At the borders of Europe a group of students is spreading AEGEE spirit: Contact Aberdeen, which joined the AEGEE family just three months ago, just organised its first local event – a European Pub Quiz. “It was very successful”, says Contact Aberdeen President Michela Siuni, who is originally from Cagliari. In fact, the whole group looks nearly as international as the European Commission. And they are full of plans! Check out what Michela told the Golden Times.
Golden Times: Your European Pub Quiz video on Youtube looks great! What was the quiz about?
Michela Siuni: The pub quiz was basically our introductory public event. Teams had to pick a peculiar name – there was a prize for it – and we had different rounds with questions regarding European countries: geography, history and politics, language and culture. There was an additional picture round, which included politicians and famous people, a ‘guess the anthem’ session and a ‘tongue twister’ round for bonus points – one representative from each team had to try a tongue twister from a total different language from his mother tongue. We created all of it by ourselves and I hosted it.
Golden Times: Sounds great! Who participated?
Michela Siuni: Around 30-35 of our fellow students from the University of Aberdeen participated. The group was quite international, with participants from Czech Republic, Sweden, Italy, the UK, Portugal, Finland, Bulgaria and many others. The winning team received a £35 voucher to spend in the pub.
Golden Times: How has your AEGEE contact developed since you were founded three months ago? Do you have regular meetings or activities?
Michela Siuni: The very beginning required a lot of planning and, since people didn’t know what AEGEE was, we had a few introductory meetings where we presented the network and ourselves. Then we had a stand on campus to advertise SU and our pub quiz. That was our launching event. After that it was spring break and then exam time. I just recently officially become president.
Golden Times: Congratulations! How many members do you have now?
Michela Siuni: At this stage we have around 15 people registered in our portal and other 10-15 who are following our activities. We are now in the process of completing the affiliation with our student association so that will help us spreading the message more effectively.
Golden Times: Is it difficult to make students in Aberdeen enthusiastic about AEGEE?
Michela Siuni: The main problem is that basically no one really knows about it. I am confident that once we get people to know about us, they will be enthusiastic as much as we are. As a matter of fact, we are a really international community and we need to promote more than ever before a sense of togetherness.
Golden Times: Four of your members applied for a Sumer University. Were they accepted? Will we be able to meet Aberdeen members this summer?
Michela Siuni: As far I know, I’ll be the only one actually taking part in one of the Summer Universities. I’ll be joining the TSU “Balkan Beats” so you’ll find me around Bulgaria and Serbia before I continue my travelling across the Balkans. Before that I will most probably going to take part in some of the summer activities organised by AEGEE-Cagliari, my hometown. I then know that Michaela, our VP, is going to spend most of her break in London so she will probably be met up with them whereas Sara, our secretary, wanted to get in touch with the antenna in Brno as she’s now back in Czech Republic for summer. Finally even Carlota, our treasurer, mentioned a few times her willingness to get in touch with AEGEE-Porto since she’s going back home to Portugal for summer.
Golden Times: What’s your next activity after the pub quiz?
Michela Siuni: As for now, here the term is over so everyone is going back home. We’ll be back and active at the beginning of September for Freshers’ week! We have in mind a few activities and we’ll finalise them over the next month or so but so far we don’t want to release anything… better keep the suspense on! It’s gonna be a surprise!
Stay informed about Contact Aberdeen: https://www.facebook.com/AEGEEinAbdn