Soon the Agora Salerno stage will be full of candidates who want your vote! For sure you have read all about their programmes in the official booklet, so now you want to find out more about them, their hobbies, whether they can cook and which AEGEE member they would take with them on a deserted island. In short: classic first date questions from the Internet! The GT will take you on a date with the candidates. In this edition: Calvin Breakwell from AEGEE-Sheffield, running for European Citizenship Working Group Coordinator. Get ready, your date is starting now!
Golden Times: Are you afraid of your candidature speech on the Agora stage? And how will you prepare for it?
Calvin Breakwell: Yes, definitely, I’ve never spoken in front of so many people before. I haven’t thought about how to prepare yet, maybe I’ll just have to imagine the Agora in their underpants.
GT: Where would you be now or what would you do now if you hadn’t joined AEGEE?
Calvin: No idea, probably in a lecture.
GT: How did you join AEGEE exactly? How did you find out about it?
Calvin: I joined while I was at a party in Aachen and I found out about AEGEE from the Erasmus orientation program by AEGEE-Aachen.
GT: How long did it take you from the first moment you heard about it until you signed the membership form and joined AEGEE?
Calvin: About six months, I have a lot of regret that I didn’t join sooner.
GT: What’s the typical drink and food you bring to European Nights?
Calvin: The last one was at RTC London so I got beer and cider from the supermarket. That’s not really any famous British spirits that people won’t have already tasted so it’ll be the same in Salerno.
GT: At an AEGEE party where will we find you? On the dancefloor? Talking at the bar?
Calvin: A bit of both.
GT: What was your first position in the local board?
Calvin: Public Relations.
GT: What was your first Agora and how did you feel there? Happy, excited, overwhelmed, lost?
Calvin: Bucharest was my first Agora and I found it a really fun experience, I had a good group of people to hang out with so I didn’t feel lost or overwhelmed.
GT: Have you ever hichhiked to an AEGEE event? If yes, what’s your favourite hitchhiking story?
Calvin: No, but I’d like to if anyone wants to.
GT: There is a classic typology of AEGEE members, dividing them according to the three aspects fun member, career member and idealist – to which percentage are you which of these aspects?
Calvin: Oof, this is a hard question, currently I’d say 40:40:20. Maybe this will change if I’m elected.
GT: What do your parents think about the idea that you are so active in AEGEE?
Calvin: They think it’s great that I’m going to loads of places and meeting loads of people as well as gaining “soft skills”.
GT: What other hobbies do you have aside from AEGEE?
Calvin: I like watching Ice Hockey and films.
GT: What was the last book you really got into?
Calvin: I’m currently reading “The French Revolution and what went wrong” by Stephen Clarke and I’m really into it. Before this it would be “Great Expectations” by Dickens.
GT: What TV series do you keep coming back to and re-watching?
Calvin: How I met your mother or Breaking Bad.
GT: What’s your favourite app on your phone?
Calvin: Probably Telegram or DB navigator.
GT: What nickname do or did you have – and why?
Calvin: None.
GT: Do you like cooking and if yes- what’s your favourite dish you like to cook?
Calvin: Not really, I prefer eating out.
GT: What’s never missing in your fridge?
Calvin: Beer or mixer for spirits.
GT: Did you consider joining a political party or maybe want to do it later?
Calvin: I did do, but I recently left because our politics is a mess and my thought has shifted since I joined that party in 2015.
GT: What do you study – and why?
Calvin: Mathematics because it’s the only thing I was good at in school.
GT: What’s your dream job?
Calvin: I’d love to do something in the diplomatic service or something in transport logistics.
GT: What’s the favourite city or place on this planet you ever visited?
Calvin: My favourite city has to be Berlin, I find it the most interesting, diverse and beautiful city I have ever been too and I’d take any opportunity to go back.
GT: And where would you really like to go?
Calvin: I’d love to go to Russia and explore the cities and the countryside from Murmansk to Rostov and maybe Vladivostok. The only thing stopping me is the horrible visa costs for UK citizens.
GT: If you could take one AEGEE member to a desert island, who would it be? And why?
Calvin: Probably Hemmo de Vries, I can’t see a time with Hemmo ever being boring.
GT: This Agora is about walls – what was the most difficult wall you had to overcome?
Calvin: I once reversed into the wall around my front garden, I’m joking of course. I think managing to study abroad as an Erasmus year was my biggest challenge so far, moving to a different country where you don’t know anyone and a city where you’ve only been to once before is a huge challenge but in reflection it was worth it 100%!
GT: What’s your biggest frustration in AEGEE?
Calvin: The intranet and bureaucra(z)cy.
GT: Please complete the sentence: “AEGEE is for me…”
Calvin: Opportunity.
GT: How would you describe yourself in a few keywords?
Calvin: Mostly lighthearted but very driven when I’m motivated.
