SU Story of the week – Visa fun? The impossible made a reality with AEGEE-Paris

Let’s face it. Borders do exist, otherwise we would not be fighting so hard to bring them down. It is nice to know that some people continue fighting this battle even on their vacation. This year’s Parisian Summer University took place in cooperation with the Visa Freedom Working Group and broadened the horizons of all of their participants.

The charm of the city of love was combined with a bit of knowledge and a lot of fun. Three seminars on the visa topic were not only informative, but also very enjoyable. The official statistics showed that more than 60% of the participants learned a lot and, moreover, had fun doing it. Lena Shvab, from AEGEE-Kyiv, took the responsibility of holding three workshops on visa-related topics. As she knew far too well that this was an AEGEE SU, she was sure to add a game to each of the parts. Moreover, the second workshop was held even with cooperation of the OECD. The participants didn’t only get to know Lena’s passport and the visas she has in it, but also obtained general knowledge about types of visas, application process and denial.

This is the event in which the participants from non-schengen countries got to switch places with the EU members. For many Europeans travelling comes as something easy and completely enjoyable. But the visa process often puts a sour start to a dream vacation, even if you receive it without any big problems. After all the time and efforts dedicated to obtaining their visas for the SU, the participants got to take revenge and become some of the strictest visa officers ever seen. Regardless, the role-play was a total success with lots of laughter and celebration.

With true AEGEE spirit, the participants partied hard but didn’t lose the chance to learn something new. With their newly obtained knowledge they are all heading back home and bringing with them the memories and experiences they now share.

 

Written by Olga Volovyk, AEGEE-Kyiv

Thank you for the photos to Lea Charlette, AEGEE-Paris