The start of an exchange program

01.11.2010
Köln

This is me, Diana from Hungary. Today it is my pleasure to write the blog of the day. My day started pretty well. I enjoyed having conversations with Agnija a lot at Toby’s place. As she lived in Egypt, there is a great deal of issues I am interested in about her life. I hope she is going to share more about it in the upcoming two weeks. I would kindly appreciate it. Furthermore, I wanna learn more about what was going on with him in Palestine while living there.  In the evening we had the opening ceremony. It was all cool. Let me skip to the bar where we had dinner. I really liked the atmosphere of the place. I had great time chatting with Fatma and Anna, then Anan, Aman, Naba and the others. I hope we can get to know each other better and share knowledge with each other during the event and then we will keep in touch after the event. I want to get to know everyone in the group and talk a lot about each other as individuals, as nationals of our countries and as citizens of our world. We are all very different from each other and our differences make this world a very interesting place, a place where in every single minute there is something to learn about each other’s country and culture. Our differences make the world a very diverse place, which is one of the beauties of our planet. Of course, let’s not forget about that we all have a lot of common characteristics as well; they are similarities that unite us such as the willingness of getting to know each other and do projects together so as to show the world that with cooperation anything is possible in order to create a better world for our ourselves and our children with less conflict and more peace.

There is so much to learn from each other. I can’t wait to talk to you guys and learn from you and I hope I will also have something to teach you.  Personally, I am trying to keep up to date with what is going on in the world; however, more I learn, I see there is still so much to learn. I guess learning is a never ending process. We have taken a step in order to add up to our knowledge on a few segments of our world by coming here. Let’s use the chance as much as it is possible. Just be yourself and open up!

Let me skip back to the bar where we had dinner. I was satisfied with the food as opposed to a few people. I can eat anything. I am not picky about food. However, it was big mistake to serve sausage made of pork. I guess it is not necessary to explain why. Whoever bought the sausages, it was not so smart. A guy behind the counter in the bar said to me if I do not like it I do not have to take it. No comment! You decide whether my complaint or his comment to me was right.

I stay with Clara, Burcak, Jane and Anna in the ocean room. Awesome! Before coming to write my blog we had been having a lot of fun and talking about different cultures, in particular Turkish culture. I think in each location we should always be with different people in one room. Furthermore, in my opinion the rooms must be more mixed. In one room, there should be both Arab and European participants. This way we can learn more about each other.  Bring it on!

Marhaba

Egypt
01.11.2010
Köln

This has been a very hectic, yet interesting day... An excellent start for the trip!!!

It started in Cairo at the International Airport where I met my 5 fellow Egyptian colleagues, and ended in Koln with more than 30 people from around 10 different nationalities.

We arrived in Koln in the afternoon after an 8 hour trip, where we were warmly welcomed by Vera and Agnija in the airport, and went straight to the hostel after catching a glimpse of the stunning Dome.

In the evening, we went to Koln University to attend the opening, where we met the whole gang of people “except our Palestinians colleagues”. We received warm words of welcome by Tobias, Agnija, Ramon and Christian and enjoyed hearing some stories about Beyond Europe and how the Euro-Arab program started a year ago with the aim of brining European and Arab youth to work together and create a dialogue. Finally, Hany wrapped up with some information about Better World and how the partnership built with AEGEE guarantees the sustainability of that project.

After being done with the opening and taking memorable pictures, we left for a nice dinner prepared by the event organizers, and were joined by the Palestinian participants as well; where we talked, played football, ate and got to know each other a bit better.

Indeed, it was a very special day full of interesting, diverse people with different mind-sets, ages, backgrounds and nationalities, yet a few things in common: the will to communicate, discuss openly, challenge and be challenged, and accept and respect our cultural differences.

Happy to meet you all and really looking forward to the whole experience.

Ready, steady, go!

On this nice last sunny October day yellow leaves cover all of Cologne, and so will the participants, soon.  Yesterday night, AEGEE-Köln gathered enthusiastically to do some exquisit handycraft, inspired by genuine German customs, that we want to share with our participants. Namely, we soldered masterpieces of art into wooden boards, which will play a crucial role during the traditional German Abendbrot (both the boards and the art). While it took us quite a long time to fully encorporate the process of soldering wood, it was worth the effort in the end, last but not least because of the inspiring christmas-smelling fume. For one more night, 30 welcome packs made with love eagerly await the opening of the EuroArab CST, and so do we. Looking forward to seeing you in Köln tomorrow!

Yours, AEGEE-Köln

Like autumn leaves ‘EuroArab’ participants finally fall across Europe

It’s Sunday, 31st of October and the atmosphere in Cologne is productive, creative and exciting. Is it autumn that colored the last Day of October so bright with its yellow, red and green leaves hanging in the trees and waiting the right time to slowly fall down and make colorful carpets on the streets? No. We are also waiting, but not for those leaves in the trees…our long awaited ‘leaves’ will be young people from Egypt, Palestine and different European countries that will arrive tomorrow… and our ‘colorful carpet’ will be the Case Study Trip “EuroArab goes Europe: understanding each other’s challenges” formed by all of us: Egyptian, Palestinian and European participants who will tackle global challenges such as migration, integration, gender equality and social inequality in the first 2 weeks of November.

AEGEE-Koln as a welcoming local has the honor to meet the participants first. Even though some of the European participants have already arrived, most of them and especially our partners Better World Foundation with participants from Egypt and Students’ Forum Institute with participants from Palestine will be welcomed on 1st of November when all of us will gather in the official opening.

After spending few days in Cologne, the Case Study Trip will continue its path to Aachen, another German city and AEGEE local, and then we will be heading to Brussels and after that the final stage of the CST will be spent in Maastricht. What exactly will happen in those 4 cities? And how will participants perceive it? Well, we don’t know yet and let’s not hurry to know it before it really happens! Therefore, you are welcome to follow the life of participants during the whole CST from 1st to 14th of November on this blog (cst-euroarab.blogspot.com) where each day 1 Arab and 1 European participant will report on his/her experiences about cultural differences he/she notices, food he/she tastes, global challenges he/she tackles or asks to tackle people on streets, movie he/she sees, a new city he/she explores, a new person he/she meets or maybe a place he/she gets lost. Follow us every day and you will see the CST in the eyes of both Arab and European youngsters.

On behalf of EuroArab Team,
Agnija Kazuša

Welcome to EuroArab blog! Here it starts... and goes Europe!

This Case Study Trip constitutes the part of AEGEE’s (Europe), Better World’s (Egypt) and the Students’ Forum Institute’s (Palestine) project “EuroArab: Understanding each other’s challenges” which aims at empowering young people in Europe and the Arab world to tackle global challenges. (for more information please check the attached project outline or www.beyondeurope.eu EuroArab)
During the case study trip the participants will explore certain global challenges: migration and integration, gender equality and socio-economic inequality. Next to lectures, workshops and group discussions, they are going to meet different organisations working in the field related to those challenges. For example a visit to an organization working for the integration of migrants in Europe as well as an encounter with a representative of a NGO providing support and help for women that were not treated equally are planned.
Furthermore, two days of the event will be spent in Brussels. There the participants will get to know the European institutions but also meet representative of the head office of AEGEE-Europe as well as representatives of the European Youth Forum who are going to provide information about the cooperation between Europe and Arab countries in the youth field.
In order to ensure the continuity of the project, in all cities visited surveys will be conducted to get the opinion of the general republic regarding the importance of global challenges for themselves and the societies they are living in. Similar surveys will also be conducted during the case study trip to Palestine and Egypt, as well as during the final conference in Ankara, hence giving us the possibility to compare the attitudes in the visited cities.
One of the aims of the exchange is also to show the Arab participants as many faces as possible of Europe, the European culture and especially the role of youth organisations in Europe, but at the same time giving the Arab participants an opportunity to share their points of view on the discussed global challenges as well as their culture. Therefore, an atmosphere of openness and intercultural exchange will be created which will ensure that this event will be a unique experience for each of the participants!
This event is financially supported by the Youth in Action programme of the European Commission.