Bringing AEGEE back to the Italian City of Love

Recently Beata Matuzska (Human Resources responsible of the Comité Directeur) announced that AEGEE will soon have a contact in the Italian city of love: Verona. The AEGEEan interviewed Larisa Smajlagic in order to learn more about this city and the plans for AEGEE there.

Maria from Verona

What is special about the city of Verona besides being a city of love?

Verona represents the perfect union between past and present. On the one hand it’s a city of history, art and music, so it’s the ideal place for an individual’s personal and cultural growth. On the other hand, in recent years Verona turned into a dynamic and young city,  mainly thanks to a growing university campus.

Why did you decide to bring AEGEE back to Verona?

The idea of taking part in relaunching a student organisation like AEGEE represents the perfect opportunity to promote our beautiful city to students from all over Europe. Our main goal with this project is to make our University even more ‘international’.

 How many people are involved in AEGEE in Verona now?

Right now there are five people really interested and involved in the AEGEE Verona project.

The antenna was in the Network of AEGEE before, are there people still involved who were also involved back in 2010? 

No, the team is brand new.

Sometimes new antennae get help from other antennae in form of mentorship agreement made together with the Network Commission. Have you thought about this option?

Yes we have. Actually, we had a first general training in July. Our mentors were Michele Minuti from AEGEE-Brescia, Francesca Russo from AEGEE-Padova and Alberto De Nardi from AEGEE-Udine.

The new team

What are the plans for the rest of 2013 for AEGEE in Verona?

Right now we are looking for dynamic, open-minded and hard working people to include in our board, then we’re going to follow all the necessary steps to turn into a contact-antenna.

We also would like to take part in the Network Meeting in Foggia and, if possible, in the Fall Agora in Zaragoza as well: These two meetings are a great opportunity to understand the whole AEGEE world better.

Written by Patricia Anthony, AEGEE-Koebenhavn