European School 1 in Passau

Since the 14th of December I have a virus… A very contagious one… It’s the AEGEE virus!
And it all started in the lovely city of Passau in December 2011…

I only joined my antenna AEGEE-Utrecht in August 2011, but immediately fell in love with AEGEE. It offers limitless possibilities like travelling, meeting new friends from all over Europe, self-development, and of course a lot of fun. Within AEGEE the sky is the limit!
When I read the open call for the European School (ES1) in Passau, I immediately applied.
After I got selected, I realised I actually had no idea what I could expect. I travelled to Passau with just my suitcase and an open mind. I have to honestly say that I never expected what I actually experienced this week. Friendship, knowledge, motivation, inspiration, self-development, emotions, trainings, parties, and a lack of sleep are the keywords that perfectly describe what this event was like for me. In just eight days I gained a new international family and learned so much more than I thought I could, thanks to all the very motivated participants, the enthusiastic organizers, and a team of very skilled trainers.

Of course it was a week of great fun but also one of hard work. The schedule was incredibly intense. A regular day looked like this:

– wake-up call at 7.30 (some participants had a very creative way of waking the rest of the group, varying from morning yoga to singing Christmas songs in five different languages);
– breakfast in our lovely little hostel at 8.00 (although some of us never managed to be in time so we invented the ‘walking breakfast’);
– trainings from 09.00 till 13.00 (subjects included public relations, fundraising, presentations techniques, intercultural communication, HRM, budgeting etc.);
– a nice warm meal for lunch (cooked by the amazing AEGEE-Passau girls);
– case work in the afternoon until the early evening (four fictional antennae were created who had to organise the Mobility Flagship project;I had the honor of being a member of AEGEE-Glühweinberg);
– dinner, followed by clubbing, game nights, or baking Christmas cookies.

The trainings and case work were incredibly interesting, even though some of us often had some trouble staying awake as we usually only had about five or less hours of sleep per night. Luckily for us, Red Bull was the sponsor of ES1. So, all in all, after making many new friends, learning a lot of new and useful stuff and finding out what I would like to do for/within AEGEE in the future, I can conclude that it was a very successful event.
To the ES1 people I would like to say: waterfall, excellent, o yeah! You know what I mean ;)

In short: I hope you will catch the AEGEE virus and will spread it to your antenna members as well.
See you at the next event!

Ciao!

Written by Maartje Natrop, AEGEE-Utrecht