGEE-Gorizia. Paolo and the others were lodged in the student hostel, the lodging place of the Presidents’s Meeting, when they experienced their first European Night. At their return from the party, they realised that the hostel was locked at night, so they had to jump across the wall to get inside.

Then the first Summer University came and in October AEGEE-Cagliari went together to their first Agora as an AEGEE Antenna, Athina 1996… After this Agora AEGEE-Cagliari began to grow in numbers until the antenna was to organise a Statutory Event, the Presidents’ Meeting in 1998. This was a big step for a three-year old antenna.

Many other events followed, and Paolo kept his natural calmness and wisdom, also when AEGEE-Cagliari became so important in the association. He led the association until its first important anniversary in 2000 where he was named Honorary President of AEGEE-Cagliari.

During these years and also after he succeeded in using his political skills to help the association, for example when receptions in the city hall were organised, he arranged often free bus tickets for event participants and gave his precious help to raise funds from institutions. Especially after 2000 he was so helpful in solving difficult situations among the new generations of AEGEE-Cagliari members. His words were followed.

Also until recently he was called sometimes from the new AEGEE members who needed his help for a special fund or something similar. A delegation of the current board was present during the funeral, really astonished as the others by his early death.

Paolo, thank you for being our friend, thank you for being the founder and president for five years of a dream named AEGEE, thank you for giving us the pride of being your friends.

Great visit to the beer museum

What is Belgium famous for? Good food. From 23 to 25 March 2012, 60 Les Anciens members enjoyed a lot of good fries, beer, one of the best brunches ever and a great barbecue in the AEGEE-Europe headoffice. Les Anciens board member Carolien Nijenhuis put together a great programme. On Friday night the group had an all-you-can-eat rib dinner at Amadeo, followed by a visit to the nearby pub Celtica.

On Saturday morning the programme will start with a visit to the Parlamentarium, the European Parliament’s Visitors’ Centre. Afterwards Brussels oldies, who visited the first AEGEE headoffice in Brussels in 1996, experienced a very sentimental lunch:

AEGEE-Europe President Alfredo Sellitti and he team made a great barbecue for the guests

the group went to Maison Antoine, the most famous Belgian fries place, located at Place Jourdan.The group had to wait nearly one hour in the long queue, but no one really minded, because of the brilliant weather with a lot of sunshine and T-shirt temperatures – the best weather conditions ever during Back2Brussels. For Saturday afternoon Carolien booked a tour at the Beer museum in Schaarbeek. The beer was no best in the museum, but the tour with the charming old lady, who runs this place, compensated for it. Finally, after a long Saturday, the sightseeing programme concluded about 6 pm.

The 60 participants just had time to go back to their hotels and relax a bit or to attend Egens’ birthday party, before the annual CD reception in the AEGEE headquarters started. The CD was looking very much forward to welcome the Les Anciens crowd to their house. The place looked clean as never before.

Fries time!

Check out the photos ofBack2Brussels 2012!

You can find them on the Golden Oldie Facebook page or on the Les Aciens website.

Michiel van Hees just got one step closer to his plan to have 25 grandchildren. Now the burden is not anymore on his daughter Eline. On Friday, 9^th of March, his wife Janina (néé Victor) – like Michiel a former Les Anciens board member – gave birth to Caspar Alexander. “We’re very lucky with Eline and Caspar. It is a gift to have them”, the happy father told the Golden Oldie.

Golden Oldie: Congratulations Michiel! The second step towards the 25 grandchildren is done! Was it an easy birth?
Michiel van Hees: The birth went very quick, we arrived at the hospital at 3.30 at night, Caspar was born at 9.35 and we were back home in the afternoon. We are very lucky with Eline and Caspar. Just realize that it is a gift to have them. There are many people who love to have kids and have great difficulty getting them.  We are lucky.

Golden Oldie: That’s great! Are mother and child fine?
Michiel: Yes, they are doing fine, in the Netherlands you get homecare straight out of the hospital which will stay at your house for eight days. She makes sure that the mother and child and also the father get enough rest.

Golden Oldie: Why did you choose Caspar Alexander van Hees as name?
Michiel: We made a long list of names we liked and chose Caspar. I must say that Gunnar didn’ t make the long list.

Golden Oldie: That’s really a shame. What would have been Caspar’s name if he had been a girl?
Michiel: We knew it would be a boy so we didn’t have a girl’s name.

Golden Oldie: Can you tell size and weight at birth?
Michiel: The size we don’t know, they don’t measure that in Netherlands anymore. The weight was 3498 grams.

Golden Oldie: Does Caspar resemble anyone in the family?
Michiel: Grandfather Victor says he has the traits of the grandmother of Janina. My mother says that his chin is typical van Hees. And to me he looks quite a lot like Eline when she was just born.

Golden Oldie: How did Eline react? Is she happy about her little brother?
Michiel: Not directly happy, she knows that she has to share mother and father now, but she can be very sweet for him.

Golden Oldie: How is Eline doing by the way? By now she probably speaks already a few languages and keeps you busy…
Michiel: She is a little sweet girl now. She speaks German with janina and charlotte, the au-pair, and Dutch with me and in the kindergarden. She actually improved my German grammar already – for the first time three months ago.

Golden Oldie: What about the 25 grandchildren? Are you planning a third child?
Michiel: Well, my ambition is to get six kids, I just need to convince Janina…

Michiel, Janina and lots of babies 2011

Golden Oldie: Peter, since when do you live in Beijing?
Peter Daemen: I am working for a Beijing based joint venture since November/December last year and moved to Beijing two weeks ago!

Golden Oldie: Cool. What are you doing there precisely?
Peter Daemen: I have been sent by Shell to work in the start-up team for a joint venture company between Shell and Great Wall Drilling Company, a division of China National Petroleum Corporation. I work in procurement and am helping out developing and implementing the international procurement activities of the joint venture. It’s exciting, to be under the umbrella of two of the biggest companies on the planet, but still having great entrepreneurial liberty, as the joint venture is in start-up phase. We basically do what it takes to get things done! By the way, I must be in the most unpopular part of the business for many folks in AEGEE: I buy fracturing equipment for use in shale gas activities in the US and China.

Golden Oldie: Why did you decide to go to China?
Peter: I have been on the negotiating team of a few large fabrication and construction contracts that were being developed in China. I remember flying in seeing a bridge crossing a five kilometer wide bay from the plane. In the middle of the bay, the bridge split up in two and there was a sort of high-way junction in the middle of the water, suspended on pillars. Then after landing, during a one-hour taxi travel to the contractor site, I saw more active construction sites building skyscrapers than I have ever seen in my life. Then later visits to Shanghai left a “New-York-On-Steroids” kind of impression on me, so it was a done deal: “I must live in China, this is where it happens!” So from there I worked my way through my network inside the company and stumbled across this joint venture project. Having had a great year last year in the company and receiving several recognitions for it, I found my way into the joint venture start-up team, so I went!

The Forbidden City in Beijing

Golden Oldie: Excellent! How did you prepare for this adventure?
Peter: Organising the transfer was done by an agent and by Shell so that went on behind the scenes, smoothly without my involvement. In the meanwhile I was working in China already by means of business trips. At the same time I wanted to spend time with my girlfriend,  manage my social life, so yeah… I was everywhere and nowhere, except at home to pack and prepare. When all paperwork and confirmations were done I packed my stuff in under half a day and flew off the next day.

Golden Oldie: Was it hard to arrange bureaucratic procedures such as work permits?
Peter: Well, if you have time to respect the system, everything is easy, so we didn’t push for a high-speed transfer. Christmas, New Year and Chinese New Year slowed stuff down, but as I was anyway flying out many times already there was no rush. That made it easy and I think next week I’ll have my working permit and residence permit, about four months after initiating the process.

Golden Oldie: What was your biggest learning experience in China?
But my biggest learning experience of the past months is working in a team that is lead by a Chinese CNPC employee – basically a government official – and working in a fully Chinese team with very little folks from ‘the home company’ around. The way of working here is really different… but then again that was what I was looking for.

Modern Beijing

Golden Oldie: How are your living conditions?
Peter: I am put up by an oil major, so you can imagine I don’t complain at all. The one key complaint is that all options provided to me are very expatriate oriented. I don’t think the system is focussed on young guys flying out for a cultural experience, but more for families with children. I commute to work, one hour, as I sit in a CNPC office, which is awesome fun. I do not consider taxis safe, so I commute by metro and bus. Even though the metro even announces stations in English, this is truly an experience. Slightly taller – I am just about average in Netherlands – it feels a bit odd to be packed in the metro at 6.30 am with hundreds of Chinese. The other day I saw another Caucasian guy at the other end of the train. We smiled, separated by an ocean of tiny Chinese folks. It really felt like a cartoon and it does every day.

Golden Oldie: How is the working culture?
Peter:  Work itself is one string of inter-cultural experiences, and it is awesome. I am learning with every hour that passes. It is an amazing experience really. The hierarchy is stronger, yet I am Dutch – you can imagine what that means. Experience and status in China is traditionally more linked to age than in Europe and I am only 29 while the rest of my team is 40 or older. Pro-activeness can be easily misunderstood and work-life balance leans very strongly towards company interests first. There are two things that help me out, though.

Peter's progress with the Chinese eating style

Golden Oldie: Which are these?
Peter: I work hard and not from 9 to 5 – and AEGEE has brought me quite some cultural sensitivity, though it was just a start. The hard working shows, in good results, and helps overcome the differences in my behaviour that are not acceptable here. On my side, the sensitivity helps me a lot. On the Chinese side, they are equally not used to working with me. Just like I had, they have primarily transactional experiences with foreign cultures, such as a contractor-buyer type relationship, rather than a daily work relationship. It was very difficult for me to understand when I can and cannot write e-mails directly to my boss and who is actually running the meeting – as opposed to who is talking, as this is distinctly not the same here. But I am growing!

Golden Oldie: Which other intercultural differences did you notice in working life?
Peter (smiles): The great thing here is that the Chinese kind of notice that you’re not Chinese. It is unavoidable, and as such there is no expectation for you to get the protocol exactly right. Any endeavour to try is much appreciated. But on the other hand, I have seen a western sub-contractor destroy the business relationship that was really great with just one singular misplaced sentence. So I am walking on egg-shells most of the time.

Golden Oldie: How is your Chinese? Are you learning the language?
Peter: My Chinese is worthless and will stay so for a long time. It is difficult to learn obviously and this week I turned in many long hours of work and I have worked quite some weekends. This leaves very little energy left to do anything when not working. I will start learning when the dust of my move settles down and I have a clearer control over my activities. I really want to, as it is essential to the things I want to take away from living here.

Golden Oldie: Anything you are missing from the Netherlands?
Peter (smiles): Definitely coffee and also Grolsch. And, now most people will laugh: I miss the Dutch blue skies! It is shocking how it is grey here in Beijing almost every day due to smog, so whenever I am back in the Netherlands, I enjoy the variable cloudy and blue skies! And never again will I accept any complaints of visitors about how grey and depressing the skies get in Netherlands, come to Beijing and get ready to be really depressed. (smiles again)

The office survival kit

Golden Oldie: Are you staying in an expatriate community or do you have good contact with local people?
Peter: I am trying to reach out, so within Shell I have mostly contact with the Beijing-born Chinese that work there. This I do on purpose, but in the nightlife it is a bit more difficult. Chinese don’t go out the way we do. So when I want a bar with a beer and good conversation, I end up dragging my Chinese colleagues to expat bars. The greatest thing is that I have found a mentor in a 70-year old oil and gas veteran from CNOOC – another Chinese oil major – who is coaching me. He sometimes reads my e-mails, sits in on meetings, helped me navigate the busses and basically is leading me intro Chinese culture. I have three dinner parties planned in private homes of Chinese families across Beijing, so I guess it is growing!

Golden Oldie: For how many years do you want to stay there?
Peter: Two to three years seems enough to learn Chinese and understand the culture deep enough to come back to Europe to say: I really know the Chinese, let me do your business for you there. It is a brilliant mix of my desire for intercultural exchange and adding business value to my CV — again, as AEGEE also always has been. Half a year ago I wouldn’t have believed I would now live in Beijing and the reality of this type of highly entrepreneurial project work is that in three months I might be back in Europe. But who knows, really, projects such as this bring opportunity and uncertainty, so let’s see if I can make it stick!

Golden Oldie: Any other place in the world where you’d like to go afterwards?
Peter: Back home maybe? Don’t know really, I am going to travel Asia during my stay in China, so perhaps some new inspiration will stem from that. Singapore has a nice ring to it, or London, but I think Latin America could also be nice. But I think I’ll focus on China as my key exotic country I know my way around in.

Golden Oldie: Anything else you’d like to tell to our readers?
Peter: I have a couch, 20 minute walk from the Forbidden City, close to a metro stop. So if you’re in town give me a shout!

one year ago, in January 2011, I created the Golden Oldie. This new online magazine had and still has the main purpose to report about news, people and events of AEGEE’s alumni association Les Anciens. However, within a couple of weeks only, the Golden Olden became very popular also among AEGEE members, especially since this online magazine had also a section about current AEGEE affairs. Today, the Golden Oldie has 1038 fans on Facebook and a lot more people, who just read the articles now and then without pressing the famous “Like” button.

Unfortunately, due to the substantial number of AEGEE-related articles, the Golden Oldie lost its clear focus regarding Les Anciens issues. Several members of our alumni association expressed their deep concern in this matter. They asked me to avoid AEGEE topics in future. Since I created this online magazine explicitly for Les Anciens, I feel very sorry in case my articles about AEGEE disturbed you. In order to avoid bigger harm, the Golden Oldie will not report about AEGEE-related issues anymore.

For our readers, who are however interested in AEGEE matters, I have two alternatives:

• The AEGEEan. This marvellous AEGEE online magazine managed to get 700 fans in just four months since it was launched. The very dedicated team around its chief editor Stephanie Müller creates and publishes several great articles every week. You can find The AEGEEan here: http://www.zeus.aegee.org/magazine. Check also its Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/aegeean.
• The Golden Times. This new online portal is my latest private initiative. It is a living AEGEE history magazine, with intensive coverage of all Agoras ever, milestone moments and also the people that shaped AEGEE. It is not part of the AEGEE or Les Anciens structures, just a personal online project that I had in mind for already ten years. Since golden times are not only in the past, but also in constant making, I report also about Agoras and a few selected major AEGEE issues. In addition, you can also find my articles for the Golden Oldie there. After all, it would be a shame just to publish them once and in only one place. You find the Golden Times here: http://www.central.aegee.org/~erth/goldentimes/.

In case you want to contribute to the Golden Oldie or the Golden Times with articles or your personal memories, please contact me.

Kind regards,
Gunnar Erth

Rissana Shytu

AEGEE and Les Anciens members have a close relationship with hostels. They slept in countless of them. However, Les Anciens and AEGEE members as hostel owners – that’s something new. It happened just a few weeks ago in Kyiv: Rissana Shytu, Tim Joris “TJ” Kaiser and Philip Knuppel opened “The Hub” in the Ukrainian capital. AEGEE and Les Anciens members get ten percent discount – and AEGEE-Kyiv will host the participants of the upcoming Human Resources European School there. Les Anciens board member Rissana gave the Golden Oldie more insights into this new enterprise.

Golden Oldie: Rissana, who are people behind The Hub?
Rissana Shytu: For now we are three people working on The Hub – and all of us were in AEGEE for a various time and intensity: me, TJ Kaiser is even still a member of AEGEE Brussels, and Philip Knuppel, whose AEGEE experience was much shorter.

Golden Oldie: Who had the idea?
Rissana: That’s the beauty of it: we came up with the idea separately and then by mysterious ways that life works that we found each other! TJ and Philip were thinking and dreaming of it for around 10 years. My idea came less than a year ago, more in the way of searching for things I could do and things that are needed in Kyiv. This city offers a lot of opportunities and even though it’s not the easiest place on Earth to set up a business, still there are so many open markets, services and things that are still not being offered by anybody else. You just need to get doing them when the consumer is ready, but before everybody else will realise that it’s a good place to start a company.

Golden Oldie: When did the hostel open?
Rissana (smiles): On 31st of December 2011. Our goal was to open in 2011 and we accomplished it! Our first guests arrived that very day and we had an opening and New Year’s party. Despite the fact that the construction team moved out only in the morning of the 31st and that we had to run a crush test with cleaning, we met our guests with shiny windows, clean floors and working bathrooms.

Golden Oldie: You worked on the opening for several months. How do you feel now? Relieved?
Rissana: It all was and still is in a sort of whiplash. There’s so much to do, just the work keeps on changing. First it was planning the space, then choosing the contractor, then supplying the construction materials. Easy part. Choosing wall colors, wallpapers, beds, lockers – medium hard. Interviewing people, selecting staff and declining those who don’t fit, working all those small things into a big well-oiled machine – hard. It’s a bit difficult to describe how I feel. It’s a mixture of happy, proud of a well done job, but at the same time anxious – how will it do, will the guests like us, will we be able to pay the bills at the end of the month. And there’s a third layer of feelings that is planning – the only way to make the most out of anxiety and happiness: how to improve things, how to cut the budget, how to get more guests to come and post positive reviews, how to train staff so that they are even more helpful, how to make place more comfortable…

Golden Oldie: Aren’t there already many hostels in Kyiv?
Rissana: So far Kyiv could offer hostels based in apartments, for 20-30 people only. Bigger ones existed, but way outside regular tourist paths.

Golden Oldie: What makes your hostel special?
Rissana: We put our hearts into The Hub and people feel it when they come to us. From the comfort point of view: we offer great beds, clean bathrooms and convenient location. Since we are big, there is a lot of people to meet and make new friends. We also have huge space for outdoor activities. Also for groups its beneficiary – finally they can stay in a similar type facility, not being forced to choose who goes into a private or dorm room. We can take groups of up to 50 people in dorms only!

Golden Oldie: In total, how many rooms do you have? How much does it cost to stay there?
Rissana: We have 10 rooms for 67 beds. Dorms cost 9 to 17 Euro a night, depending on the season and number of people. Guests have a choice between dorms for 12, 10, 8 or 6 people. We also have one female-only dorm for 6 to 8 ladies, depending on the season. At the same time there are private rooms for 1 to 4 people, which will cost 35 Euro till the end of February and 40 to 50 Euro in busier seasons.

Golden Oldie: What about the location – is it central?
Rissana: The Hub is in the very heart of the city. Forget about public transportation, you can get everywhere on foot. We’re set in the middle of a beautiful 19th century part of the city, 5 minutes walking from the main street Khreschatyk. We have a park across the street, lots of museums that are worth visiting. All the nightlife and shopping is just around the corner. At the same time we are off the street, so our guests have quiet nights, no neighbours to disturb should they decide to party and a lot of space to do sports, play snowballs right now or just walk out for a smoke.

Golden Oldie: The pictures look nice indeed. How would you describe the interior style of the hostel?
Rissana: The Hub is a tribute to Kyiv. Every room is named after a person that influenced a city greatly, or a landmark that is worth knowing about. Rooms are decorated with pictures of the places, made by known and starting artists. Apart from that the hostel is made in warm colours, with an idea to create a unique homely atmosphere. We also have special decorations in an upper floor corridor, made for us by a group of artists, who modernise traditional Ukrainian drawings, very beautiful. Further on we plan to give artists space for presentations and exhibitions of contemporary Ukrainian art. Having a lot of international people around will help greatly to that cause. Ukraine and Kyiv in particular have a lot to offer. Helping our guests to discover those things, also within our walls, is our goal.

Golden Oldie: What kind of service do you offer your guests?
Rissana: Our guests expect comfortable beds, clean bathrooms, private lockers for their treasured belongings. Everything else we provide exceeds expectations. Our guidebook was a page called: “what a perfect hostel should provide” and we did include most of the things from the list – including free internet, 24 hour reception, no lock out or curfew hours. We don’t impose any unnecessary rules on our guests. We also keep things free, like tea and coffee, luggage storage for the day of departure and ironing.

Golden Oldie: Did any of you had hostel managing experience before?
Rissana: Our hosteling experience is limited to that of a guest. We have a lot of experience on what a traveller needs and what a good hostel is, though. So, our combined knowledge is our key to success. I’ve been managing my first business for almost two years now, that was and is a very good school. And even though for my partners this is a first business experience as such, they are very successful in their respective careers and this gives them needed tools for managing The Hub.

Golden Oldie: How many guests and bookings did you get so far?
Rissana: We’re working with a steady 12 to 15 percent occupancy rate for this first month. This is more than we’ve been expecting. Mostly our guests are coming from Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, making private rooms a hot commodity. We did also get some people from as far as Australia, Japan and the US. As I am writing this, we are preparing for our first group coming – 18 people from the Peace Corps, and this is very exciting!

Golden Oldie: Will you make a deal with AEGEE-Kyiv about using the hostel for SUs?
Rissana: Not yet for the SU, but we will host the upcoming HR European School in April and we are very much looking forward to that. of course, all of us are very interested in having AEGEE people around, so we offer a special 10 percent discount to current and past members. Also we have AEGEE people helping us with the web site and social media. We also have Yuri Tokarski contributing his invaluable diplomatic expertise and knowledge of German language for the development of The Hub.

Golden Oldie: Can you find your hostel in the big international hostel booking websites?
Rissana: We are already accepting bookings and climbing up the ladder on sites like booking.com and hostelworld.com. For others, we have some allocation policies to sort out and then we will be available there as well.

Golden Oldie: How do you and the other owners share the work?
Rissana: While most of the decisions we make together, I’m managing our daily operations, Philip and TJ are actively promoting the hostel and do international sales. And they are also the financial centre of all the venture. Let me put it this way: together we’re like a big head making decisions and I’m the body implementing them. The longest was finding the perfect place. It took us almost three month, but this one was well worth all the search.

Golden Oldie: How many hours per week do you work in the hostel?
Rissana: At present it’s around 70 to 80 hours and I’m still very much behind my e-mails and the thinking and planning workload. In the upcoming weeks things will settle down and this number will reduce. At least I hope so. Add to this my second business, my laundrette, time to eat, move around the city and sleep – I’m a very busy girl indeed!

The Hub on hostelworld.com

Golden Oldie: You mentioned your laundrette. How is that going?
Rissana: It’s doing ok. I had to move it down on my priorities list for the time being, but now we are settling in new premises, installing the equipment again and getting ready for a full speed ride into spring.

Golden Oldie: Do you have more business ideas?
Rissana: I do! Some of them are related to things I’m doing now, some not really. There is nothing I am going to pursue in the next 8 to 10 months, anyway, for obvious reasons. Some of the ideas are: a cooking school, we’ve started it with a friend of mine back in 2008, right before the crisis and had to put it on the shelf till better times. Then there’s an idea to open a “supported living home”. Subject of care for elderly people is still almost absolutely uncovered here, even people with means have trouble finding a decent care for their elderly, not to mention middle class. Other ideas I’m not ready to make public just yet.

Golden Oldie: AEGEE members get ten percent off in your hostel. Also Les Anciens members?
Rissana: Of course, 10 percent off and a free beer once you come to stay!

More info about The Hub

Website: http://thehubhostel.com
Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/thehubhostel
Address: 5A Tereschankivska st, Kyiv
Phone: +380 44 22 912 66
E-mail: kyiv@thehubhostel.com

All roads lead to Brussels. But some are shorter...

What is Belgium famous for? Good food. Last year the 80 participants of the Back to Brussels (B2B) event 2011 had the chance to visit a real chocolatier. This year, from 23 to 25 March 2012, the Les Anciens reunion event will bring us lots of good fries and beer – and one of the best brunches ever.

The programme will be published soon. Right now main organiser and Les Anciens board member Carolien Nijenhuis is just giving the finishing strokes to the programme. The participants can look forward already to the following: on Friday night the group will go to an excellent and not expensive dinner at Amadeo, an all-you-can-eat rib place from 19.00 to 21.30. “We’ll get a separate room to ourselves“, says Carolien. After that the participants will meet go for the usual pub meeting.

On Saturday morning, the programme will start with a visit to the Parlamentarium, the European Parliament’s Visitors’ Centre. Lunch will be at a nearby place that everybody will remember very well, who ever visited the first AEGEE headoffice in Brussels in the mid-90ies: Maison Antoine, the best Belgian fries place, located at Place Jourdan. “For Saturday afternoon I booked the Beer museum in Schaarbeek”, adds Carolien.

The tour will last an hour and a half, so there is plenty of time to have a few more beers or to rest before the annual CD reception in the AEGEE headquarters starts. The CD is already looking very much forward to welcome the Les Anciens crowd to their house. Since last year’s garden party was a smashing success, the CD around AEGEE-Europe President Alfredo Sellitti will continue this new tradition.

On Sunday the programme will finish with a brunch at the “Bla bla & Gallery” in the central district Marolles. In mid-January Les Anciens members Carolien Nijenhuis, Egens van Iterson Scholten and Gunnar Erth already tried out the place. Their opinion: great location, great food.

The finalised programme will be online by the end of January. Then also the registration process will start. Everything is set to another successful B2B.

The great brunch location of B2B

Carolien Nijenhuis and Arwin at the brunchplace

The brunch restaurant inside

Egens enjoying the food

The deadline for applications for the European Boards’ Meeting (EBM) comes closer – you can only apply until 14^th of December. The concept of the EBM will be totally new, since it was reformed at the autumn Agora 2011. The two main authors of the reform, former CD member Thomas Leszke and former Agora vice chair Katja Behrendt, told the Golden Oldie what will change.

Golden Oldie: What are the main differences between old EBM and new EBM?

Thomas and Katja: The old EBM used to finalise the Action Agenda, the year plan of AEGEE-Europe, which was a static ritual without any creative input required from the participants. In the past years this was always criticised as purposeless. With the reform, the new EBM will be the place where this Action Agenda is drafted, and all participants can contribute with their own ideas and plans. Apart from that, the new EBM will be more like a conference, where external speakers, politicians, activists and professors come as guests to discuss with AEGEE people the most important challenges in Europe today. This will be a great inspiration for us, and also a great help for drafting the Action Agenda!

AEGEE events in Izmir are famous for their hospitality.

Golden Oldie: So the EBM will draft the Action Agenda from the very beginning – how will that be reflected in structure and programme of the event? Won’t there any preparations before the EBM at all?

Thomas and Katja: Especially the last two days of the EBM will focus on making plans for the next year of our work in AEGEE-Europe, and all these plans together are forming the Action Agenda. We will have many sessions discussing how we can achieve the aims of our Focus Areas, first setting our objectives for the next year, and then developing concrete activities together with all locals. Already before the EBM all bodies will be asked to think about their capacity to contribute to the Action Agendy, so that the participants will have this information when they attend the EBM. For more information, check the Strategic Plan: http://www.intranet.aegee.org/group_file/view/3/2842)

Golden Oldie: How can the ambitious aim of drafting the Action Agenda be achieved in just three days?

Thomas and Katja: If you have 250 people in one place, you have never enough time to discuss. It is all about time management, about setting priorities, and of course about discipline and commitment from the side of the participants. While we tend to be lazy sometimes at our statutory events, this EBM will be an exercise of the famous slogan “Work hard during the day, party harder during the night – but don’t sleep in the morning”! We have drafted a methodology that will help us in this – and we will select experienced and capable facilitators for the sessions as well as motivated participants.

EBM organisers

Golden Oldie: You said the EBM is also becoming a thematic conference with interesting speakers. How many do you want to invite? Do you already have some example names? And how will you deal with travel expenses for the speakers?

Thomas and Katja: At this moment it is too early to disclose any names, even though we have already contacted some of them. We are trying to find good speakers from the region, so that they don’t have to travel so far, but if we find someone excellent who could only come if we reimbursed the travel costs, this would probably be provided. On the other hand, especially representatives of the European institutions already have a budget for such purposes, so they may not need any such services from our side.

Golden Oldie: Could Les Anciens members be such guest speakers?

Thomas and Katja: Most definitely! But it depends of course on what you want to present or discuss. As you know, the EBM is reserved for external topics. We will not be talking about AEGEE’s organisational problems at any time.

Thomas Leszke

Golden Oldie: Will there be a thematic focus for the EBM set by the CD? 

Thomas and Katja: The thematic focus is of course already set: it is the Focus Areas from the Strategic Plan. Apart from that, the CD can choose a few more topics that seem worth discussing. The Projects Director has already made an open call to the network in order to collect ideas for these additional topics.

Golden Oldie: Who chooses the final topics among all the proposed ones?

Thomas and Katja: In the CIA it is now written that the CD is responsible for the content. In practice, this task is delegated to a person called the Content Coordinator who is cooperating with the Projects Director. Together they will choose the topics.

Golden Oldie: What about making an online voting about the final topics?

Thomas and Katja: No. The poll already indicates which topics are of greatest interest. And then it also depends on the speakers that are available. So this decision is taken by the CD. But of course the network is more than welcome to argue in favour or against certain topics in advance, and the CD appreciates any advice in this matter!

Golden Oldie: Topics regarding the organisational development of AEGEE-Europe are excluded. Do you think the Agora is sufficient to deal with them?

Thomas and Katja: AEGEE is a volunteering organisation and we are facing time constraints in all aspects of our work. There will always be a demand for more time to discuss organisational matters. But we must be wary not to forget about the reason why AEGEE was founded in 1985: to make a contribution to our European society! Again, we must set our priorities, and for this reason, the EBM shall be exclusively reserved to European topics. Otherwise we are in danger of just staying in our bubble and becoming a kind of sect…

Katja Behrendt

Golden Oldie: So there won’t be budget or activity report discussion at the EBM anymore. Do you think the Agora is sufficient to discuss organisational parts?

Thomas and Katja: Of course the Agora is sufficient. Or rather, it simply must be sufficient! In other organisations, there is just one general assembly per year. How do they manage? There are other ways to discuss organisational problems. The Agora is just the place where we take our decisions in a democratic way.

Golden Oldie: At the Agora it was said that only 200 people can take part. Why that restriction?

Thomas and Katja: The number of 200 participants is incorrect. Together with AEGEE-Izmir, the CD has decided to admit 250 participants to the EBM 2012. The reason for this comparably low number – previous EBMs used to have between 300 and 400 participants – is that we have a new concept and we don´t know yet if it’s feasible to do it with so many people – so we start with 250. It is important that this new format is successful. So the decision to slightly reduce the number of participants was made out of caution. Possibly, the EBM 2013 will already be able to accommodate 300 participants again without any problems, because this year we will gain a lot of valuable experience.

Golden Oldie: Isn’t there a conflict, considering that AEGEE has about 200 bodies and all of them should take part, because it is a statutory event? It could mean that a lot of interested people cannot come, because only one or two per local can come. How can that guarantee the best discussions?

Thomas and Katja: That is a fair point of course. But maybe you could also ask the European Union why they have strict contingents for every member state in the European Parliament – shouldn’t we as citizens of the European Union also have the right to elect the best politicians regardless of their nationality? To answer the question, this rule was necessary simply because there is the Antenna criterion that every local needs to attend a certain amount of statutory events. We decided to keep this antenna criterion applicable to the EBM to point out the importance of this meeting, since the EBM will decide what AEGEE will work on in the next year and also to underline the importance of thematic discussion in AEGEE. We could of course have changed that rule, but that would have made the proposal even more complex, and might have led to its disapproval. Still, in case we come to the conclusion that this rule poses indeed an obstacle to the success of the EBM, we can always consider to change this particular aspect.

You can apply for the EBM here (also Les Anciens members!): http://zeus.aegee.org/statutory/ebm1202/

EBM Izmir on Facebook: http://tr-tr.facebook.com/ebmizmir

Join the EBM Izmir group on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/groups/ebm2012izmir/

Also check out this Golden Oldie article about the EBM changes: http://www.anciens.org/goldenoldie/2011/11/15/new-structure-new-name-from-pm-to-ebm-to-epm/

Former CD member Matina Magkou does what most people in AEGEE would love to do: organizing events for money. The Les Anciens member from Athens is working as cultural manager and festival manager all over Europe. The Golden Oldie asked her about her exciting life.

Golden Oldie: Matina, it’s really hard to keep track of your location. Where do you live now?

Matina Magkou: The last three years I am between Madrid and Athens and I am enjoying it a lot. Until May I was in Madrid working for the European Parliament’s Information Office and during the summer I was in Athens again working for the Athens Festival. Often it is confusing but after all this time, I am enjoying this life style and I feel at home in both places. However since the end of August I haven´t been in one place for more than a week. I am working as Production Coordinator at the touring of a theater play around the world. I am not following the whole tour with them, only a few weeks, but this means that since August I’ve been in London, Hong Kong, Aviles in Spain, Naples, Istanbul and right now I am in Sydney. In between I was studying at the University of Deusto in Bilbao and doing some studying for the PhD in Cultural Management that I am doing at the Panteion University of Social and Political Science in Athens.

Golden Oldie: Amazing. Will you continue like this?

Matina: Ask me again in January about where I live: hopefully I will have a real post address. I am also curious to see where this would be: Madrid? Athens? Brussels? Something new?

Golden Oldie: What do you do precisely as cultural and festival manager?

Matina: I am working on a project basis on different cultural projects and in events management. This gives me the opportunity to learn a lot in a very short time and to see the results of my work immediately. I love this aspect of my work. Then of course you always need to take care of what will come after the end of this project. For the last ten years I’ve been involved in different cultural projects, especially related to large scale events, including the Athens Olympic Games 2004, the European Capital of Culture, the International Expo in Zaragoza and for the last three years I cooperate with the Athens festival as Executive Producer.

Golden Oldie: Which event was the biggest challenge?

Matina: Every time I embark in a new project I always have the feeling I accept a job that is just a bit above from my capacities, a bit too demanding. I guess this is the challenge I find exciting, however I always have to try hard at the beginning of each project. Since all projects are time specific with concrete deliverables, there is no time for learning and testing. Every time is the first time. I think the biggest challenge for me was the tour I am working in right now. It is a big international coproduction and touring is not very easy. Lots of the preparatory work is done from distance, you don’t really know the theater and the venue staff you are going to work with before getting there. Schedules are very tight, working hours are every week we are in a different city starting all over again. There are nights that I only sleep four hours for three days, one night I didn’t even sleep at all and stayed at the venue loading the scenery because we were short in staff.

Golden Oldie: What is your PhD in Cultural Management about?

Matina: The researcher attribute is a recent development. Finally, after many years of having it in mind, I decided to study towards a PhD degree in Cultural Management, at the Department of Communication, Culture and Media of the Panteion University where I also did my masters in 2004-2005. My thesis focuses on European cultural policies on the mobility of artists and the experiences of Greek artists. I am still at the beginning of it, which involved a lot of background reading and defining methodology, but I am so excited. Last week I gave a lecture at the University on events and festivals management and I loved it. I am also cooperating with the Greek Observatory for Cultural Policies and Practices that was created in October last year and currently we are updating the Greek profile of the Compendium for cultural policies produced by the Council of Europe and ERICarts.

Golden Oldie: How did you choose your profession? Is it a result from your AEGEE time?

Matina: I always think that AEGEE has played a very important role in my professional path and my general life style. I am convinced that the job I got in the Olympic Games in Athens in 2004 a few months after my CD time was a result of the experience I got in AEGEE. What was valued was my experience in organising events and my experience working in groups and with volunteers. As Venue Manager at the Beach Volley venue I had to manage a team of almost 350 people, I had to speak in public, organise training courses, select and recruit all the staff. Many times I had my AEGEE experience in mind. I think that the choice of my profession is the result of many things, but AEEGE was definitely a starting point.

Golden Oldie: Did your time as CD member prepare you in some way for this job?

Matina: I would say that it has been my overall involvement in youth structures – AEGEE and later on in the board of the European Youth Forum and other structures – and not only my CD term, which has endowed me with all those skills. Working in a multicultural environment, understanding cultural differences, organisation and negotiation skills, public speaking, being flexible with traveling and changing working environments. Also understanding how the European policies work. The year in Brussels was very valuable in this direction. It is amazing to realize the amount of things that we learn while being in AEGEE in an unconscious way. Everything that we call non- formal education and is so valuable for our development.

Golden Oldie: What kind of skills or knowledge did AEGEE not provide you with, which you need now?

Matina: AEGEE is a space for learning, but it is not a learning space. AEGEE is not a skill-proving organisation, although one can learn through his voluntary involvement. There is no curriculum in AEGEE, no to-do-list to mark out before leaving. AEGEE offers an opportunity, the level of involvement and the quality of experiences that each one of us has, defines the skills we develop.

Golden Oldie: You also worked for Patras when it was European Capital of Culture in 2006. What did you do there?

Matina: I worked as Public Relations responsible. I was responsible for all the PR strategy of the organisation and the organisation of promotional activities in Greece, ranging from visibility events, to press trips, inaugurations participation in tourism fairs, as well as all public relations in for all inauguration. Working for this project that combined European affairs and culture was a great honor for me. To this I should add that I was born in Patras and had never lived there after the first year of my life. “Patras 2006” might not have been recorded as a great example of good practice, but for me personally there has been a life before and after “Patras 2006”. I still recall it as the best year of my life and a very significant year in my life, both on personal and professional level.

Golden Oldie: In October this year, you participated at the Atelier for Young Festival Managers in Izmir. What impressions did you take home?

Matina: It was a great opportunity to meet with very enthusiastic people that share the same curiosity about festivals. The mentors were reknown personalities with vast experience from festivals all over the world. It was very inspiring to listen to their experiences and advices. Each one of the participants presented a project idea and we had non-stop discussions. It is amazing how much one can learn from another person. The Atelier is being organised by the European Festivals Association since 2006 and has been a very successful practice for creating a new generation of Artistic Directors. This year an Atelier was organized in Singapore as well, giving the opportunity for more interaction between Asian and European cultural managers. To all this I should add that Izmir is also a fantastic city and so close to Greek culture and the Izmir Festival offered us a wonderful hospitality.

Golden Oldie: You made a nice blog there (http://fromatelierwithlove.wordpress.com/). Who should read it? Why should people read it?

Matina: Making a collective blog was an idea that came to me during the Atelier for young festival managers because I felt that I was learning so much from the other participants that I wanted this to go on. During the last few years that I travel a lot and I see so many nice things related to my work but also to my personal interests, I feel that I want to narrate them to people that are not with me. I haven’t had the discipline to maintain a blog on my own, but administrating a collective one if far more enriching. The initial idea was to use this blog for us, the participants of the Atelier, but I honestly think that this could be interesting to many people that are interested in knowing what is happening in the cultural field in different countries, written from people working in the arts.

Golden Oldie: Anything else you’d like to add?

Matina (smiling): I was waiting for you to ask me for an interview for ages.