Have you ever wanted to try extreme sports? Then visit the Travelling Summer University (TSU) of AEGEE-Eskişehir! From 2nd till 16th of July you will have the chance to experience five different extreme sports from paragliding to rafting – in fantastic locations in Turkey. But the TSU “Bring The Action 4 SUtisfaction” won’t all just an adrenaline kick. “We will also relax on the white beaches with the feeling of accomplishment”, said main organiser Suzan Dilara Tokaç to the Golden Times.
Golden Times: Why will your SU be one of the best Summer Universities this year?
Suzan Dilara Tokaç: This year our theme is unique. In AEGEE history there are not many Summer University, which has extreme sports as a theme and especially has activities like paragliding and rafting. We are preparing two extremely funny, adventures and awesome weeks for our gallant participants. Since it is a Traveling Summer University, we will have the chance of doing more than one extreme sports in altogether five different locations! We will fly in the sky and dive deep into the sea at the same time. Then, we will also relax on the white beaches with the feeling of accomplishment.
Golden Times: Which kind of sports will you do?
Suzan: We would like to include as many type of extreme sports and extreme activities as possible. They are all safe and not very challenging to do such as paragliding, karting, paintball, scuba-diving, rock climbing, waterfall jumping and rafting.
Golden Times: Why did you choose sports as main topic?
Suzan: In a century of technology and computers people are becoming more and more unconcerned about their health and care. The quality of life is decreasing thanks to unhealthy nutrition and inaction. We want people to feel again that wonderful feeling of accomplishing a task that is a type of sport in that occasion and, want them to experience that feeling of robust after they do sports. Their point of view towards life and themselves will change. Moreover, extreme sports are as a journey to ones inner side. Everyone needs to experience this and we offer them the chance.
Golden Times: So you are looking only for participants who are really into sports and have experience with outdoor activities or can also less sporty people take part?
Suzan: We took into consideration both type of participants. If they have any experience and informed us in advance, they will choose a different level of difficulty. For example if they are professional parachute jumpers they may jump alone. However, our primary subject is newbies. We want more and more people to try these sports. They will have the workshops and trainings before doing the sports and of course professional people and trainers will help and lead them.
Golden Times: Sounds really good – but aren’t you afraid that something might happen to the participants?
Suzan: The chance of accidents always exists. Maybe this chance gets higher with this kind of sports but we will take precautions for sure. The places that we choose are very famous with those sports and they are hosting hundreds of people every year. They have the best insurance and safety rates and also very professional about what they are doing.
Golden Times: Will this SU have relaxing parts too?
Suzan (smiles): Our super gallant participants will be full with adrenaline and excitement for sure, so in order not to get an overdose of it we will do one kind of sport in each day – or maybe two if they are easy ones. Each activity takes one whole day, so after for example they paraglide over the blue sea and white sand, they will go and enjoy the beach. We are also planning to do yoga on a small hill outside of the city, which is the best way of relaxation.
Golden Times: You are travelling quite some distance: Eskişehir – Fethiye – Ölüdeniz – Antalya – Manavgat. Most places are in the South of Turkey, why do you go there?
Suzan: The Mediterranean Sea, which is one of the most beautiful seas of the Earth, is really great at the South coast of Turkey. The cities have very nice beaches with turquoise water and white sands. The places are also the most famous and suitable locations for sports: for example the mountain for paragliding, the river for rafting and the undersea reserves for scuba-diving are all situated in the South. There are also very famous cities with history and culture one should pay a visit.
Golden Times: What will be the programme highlights in the cities – please mention one highlight per city only?
Suzan: Eskişehir: rock-climbing; Fethiye: scuba-diving; Ölüdeniz: paragliding; Antalya: Duden Waterfalls and finally Manavgat: rafting.
Golden Times: You will also offer workshops. What will they be about?
Suzan: They will be about indoor and outdoor sports, raising awareness towards sports, belly-dancing, yoga, climbing, trekking, air sports, water sports such as scuba-diving and rafting; and of course there will be compulsory sessions on youth mobility and intercultural dialogue subjects.
Golden Times: Do people still have energy to party?
Suzan (smiles): Of course! We love to party! After working hard and get high with adrenaline we will continue the excitement by partying hard! We are planning thematic parties about sports and have other crazy ideas, but we better not blow the gaff. For now I want to tell just this much: there maybe one party on the boat and one on the beach with campfire and of course the European Night!
Golden Times: Can you tell a few words about your antenna?
Suzan: Sure. AEGEE-Eskişehir is founded in 2001 and since then organized one Agora in autumn 2007, three Network Meetings, seven Summer Universities and a lot of projects and training schools. One of the most important was about disabled citizens called “The Empathy Days” which we have been organizing for several years. In the current 2013-2014 term, we have a lot of enthusiastic new members who are very motivated. There are three active working groups: the Project WG, the Personal Improvement WG and the Foreign Languages WG. We have more than 100 members and 40 of them are active on local level. We organize two local training courses each year. Some of our events of the year are: an AEGEE Plus Course, a First Aid Training, a Network Meeting and social events like laser tag and thematic parties.
Golden Times: How is the atmosphere in your Summer University organizing team?
Suzan (smiles): All the team members have just signed up for a gym to get ready for the crazy event and we started a new diet. We have the most funny and amazing people in our team. We love to eat, party and travel together. Four of us will join Agora Patra. Everyone is so excited and can’t wait these two weeks to come.
Golden Times: How much is the participation fee?
Suzan: The fee is 196 Euro and the optional fee is 40 Euro
Golden Times: What else should potential participants know about the event?
Suzan: After these two weeks they will feel a fulfillment about their lives. It will be a great experience for all of us. They do not need to worry about the exhaustion – the program is well organized to combine everything. Moreover we suggest our future participants to reach Eskişehir from Istanbul, although it seems is closer to Ankara. The tickets will be cheaper to Istanbul. After that they can take a bus for 15 Euro to our city.
More info:
- Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bring-the-action-4-SUtisfaction/782214931792591?fref=ts
- Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1474201452793500/?fref=ts
- Official event description: http://www.projects.aegee.org/suct/su2014/show.php?su_id=ESK1
- Event website: http://bringtheaction4sutisfaction.tumblr.com/
- SU promotion video I: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=825682687445815&set=vb.782214931792591&type=3&theater
- SU promotion video II: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=828398120507605