This autumn the Agora (general assembly of AEGEE) took place in Struga, Macedonia. Struga is a small town and tourist destination on the shore of lake Ohrid. Our Balkan adventures started from Belgrade, Serbia, where all three of us (Julia, Leena and Saara) participated in a pre-event before the Agora. We spent three days exploring Belgrade’s beautiful versatility and experienced a lot while enjoying the event.
From Belgrade we hopped on a double-decker bus heading for Macedonia. There were two buses with around 150 Aegeeans on their way to the Agora. Surprisingly, the unforgettable bus ride took us 15 hours to hit the destination town. Three of those hours we spent at the border between Serbia and Macedonia, with our passports being checked several times by different authorities. At that time we really learned to appreciate the Schengen area. All in all, the ride was a fun experience and became a great, unforgettable memory.
In Struga, the hotel planned for the lodging, Eurohotel, turned out to have no heating whatsoever. Most of the guests had already arrived and had paid for the lodging before being informed of the fact, so they stayed in the hotel, while some others decided to find their own accommodation in hostels or apartments a little further away. Almost all of us – the 150 people who arrived together from Belgrade – decided to stay in a hostel that Aegee-Beograd had found for us. We had a really comfortable stay in our heated rooms, though we had to take a taxi every time we wanted to hit the parties that usually were held at the Eurohotel. (That meant a loss of less than one euro each time so actually we didn’t mind it at all.)
Struga as a town was something that we had never seen before. The kitschy centre made us feel like we were somewhere in an imaginary world – or maybe just back in the 90’s. We also had a chance to visit Ohrid, which is a beautiful fairy-tale-like town at the lakeside, surrounded by Macedonian mountains, with a view that really takes your breath away (after climbing all those stairs to the top of the fortress on the mountain, of course). Ohrid is also on the UNESCO world heritage list, and you can see it is there for a reason. In Macedonia you felt like you were not even in Europe, and that made it a really interesting country to visit.
This year the Agora was in a way special because AEGEE-Skopje – the main organiser of the event – resigned from its responsibilities as an organiser just before the Agora was about to start. That meant a lot of extra work e.g. for the Committee Directeur and the Chair team. Despite their resigning, some of the AEGEE-Skopje members stayed in Struga to help with the Agora arrangements. In the end, everything went well. We want to point out that this doesn’t happen normally, so we recommend you to attend Agorae in the future as well, and assure you that everything will be better organized. 
In the Agora we attended multiple plenaries and prytania, where you make all the official decisions by voting. For the non-delegates there was also a possibility to attend different kinds of workshops. In our opinion, the biggest decision made by the Agora was that from now on the EBM will be a thematic meeting without decision power and with limited participation from each antenna. This change takes place starting from the next EBM in Izmir in February 2012. The future will show what the change means in practise.
After long days in plenaries it was nice to spend time with Aegee friends from all over Europe. This time there were altogether ten participants from Finland having fun in a European atmosphere. Like usually in Aegee events, the social program was also in an important role. During the evenings, we had various theme parties. One night we were dancing around and having fun as cowboys, and another night dressed up as zombies. For the European cultural night the dresscode was pyjamas.
European night with more than 400 Aegee members is always an experience, and our Finnish table was full of “fisu” vodka and “salmiakki” candy. Parties were held in the Eurohotel, where most of the participants were staying. The fact that there was no heating didn’t stop Aegee members from having the time of their life.
All in all, we enjoyed our experiences in the Balkan area and will surely go back there to experience more. Now it is time start waiting for the next Agora, which will take place in Enschede, Netherlands in May 2012. We hope you will join us there
Julia Lauren Saara Juusti Leena Penna
President Fundraising PR Responsible
Kesäyliopistomme teema oli Discover Your True Colours, ja yritimme parhaamme sisällyttää ohjelmaamme tähän sopivia workshoppeja, pelejä ja vierailukohteita. Aloitimme matkailun Pietarista, mutta yllä olevassa kuvassa olemme jo siirtyneet rentoutumaan Märkiön leirikeskukseen, joka on aina paras vaihe meidän ohjelmassamme.
Väistämättäkin kahdessa viikossa tulee opittua paljon sekä omasta, että muiden kulttuureista ja tavoista. Yllä oleva kuva on European Nightista, jossa jokainen maa valmistaa tyypillisen ruoan. Tämän lisäksi maistellaan jokaisen maan juomapuolta. Ps. Älä koske itsetehtyihin Palinkoihin!
