4. GRAN CANARIA The University of LPGC is quite young (22 years old); it has
24,000 students and among them around 1,000 exchange students
(Erasmus, Séneca and Latin America). The offer of studies is
Ma
s
du palo quite wide.
ne ma
s s
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, with almost 400.000 inhabitants, is
the most populous city of the Canary Islands and the 9th in
Spain. LPGC is the largest city of the European Union outside
the continental Europe.
LPGC was founded on the 24th of June of 1478 by Juan Rejón.
In 1492, Christopher Colombus anchored in the Port of Las
Palmas, and spent some time on the island on his first trip to
Playa del Inglés the Americas.
According to a study carried out by Thomas Whitmore, director
of research on climatology at Syracuse University in the United
States, LPGC enjoys "the best climate in the world".
Did you know that the Canary Islands is the only place in the
world with two capital cities? Yes, the capital city of this
Las Canteras Beach Spanish Autonomous Community changes every four years
between Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
Santa Ana Cathedral
The second generation of AEGEE-Las Palmas signed the
Convention d´Adhesion at AGORA Ljiubljiana in May 2008. If Gran Canaria had to be described with a single word, that
AEGEE-Las Palmas have organized 3 Summer Events/Summer would be contrast. Urban area in the northeast, dunes in the
Universities, 1 Winter University, 1 European School I and south, flat area in the east, scary cliffs in the western, wavy
many local events. ocean and pebble beaches in the north and vegetation and
mountains in the center. All this in 47 km of diameter and in a
AEGEE-Las Palmas is a good example of a multidisciplinar 1,560 km² area. I think that you will understand now why is the
team; among its team you can find students of Engineering, island called Gran Canaria: a tiny continent.
Philology, Translation and Interpreting, Teacher Training,
Labor Relations, Law...
5. SURVIVAL DICTIONARY INFORMATION
English Spanish
How are you? ¿Cómo estás? *Tap water is not drinkable
Nice to meet you Encantado de conocerte *Smoking is not allowed in most placed
I don't speak Spanish No hablo español *Drinking in the street (“botellón”) is not allowed
I don't understand No entiendo *Tipping is not necessary in bars or restaurants
Where is 'x' street? ¿Dónde está la calle 'x'? *You must keep a passport or ID card (if you
Street Left Right calle Izquierda Derecha are from the EU) with you
Open Closed Abierto Cerrado *Do not accept candy from strangers ;)
Toilet / bathroom Baño / lavabo / aseo *Visa, Amex and MasterCard are accepted almost
Women Men Mujeres Hombres everywhere BUT usually if you
How much is it? ¿Cuánto es? spend more than a certain quantity of money
It's very expensive Es muy caro *The yellow buses (Guaguas Municipales) are
Es barato urban buses. The blue ones (Global), are intercity
It's cheap
¡Socorro! ¡Ayuda! buses
Help!!
I want to sleep Quiero dormir
Wonderful! ¡Fantástico! / ¡Genial!
What is happening? What is this? ¿Qué pasa? ¿Qué es esto?
What a beautiful girl/boy! ¡Qué chica/chico más guapa/o!
This is a great party Qué gran fiesta
I'd like a beer Querría una cerveza
Do you have cigarettes? ¿Tienes tabaco?
I'm drunk I have a hangover Estoy borracho Tengo resaca
1 to 10 Uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, seis,
siete, ocho, nueve, diez
6. Volunteers in AEGEE are a handful of motivated people
Do n ’t w a st e yo ur t i me : Vo l un t eer ! who are willing to contribute to the creation of a united,
respectful and tolerant society in Europe by promoting
cultural exchange, encouraging the dialogue between young
people from different cultures, and by giving them the
« Volunteering has changed my life. It is funny to realize that, the more opportunity to develop themselves as active citizens.
you give to the community, the more you actually receive back, whether it
Through volunteering, people become more tolerant,
is on a direct or an indirect manner » was saying a friend of mine in a respectful and socially conscious. Those values are needed
discussion we had about being actively involved in an association. You might in order to build a strong and integrated Europe, where
picture the volunteer as someone who dedicates a year, helping a local
their citizens are active and participative people. This is
why the European Commission has decided to spend 2011
NGO in a far away country…Well, actually, you don’t have to go that far to
celebrating volunteering through the European year of
meet volunteers. They are all around us, sharing their time, présence, ideas, volunteering. Light has been shed on those thousands of
creativity with the communities their are living with. actions, smile shared and experience lived. Moreover, one of
There are so many ways to be a volunteer, that you might be surprised !
the objectives of this year was to improve the recognition
of voluntary work in the society and in the business
Whether it is by giving support to a specific group, by défending their
world. Mission accomplished?
rights, by organising short movies in order to raise awarness on an
Lucille Rieux
important issue, by running an associative bar, or organising a conférence on
climate change…they have all one thing in common. Their willingness to
make a change in their society. May it be in their local community, in their
group of friends, or in the whole world…volunteers believe that change
shouldn’t wait, and that it must come from them.
48. '
involvement as well as for an academic recognition of
# # !
'
non formal education.
Is Anything growing
inside you ?
49. How did the project emerge?
Once we reached the conclusion that between the
seeds and the fruits there are roots. We were
positive about the fact that AEGEE-Las Palmas
The team of AEGEE-Las Palmas, after having
would take so much care about the seeds that
organized several events with the main focus
from them would appear strong roots which will
on cultural exchange since 2008, wanted to
provide us with fruits.
add a new ingredient to the recipe of our
work.
And now, AEGEE-Las Palmas and Youth in Action
have given you the chance to take part in the
We realized how important volunteering work
growth of these roots. From the 11th to the 18th of
is and we wanted to raise awareness about it.
December 2011 there will be roots growing in Las
Yes, volunteering actions would be our new
Palmas de Gran Canaria. And we hope that from
ingredient, those actions would be the fruits
the 18th of December 2011 onwards there will be
AEGEE-Las Palmas needed
fruits delivery youth in Riga, Peiraias and
for its recipe. We all like
Yerevan.
them; they are tasty, they
h av e d iff ere nt br ig ht
On behalf of AEGEE-Las Palmas team I wish you
co lo u rs and they are
a fruitful experience on Gran Canaria.
healthy.
Seeds, roots, fruits... YOU!
But we, young people, did
not want just going to a Héctor Oliva Bolaños – AEGEE-Las Palmas
supermarket to get them.
No way, that is too easy
and boring for us. We are young and we are
strong, so we wanted to cultivate the fruits by
ourselves.
