Summer University Guide to a better life

I see you

On the last day me and Kadri decided not to go to Suomenlinna, instead of that we stayed longer in the lodging place. While there, we said goodbye to bunch of participants, including Giorgos. We were standing in front of the house, dropping some tears and hugging everybody as they went on their way to bus stop. After waiting for twenty minutes or half an hour or so, Ruben and Giovanni were also ready to leave for bus stop and so we did. Well suprise- suprise the bus hadn’t came yet and all the people who we allready said goodbye now were going on the same bus with us. It was a joy to see them one more time ofcourse :). We  took a ride together to the central station and said goodbye one more time — again tears and hugging.

After sending everybody off, me and Kadri still had lots of time until we had to get on our boat to Tallinn. And as you know, the best way to cure bad mood is going shoping ;) so that’s what we did.

Few hours and several shops and cafes later, we really needed to go to the toilet :). We were in the shopping center Kamppi, and the toilets there work with one euro coin, so ofcourse, poor students as we are, we used the same coin  (not that this fact matters at all in this story…). The point that I’m trying to reach is that somebody had left four beers in the toilet, and we grabbed them with us.

We had about two hours to our boat, and we couldn’t think of anything better to do than going to the harbour and drink our beers. While waiting at the tram stop we saw - Guess whoo ??! — Giorgos, to whom we had allready said goodbye two times!!! And also with Giorgos was Viivika.

So there it was, a perfect moment: four persons, four beers, this situation called for celebrating by sitting and drinking our beers in front of Kamppi.

What I wanted to tell with this story is that it’s never good to say goodbye, it’s always better to say “See you around!”, or in AEGEE case just say “See you somewhere in Europe!”, from my experience this sentence works and you will see eachother somewhere in Europe, doesn’t matter if it’s just accidental or you set up a meeting, the fact is that if you’re ment to see each other again, you will :)!

So, I’ll see you somewhere in Europe ;)!

Triin

The T-shirts last!

Yesterday I washed my ‘Guide to a Better Life’ T-shirt in the washing machine. And the good news is that the colors are still on the shirt just like before. So, no worries, your shirt will last (Marianna’s probably won’t stand any washing though)! I’ll take the shirt to Kosovo to my summer university. While having fun as a participant, I’ll be thinking of you and the great time we had here. You’ll be always on my mind!

Yours forever (conceal it with blood!),

Silja

Got it too

Yep, For the past three nights I’ve had problems sleeping. I don’t really understand if I’m asleep or not. In the morning I seem to “wake up” with my bed full of people and me in total panic that I’m not properly dressed. So it has happened several times that I get up, put on some real clothes and go back to sleep.  I had the same problem last year after the SU, so thank you dr. Roberto for diagnosing this epidemic. 

The only solution would be seeing you again. So come baack!! Pretty please ;) 

Here I am sitting at the porch of my sauna. In 10 minutes time i’ll go in and I just checked that it’s currently 110 degrees. The only problem is that I have to go alone :( Noone to spank me with the spanking material. 

So yess, I miss you tooo!!! The most definite way of meeting again is at some European level AEGEE event, so please become very active :D 

Liisa

Guide to a Better Life TSU Awards 2010

Photo by Marko Raatikka

In the end of TSU, our fabulous participants were awarded for their effort, contribution and spirit. Here are the categories and the winners. Congratulations, and do make sure you are worth the title even after the TSU! ;)

The Laziest - Giorgos

Mister Summer University - Brian

Miss Summer University - Jana

The Best Organiser - Liina & Jaakko

The Best Participant - Lucia

Model Material - Jana

The Smartest - Stephan

The Funniest - Giovanni

The Nicest - Marina

The Most Sporty Participant - Mark

The Hottest Couple - Maaike & Giovanni

Party Animal - Jana

Dancing Queen - Marin

Dancing King - Roberto

The Most Stylish - Sonja

The Best Sleeper - Giorgos

The Best Kisser - Ruben

Most Beautiful Eyes - Marina

Winner of Tartu City Rally - The Cow Team

Winner of Tartu Pub Crawl - The Dog Team

Winners of Haapsalu City Rally - Giovanni, Lucia, Maaike, Jana, Marianna & Barbara

Winners of Tallinn City Rally - The Fluffy Bunnies

Winners of the Finnish Olympics - Giorgos, Gerardo, Teja, Triin & Raul

No sleeping!

Tere!

First, I must thank Doctor Roberto for my diagnosis and Andreea for sharing my illness. I’ve been diagnosed with official SU hangover which makes itself felt by waking me up in the middle of the night or any other time of the day (as irregular naps seem to be in fashion now), and not helping me to make sense of where I am and where are all the rest of you! Twice during the past nights I’ve woken up and started walking about, cleaning my bedroom to make space for 30 (non-existent) people waiting in the other room, and trying not to step on the (non-existent) people who are already (not) sleeping on the floor. It takes some minutes before my brain hits reality. This illness started already in Märkiö when I had really bizarre dreams and awakenings, but I hope it will disappear soon, and I’ll be finally cured when I meet you or you or you or you! again somewhere in Europe. It would be excellent if we could get together as a group in the future, just like some AEGEE SUers got together during our time in Helsinki.

All in all, it must be said that despite all the heat, mosquitoes, wake-up alarms, exhausted feet, and too many city rallies you made it! Surviving this TSU was definitely not the easiest task in the world, am I right? :) The days in Märkiö hopefully made up for all the miles and depths that were walked and dived in Estonia. Finnish Olympic Games showed us all what wife-carrying is really about, how (not) to start your journey with a kayak, what can be done with 600 water-filled balloons, and who has the longest and/or farthest-kicking feet. Later on, the European Night was a very enjoyable one because food was actually separated from drink and the time spent on waiting for the delicious specialties of different European countries was definitely the longest but worth it. Vivid body movements were demonstrated throughout the TSU as our TSUers had the pleasure of facing many different options for dancing, singing, hiking etc. Hopefully the videos will retain some of the colourful performances for generations to come…

The final farewell party at the penthouse in Helsinki was quite a blur for me but I guess it was also due to the realisation that TSU will really soon be over. After SU awards, we were guided from sauna or the balcony to The Tiger which was way larger than previous night’s cosy underground place where to lose yourself and be found. And then the real farewell started. Matthias had left already on Friday, but most of the sad goodbyes were said, hugged, cried and shaken on the balcony overlooking Helsinki at night.

Life is not the same as it was in the beginning of July. - “But WHY???”

Shall we continue living a better life? - “Yes, please!”

Take care, keep in touch and see you somewhere in Europe!

Love,

Liina

again

hi there! here is Andreea, that is trying to write something because she has to do it…but honestly, guys, i’m not very good when it comes to express my feelings by writing it…I won’t speak about these 2 weeks, because we all know how great it was. I’ll speak about how I feel now…or last night which was actually my first night at home after the SU, I woke up in the middle of the night and I didn’t know where I was…is hard to get back here, at least for me…but, I think this happens to everyone..

Thanks to you all..participants, organisers, obvious friend…and I know I’ll see u somewhere in Europe!

hugs from Romania,

Andreea.

It’s still kind of wierd to think that our SU is really over. I remember when it was still very snowy here in Tallinn and we were making plans and thinking about this event. I didn’t even realise when did summer start and all of a sudden you were here! 

These two weeks really were full of everything we look for in AEGEE and I hope we managed to infect atleast some of you with the AEGEE-disease :)

Today me and fellow AEGEE-Tallinners had a little follow-up meeting to share our thoughts until we remember them. Here’s a little picture of us and a little reminder of the Tallinn skyline aswell :)

I wish you all the best, enjoy the rest of this summer and keep in mind that all of you are welcome to come back whenever you feel like it!

Maybe next time we meet you will be organizing something for us ;)

Kadri

Sleep, sleep and again sleep..:)

Hey guys!

Now when I am home - in dark and quiet place..I have to say I MISS YOU SO MUCH :( THANK YOU ALL FOR BEING SUCH A GREAT GROUP !

I enjoyed every minute with you and will remember it forever. You are all more than welcome here in Slovakia!

xxx

Zuzana

I miss you :(

Hi everybody,

I have to say that this was the best holiday ever for me!!!!! I miss you all so much and I hope that we will be able to organise something so that I will see you again!!!!! It´s so strange not to have someone always around me :( Everyone that wants to visit Prague or Brussels or Munich or Amsterdam is always welcome!!!!! Jana