Megavikend 2012

Bulletin no. 1 - English version

What is Megavikend?

We usually start with a Friday welcoming evening, continue on Saturday with different parallel training tracks (with a break for lunch), and continue on Sunday with morning workshops. Each volunteer has the possibility to choose one of the work-shops, he or she is the most interested in. During the workshops the volunteers will master the theoretical but also practical skills of the chosen issue. Trainers are not only the members of the Czech Pool of Trainers but we also the invite foreign trainers, so the volunteers are able to choose also from workshops held in English.

During Megavikend, the volunteers will get to know each other better but they also meet the AFS staff and the Board members, who traditionally prepare a short presentation. Fun is guaranteed in the course of the whole weekend – we start with the common evening on Friday, we have countless teambuilding activities and energizers during the event, and there is also a Sat-urday night program prepared for everybody.

Every year, a number of foreign volunteers and trainers take part in the Czech Megavikend. So you can sweeten your Saturday visit in Olomouc chatting with other foreigners about the news in chapters in Hungary, Poland or even in Argentina.

Megavikend is a weekend-long educa-tional meet-

ing of all Czech AFS volunteers, lately fre-quently visited by vol-unteers from other AFS partners.

It represents one of the most important events in the whole AFS year because all volunteers can, in short time, visit many workshops with different specialization led by experienced train-ers.

Why to come?Do you hesitate why attend Megavikend? Are you not

sure if this event is the right thing for you? Are you afraid that you do not know anybody? Get rid of all doubts! Mega-vikend will get hold of you not only because of these rea-sons:

1) Megavikend is the largest educational AFS

event in the CZR

10) The hardworking prep-team is looking forward to meet YOU!

9) AFS Czech republic will cover part of your expenses

8) There will several work-

shops held in English as

well (by foreign and/or

Czech trainers)

7) The superb activities

will entertain you through-

out the weekend

6) You will personally

meet our office staff and

Board of directors

5) There will be lots of

fun in the beautiful city

of Olomouc

4) The Czech volunteers

from all chapters are look-

ing forward to meeting

you3) You can attend an

organized tour in Prague

on Friday

2) You will be guided

by experienced train-

And above all....

Prep-teamSo who are all the hardworking people organizing, meet-ing, planning, scheduling and re-scheduling...simply work-ing on the Megavikend 2012? Read on and get to know us:

Lenie(the prep-team coordinator and trainer liaison)How have you been participating in the AFS organization so far?I have already worked in many positions within AFS. I was a bad Contact Person and a very bad Chapter President ;), however, I might be a better Orientation Camp Leader and a Trainer. In the future I’d mainly like to focus my efforts on Megavikend prepara-tion, ICL and training. Currently, I am about to finish the 3rd year of the Faculty of Law at Charles Uni-versity - Law and Legal Science.Where do you see yourself in five years?In five years I see myself either working in the field of Intellec-tual Property Law or teaching languages. Where? Well, that’s a good question.Why are you looking forward to Megavíkend 2012?I think the most I am looking for-ward to my annual dose of stress and emotions (better than a Mexi-can soap opera, jaja), but also, I can’t wait to see everyone at one place happy and with a smile on their faces. I’ll be happy to see that thanks to our work, our par-ticipants will gain not only a lot of new knowledge but also a great deal of new friends. xoxo

Honza(PR and decoration coordina-tor)How have you been participating in the AFS organization so far?During the five years of volunteer-ing in AFS and two one-year ex-changes (one of them with AFS) I tried almost everything there is. I started with the students – organ-izing monthly events for them, for one year I tutored Czech language a group of them, I tried to be a con-tact person for a while. I also took part in many orientations, Mega-vikends, workshops, etc.At the moment I shifted my atten-tion more towards volunteers. With another volunteer we kicked of the regular activities for volunteers in our chapter. I also took part in many Chapter exchanges (Finland, Prague, Belgium, Iceland).

I also helped with starting and co-ordinating the project Svet zblízka (World From Close Up). Last year I participated in the preparations for Megavikend for the first time and I also officially entered the Czech Pool of trainers.Where do you see yourself in five years?In five years I would like to have fin-ished my bachelor in Area studies, Faculty of Social science, Charles University. I want to continue with graduate studies, preferably abroad. My plans to travel a pretty clear – the Trans-Siberian Highway and Central Asia are waiting for me! Of course I still count with AFS as big part of my life but where in the organization or on which project I will take part I cannot tell.Why are you looking forward to Megavíkend 2012?As every year I am looking forward to tons of fun and my old friends, whom I cannot see that often dur-ing our super-busy everyday life. And workshops! And energizers! But most of all I am looking forward to Megavikend because it will mean the end of months of preparations and we will finally see how manage (or not) to plan the event. I hope you enjoy it!

Bára(Socializing coordinator)How have you been participating in the AFS organization so far?During my four years in AFS I have done many different things, from activities and orientations with students, PR and interviews with students to the co-organisation of last year’s MGV together with our awesome team. I have been and will continue to be a contact person and now I would like to fo-cus mainly on working as a trainer, which is quite a new thing for me and a big challenge as well. I am looking forward to all the experi-ence, knowledge and inspiration I will get at the VSS this summer and that I will be able to share with you all at our MGV. Where do you see yourself in five years?First of all I hope I will have fin-ished my studies by then, suppos-edly I only have two more years left of studying diplomacy. I firmly believe AFS will still be a part of my life in some way. Besides that however, I can’t even imagine where I will be in five weeks or five month, let alone five years. So I have no idea, but I’m very curious as to where I’ll end up..

Why are you looking forward to Megavíkend 2012?Because I enjoy organising some-thing that others like, that they enjoy and it also brings them something new. For me person-ally, contact with other AFS vol-unteers from our country and from all over the world has always been a huge motivational factor and a big source of experience and AFS know-how. That is why this year I will be in charge of socializing (so everyone can have a good time…hopefully;) and I’ll also be the liai-son for all the foreign participants, so they can fully participate in all the activities and enjoy their stay ;)

Katka(ODC)How have you been participating in the AFS organization so far? In comparision with other prep-team members I´m the youngest member in AFS. In September it will be one year when I entered the gate of AFS as an ODC. Although it was my first year, it was very in-tensive in many ways.

Where do you see yourself in five

years?In these terms I´m not the young-est and I have gained already quite a lot of experinece so I will let myself suprise what the life will

bring to me.Why are you looking forward to

Megavíkend 2012?First of all I look forward to see a lot of skilful, smily and enthu-siastic volunteers. And it will be a great opportunity to celebrate two birthdays at the same time.

The placeAbout the city of OlomoucOlomouc is a city in Moravia, in the east of the Czech Republic. The city is located on the Morava river and is the ecclesiastical me-tropolis and historical capital city of Moravia, the eastern part of the country. Olomouc has always been a centre for education and culture and the rich schedule of festivals. Nowadays, it is an ad-ministrative centre of the Olomouc Region and sixth largest city in the Czech Republic. The city has about 102,000 residents, but its larger urban zone is about 480,000 people. The first documented evidence of the town dates back to 1055 and, in terms of historical significance, Olomouc ranks second only to Prague - its inner city is the second-largest historical monu-ments preserve in the country, after Prague. Here, marvel at the large collection of historical architecture and cultural monuments meticulously preserved in their original design in addition to the remains of a town from the Middle Ages.

City monuments Olomouc contains several large squares, the chief of which is adorned with the Holy Trinity Column, a UNESCO World Herit-age Site. The city is characterized by a large number of religious buildings. The most prominent church is Saint Wenceslas cathe-dral founded before 1107 in the compound of the Olomouc Cas-tle, rebuilt at the end of the 19th century in the neo-Gothic style. The church is just next to the Bishop Zdík’s Palace (also called the Premyslid Palace), a Romanesque building built after 1141 by the bishop Henry Zdík. Remnants of it are one of the most precious monuments of Olomouc: a bishop’s palace, a secular building of that early age is unique in Central Europe.

Texts: Honza, Design: Lenie, Pictures: Google, Lenie, Pinguins: Google

Next issue1. Training Tracks

2. Support Team members

3. Stories from previous Megavikends

4. The venue

5. and so much more...