SU Istanbul 2025 Review: Conquering the Seven Hills

SU Istanbul 2025 brought together 24 participants and 30 organisers for 10 intense days in one of Europe’s most vibrant cities. Under the title “Labyrinth of the Seven Hills”, the Summer University invited participants from 18 to 28 July to explore Istanbul’s history, neighbourhoods, and organised chaos — and to experience Turkish hospitality right at the heart of the city.

GT: What was your Summer University about?
AEGEE-Istanbul: Our SU “Labyrinth of the Seven Hills” focused on showing our amazing participants the beauty, history, and lovable chaos of Istanbul, bringing them into the heart of Turkish culture and hospitality.

How many participants and organisers joined the event?
We had 24 participants and 30 organisers, including international helpers, who created an incredible group of people that bonded and shared this experience together.

Which activities best represented the spirit of your SU?
The Treasure Hunt! Throughout the entire day, we discovered the city in groups, completing various tasks and competing to become the best team. What truly captured the spirit of the event: even though we divided the teams and the competition was high, some teams still managed to merge together, only to break up again at the next location. Even after a full day of activities and tasks, our participants still wanted to see more of Istanbul’s secrets so we even extended the sightseeing to another district of the city!

What was a funny or emotional moment that defined the event?
At the end of SU, we had some beach time on the coast of the Black Sea in the northern part of Istanbul, where we had planned a surprise that included water balloons, a lot of running and even more laughter. Those who didn’t run very fast were not only drenched in water but also laughed the most!

What made this year’s group of participants special?
Competitiveness! We had people willing to go above and beyond to win the games that we prepared for them! We appreciate the effort and think that this was a huge part of people connecting during our SU.

Did the group stay in touch afterwards?
Apart from joining other events together, we are still texting in our SU group from time to time and if someone has that one picture another person has been looking for and asking about, please send it to them!

How would you evaluate the SU overall?
We think that we managed to organise an event that was fun, engaging and action-packed, which was what we were hoping for with the preparations. As with every AEGEE event, timing could always be improved but there was nothing we couldn’t handle. A little bit of chaos is never an issue for us!

Which impact did the event have on your antenna?
Well, our SU Main Organiser became the President of AEGEE-İstanbul so we think it’s safe to say that the SU showed us that we can have a good leader that puts all of his heart and effort into what he does.

Anything else you’d like AEGEEans to know about your SU?
If you are reading this and think that you missed out – don’t worry, we have more amazing events waiting for you very soon!