What is this about?
European Students of Industrial Engineering and Management (ESTIEM) is EESTEC´s partner NGO. We support each other in improving our day-to-day work as student NGOs. To keep up communications and improve them after a mixed mandate so far, your EESTEC NGO Ambassador attended ESTIEM’s Council Meeting. This is ESTIEM’s biggest event, comparable to an EESTEC Congress. In this report, you can inform yourself about the trip and our partner association’s whereabouts. Enjoy!
Yours sincerely,
the EESTEC NGO Ambassadors
ESTIEM
Organization
ESTIEM, our partner organization, is a Europe-wide network of industrial engineering and management students. ESTIEM aims to connect Europe’s IEM (Industrial Engineering and Management) students with an IEM Europe. To do this ESTIEM organizes a wide array of events focused on personal, intercultural, academic, and career development. We partner with ESTIEM to support and learn from each other as student NGOs and sometimes attend each other’s events, as I did at their Council Meeting in Aveiro.
Council Meeting
The Council Meeting is ESTIEM’s biggest event, with other 250 official participants. Among parties and other fun activities, the Council Meeting hosts ESTIEM’s General Assembly. This is the congregation of all Local Groups in ESTIEM, their Board, Leaders, and selected further ESTIEMers that meet to inform, discuss, elect Leaders and Boards, and vote on changes in the association similar to an EESTEC Congress. Only Local Groups have voting rights. The Council Meeting (CM) is organized twice a year and elects a new Board every spring. One EESTEC Ambassador attends each CM to represent and promote our partnership and inform EESTEC about the updates in ESTIEM.
ESTIEM Spirit
ESTIEMers are a crazy bunch of people who love to wear their flags, sing, and be silly. ESTIEMers are also very supportive and appreciative of each other. ESTIEM’s local and international traditions blend when everyone starts singing each other’s Local Group songs. This atmosphere and feeling of connection at their events is called the ESTIEM spirit. For an EESTECer, it can be hard to fit in at first because our traditions are different and less focused on singing but dancing instead. ESTIEM events are still great fun to attend for everyone who enjoys making new connections at vibrant parties.
Aveiro
Town
Aveiro is a small town in the North of Portugal, near the city of Porto. Aveiro has a huge university. Its campus feels as big as the rest of the town. Aveiro is distinguished for its architecture and buildings, incorporating colorful tiles into the facades of most buildings for a cinematic inner city. This inner city is cut apart by multiple channels and canals, earning Aveiro the nickname Venice of Portugal. But unlike Venice, Aveiro is built on dry land and not above the water. However, the comparisons do not stop here. Aveiro is also located in marshlands close to but not directly by the sea, just like Venice.
Beach
Aveiro is located about 5 km away from the coast. But this did not stop the ESTIEM Local Group Aveiro from organizing a beach party for the CM. The beaches near Aveiro are wide, covered with soft sand, and lined by high dunes. The mighty waves of the Atlantic Ocean clash forcefully against the shore, even on a chill April evening such as our beach party. The wind seems never to stop blowing until the end of time. At the beaches around Aveiro, you can experience nature both in all of its beauty and strength, and probably learn to surf if you are into this.
Opening Ceremony
The highlight of the CM in Aveiro was its opening ceremony right at the start. The big opening ceremony took place in the GA rooms, which is a big lecture hall with a spacious stage and so perfect for some performances. Local Group Aveiro made great use of it by inviting several Portuguese acts to introduce their culture. The audience was shown traditional Portuguese clothing and dances. A Portuguese singer shared Portugal’s rich music with us. The ESTIEMers and I were stunned by the effort Aveiro put into the ceremony, and by how much more fun it was than we expected.
