Laura Baron Gomez

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself – who are you, where do you come from and what are your hobbies?
​Hey hey hey! I’m Laura and I’m from the very north of Spain, Bilbao. This may be shocking for you: I love travelling and meeting new people. As every single AEGEEan. I also love taking siestas and eating olives.

How/why did you discover AEGEE?
Well almost three years ago my best friend attended an LTC and she told me about AEGEE and how it was a great community and I was going to meet all this great people and party and travel and bla bla bla... And I was like: “this sounds like a sect, no thank you”. Fast forward a few months later and I went to a BBQ organized by AEGEE-Bilbao with some Erasmus students and then we partied... I payed the fee next day and three days later I was being a helper in a NWM.

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Can you sketch your AEGEE-career for us? 
Started being active right from the beginning as I said. In the first couple of months I was a helper in two events but then I went on Erasmus so I disappeared for a bit. While I was happily living in Romania I received a text asking me if I’d like to be an organizer for a weekend event to celebrate our 9th anniversary. And I said yes. Because well, saying yes it’s usually more fun. A few more events, activities and things happened in the middle, but I don’t want to bore all of you. After being a member for a year I became a board member and here I am now, nice to meet you. Also in the meanwhile I went to Helsinki to do a training on how to prevent, detect and react to cases of sexual harassment. It’s a very cool project and if you want to check it out for yourselves it’s called SMASH. Because of that, I piloted as a safe person in the SU organized by AEGEE-Leiden, -Aachen and -Dresden and last week I was also a safe person in the SU organized by my antenna.

What was your ultimate highlight within your time in AEGEE?
I’ve participated in three Summer Universities already and those events stay in my heart. It’s such a unique way of travelling, getting to know the culture first hand and meeting so many cool people. I also loved the event in Helsinki because of the things that I learned but also because of how cool it is to discuss things with people that are as passionate as you are for a certain topic. 
But of course what it has been more important for me are the people that I’ve met in this two years, the cultural exchange, the things that I’ve learnt... such a roller coaster.

Are there any specific plans or goals (within AEGEE) you strive towards?
Right now I have no idea. Sorry for the lame answer hahaha
I’m sure AEGEE can still grow in many different and healthy ways and I’d certainly would like to be a part of that. Things will come.

​Do you have a message for the members of AEGEE-Leiden?
AEGEE has sooooo many things. You can find people that have the same interest as you, that want to party until 10am, that want to travel to Russia or to the Canary islands. People that want to learn languages or people that want to stop climate change. Anything you like, you’ll find it here, and more.