The current Comité Directeur is planning a special contribution to the 30th anniversary of the Summer University project: the board of directors will organize an Italian language course as special Travelling Summer University from 4th till 19th of August. “With three Italians in the CD, their beautiful language has become something like our second language in the house”, says Loes Rutten, President of AEGEE-Europe, who has studied in Bologna. “Therefore it’s just natural that we want to teach the network Italian.” (Note: this article is the April Fools’ Day 2018 story of the Golden Times)
Many reasons led the Comité Directeur to this decision. “We want to revive the tradition of Italian language course SUs”, says Terry Kiambu. AEGEE-Europe’s Financial Director had been President of AEGEE-Udine before – an antenna, which is known for Summer Universities of great quality. “AEGEE wants to make SUs more thematic again. This is our little contribution”, adds Network Director Marco Daniele, a former President of AEGEE-Torino.
Moreover, by organizing this language course the CD wants to avoid the classical “post-CD shock”, which happens to many members of the European board after finishing their term. “Many CD members are suddenly restless, they miss the busy life in the headoffice, the constant Skype calls, the meetings, the mails, the adrenaline rush”, says Marco Daniele. He is the only one in the team who stands for re-election at Agora Kraków. “Even if I am getting re-elected, I will join my mates for this SU, because I won’t need to read up on my tasks like the newly elected CD members”, he stresses. “Besides: what can be better than showing my team members my beloved home country? Like this, we can stay together a bit longer and have fun!”
The travelling language course will start on the 5th of August in Torino and then move on to Genova, the city of Fabrizio Bellicano’s home local, on the 10th of August. Fabrizio is very enthusiastic about the idea: “I will give a short special course about Italian IT language. That can be very useful for AEGEE members, who want to work in Italy.” On 15th the CD and the 25 participants will go together to Udine, for the concluding part of the event. Terry: “People will have a blast! Udine is called the Paris of Italy for a reason.”
The fact that the interim CD members don’t speak Italian, is not a big concern. “We asked Julia and Ksenia, and they were totally onboard with this idea!”, recalls AEGEE-Europe’s Vice President Maria Ballesteros, whose level C1 Italian skills have further improved in the past year. Julia de Lange is an expert in conflict studies and will give some workshops on intercultural communication; while PR expert Ksenia Lupanova will give a few PR and photography classes. Loes: “Everyone will benefit so much from this event.” Moreover, also the social programme will be spectacular. “We need some great parties after this tough year”, adds the AEGEE-Europe President.
While planning the event, the CD members even considered to propose to move the headoffice to Bergamo. “You have to confess: Italian sunshine, Italian food and Italian culture sound so much more appealing than the rainy days in Brussels – and there are a lot of them”, underlines Marco Daniele. “Just imagine how many more people would run for the CD if the headoffice was in Italy! And it’s a lot cheaper here too!” Why Bergamo? Terry: “The possibility for cheap flights would be awesome for the AEGEE-Europe budget!” The CD would simply rent a single room in Brussels for CD members who need to make some visits to the European institutions. Marco: “Being away from Brussels would also give us another perspective on the network, which can be beneficial too!” Another CD member, who does not want to be quoted by name, simply said: “Finally a good place. One can stand Brussels only for so long.”
