AEGEE has one baby more: on 18th of March at 23:59 Chloé was born, daughter of Alla Resheten, former Secretary General of AEGEE-Europe, and Julien Penalba, former President of AEGEE-Paris and ITWG board member. And soon the little baby will get to know the world of AEGEE: “Chloe will come to her first Agora in Enschede”, Alla told the Golden Times. This will make her the probably youngest participant ever.
Golden Times: Congratulations to the birth of your daughter! Was it an easy birth?
Alla Resheten: Thanks for congratulation. The birth was not especially easy, but it worked out well in the end – thanks to Julien’s support.
Golden Times: When did you come back from hospital?
Alla: We came back home on 22 March after 4 relaxing days in the hospital.
Golden Times: When was your daughter born? And can you tell size and weight at birth?
Julien Penalba: Little Chloe was born on 18 March at 23:59 – as any real AEGEEan she knows how to deal with a deadline. She was 50 centimeters tall and had 3.68 kilos, which is not bad.
Golden Times: How did the two of you meet?
Alla: Julien could probably make his own show “How I met your mother”. But short story long, we met in my first Summer University as organiser and his first as participant: the amazing Moskva/Kyiv/Odessa TSU 2008. But we live as couple for a bit shorter time.
Golden Times: Are you planning to marry soon?
Alla: Yes, but not this year.
Golden Times: You chose Chloé as name. A really beautiful name. Why did you chose this name?
Julien: True story: it’s among Wikipedia’s most popular girls names. Then we removed all the ones that reminded us of someone. In the short list, we pick the nicest one that both of us agreed on.
Golden Times: What would have been Chloé’s name if she had been a boy?
Alla: Our boy name would have been Aleksander – for this one we didn’t even need to negotiate it as it was the favorite for both of us.
Golden Times: Does Chloé resemble anyone in the family?
Julien: She’s 50 percent papa and 50 percent mama. We will see in a dozen of years what she will become.
Golden Times: How is Chloé doing now? Sleeping a lot?
Alla: She’s sleeping… a bit but eating constantly! We are lucky that she sleeps around foiur hours in a row per night. This is not bad for a newborn.
Golden Times: Alla, you are working in Brussels. Will you go back to work soon or do you want to enjoy motherhood for the moment?
Alla: I’m in maternity leave for 15 weeks, by the end of June I will be back in my company as quality and testing engineer. But coming back to work will not distract me from enjoying my little princess and new role of being a real mom.
Golden Times: Does it mean that you don’t have time for AEGEE anymore? Or will we see Chloé soon at an Agora?
Alla (smiles): Honestly, I’m doing more AEGEE now than when working, but less than in CD. Chloe will come to her first Agora in Enschede. While mama will be an active participant, papa will babysit. It’s a modern family, isn’t it?
Golden Times: Anything you’d like to add?
Alla: I want to thanks all those who send us nice wishes. And our story is proving that AEGEE is changing our lives: a girl from Kyiv with a parisian boy living in Brussels, working for British and Flemish companies with a French-Ukrainian little girl.
