Meet the team: Soraya

From the other tip of Spain, from the land of green meadows and misterious witches, Soraya from AEGEE-Coruña decided that her antenna and the NetCom team was not enough... so she joined the Agora Alicante team! She joined us for The Trap II and also decided to become enrolled in the Incoming Team. If you receive an invitation letter, it is very likely that it has been somehow manufactured by her :) Good thing of Internet is that she was working side by side with our Alicante part of the Incoming team, and they were laughing together, getting desperate together, almost crying together... She just had to leave the team for playing her role as Subcommie in the wonderful NWM organised by AEGEE-Granada last weekend.

Her calmness, her enthusiasm and her experience are great added values to our team. We cannot wait to see her again here in Alicante, next time will not be just a meeting, it will be THE AGORA!!

Meet the team: Saioa

Twin sister of Neila, she was not too active in the Agora team until the moment she was needed: the visa mayhem week! At this moment, she got active (I'd say hyperactive) and joined the Incoming team with all her energy and all her knowledge, gained through years and years of being the Visa Responsible in AEGEE-Alicante, for exchanges, SUs, and other events.

For me, as it was with Neila, she has always been there when the antenna has needed help and support, also joining for parties and celebrations, even organizing the first AEGEE-wedding in AEGEE-Alicante. I cannot thank them enough for being the people who made me member of AEGEE-Alicante, who introduced me into this parallel world :)

Las Gemelas rock!

PS: And this will be their second Agora as organizers... Respect!

It is Chumba Chumba time!

Chumba chumba is one of the most feared dances, especially if you are Chairing the Opening Plennary and spanish antennae do it during the roll call.

To tell the truth I don’t know how it started… I’ve heard that it's a dance from AEGEE Oviedo but I can't confirm this [1]. Anyway the important about "Chumba Chumba" is that it's famous around AEGEE's world, recognised as a distinctive mark for Spanish antennae, but not many people do it correctly...

So, now I’ll show you how to make a perfect chumba chumba in 3 simple steps:

1)    Knowing the Spanish vowels (Skip it if you are Spaniard):

    In Spanish we just have 5 vowels, no more and they are:

        A, a /ʌ/

        E, e /e/

        I, i /i/

        O, o /ɒ/

        U, u /ʊ/

    And remember them in this order, not another! A, E, I, O, U 

2)    Knowing the lyrics:

    The reason of the success of “Chumba-chumba” lies in the simplicity of its lyrics. Either if you are from Japan, Armenia, Latvia or Germany, you’ll be able to learn them and pronunciate them easily. These are the lyrics:

    Pa, paraba, paraba, pa pa pa, (Chumba chumba) x4

    Pe, perebe, perebe, pe pe pe, (Chumba chumba) x4

    Pi, piribi, piribi, pi pi pi, (Chumba chumba) x4

    Po, porobo, porobo, po po po, (Chumba chumba) x4

    Pu, purubu, purubu, pu pu pu, (Chumba chumba) x4

As you can see, it’s just the first sentence, repeated 5 times, one for each of the spanish vowels, and just changing the vowels in the first part, keeping the “chumba chumba” the same during the whole dance. This is why the first step is to know the spanish vowels. And to make it easier, here is a translation of the sounds.

Pa, paraba, paraba, pa pa pa, (Chumba chumba) x4

/pʌ, pʌrʌbʌ, pʌrʌbʌ, pʌ pʌ pʌ, (tʃʊmbʌ tʃʊmbʌ)x4/

3)    Knowing the dance:

This is the most simple thing of all, but at the same time the one most of the people do wrong!

In the moment when you are singing “pa, paraba, paraba, pa pa pa” everybody must be standing without moving!!!! Not jumping or whatever, just singing al loud as possible, that and looking at each other. But in the moment that we start with the “chumba chumba” we have to jump into the group, bumping each other but without hurting. The aim is not to take the other person to the ground but just to create a group. And the jumps will stop when we start the next sentence “pe, perebe…”.

Ready for  Chumba chumba??                  

                                           Posted by Juanola


[1] I'd say that this song was first heard in NWM Benicassim in 200, introduced there by Xavi from AEGEE-Castelló,,, Miguel

Spanglish

Ai am taier about dis topic. Ebribodi ripits de seim eguein an eguein. Guat Espaniards espik is not Espanglis!!! Jamón!!
Okei, ai admit dat sontaims güi jaf esmal misteiks… its nourmal, as evri oder person, güi jaf ogüer oun lengüich, güiz som saunds similar to Inglis uans, an som oders totali diferent, an prisaisli dis last uans ar de mos dificalt for as. Bat at list güi trai! Ai don laik güen pipol laf at as güen güi sei: bitch, fool, shit or cat. Yu ar sach a ful if yu zink yur Inglis is perfek…
Olrait… excep if yu ar Britis ;) or the baischer ;)

If you want to "translate" this text, pass the mouse with the button pressed just under this line...

I am tired about this topic. Everybody repeats the same again and again. What Spaniards speak is not Spanglish!!! C’mon!!
Ok, I admit that sometimes we have small mistakes… it’s normal, as every other person, we have our own language, with some sounds similar to English ones, and some other totally different, and precisely these last ones are the most difficult for us. But at least we try! I don’t like when people laugh at us when we say: beach, full, sit or cut. You are such a fool if you think your English is perfect…
All right… except if you are British or the Vice-Chair  ;)


                Posted by Juanola

Agora Alicante at the NWM Granada

We have just arrived home, from the amazing NWM in Granada! Being the first NWM that has been organized following the new guidelines set up by the NetworkCommision, it was quite a great surprise :) that the program ran so smoothly.

It looked sometimes like a dream. Participants were active members in their antennae, and they contributed with their own experience and best practices. You could see antennae debating the meaning of the proposals, asking questions about who is who in the candidates list, going through the program of an Agora to explain what will be happening at any time and where they can contribute the most.

Now I am simply exhausted. But happy.

Thank you AEGEE-Granada, you did a great work! I hope this event multiplies your motivation!
Thank you NetCom (assistant) Luis for coordinating the NWM, with support of NetCom Lucille.
Thank you AEGEE-Alicante for joining me on the trip to Granada.
Thank you Academy for helping us!
Thank you to all the participants of the NWM for their participation and contribution!

And special thanks to the External Agora Organizers that came also to Granada: Guille from AEGEE-Barcelona, Antonio and Coral from AEGEE-Madrid, Soraya from AEGEE-Coruña. You are real good!

Alicante - Skopje - Izmir - Enschede

We have finally the list of organizers of statutory events for the next whole year. Roadmap: Alicante to Skopje to Izmir to Enschede! Sounds like a very nice itinerary, some places I already know, some other will be new for me... all of them have already organized an Agora before, so for sure they have experience and knowledge in their archives

 It is inspiring for us to see that, beyond our work, there are other teams that are now following our steps, the same way we did in Krakow, Leiden, Amsterdam and Riga. I can imagine my friends from those antennae feeling the same thrill, minds boiling with ideas,stress levels still low... We want here to offer you all our help, as much as possible. Please understant that, before and during the Agora your questions may not be on our priority list even if we'll try to answer them as soon as possible. After the Agora, you can count on us for the Knowledge Transfer.

Maybe we can even organize a meeting the day after the agora with representatives from all these antennae, I wonder what the main coordinator will think about this idea... And you?

                               ;) Posted by Miguel

Know Alicante: New Terminal in our airport

Dear Agora participants and friends

Finally,yesterday we inaugurated the new terminal of Alicante airport. It will increase the capacity of the airport from 9 millions of passengers nowadays till 20 millions. You'll have the opportunity to see it almost new, as you will arrive in one month more or less (Oh, my Dog!). You'll have to share the terminal with the usual mix of british hordes coming to Benidorm for a bachelor party (male and female hordes, don't miss the picture here), old people from scandinavian citizens and also some german grannies, Erasmus students, and the regular mix.

We have already done a Case Study Trip there, to analyze the new routes adn update all the arrival information; even better, some of our team members participated in the technical tests as "passengers" to test all information panels, baggage systems and other details. So we know every corner of the airport... but better don't get lost!

Here, a detail of the roof, its most distinctive architecture feature.

And here a video, where you can see the airport and some other features of Alicante. Unfortunately, they did not want to include the Agora. Ah, of course it is in Spanish with no subtitles...

                      Posted by Miguel

PS: Ah! It is not only bigger,but aso they announce that it has many environmental advantages, so this also comes according to the Agora Alicante, the greenest Agora ever!

Message from Incoming Team

Dear Spring Agora Alicante 2011's participants,

Please, read carefully this message and help Agora organizers to do our work as fast and efficient as possible!

PARTICIPANTS THAT DO NOT NEED VISA
      - the only way to confirm your assistance is by paying in advance (by bank transfer or credit card payment). Deadline is tomorrow 25th March!!!!
Follow the instructions written in our website:
http://www.agoraalicante.org/index.php/en/useful-information/confirm-your-application

      - there is no need to send your plane tickets, they are not a valid confirmation!!

PARTICIPANTS THAT DO NEED VISA


      - please, if you haven't done yet, contact the Incoming Team as soon as possible (incoming@agoraalicante.org), to let us know that you are coming. We have been asking for your personal information + passport info (nr, date of issue and expiricy date) + address to send you the original invitation letter. You can find more information in our website:
http://www.agoraalicante.org/index.php/en/useful-information/confirm-your-application

      - it would be very helpful if you would be able to gather all the information from members of the same antenna and give us the name and address of one responsible where we can send all the invitation letters. Please, be very clear, we don't understand Cyrillic (yet) nor any other alphabet, so write down everything in latin characters.

      - this is the procedure we are following to every request for invitation letters:
1) sending a scanned copy (with stamp and signature) to you by email
2) sending a copy by fax to the Spanish Embassy in Kyïv, Ankara, Moskva, etc. IMPORTANT: if there is no Spanish Embassy in your country, inform us which is the correct EU Embassy that takes care of your visas for Spain  (such as the German Embassy in Georgia!)
3) sending an original copy (with stamp and signature) by postal mail.

Please, give us the name (and contact info) of a responsible among your group where we can address all the invitation letters. This will save us costs and we will be able to deliver invitation letters faster.

If the procedure we must follow is different in your country, let us know it! Be clear and keep it short and simple.

4) Invitation letters are going to be the same for everybody. They are written in English and stating the official dates for the AGORA (27th April - 1st May 2011) and "kindly asking" to give you few more days before and after to be able to reach our beautiful and sunny city of Alicante.
This has been discussed among us, and evaluating the pros&cons, that's our final decision. If anybody has any problem, please ask the Embassies to get in touch with us, we will be glad to support your assistance to the event.

Deadline for Visa-participants is 12th april, but the sooner, the better.

Reminder: If you haven't done yet... GET IN CONTACT WITH US, we are not going to hand you in ANY invitation letter if you didn't send your info and confirm your assistance!!!

Once you have your visa, and your travel tickets, send us the copy of the tickets to confirm your application.

PARTICIPANTS THAT ARE IN THE WAITING LIST

      - Please, be patient. Until 25th March (deadline for non-visa participants) we will not know if there would be any free place, so filling up our inbox is not helpful at all.

PARTICIPANTS WHO HAVE ALREADY CONFIRMED

We are waiting for you! Thanks for your fast confirmation!

PEACE AND LOVE TO EVERYBODY!

Warm greetings from Alicante,

The Incoming Team!

Breaking news: Emmys nominations !!!!

As some of you may know, April 25th is the judging ballots return deadline for the emmys awards. As we'll be pretty busy with organizational stuff and you will be already printing your tickets to come, we want to give you some exclusive information we have about the awards. Here we go:

• Best 1st day of the Agora to: "Friends"

'Because it represents perfectly the atmosphere of friendship and comradeship that we have the first day in every Agora' 

• Best 2nd day of the Agora to: "Lost" 

'The touching series about a group of friends lost in the University of Alicante, trying to find where is the room of the prytannium and the timetable for dinner is' 

• Best 3rd day of the Agora to: "How I met your mother" 

'The story about how a great love was born during the few days that a guy met a girl in an Agora, and how this love story evolved in short time' 

• Best 4rd day of the Agora to: "The walking dead" 

'Terrific series about dozens of Young Europeans which, at the end of an Agora in Alicante, turn into zombies with no energies' 

 But of course these are just the winners, we had many other nominations such as: 

•  "The IT crowd": To the ITC for being such an adorable bunch of geeks 
• "Ally McBeal": To the JC and its controversial decisions
• "The big bang theory": To all the participants in prytannia 
• "The golden girls": To Olivier, Theijs and Gunnar 
• "The A-Team": To Agora Alicante's crew 
• "The Sopranos": To CD and his communication policy 
• "Heroes": To all those who give 100% in parties and the next day they are working hard in prytannia and plennaries 
• "Desesperate housewifes": To the organizers the day right after Agora
• "Prison break": To all those who will try to escape from plennaries to go to the beach (don't even try...) 
• "Dexter": To that unfortunate mate who discover there is no toilet paper in the toilets... after he's used it.... 
• "CSI": To the organisers who find suspicious fluids in the gym 
• "Mad men": To the CD candidates 
• "Unhappily ever after": To those who lose in the votes 
• "6 feet under": To the proposals of Thomas and Michi after Agora Istanbul 
• "The office": To the CD house 
• "The west wing": To the spanish, portuguese and french antennae 
• "House M.D.": For all the people who fall sick after every statutory meeting. It is not lupus.
• "Modern Family": To every AEGEE member...

 We hope you enjoyed these series as much as we do. Do you think there is any series missed?

                         Post by Juanola

Theory of the lost nights

On a random night of the 2 months before the Agora, the probability to find online at 02:00 am two or more members of the Agora Team having an online meeting is more than 0,95

        

Meet the team: Guille G.Tabares

I had my doubts on how to title this post. It could have been Guille-Bilbao (the antenna which he founded) or Guille-Barcelona, the antenna he is now a member and which he has helped so much. Or could be Guille-Academy... or even Guille-CD candidate! Because if one thing is fir sure, is that Guille has multiple personality and AEGEE-Spirit running in his veins, and he cannot stop joining activities.

I know him for many years and I have had the opportunity to share with him many hours of work, many hours of parties, many hours of long distance discussions on skype, facebook. We also share some musical tastes (see this video for a sample), LOST addiction and a special kind of humour :D And we love languages (but he wins).

With him, you better don't expect anything, because he's the best at susprising everybody around, with unpredictable jokes, inspiring ideas or a funny moustache! And when he is in full party-mode... You'd better be aware he can be like a typhoon!

He also became part of Agora Team and he has contributed with help mostly with translation of the website. I cannot wait to meet him again, now in Alicante. I know he will be busy as hell during the Agora with many obligations, but knowing he will be around will be enough to boost everybody's motivation.

            Posted by Miguel

PS: Watching his pictures, I just discovered we also share an addiction for hats :)

Know Alicante: MARQ

Alicante has one of its most important touristic attractions in Archeology. To the -let's say aboriginal- population of Iberians (who left in the area the very beautiful and even more mysterious sculpture of the "Dama de Elche", on the right), you can add the contribution of Phoenicians, Greek, Carthaginian, Romans, Visigoths and Arabs, who all came and found the Alicante area quite pleasant to live at :) The combination of temperate weather, fertile soils, a natural harbour and the famous mediterranean light attracted everybody to Alicante.Now, it's the Spring Agora Alicante 2011 who repeats History and bring people from all Europe to our city.

There are very interesting archeaological sites in the region. Some of them can be visited, and they stand for one of the best options for an outdoor activity. But when you don't have that much time, or when the weather is rainy as it may be the case in April ("Ne'er cast a clout till May be out", as my grandma would say if she was from Stoke-on-Trent), you can still enjoy history and latest technologies in the Archaeological Museum of Alicante, also known as MARQ.

It is a modern museum, recognised with the European Museum of the Year Award in 2004, which reunites all we know about the past of the region of Alicante and presents it with a mix of old and new technologies. Moreover, it has a tradition of hosting exhibitions coming from all the world, and in the past years we have enjoyed the presence of the famous Discobolus, and some egyptian mummies. This year, ceebrating the year of cooperation Spain-Russia, our guest is the Hermitage Museum of Санкт-Петербург (Saint Petersburg). It is a pity that the artist who did the advertising panel did not make the effort of learning Cyrillic alphabet...

                        Posted by Miguel

Planning the travel to Alicante

Dear Agora followers

Participants are already confirming their attendance to Agora Alicante. Invitation Letters for Visas are being issued as fast as we can... It's time for you to start looking for the way to cross Europe all over and arrive to Alicante. I invite you to watch a video:

Agora Alicante wants to be as sustainable as possible. This means we collaborate with EnWG to encourage all of you (who have the time and the posibility) to take alternative means of transport to plane. Because you may not be aware, but flying is the mean of transport that has the biggest impact on Climate Change! You can see the chart:

Moreover, flying is the most boring way of traveling, and you have to make long queues, travel to far airports, fight with low-cost crew members for 100g in your luggage, and you are at expenses of random volcanoes :) Nevertheless, we all know that for many aegeeans flying is simply the only option because of distance and time (and sometimes even the cheapest by far!). The important thing for us is that, no matter if by boat, bike, bus, car, train, camel or plane, we want YOU to come to our Spring Agora Alicante 2011!

Here you can calculate how much CO2 will be caused by your travel. 

Green Vacations by Tripbase
Get this Free Travel Widget here

And a link to a website where you can donate some € to an organization who fights Climate Change. It is not the perfect solution, but it is better than nothing: click here!

So, why not do like the CD and decide to travel by car/van with all your friends?

     Posted by Miguel

The shower mystery

Dear Agora members.

Those of you who have attended some agorae before, will for sure have noticed that there is usually just a few showers available for 600-1000 people. In Leiden they were around 5+5 (men and women),in Istanbul 10+10, in Riga 4+4...

But... I can't explain why, they were enough. I have had just once to wait for the people to finish before starting mine. How does it happen? I don't know. Because, with these numbers, you could easily imagine the Agora people untidy and even smelly, and that is not the fact.We manage to look "fresh" and even dress up for parties! For me, that is a miracle!

Just in case, as we in AEGEE-Alicante don't believe in magic, we have included in our planning to provide around 20 showers per men and other 20 per women. We hope this will be enough...

Meet the team: Javi

Javipedia
Javipedia as seen in his FB profile
EX PRESIDENT OF AEGEE ALICANTE
Member of AEGEE since 2009-03-30 Board 2009-2010
Predecessor	Raúl Avilés Poblador
Successor	Miguel García Soria, Mike Costa I
Real name	Javier Gómez Sierra
Other nicknames known	Javipedia, jgomsi
Born	3rd February in Alicante
Favourite sport	Handball (female)
First AEGEE event (as participant)	Heidelberg / Karlsruhe, Mannheim, Köln (SU Heidelberg 2009) - From 17th July to 2nd August
First AEGEE event (as organiser)	AQF (Acho Que Finde)
Job in Agora	IT

Personal Life

Javipedia (Alicante, Comunidad Valenciana, 1980) was president of AEGEE Alicante during 2010. Known as one of the best guides for the beautiful city of Alicante, he is known as Javipedia due to his huge knowledge about AEGEE.

It's well known by all the organisers of Agora Alicante that the questions he makes help us to become more AEGEE wise. From "Which was the antenna of the first Spaniard president of AEGEE Europe?"^[1] to "List all the places where the statutory events have been held", his amazing knowledge always has astonished all his friends in parties and meetings.

Also, as the good IT he's, he is one of the main responsibles of the website of the Agora, and the person behind the IPP (Internet Payment Platform) that many of the participants of Agora are using to pay the fees and confirm the participation skipping high commissions for bank transfers.

Another of his characteristics is his love for taking care of the smallest details (some people could think he's a bit fusspot, but he just truly wants to make things easier to everyone). The descriptions that he makes are long, but without space for doubt!

Reliability of a robot, his use of the different mailing list is such an example on how to handle different email addresses without a single mistake^[2].

Last, but not least, he's known by Juanola as "GRANDE" ("big" in spanish) not due to his size, but to the size of his heart. Not a single bit of rage known up to date, even upon high stress situations.<sup>[3]



[1] AEGEE Madrid
[2] There is controversy still on a email he sent to the general mailing list of the Agora instead into the merchandising one on Wed, Mar 9, 2011 at 1:04 PM. It seems like he had failed miserably, but some rumors say he did it on purpose.
[3] As certified my Miguel that has gone through volcanoes and other crisis with him.</sup>

Participants are here!!!

Finally, the last missing pieces are starting to be revealed...
The participants of our dear Agora!

Check the list of accepted participants: click!

Because we have been working hard the last months to give AEGEE members the opportunity to work hard during the Agora days... with nothing more to care about than Europe, Youth, Democracy, projects, and ideas.

Leave a message of what you expect to find in Agora Alicante...
Hint: amazing plennaries, compromised candidates, intense discussions...

Where is the participants' list?

Dear Agora Followers

Our post of today was supposed to be about how happy we were to see the 700 names of our participants... Rumors were strong, that today was THE day... But finally it seems it is not yet...

Maybe tomorrow!

Posted by Miguel

Meet the team: Belen

Belen… Belen who?!

Ok, I think that I will NEVER forget the moment when I met that person. It was EBM Krakow, first night in the club, where we didn’t hear each other names. I just remembered that forest and that big, honest smile. Day after that we met each other in gym, and then I heard that her name is Belen. After that we had 5 hours long, such an crazy conversation, where I figure out: this person will be my friend. And yes – I forgot her name 3 minutes after meeting.

Everybody knows Belen. She is very simple for recognizing. Huge forest on her head, smile on her face, “WTF” in every second sentence, unique laugh… That are only a few things which make her recognizable. She is one of sing of AEGEE Alicante.

Belen is real animator for people around her. She always has great, creative ideas, which can make you breathless. She will wake up in the morning, go to workshops, be completely serious, and then she will be the last person which will left the party. Friendly, open-minded and amazing – are definitely three words which can describe her.

Whatever you do, she will never judge you.

With her you will always have fun till crying of laugh.

With her you can dance till the sun light.

With her you cannot win at a competition in “using bed words”

With her you will never get bored.

With her you can talk 24 hours and you will still have subjects to talk.

So for sure, during the Agora, look for this person, and you will not make a mistake, because after that you will not want only be one of her 2000 facebook friends. Because everything is MORE with her. :)

And for the end, if I may… khm… ok: I said Moreno, Moreno, Moreno, I give you my love… :)

p.s. One thing which you probably don’t know about Belen, is that her last name is not Suster, it’s Moreno Hurtado.

p.p.s. Huge thanks to Juanola, who gave me idea and opportunity for this :)

                   Written by Anchy from AEGEE-Beograd
And me? Well, I am member since april 2008, and for me, Belen is one of the best things which happened to me during the last 3 years in AEGEE. And it is such an pleasure to write this about person which is crazy almost like me.

Yellow means help

Dear Agora followers

We have our first Agora Organizers official clothing! This time is just a sweater, that you can see in the picture aside. Isn't Lía looking amazing there so close to our hearts?

Not to mention, how nice our team is and how smiling we were after 3h meeting! We are really excited to see that Agora is almost here, and our motivation keeps growing every day!

Language of colours is widespread in nature. Yellow is used in nature for warning and it is a colour that is seen from far away. That's the reason we have chosen for our organizing team, so you can find us at a glance whenever you need us. Therefore, we recommend any participant not to wear a bright yellow shirt, because you risk of being asked many time questions like:

- Where are the toilets? (with small jumps)
- Where is that thrilling budget workshop happening?
- At what time does the dinner start?
- Where can I buy umbrellas?
And for sure many more...

PS: Don't worry, the official T-shirt of the Agora will not be too different, so you'll also have the opportunity to take Lía home...

Meet the team: Coral

I want you to meet someone. It's a girl who, as a joke, always says she's "the transparent girl", because she passes unnoticed between the noise and the racket of their friends. But actually, it's exactly the opposite, because she's the person you'd ALWAYS miss in any event if she was not there.

I'm proud to introduce you Coral (Cori, Dory, Oralita or Cori-Miri for their friends), a girl so charming that people use to say "Come on, you're like Coral, everyone likes you". Nice, beatiful, kind, lovely (and lover of vodka-coke), she is one of the most tireless workers in the AEGEE world. Her summers are like an eternal Summer University, where she works helping one antenna after another (Santander, Leon, Alicante...); but she always keeps her agenda free for being the "best organizer" in the SU of Madrid.

And now for sure you'll be thinking ... Does everyone like Coral? The answer is YES, because she's able to convoke up to 70 persons together for her birthday, and in the meanwhile, organize an unforgettable event! I can't believe how she's able to manage up to 1500 "live" friends in facebook and at the same time, knowing every new person in AEGEE Europe.

Haven't you met Coral yet? Then you haven't gone to enough AEGEE events, and you miss the person who is the perfect definition of "friendship".

       Written by Antonio

It can't be sunny everyday!

Dear Agora followers

Today has been a perfect cloudy, rainy day.

I really like rainy days in Alicante, as they don't happen so often. But today I got my new Agora Organizer sweater, brand new and with its amazing design, so it was very good that the chilly, rainy weather allowed me to wear it since the moment I got it!

I also hope that it rains during Spring Agora Alicante 2011. This way, I will be able to wear my sweater, and you will stay in the plennaries! ;)

                    Written by Miguel

PS: Ah, maybe you want to see the picture of an organizer wearing the sweater... maybe tomorrow!

Meet the team: Neila

Neila has been part of AEGEE-Alicante since the very beginning. She was already in the board when I joined AEGEE-Alicante, and after some years she kindly proposed me to become a board member. How could I say no? :)

She stayed since then in a background position forever after, as an advisory member of the board. And from there, she reminded deadlines, gave useful contacts, joined meetings with her ideas or helped organizing the first events of the new generations. It was like having a guardian angel always having an eye on us.

A guardian angel with quite an strong character :D

She has also been always very eager to host many AEGEE travellers at her place, before and after our events, and her guests are always pleased because she is a great cook with a legendary ability for Sushi, as far as I have heard :D

And when the Agora became AEGEE-Alicante greatest challenge, she came back and has contributed to the project in more ways than can be imagined, some tasks more rewarding, some other tasks a bit more unpleasant. Thank you Neila!

She is really an AEGEE Addict. She may deny it, but don't believe her.

                         Wrote by Miguel

Amistad means friendship in Spanish

There is magic in the air when you are in an Agora or EBM: the so-called AEGEE Spirit.

You don't know how it started, maybe you don't even remember all the names, you may not remember what did you speak about, but the truth is, in a statutory event you can make friends as easy as breathing is.

When you go for the first time to an Agora, with around 800 people, it's almost impossible to know more than 10 people (the ones from your local, and maybe some friends from a SU...). But from the very first moment you'll start meeting people. Non stop. And it doesn't matter if you don't remember all of them, somehow they will remember you and will add you in facebook... (the quantity of friends in FB raise amazingly right after these kind of events).

This is the first step of the relationship.... later on you'll keep in touch with short messages in the wall, maybe you'll see some emails from him/her and you'll reply them, and from that point, don't know how, you are friends forever... You'll start checking for them in the list of accepted members of next Agora, or plan to join an event together.

Call it coincidence, call it magic, call it friend's need, call it AEGEE Spirit... but in the next meeting you'll find yourself hugging this person as you never hugged someone before, keeping a place in the gym for him/her, wishing to speak for hours again with him/her...

It's an honor that Alicante will be known as the place where strong friendships started with a "Hi, I'm from AEGEE-XXXX, what's your name?"

Posted by Juanola

Meet the team: Zare

If I had to describe Zare in one word, I would go for "bipolar". Not in a crazy way :) , but she has so many contrasts, the word fits her personality absolutely spot on. Stepping into her house, you can appreciate it, as the walls are covered with vampire-inspired posters, mixed with the Bob Sponge plush.

Hey! But I don't want to be misunderstood: I'm not referring to the kind of famous-nowadays-soft-fang-blood-sucker as Edward Cullen and the others from the Twilight saga, I'm talking about the real-thing-dark-terrifying Nosferatu!!

Her "dark side" complements her bubbly personality, because even though her looks say otherwise, she's very fond of her friends. She has a very special sense of humour that combines intelligence, irony, sarcasm and a spark of cuteness that can't be hardly explained in words.

Although we clicked when we met, I only know her for a short while. Nevertheless I have realize how generous she is, and I consider her already a good friend :)

975

This is the number of applications we have received for our Agora. We lacked just 25 people to reach the magic number of 1000! But well, looking on the positive side, there will be then 25 people less that wil not have the chance to come to Agora Alicante. Because, my friends, there are just 700 places for participants, so this means that there is quite many people that we cannot have with us. No matter how much we would like to welcome you all here in Alicante, the capacity of our resources is limited and there is not much we can do. University of Alicante has already been really kind when giving us the posibility to use the Sport Center for hosting you.


Now, dear boards, don't forget to look at the list of applicants from your antenna, and rank them according to the following criteria:

Who can contribute more to the Agora?
Who will get more from the Agora?
Who deserves more to have the opportunity to come to the Agora?

Or just in one question... Who wants to come to the Agora? (and Who wants to come just to Alicante?)

Then, the Chair will have the unpleasant task to decide... so validate the applications ASAP and make their work easy!

AGORA CAKE RECIPE - Ingredients for 800 people.

As we said, we don't just want Spring Agora Alicante to be the greatest Agora ever, but also the sweetest!

FOR THE BASE (without that ... we would have nothing!).
Take a cast of University Gym and cover it with an approved canvas.
40 organizers are mixed with 2 packages of will to work, 5 packets of sugar to provide us with sweetness, and add a couple of eggs; mash until a uniform and common basis in formed. Leave to maceration for a few weekends in the trap, and if possible add just a few squirts of alcohol.
After 12 months it is ready.

FOR THE CREAM (fundamental part of the Agora Cake)
Prepare a mix of 800 cool participants, with a top quality appellation Chair Team and a CD with the "Grown in Brussels" Certificate, and bring to boil in a specific pot for workshops, plenary and Prytania.
Remove from heat and stir vigorously for 4 days.
This mix can be sprinkled with a typical Spanish products such as ice cream, chocolates, sobaos and custards; selecting the proportion according to personal preferences.

FOR COATING:
This is a very important part of the cake, despite being the thinner; is the most vivd memory people will keep of this wonderful Agora cake. So, take a spray of compressed party and cover completely for 4 nights (taking care to let it rest from time to time, to avoid the risk of overheating and the appearance of the undesirable bitter hangover taste).
Sprinkle with the Quantum Satis dose of good cheer and joy.

To top it off, do not forget to add freshly picked cherries from the tree of pride in a well-done job ;)

Serve in the right portions; it is probably a taste that your guests will never try again and will remain in their mouths and minds forever.

Posted by Silvia
 "Happiness is not my destination but the journey."

Meet the team: Luis

When I first met Luis, I thought he was going to be one of the fun-focussed members of our association who joins AEGEE, travels, has fun and disappears sooner or later. But happily, I was completely mistaken. Not only he started to attend "more serious" events (such Agorae), but he wanted to be more and more involved in our local board's activities. He even became AEGEE-Alicante's president in 2004.

Almost 8 years have gone by, and Luis has become one of my best friends. We have shared several AEGEE events, many trips, and lots of friends. He's the kind of person you would like to count among your friends: always funny, responsible and very smart, he can make you smile or give you a word (or a hug!) to cheer you up when you need it the most.

Being for a while out of the "activeness" of AEGEE, as soon as he knew there was going to be an Agora in Alicante, he stepped forward and joined the organizing team, bringing in his crazy-fun energy, ideas and supportive personality.

                        Published by Neila

Have you already applied?

Dear Agora follower: Deadline to apply for this amazing Agora that is being prepared in Alicante is about to expire... You just have his weekend to go to www.aegee.org/statutory and fill in the application! You have until March 6th at 23:59:59 (Brussels time!!!)



It seemed yesterday when applications were open. We are all working hard, but as we saw in the Agora Alicante video from Istanbul... we need you to make this Agora true!! We need your contribution,your AEGEE Spirit, your smile, your hugs...

Don't miss the chance! Because Agora Alicante will not be the same without YOU, but also, you will not be the same person without this Agora!

Agora Word Cloud

Here you can see how the word cloud of this blog looks like... Interesting, isn't it?

 I like some of the words like: learned, team, see, great, enjoy...

What other words would you like to see?

Testing: Social media integration

Hello Agora Fans!

One of the best things of AEGEE is that you have great opportunities for learn-by-doing. Nowadays I am playing a lot with this blog, it is my favourite toy! So I try to improve it, make it nicer, more complete, more interactive. Thanks to this self-initiative, and being lucky I have some free time due to my lack of sleep, I have learned how to use Twitter (follow us with the tag #AgoraAlicante and account @AEGEEAlicante), developped a lot my blogging skills, learned about the badges (Thanks Guille!) and enjoyed many moments of Eureka!

So now I am learning how to include in my posts one widget - oh, I forgot to mention how many new words I have learned :) - that should enable a connection between the posts and FB, so comments will be easier to be made and once written in the blog will appear on facebook profiles.

So,let's give it a try... Help me checking if it works, by leaving a nice comment!

    Posted by Miguel Gallardo

CONTEST: Become a creative Lía follower

Dear Agora friends

Have you ever met Lía, our mascot, in real life? We want to know how much does people like her, by showing a badge with her on their facebook profiles. As our organisers have already done, did you see it? Maybe you got a Lía badge from our AgoraAlicante team in Riga, now it is time to have it also in facebook!

To encourage participation and increase creativity, we have set up a small contest. You will have to make a funny profile picture including the Lía Badge. We have several models, so you can choose which one suits better for your purpose: enter here (get your Lía badge here). You just need to sign up with your facebook account to be able to incorporate the badge into one of the funniest pictures you have. Once done, don't forget to write a message on the wall of the Agora Alicante Facebook Group so we can see the picture! ;))

You can use for instance this badge:

Don't let us down, we want to see everybody suporting the Agora Alicante on facebook, with Lia badges on their profiles. The funniest picture with Lia will win a t-shirt from AEGEE-Alicante, and badges to never forget this event!!! 

More info on this previous post about the badges.

Remember: to be taken into account for the contest

Make a funny profile picture with a Lía badge.

Send a message to the Agora Alicante FB Group to start last 2 weeks of crazyness.

Don't forget to spread the word to your friends!