EESTECers believe that knowledge is power and that only through knowledge our secret mission of bringing electrical engineering and computer science students from all over Europe together to learn from each other, make friends, and enjoy themselves can be fulfilled. To further our progress in this endeavour, we have been closely monitoring our strangely familiar partner association ESTIEM (European STudents of Industrial Engineering and Management) in hopes of answering our most pressing questions: What are they doing when no one is watching? How can I tell an ESTIEMer from a regular person? And why are they our partner association?
To this end, we sent one of our most German agents disguised as a Swiss student to their Council Meeting 67 in Budapest. Luckily, he also made it back mostly unharmed and was able to give us this world-changing intel:
“They had no suspicion at first, they were convinced by my persona almost right at the start. I first entered Hungary and travelled to Budapest, leaving the most confusing track I could: travelling with Deutsche Bahn. In Budapest, I could only barely resist their efforts to uncover me.
ESTIEM is always really concerned about someone observing them. But this time their defences were even more sophisticated than before. They set up beautiful architecture everywhere in the city of Budapest to confuse any potential intruders. Only through my years of experience, I was able to notice the trap and act like nothing happened to not raise suspicion. It sounds easy, but only a professional trained for years could resist the beauty of Budapest around the river Danube at night. But they tested me further and took me on a full city tour, and everywhere they set up small food stands selling Kürtöskalács, sweet chimney cake. I will tell you about those chimney cake stands, they smell incredibly delicious, and the smell was everywhere in Budapest, making it the best-smelling city in the world. And this, yes, this is how they got me. I could not resist and had to get one warm, sweetie, cinnamon Kürtöskalács. It was amazing, but I dropped my disguise. I counted down the last seconds of my life without regret because the Kürtöskalács are just that good.
However, nothing happened. I can’t really explain this. Somehow… The ESTIEMers WELCOMED me to their Council Meeting, even though they found out I am not an actual ESTIEMer. So I spent the nights partying with them and the days being at their General Assembly and taking notes on everything interesting that was discussed there. But that’s just the start, they actually allowed me to ask questions. I was very hesitant and careful at first, but somehow I got myself into very insightful conversations about how to run an international students association. I wish I was finished here. But no, we now have plans to collaborate and further learn from each other on top of this. I don’t know how, but these collaboration opportunities are valuable for us. It seems like we are partner associations to work together and benefit each other.
I need to inform you about another thing too. ESTIEMers sing (surprisingly well) many songs, and they use it for the attendance check at their General Assembly. So, every present Local Group sings their song or does another small performance to prove they are there. I don’t know if this is the best idea because everyone knows Eindhoven’s song and could easily impersonate them. It sure is a lot of fun though. To confirm my attendance with my new friends I had them sing Vogulisi with me because EESTEC is registered in Zurich Switzerland.
Yes, I said new friends. Those ESTIEMers are crazy for sure and somewhat engineering imposters (because they study industrial engineering or management). Still, they are so warm, nice, and fun people after they opened up to you a bit. So I warmed up to them as well because, frankly, I am very much a softie. ESTIEM is lacking a bit in merchandise game because most of it is distributed by ESTIEM central and therefore less varied than locally designed EESTEC merch. On the upside, their merch quality is reliably great. Just like EESTEC, they have thick, cosy hoodies. Only they are green because that is ESTIEM’s colour. Finding my ESTIEM buddies in Budapest was therefore always super easy, it is always the guys with the many green clothes and flags of course as well. Back to the hoodies. When I had to escape Budapest again this morning I had to say goodbye to the lovely ESTIEMers which was unbelievably hard for me (‘cause I am a softy) knowing that I will have to wait for way too long until I see them again.
Crucially, I observed that ESTIEMers clad in the cosy hoodies become very cuddly plush guys and are just soooo huggable.
My advice now is that if you should meet an ESTIEMer (at one of their Europe3D events that are open for EESTECers for example), you should remember that we are friends, we benefit a lot from working together and they might very much appreciate a hug.“
