The yellow spirit

Couple of days ago, I received one email from one friend in the European level, where she just commented that she wished AEGEE-Alicante (and all our external collaborators whose contribution has been the most valuable help we could ever think about) can keep the Yellow Spirit.

This words really touched me deep, as she had given name to something we all in the organizing team had already felt. The feeling we all shared once you had left, a mix of satisfaction for the well-done work and the bonds that were created before and during the Agora will remain there, as a reminder of the big project we carried out. This Yellow Spirit will continue, hopefully it can become a trademark of AEGEE-Alicante projects in the future.

As with many other things in this Agora, the Yellow Spirit is something that can be credited to all the team, but specially to our main coordinator Carol (and her predecessor Bego), because from the moment they started to lead the team, they focused in the TEAM. They invested lots of workin hours in our preparatory events (a series of weekend meetings that you may have read about before in the blog, THE TRAPs) where we updated each other on the work of the subteams, but we did also many team building activities like games, cooking together, filming videos... It has been this time spent together which worked as cement to transform a bunch of amazing people into one team.

Posted by Miguel

Means of transport

Ever since the beginning of time, humankind has looked for a way to move quickly from one place to another. We started using animals, then came the wheel, the ships, the steam engine, the gas engine, the kerosene, nuclear engines...

Kind of an obssesion, we tried to go faster and faster, following the premise of Machiavelli "The end justifies the means". Using fossil fuels with a high rate of contamination was not a problem... Until now.

There is a new generation worried about the consequences of this use to the enviroment. As a member of Enviromental Working Group, I'd like that all of you fill this survey, about the mean of transport that you have use to arrive to Alicante.

 http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/FV2YQDN

To finish, I'll quote one really catchy advertisement of Greenpeace in 1990, after the tragedy of Exxon Valdez in Alaska:

It wasn't the Exxon Valdez captain's driving that caused the Alaskan oil spill. 

It was yours.

Posted by Juanola

Agora Achievements

During this Agora WE have achieved may things. I mean WE in broadest sense, AEGEE as an organization. We have managed to finish plenaries on time (thanks Chair ;) and we have achieved to elect very competent people for the commisions. We have approved the Interim Activity Report of our Comité Directeur and other bodies also presented their Activity Reports. We have chosen a Flagship Topic, that over the summer will be developed and become our Flagship Project for 2012-13.

We also have managed to plant the seed for new iniciatives that we will see grow in next future. This is what happens when we manage to gather together hundreds of motivated membersin the same spot. We therefore look forward to see the results of Agora Alicante on mid and long term, and when we see the results of this or that project in one year, we will proudly again say to ourselves, that we contributed somehow to it from our role as organizers.

One week after

One week since I posted here last time... Seems like it was a month, but has been just seven days, full of emotions and therefore, they are perceived as if they were much more.

It is just a warming up post, to state that we are here, we are alive and we have still many things to share with all you, dear Agora followers...

Lost and Found items
Some photos
Impressions from Organizers
And more...

We are open to receive your suggestions!! Use the FB wall down there!

Back in office, Miguel

Blogging from the agora

Hello dear Agora followers

Do you see us nice in the streaming? Say hi to the blog readers on the FB wall! Here is the link to streaming page.

Myself I am fine, exhausted but quite satisfied with the results of the first day. Team worked almost perfect, especially under pressure. New members have been acting like experienced, oldies were as nervous as if it was their first Agora. And the whole Opening Ceremony was dancing with the Flamenco show in the New Adda (Auditorio de la Diputación de Alicante).

Now it is time to go back to work... But I am loving it!

                Posted by Miguel

Agora is here!

I will try to have some time to update the blog from now on. Cannot promise!
But you can always have a look at the latest posts and write your best wishes in our FB wall!

Last minute threats

I had heard many times that there are always surprises in the last days before Agora, and one week ago I was thinking it was just a legend... and then, the party began!

Changes in the Open Ceremony program: cancellation of the reservation for the Santa Barbara Castle, solved after some runs with papers signed and stamped here and there...

Changes in the Open Ceremony program (part II): "Las Belleas del Foc" (The Fire Beauties) wanted to make their own party on the castle the same day and time we have the Open Ceremony. As they are the institutional representatives of the main festival in Alicante (Hogueras de San Juan, our own version of the Fallas), they had the right to kick us out of the castle. So just some more phone calls, and wait for a very long day... but we also dismantled this danger!

Rain: For three days we have had lots of rain, although to be honest, I cannot say this surprises me at all, since at any AEGEE-Alicante event I have organized we have had some rain. And it should not surprise you because I have told you many times in this same blog! I just wish there is no rain tomorrow during the Study Fair. It seems it will be ok: LINK

Late deliveries: Some of the stuff we need for tomorrow is not here yet... So tomorrow, before the opening ceremony, we will still need to care about deliveries and some more runs up and down.

Fumigation in our Pre-Agora Gym: this morning we had to "evacuate" the High School where we were staying because they had forgotten to tell us that they were going to spray everything with chemicals... so we had just some hours to find a place where we can stay tonight. We did it,we are not sleeping under the stars...

Time for pre-Agora surprises has come to an end. The rest of unexpected problems, will be already part of the Agora! And the team, we are ready to solve them!

              Posted by Miguel

Meet the team: Jero

We must confess we only know Jero for a week, but as we are sure many of you know already, AEGEE event serves to meet someone, maybe much more, as those who know a ton of years ago.

Known as a philosopher, casanova, free thinker, poet, skater, singer, dancer, bohemian, drinker, lover, love dealer, the man who taught Barney Stinson everything he knows, in summary a guy who enjoys life.

It doesn´t matter if you are a lesbian, bisexual, heterosexual, emo girl, blondie, barbie, vicious, morbid, funny, dirty minded, loves dominant, submissive, slave, student, housewife, executive, likes Lady Gaga, heavy, deaf, professional, liberal, open-minded, single, married, couple, partouza, young, mature, or insane. Jero will look after you the whole Agora.

What more do you need to know about him? At this moment, he had one of the hardest jobs in the world: each month he needs to go to one AEGEE event around Europe to check that everything goes in the right direction. It looks easy, but it is necessary to have lot of experience to do it like he does.

It is also important to know that one of his favourites hobbies is music. He like very much listen to music. His favourite singers are Enrique Iglesias, Justin Bieber, King Africa and the faboulous group, Back Street Boys. He is also the President of the fanclub from Rebecca Black.

Definitely, Jero is one of the funniest people I know within AEGEE, but that's just the surface, if you really get to know him well, as we hope to do for many years, you will find a great guy, good listener and surely, at most important moments, he will be there.

Unfortunately Wikileaks has just revealed that Jero had a small accident and needed crutches. Please, if there is a nurse in the Agora, no matter the country of origin, please contact with Jero, he really needs your help.

Finally, we only could say that he promise to us to sing his favourite song “Baby” from Justin Bieber, in the stage for all the people if each girl who goes to the Agora give him a kiss in any part of his body during the first days. But to prove it, you must to take a picture!!! After that, he will choose the best one to give her the best prize ever: a romantic dinner with him. So, what are you waiting for?

Written by

Jorge Ruiz & Chema Rueda

(Note from Editor: It seems Alicia was so lazy to create this blog entry that she asked two friends to do it :D

Streaming and IT people

This Agora will have, if computer goblins don't mess up with it, a streaming service for the whole network to see what is happening in the plenary room. I know this decission will make happy many people in Europe, and specially our president Manos and the Secretary of the Agora, Bea, who will also have a copy of the video to better make the minutes.

The exact link to the website will be announced in www.agoraalicante.org and it will allow direct participation via one of the popular social networks (to be decided which one). And there will be also some experienced AEGEE-people from our team with the main task of transmitting the special atmosphere to those of you who could not join us in Alicante, sending real time updates from the plenary room.

How is this possible? We have the support of University of Alicante and also a great team of people in charge of the IT department. Apart from Javi, Juanola, Antonio and Bene, they are:


Guille

He has been in charge of coordinating the team from the quiet city of Pavía, in Italy, where he is spending an unforgettable Erasmus year. He has even become Erasmus Responsible in AEGEE-Pavia! He will also be the Gym DJ, and he has already starting to collect music and sort it out according to different purposes: tender wake ups, hard core wake ups, dressing up for parties... He may give us also a surprise during the European Night.
He will hate me for finally writing a post about him, but he deserves it!



Gabriel

One of the fresh faces in our team, and directly coming from Murcia, he has been in charge of agreeing with the University of Alicante everything related to the video streaming and the wifi network that will be available during the Agora. One thing we have learned in this Agora: you never have too many IT guys in your team :) Moreover, he's always smiling and brings tons of positive energy into the team. He will always be around to solve any problem




Alberto

Another of the Murcia guys, he is always ready to be an organizer in AEGEE-Alicante's Summer University. Apart from supporting everyone else on the team, his speciality is the Spanish language course; our participants never have enough of  it, and sometimes he has had to prepare an extra session in record time to make them happy. If you attend the Spanish course on the Opening Day (Wednesday 27th) you may learn the basic secrets of our language in less than one hour.

               Posted by Miguel

Ah, FYI it is raining already in Alicante for 3 days... See the forecast here.

Meet the team: Pilar y Rakel, aka Murcian Sisters

You cannot find two sisters more different and, at the same time, so similar.

Pilar and Rakel, Rakel and Pilar. They are a stream of energy and creativity. They are responsible (working as a clockwork couple) for the visual identity of our Agora: the logo, the design of the web, the tshirts, the promo video for the tshirts, stickers, the badges that Zare proposed... And also the info signs during the event (they are just fresh out of the printing and they are great!).

Pilar, sister of Rakel

But what I like more from them is how enthusiastic they are now with the Agora project, spending sleepless nights in front of the computer, and cheering everyone with their emails. This is a clear sign on how such a project can inspire people and help them to become part of a team, share responsibilities, contribute in discussions and propose ideas. This Agora would not have been the same without any of them.

Rakel, sister of Pilar

The two sisters (and also Carol and more people from Murcia like Alberto and Gabriel) are willing that the whole team travels finally to Murcia, their home town, so they can show us around hat nice city. We did not manage to do it for the pre-Agora meetings, but I am looking forward to go there for the evaluation weekend. I am sure they have already many ideas.

In AEGEE-Alicante there is a tradition: we love brothers and sisters, specifically when they are twins (or they seem to be). Starting from Saioa and Neila, several couples of brothers or sisters have contributed to the growth of this antenna (Miguel adds: even my brother was active in AEGEE for a while; I was more than once surprise-kissed in an Agora by a random girl who had been SUing with my brother).

Not only the Agora, now Rakel has joined the brand new PRC and designed the new logo! And I am sure these sisters will be rocking AEGEE in the next years.

Posted by Miguel

Paint the Agora in Green

Dear Agora Friends:

Agora Alicante has the aim to be as GREEN as possible. Not only because of Lía and the Jungle Party (see the updated party program here); Inside the organising team we wanted to make an effort and prove that it is possible and easy to take the environment into account when organising an AEGEE event. And no better event to make the message arrive to all members, than having a Sustainable Agora. Does it mean that it will be a perfect event with zero impact on the environment? Of course not, setting such an objective would have been unrealistic. But you will see during Agora Alicante there will be many details that will contribute to the general reduction of the impact, and maybe we inspire you for your Summer University or any other event you are organising.

Recycling Mobile Phones.

We all have old mobile phones in some drawer at home, like if they are in a cemetery. Why do we humans have such behaviour? Scientist have not found an answer yet... but I have one! You were all keeping them to contribute to Agora Alicante. We will install at the check-in desks a container for collecting your old mobile phones, and in exchange you will get a reward... A Spanish shot and a kiss from your favourite organizer. With your collaboration, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) will get support from each phone collected, and the oldmobile phones will be repaired and reused, or dismantled to recycle its components. So bring yours! No problem if they do not work anymore, we can give them a use!

Plastic glasses and bottles

Disposable plastic glasses and dishes have been banned from our shopping lists. They are a waste of petrol and much less sustainable than cardboard glasses or reusable glasses... Same for the plastic bottles of less than 5 liters. We are getting strong muscles after carrying more than 1500 liters of water yesterday to our headquarter!

Separated waste disposal

University of Alicante has a strict policy on separating waste for recycling. We will follow this policy and we will have whenever possible different bins for your waste. But remember, the most sustainable waste is the one that is not produced. So we will make an effort to reduce the bags and boxes, buying king-size packages for food.

Other details

Walking buses for the parties (10 min walking from the University to the party. I promise. The way back may take much longer, depending on how much fun you had) :D 2 workshops will be related to Environment. Welcome pack with surprises. SFM paper (Sustainable Fortestry Management). And more...

Map of antennae organising EDE 2011

And why do I send this post today? Because April 22nd is Earth Day. April 22nd is the starting point of the 2011 edition of the European Day of Environment organized by Environmental WG. Agora Alicante is the contribution of AEGEE-Alicante to EDE. Why not putting your antenna on the map with a small action rom today till June 5th, World Environment Day. And April 22nd is the last day I have almost free before The Big Trap, the pre-Agora intensive meeting.

Posted by Miguel

Decalogue to recognize Spaniards in AEGEE

How to recognize a spaniard in an AEGEE event

Ok, in this Agora it's gonna be easier than ever to recognize the spaniards. Wherever you look there will be one spaniard at least (organizers, chair team, WGs, Project Managers, candidates, etc...) But sometimes it's not that easy... that's why we offer you some tips to follow:

1) Loud speaking

I still remember one time in a hostel in Amsterdam, when a guy came from nowhere and ask my friends and me: why everytime there are 2 or more spaniards in a room, you speak so loud??? Well... the answer I gave to him was pretty clear: Because we all have many interesting things to say but we can't wait the other to finish, so we just raise our tone to make it clear :)

2) Two kisses

This never fails, in the moment you introduce yourself to someone and he/she tries to give you two kisses.... well, that's a spaniard! In Spain we always introduce ourselves with kisses... well, not always! There is a simple rule:

woman - man   : kisses
woman - woman : kisses
man - man: hand shaking

But anyway, if (s)he introduced him/herself probably (s)he has already told you his/her country, so you already know his country :P

3) Spanglish

I've already talked about this in a post before, but I'll give you some rules now:

· Every word starting with S and not vowel right after, should have an E before: ESpain, EStupid, ESchool... But if the S is followed by a vowel, then we can pronuntiate it good: SUn, SOrry, SEa...
· We have the same sound for B and V: /b/, so don't worry if you hear Bideo, Batican, Biagra, Bocabulary....
· For us the vowel U has the sound /ʊ/, so again we have problems with pUblic, bUs, pUnish...
· One of the funniest thing for everyone is hearing a spaniard saying Gym, Jam, Gin-tonic, etc. /dʒ/ is pretty hard for us
· But the bestest among the best is when we make direct translation of typical spanish proverbs because we don't think there will be the English equivalent: check the post about it!

4) Sangria

In ESpain we have maaaaany different drinks, maaany delicious dishes, millions of sweets... but when it's time for the European Night, what do we bring??? SANGRIA! Yes, that's all. And notice I put "bring" in italics. Why? Because Sangría it's soooo easy to prepare that actually we don't bring anything anywhere, we just put one euro each of us and then we buy the ingredients and mix it... and yet all the people love it! Why? Because it's not an alcohol with 39568036853 degrees that burn your mouth when you drink it... Take note about it!

5) Party animals

Indeed, if there is something characteristical for every spaniard in the world, is that we love FIESTA! But of course following the Spanish timetable (trying not to go out before 00:00, when cinderella is coming back) that's why we always fill the last bus for the parties and you can hear us singing loud in the bus! And after that, if we can't find the party we'll do it by ourselves! It's not strange to find us signing and dancing in the streets all together. Ok, we don't know very good the lyrics, but "la la la" it's enough for any song!

6) ESleeping

Where do you think that we find so many energies for being so active? Of course we need to rest and we love to sleep... That's why we need a good waking-up team: good music, a lot of noise and "encouraging" us to leave the bed is the best way to wake us up. If that doesn't work you can try, at least with the guys, to say: "you don't have balls to get up" Surely we'll get up inmediatly :)

7) We love intercultural exchange

Allright, most of the time we are together speaking in spanish (we are lazy to speak english and we admit it), but when it comes to relationships... we love the intercultural exchange! Few times you will see a spaniard trying to flirt with another spaniard when, in front of them, there is a sea of possibilities of "meeting a new culture".

8) Food

As I said before, in Spain we have many different dishes and drinks, and as chauvinist as we are, it's the best of the world for us. So don't get mad or dissapointed if you offer us some tasty stuff and we say: in Spain we have better things... It's not our brain talking, but our patriotic pride.

9) Camarero and chumba chumba

Any time someone starts the game of camarero or chumba chumba, few spaniards will resist the temptation of joining!

10) But over all friendly

Yes my friends, you can call us whatever you want, but there is an inalienable truth: whoever spends his time with a group of Spaniards will have the time of his life. We are open people and very friendly, our main barrier is the language, but if we manage to avoit it, for sure we are good work mates, travel partners and party wing men! Moreover we like to be the best hosts ever (maybe inherited from the Arabs that lived here in Spain for 700 years), and that's why this Agora it's gonna be unforgetable!

(Of course, there are always exceptions, as this is just a bunch of Estereotypes!)

               Posted by Juanola

Meet the team: Pilar Lop

Pilar Lop, Pililop, Pilarín Chin Chin, Pili, Pi,... She has so many names as faces!! But you’ll have to discover one by one!! If you are lucky... :)

Pilar is always proud of her little hamlet “Castelserás”!! She got from it her loud voice (which she uses to remind us that it is only 100 days to buy the Agora Alicante T-Shirt!!). She also inherited the fighter spirit to deal with Iceland volcanoes, Georgian Visas, or her not-so-easy friends, which twist every word that she says only to see her reaction (even by email, because you can easily imagine how much she was shaking her arms while she was answering them!!).
You’ll identify her because of her claps, her supporting whoops of joy to reinforce her ideas and express her (everlasting) excitement. You’ll also identify her on account of her HAPPINESS. Pilar always does her best and you can count on her forever, whatever you need.

By the way, we kindly invite you to join her fans club in Facebook http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=143564125665173. Not every single person has one... Have they???

Pi, don’t hate us so much, we love you and you know it.
                          Posted by Sergio & Pablo & Isa
PS: We have  AEGEE-Zaragoza and she has been the Merchandisong coordinator during these months previous to the Agora. During the Agora she was going to be the cleaning lady :D:D:D:D but now she will be the Dungeon Master.

Spanish proverbs

One of the main mistakes of the spaniards while speaking english is trying to make a direct translation of the proverbs, while in every language they are different and there are very few cases when this works.

This is a guide for the funniest ones:

• From lost to the river à In for a penny, in for a pound (Now that we are in this situation, I don't mind to go further) 
• The ocassion is painted bald à You have to strike while the iron is hot (You have to make the most of the chances that come your way)
• If I have seen you I don't remember à Long absent, soon forgotten (You forget about people when they aren't involved in your life for a long time)
• A lot of noise and few nuts à All mouth and no trousers (Refers to those who speak a lot but take no action)
• Bad grass never dies à The devil looks after himself (Bad things don't disappear)
• There is everything in the vineyard of the Lord à There's nothing so queer as folk (There is nothing as strange as people)
• Is the same dog with different collar à It's the same people under a different name (Nothing has really changed)
• In love and war, any hole is a trench à Any port in a storm (When you're in trouble, any way out is a good way out)
• He who went to Seville, lost his chair à Finders keepers, losers beepers (If you leave your place, you lose it)
• World is a tissue à It's a small world 
• Where there is a skipper, a sailor doesn't give orders à If two men ride on a horse, one must ride behind (What the boss says goes )
• Give me bread and call me silly à Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me (I don't care what people say as long as I get what want)
• From a fallen tree, everyone makes lumber à Anyone can kick a man when he's down (Anyone can make a profit from someone's disgrace)
• From that stick, that chip à The apple doesn't fall far from the tree (Kids are just like their parents, good or bad)
• Two tits are mightier than two wagons à A woman's pubic hair pulls more than a tractor (The ability of women to get things in their favour due to their beauty and sexuality)
• God raises them and they meet each other à Birds of a feather flock together (People who act similar at the end are together)
• In the house of a blacksmith, wooden knife à The cobbler's children go barefoot (Not always what he preaches is what he practices)
• He went looking for wool and came back shorn à All that glitters isn't gold (Not everything it's like it looks like)
• As we were speaking of the King of Rome, look who dropped by à Speak of the Devil, and he's sure to appear (When you speak about someone and this guy appears suddenly)
• A bird in the hand is worth more than a hundred flying à A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush (Better what you have than what you are wishing looking at it)
• Waking up earlier won't make the sun rise any quicker à You can't push on a rope (Some things cannot be changed)
• Whoever wants fish, go get their ass wet à There ain't no such thing as a free lunch (If you want to achieve something, you must make an effort in order to get it)
• Shoemaker, to your shoes à Cobbler, stick to your last (Stick to your own business and do not meddle in things you don't understand)

And there are many more... I dare you to guess the meaning!

• You have more tale than little street
• For if the flies
• Your pot has gone
• Everywhere they boil beans
• Switch off and let's go
• It’s not a snot of turkey 
• That if you want rice! Catherine!
• Shit yourself little parrot
• Talking in Silver
• Other one that such dance
• To another thing butterfly
• Between(Among) whistles and flutes
• As water of May
• My pleasure in a well
• There was ended what was given
• In April, thousand waters
• I want Rita to do it!
• There are more days than sausages
• Longer than a bread-less day
• To be in the vineyard
• Fly from flower to flower

Let's check which non-spanish speaker can guess the meaning of 3 or more. It is a challenge!

                 Posted by Juanola

Hyperaction

The whole weekend working had not enough hours... so we have had today one of the busiest days in the whole year. With the opening of the Associations Fair in the University of Alicante we had already a lot of work on schedule, as it is the main tool for promotion of the Summer Universities in our campus.

This would have been enough already, but moreover, we have had to "dismantle some bombs", in order to keep the plan as we have it in our mind. It seems we managed today, let's see tomorrow how it goes... Now it is time to go to sleep... I feel I deserve it!

One of the last minute surprises happened today. Wondering what will come tomorrow :)

.                                 Posted by Miguel

Party Time!

Every Agora has its secrets: it is time to unveil the so-called Social Program! (updated on Aprul 22nd)

Wednesday 27th: PROM PARTY

Who has never dreamed on joining one of these Prom Parties that we have seen in so many TV series and high school movies? With its King and Queen of the party, the muscled quarterback, the nerd with the laboratory outfit, the gang of rappers, the hot Chair-leaders, and everybody nicely dressed (after the Opening Ceremony in a fancy auditorium, you will be already suited up). Of course, there will be surprises, we want this night to be special for you...

Thursday 28th: EUROPEAN NIGHT

Get ready the best gastronomy jewels of your region and share them with us! After the big success of Riga's European Night, we want to have another really cool-tural EN with your participation. We hope you have sent to the CWG detailed information on everything you have prepared: videos, songs, perfomances... I heard rumours there is also many surprises proposed! Of course, we invite you to wear your traditional costumes in order to have the most cultural, tasteful and European of the Agora Nights! European Nights will never be the same after 2011!

Friday 30th: SURPRISE PARTY

We know you will be all exhausted after the intensive program... So let us take care of everything for this party. We will make it unforgettable. Just trust in your dear organizers. Do you dare?

Saturday 30th: JUNGLE PARTY

Everybody loves Lia, we know you can help it. But we want you to show your you are a true Lía friend at the wildest party of the Agora. Join the pack, join the pride, be one of us! You will not enter the party without wearing animal print on your clothes, or a t-shirt with animals on it! The Agora T-shirt is an approved outfit, but we encourage you to be original and creative! Show us what is the animal you hide inside and get into the jungle with us!

      Posted by the whole team :)

Celebrating AEGEE's 26th anniversary

AEGEE-Alicante has decided to celebrate the 26th anniversary of AEGEE-Europe in a very special way: after the whole day adjusting timetables for the Agora, we decided to leave the room and look far away from our screens to spend the evening at the opera, and we went to see "Madama Butterfly" (Puccini, 1904) at the new Alicante Auditorium (adda). AEGEE's birthday deserves something unique, so there we went!

For many of us it was the first time in that Auditorium, as it was inaugurated some weeks ago. And also for many of us it was the first opera. This is a bit of what we listened to.

It was a great opportunity to experience some technical details of the venue, as it will be the same location where we will held our Opening Ceremony for the Spring Agora Alicante 2011. We were checking how comfortable the seats are, how good the acoustic qualities are, where to place our assistants... We are still amazed because the impressiveness of the main room, where we will be able to enjoy the words of welcome to the Agora and also a Flamenco show. We still don't know what kind of show, as there are many kinds of Flamenco, but it could be something like this:

I would like to thank Diputación de Alicante (the Alicante province government and administration) for their support allowing us to use the new Auditorium.

                      Posted by Miguel

Meet the PR Team: Nuria, Roberto, Alicia E.

External PR is key for the success of a project like the Agora. You need to achieve big visibility to give the sponsosrs something back from their investment in the project. This is sometimes not easy, specially when you have a period of big international events that fill the media: Earthquake in Japan, Nuclear Energy debates, War in Lybia... And here we are, something so huge (for us) like the Agora and nobody pays attention to it... Unless you spend time and energy in making your voice heard. Or unless you use alternative means of communication like twitter :)

Luckily, we have now a great team of PR enthusiasts working for the Agora. They are investing time, energy and knowledge on making the Agora not just the biggest event in AEGEE-Alicante, but also a great event for Alicante.

Newspapers like Información will cover the event. Radio (local radio stations and also nationwide emissions) will talk about us. We hopefully will also have cameras from TV programs like España Directo and daily news should come to tell the story of 50 students from Alicante working for 800 Europeans to have the opportunity to discuss and work together to build up a better Europe.

Roberto

He is not only our lucky PR guy, working in the team with two nice ladies. He is also our main resource for transportation, due to the fact he has access to vans and trucks. But he is not rude as a track driver :) He is always calm and peaceful, except when partying (but at parties, we are all a bit crazy, aren't we?). We just recruited him for Alicante active team in time the Agora, so this is his first event as an organizer...

Alicia E.

Maye you remember her from her own post...

Nuria

She has just arrived in Alicante after another period of life-experience travel into India. And she came back with high energy and motivation. Maybe we should all go to the paradise island where she spent some weeks, to charge batteries just before the Agora starts (there are pictures from that place, but I won't upload them here, because I don't want to make all you jealous).
She is working intensively with the rest of the team, and now the Agora-PR mailing list is burning!

And these are not all the people in the team. Silvia has been coordinating the team for several months. During the Agora we will have probably live twitting during the streaming, provided by our favourite oldies Juan from AEGEE-Madrid and Vir from AEGEE-Oviedo. I can't think of two more experienced people to narrate what is happening inside the plennaries for the rest of Europe.

Finally, we have the collaboration of our University who supports us also on PR issues publishing our stories on their frontpage and providing us with contacts and names of journalists. Special Thanks to Maria Rosa!

And all the team is collaborating with this blog, thanks god it is not only me writing...

Meet the team: Lorena

When you think about a “Spanish Girl”, how do you imagine her?

Dark skinned
Long, dark and curly hair
Big black eyes
Dancing and singing in every single moment

So...you have Lorena in your mind! She is our Logistics coordinator.


Even if it seems like she’s the typical spanish stereotype externally, she is definitely not in the content. You will discover it during the Spring Agora Alicante... She doesn’t like the typical music everybody does. Actually, instead of Rihanna, Lady Gaga or Justin Bieber, her favourite singers are Rocío Jurado, Rocío Durcal and Lola Flores like our grandparents did!

Althought she moves her hips when modern songs are played in a pub too. And how she moves them! She is locally known as the Shakira from AEGEE-Alicante.
We’ve just met her some months ago, but we connect since the very first momment. We are fond of the same things, we have the same way to work (always in the best mood) and we love singing and dancing the same silly songs! In the big world of silly songs, the ones that we love the most are “Charanga”!

She has been lobbying to use this energetic songs for the waking up of the participants in the gym!

She's always smiling, not just because she is one of the most amusing and cheerful persons of the team, but also because she loves jokes. She's actually the greatest joke-teller ever, so if you are bored at any moment during the Ágora (althought we doubt it...), you already know who is the right person to make you have a good time. Actually, these long hours at the office in front of the computer in the pre-agora days would have been  much more boring without her.

http://www.agoraalicante.org/tshirts/

When you meet her at  the Agora, you may think you had seen her somewhere before... and in fact, yes, you did! Lorena has been one of the actress of all the promotional videos of the Agora and she is the female model of the official Spring Agora Alicante t-shirt, as well.

Get yours (your tshirt, not your Lorena) at http://www.agoraalicante.org/tshirts/ and be sure you'll get yours at the same time than you save 1€

And please, please, please, don't forget this. When she is hungry... give her something to eat! Because she can become very dangerous in that situation. She gets angry when she's hungry! hahahahahaha



              Post by Isabel Sodric aka Isabel Pantoja & Pilar Lop aka Carmen Sevilla.

Meet the team: Chema

Chema is our Treasurer. I don't envy him at all, as he has sometimes to act firmly and appear as the bad guy after putting some good ideas down due to budget constraints. But once you know him you discover that he is not mean at all. In fact, everybody who was in Alicante SU 2010 is aware of how much he loves to spend money in making our participants happy. It is just that he has this obsession with spending only the money that AEGEE-Alicante has... so he cannot make all wishes possible :D

Don't imagine him spending long hours in a dark office chained to excel files and numbers. Chema is another member in our Team that lives far from Alicante. Poor guy, he was exiled to spend a whole year in University of Las Palmas. So whenever I talk to him on the phone, I visualize him with his wifi laptop under a palm tree, with the waves making his toes wet. However,he is usually there when you need him, sometimes he is just sleep as we start work in office quite early and we forgot that there in Canary Island they are 1h behind CET.

Joking aside, Chema is AEGEE-Alicante's own McGyver. His ability with tools and devices and his engineer mind makes him also a very valuable organizer. And finally, he loves getting himself dressed up as Wally Gator.

                      Posted by Miguel

PS: At the moment he has the flag of AEGEE-Las Palmas in his hands. So get readty for some fun in Agora Alicante!

50 years, 25 years, 5 years, 1 year...

Maybe you have been surprised today by the image of the google heading. Today's doodle is a tribute to something that happened 50 years ago. And it inspired my post!

50 years ago, Ю́рий Алексе́евич Гага́рин (Yuri Alekséyevich Gagarin) became part of History as the first Cosmonaut when he became the first man reaching Outer Space, on board of the Vostok 1 spacecraft.

25 years ago, in April 1986, EGEE celebrates the first Agora in Munchen. Surprisingly, it was also in April'86 when the Chernobyl disaster happened (April 26) and when the US launched an attack in Tripoli and Benghazi (April 15). Sounds familiar to me...

5 years ago, in April 2006, Dennis Tito becomes the first space tourist on board of the Soyuz TM-32. Apart from it, The Netherlands sees for the first time same-sex couples to get married legally. In Agora Warszawa, some participants spent the night in the parking of the university.

1 year ago, the volcano Eyjafjallajökull erupted violently and launched a dense cloud of ashes into European sky... you all know the story, right?


In 2 weeks: Spring Agora Alicante begins!

                       Posted by Miguel

Behind the Agora: the FB group

Web 2.0 has been really useful for Agora Alicante. Apart from some details that may be unveiled in some years after some rakija shots, I have to admit one thing... I have become addicted to the Facebook group that we decided to create to release the work mailing lists from spam.

What goes on the Mailing Lists? Organizative stuff, meeting dates, results of phone calls, discussions on serious numbers, problems, news,... We have around 13 different lists, and they are all busy.

Then we have the FB group for everything else. Depending on the day, it can be used for sharing photos, for discussing the colour of tshirst, to make fun of ourselves, to clap achievements, to share really bad jokes or stupid videos from youtube, to share a song, to upload pictures, to unveil secrets, to gossip, to be gossiped about,... in 1h you can have 250 comments, depending how many people and what is the topic about. Just now, in less than 1 hour from 01:00 to 02:00 am we have had more than 130 messages.

Of course nothing is perfect. Side effects of the group are lack of sleep, anxiety when you cannot be connected. I am suffering from stress as I know I am missing maybe something hilarious just to write this post!

One thing is for sure, organizing an Agora would be much harder and not even half the fun without a team like we have... and the Fb group allows us to stay in touch and share the best of us at any time of the day! No matter if we are in Alicante, Murcia, Elche, Reading, Oviedo, Coruña or Madrid, or Las Palmas, or Bolonia, or Pavia or Morocco or Zaragoza.

Meet the team: Silvia

Silvia is one of the most enthusiastic members of AEGEE-Alicante, and it is strange the day when she has not written an email proposing something to our antenna. Actively working in our board and in the Agora team, she is always ready to take a responsability... for instance, join the SU team ;) She is a S size girl but her energy seems to have no limits!

Ah, she always gets what she wants. For instance, this is what she did when she applied for SU in Magusa and they left her in the waiting list... Spontaneously created a facebook group and granted herself a place in the SU!

She is the food master of AEGEE-Alicante, with a special touch for sweets. She is the creator of the concept of the Tapas Course and Contest we celebrated during last SU. I saw her cooking a paella for 50 people in a Summer University, at the same time she was teaching the participants how to cook it. She is also the one coming to our meetings with nougat, or ice cream, or any other sweet stuff to help us work with a bigger smile. She is the mind behind the post Agora Cake Recipe. She takes care of people with special diet needs in our events. So, be nice with her or she may put some "powder" in your food... :D

Next food-project: she is preparing an enology session for our SU 2011: ALC Confidential: The director's cut

We have just came from celebrating her birthday. It will be on Wednesday, but as everybody has given her already a present, we also want to join and we expect that this post will show how much we appreciate her!

Posted by Alberto, Pilar, Rakel, Carol and Miguel