One of the four pillars
Cultural Exchange
Cultural exchange is not simply one of the main fields of action of AEGEE – the association’s most successful project is at the heart of it: Summer University. Every year more than 5000 students apply for around 100 Summer Universities taking place all over Europe, to satisfy their curiosity about the history and people of the country of their destination (more information on pages 54/55). On the same basis works the Find Europe project. Moreover, cultural exchange is included as a by-product of every single conference or seminar, as well as in exchanges between antennae. However, there is much more to it than this standard definition.
AEGEE’s whole approach is based on a broad an active cultural exchange. It is a process, or maybe a state of mind: being ready to give, receive, and change yourself, avoiding the pitfalls and temptations of judging. Getting to discover cultures is a breathtaking adventure which fully involves body, mind and emotions. “Get to know others, to discover yourself better”: bearing this motto in my mind, I went to my first AEGEE event in North-Eastern Romania. Southern Italian as I am, I was
challenged to leave my warm home, with my family only partially approving my long absence. On arrival, something extraordinary happened: after a forty hours trip with two transport strikes, two beautiful girls came to pick me up at the train station. Being so far away from my small world, this kicked up my impulse to let myself go completely. The sensation of being completely open, for the first time in my life, was incredible. Five years have passed since that time. I came to realise that the most crucial element of each meeting is the “AEGEE spirit”. It gives a meaning to all the differences that exist among us young Europeans, enables their coexistence; a productive, though not always easy, exchange that overcomes
barriers. Ultimately AEGEE spirit and cultural exchange coincide: it is the only path to European integration.
Since you are employing your consciousness to make sense of the chaos of the universe, you have the power to create what you truly want. Cultural exchange helps you to become aware of the universe, stretching your old, small world. It helps you
see that in this larger universe you have an important role to play – by being active in AEGEE, you shape the world through your actions. AEGEE also provides a way to find a reply to many of your unanswered questions, by showing that the universe you want to see depends on you: you will meet others who see things in different ways. You accept relativism and find a better point of view on issues that bother you. In AEGEE, everything starts with friendship. When curiosity sparkles, self-awareness increases. One’s own culture and personality find equally significant counterparts in others; through understanding the differences, we question and realise our own self identity better.
Recently, my project fellow from Germany visited me here in South Italy. During his stay, we visited an important institutional responsible, who talked with us about three different topics at the same time, and also made phone calls,
received other guests and photocopied many documents. I saw my German friend puzzled at some points. A clash
between the different cultures would have put our goal in danger, getting lodging for a local SU. But nothing like this
happened: the meeting was a success. Always focus on the relationship quality prior to the content of the communication,
see the emotions of the other besides the body language, realise that if something looks like an obstacle then
there must be a more successful perspective. Curiosity, friendships, relationships and increased self-awareness: this is
what everyone can get out of an SU, a Find Europe event, a Case Study Trip or an exchange.
Author
Fabrizio Fantini, born in 1979, is widely known for his intensive involvement with the Summer University project. He has
been head of the Summer University Coordination Team. This Ph.D. student in Applied Mathematics in Operations Research also founded an AEGEE local antenna in Termoli, Italy.
Find Europe
Find Europe is a new, culture-oriented project, which runs events that are shorter than Summer Universities and take place the whole year round. It was born in 2003 and is organised by the Find Europe Coordination Team (FECT). Among its aims, lie
the organisation of AEGEE events during special celebrations and traditional events all over Europe. Through the organisation
of a framework around these festivities, Find Europe events promote the diversity of our cultures. The project also aims to equip participants with skills and knowledge related to intercultural learning and youth work and the idea of dialogue among cultures through artistic expression, which is becoming a fast-growing trend within AEGEE. Find Europe events last at least three days and offer at least one meal per day for a maximum of 10 euro a day. They always include a speed language and AEGEE course, one local speciality dish per day, and an average of at least four hours of cultural programme per day.
The eight-day event “Discover the culture and natural wonders of Georgia” was the first AEGEE event in this particular country, so a new AEGEE antenna in a new country was born out of Find Europe. “We had 10 participants from all over Europe to whom we showed our culture and country. This helped both sides to change their attitudes about each other. We realised that we had much more in common than we believed,” relates Tamuna Kekenadze, President of AEGEE-Tbilisi, his memories from the event, which lasted from 19th till 27th of September 2004. “When the bus driver drove the entire group, 18 people, to his home, it totally surprised our participants. For Georgians it's usual,” recalls Tamuna a special episode. “I will never forget the faces of my foreign friends”.
Aiga Grisane, President of AEGEE-Riga, has special memories, too: “Everything started with the great new years’ celebrations 2002/3. Among local friends we celebrated kekatas, our traditional Latvian carnival, which was not much practiced during soviet times.” So they decided their next AEGEE events had to be in similar style - and Find Europe offered the perfect
platform. “We organized two more Winter Universities: (sp)ICE matters, expressing our culture to our guests. We celebrated new year four times, each time according to a different tradition!”
Fabrizio Fantini
The SU Project School
In 2005, the Summer Universities (SU) turn 18. Organising SUs has so far involved roughly 100.000 people: participants, organisers, sponsors, institutions. An important new action to improve this project is the yearly training event Summer University Project School (SUPS). 30 AEGEE members gathered for the first SUPS in the beautiful Italian city of Salerno, from the 28th of November till the 4th of December, 2004. With this new training, that I had the honour to organise, we wanted to shake AEGEE. The EU enlargement of 2004 offered new challenges. Now we needed to be more incisive in our actions, to keep people’s attention on the message that integration still has a long way to go. At the SUPS, we trained some youth leaders in order to spread good, organisational culture at home. New SU participants will get better events and understand the AEGEE message more clearly. Becoming more motivated about organising projects themselves, they will take their place as the next link in the chain. We are setting off a virtuous circle.
The complex object of training was project management; with specific reference to the Summer University project’s yearly life-cycle: from planning till follow-up. It was extremely hard work for both the SUPS organizers and the participants: “To organize the first SUPS was like a dream,” says Ugo Simeoni, AEGEE-Salerno's president. “The participants worked like no one else has for a week”. Ugo also atmitted that even his team learned a lot about improving the SUs of AEGEE-Salerno – even though they are already rated among the best organisers in Europe.
We believe that antennae that send participants to a SUPS, will be able to perform better with their SUs. Kasia, participant
from AEGEE-Poznan, has already asked me: “When will the next SUPS be?” Very soon for sure!
Fabrizio Fantini
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