History Book of BEST
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But who are we, the students that keep LBG Brussels going now? We are a jolly bunch of students with specialisations in electronics, civil-engineering, chemistry, physics, photonics, bio-engineering and economics. As you can see we are fun AND smart (and gorgeous of course). We love to travel, on yearly base we should earn enough air miles to get to the moon and back. And international minded also!!! Nearly 33 percent of our local group is involved in one of the international committees. Even when we grow old and graduate and become alumni, there is still BAiB: BEST Alumni in Brussels. For everyone who feels nostalgic (and many do) about BEST and wants to go for diner with BEST-alumni in Brussels. Every month they organise a diner, around the 15th. So if you are a BEST-alumni and you’re heading for Brussels, BAiB is there for you.
But it’s not only because of us that people frequent Brussels. It’s our city. Not only because of her cultural heritage but also because of her centred position in Western Europe. Major cities in the Netherlands, France, Germany and even the United Kingdom can be reached in nearly 2 hours by train. So you can imagine that there are always some BEST-travellers in Brussels passing by...
And when we are showing our friends around they simply can’t resist our Belgian pride: chocolate and beer. Everyone who has ever enjoyed a stay in Brussels has left with Belgian chocolates and bottles of famous liquids stuffed somewhere in their luggage.
Story of LBG Brussels ULB
Our first contact with BEST was from a guy that knew a guy that had heard of LBG Louvain
La Neuve. Could it be more random than that? He was redirected to LBG Brussels but he never ended up in BEST! That’s too bad for him. We did ... and did not regret it.
Our first BEST activity was a CE between Valladolid and Brussels in Brussels. Now imagine how you felt at your first BEST event. Now, do the same without any of the people from your
LBG. What do you get? Well, you get to have an even greater time with a group of BESTies. They made us feel home in minutes. We socialized, we drank, we talked ... and we ended up spending the rest of the week at the parties organized during the CE. Now if that is not the BEST way to get to know BEST...
After that rather nice introduction, we were really enthusiast about joining BEST. So we prepared our letters, continuing temporarily as LBG Brussels un-official members. Turned down the first time, we were officially accepted as observer for GA2006. Brussels was assigned as our nurse. Then things went pretty fast, with only nine active members! Baby member in PM2006, WS2007ULB, beBEC07 local round, a CE with Thessaloniki ... and way more! All of this to show we were ready to become full member ... which we did during GA2008 (with a new generation of members). What an adventure!
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Jeanne and Karolos will always remember the moments they spent putting the two ends together, to get support both from BEST and from the University and bring an LBG to life. Of course this would have never been possible without the input from the other members of the group and from the nurse.
Today, it has about 30 members, and keeps pursuing the high standards of BEST: work hard, party hard(er)! And indeed we do. That’s it folks. That’s how another LBG was born. There are gossip stories as well, but those cannot be written. They can only be transmitted orally.
Story of LBG Bucharest
Salut! Hello! Ola! Ca va?
Kalimera! Merhaba!
It is us, BEST Bucharest!
Come and join us! We don’t rest! :P
Here and now we’ll show to you
Everything that we can do.
We are young, crazy and bold
We are now 15 years old.
We have done what others do
And a lot of more things, too!
Patras, Belgium were a crush...
That’s where we started the rush.
Observer, baby or full,
We’ve just set the crystal rule: “Every event - marked with 10 And this - just because we can!”
Courses, BACos, Leisures, BEC,
Jobshop(R), BESTShip.. just a sec. :-?
ICF, PRIME, some RM,
And guess! Two of THE PM.
We are proud, and we want more
Great events we want to score!
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Find Bucharest on BESTorg
Come to us as a co-org!
Story of LBG Budapest
As one of the founder members or BEST, our group has a lot to remember - some better and some harder times, always new challenges and many, many events. But what has been present all the way is the faith in friendship, learning, improvement and very importantly in fun!
Having gone to the founding meetings of BEST, LBG Budapest was born and right away, organized the Congress of 1990. The group then started to grow, not only considering the numbers of its members, but also its relationship to our university and also within BEST. Every year we organized job fairs and courses - one of the summer courses lasted for an entire month! - and started new traditions also, like the Jamborees first organized by Krisz or spreading BEST spirit all over Europe also via our members, Erasmus travels.
When there are long periods of happy times though, hard times like to appear. It was also a case for LBG Budapest after organizing the Presidents’ Meeting of 2000. The relationship with the university weakened, so we could no longer organize job fairs and our membership has also decreased. However, through all that time, our guys kept the show going on and finally managed to turn the wheel.
Nowadays, we are a constantly growing group again, with increasing number of events, many new traditions, and our Special LBG Budapest Spirit. And to celebrate our and all the other groups, we brought GA 2009 to life!
Story of LBG Chania
When the paradise joined BEST, May of 1994, it was spring when BEST embraced for the very first time the southern part of Europe. In 1995, Chania received the observer status and got the challenge of organizing a WorkShop, the first International event!
And then in the summer of 1996, LBG Chania started shaping the dream. It was just the start of a long tradition, the annual LBG Chania SC tradition. The first paradise summer course is a reality, the Halara way of life a fact!
But there was more to go. More to know, to learn, have fun, travel, meet new people. There was a new goal.
At PM 1996 in Vezsprem, LBG Chania became a full member of BEST. Lots of great moments
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followed, summer courses, cultural exchanges, leisure events, internal events, all the hopes and wishes were to be fulfilled in the magic paradise of Chania. In November of 1999
LBG Chania went to a new level by organizing the 5th PM, with 80 international students attending it. Everybody knew what will be next.
But the story goes on.
Organizing Summer Courses became a great tradition for BEST Chania and we helped more and more people to become motivated believers of the BEST spirit!!! Both at Chania and all Europe!
So here it comes, the year of 2004, after a successful Greek-Italian meeting in Chania, we celebrated the 10th birthday of LBG Chania and participated in the 20th anniversary of Technical University of Crete. Our passion and creativity leaded us up to organize the 23rd General Assembly (2005) in co-operation with the Local Best groups of Athens and Thessaloniki, with the participation of more than 250 delegates from all around Europe.
10 years of growing up, and finally the dream came true!
But is that all? No! On the contrary, our dream grows even more.
LBG Chania still goes on, organizing events for students by students, giving the opportunity to improve ourselves and broaden our horizons as European citizens, guiding us and making our dreams come true!!
YES! We still want more.
Story of LBG Chisinau
When we were an observer group we find out from a young teacher that during his studies he tried to create an BEST group in Chisinau, but his trying failed, and he was really thrilled hearing from us that we are making a huge work to obtain baby status (now he is helping us with everything he can). In this way we find out which was the real first idea of BEST in
Chisinau.
The second time, BEST Chisinau got alive in February 2007 while three guys, Bulgaru
Vladimir (Later first president of BEST Chisinau), Borta Pavel (an active member in BEST Iasi, in that time) and Badiceanu Alexandru (Later first Vice-President of FR) were standing in one local and were drinking beers! (I think everybody understand how after some beers appeared the idea of BEST Chisinau).
So Vova with Alexandru didn’t stop just at those beers and that idea, but seriously started to do something in order to make it happen. Later they involved some other friends in this work, who were also enthusiastic on the idea of BEST and so they made a great team. In summer 2007 we obtained the status of Observer BEST Group. This was the first steps in
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our way of achievements.
In September 2007 Technical University of Moldova had a BEST group. Having a huge support from our nurse, BEST Iasi and from others LBGs, we started to grow!
The first feelings of BEST spirit are still high and some of our goals were reached. Now we are a Baby member going forward to a full membership. In 2 years of existence like a real BEST group in Chisinau we got used with regular meetings, organizing competitions, events, recruitments and trainings, making new friends and travelling.
The beginning was very hard, making the first steps, studding all BEST traditions and skills is not so easy, but as we supposed this is really cool and now we enjoy to feel the BEST spirit in our group. We teach new members all what we know and support them in reaching the future goals.
Story of LBG Cluj-Napoca
New perspectives, fresh BEST spirit every year
BEST Cluj-Napoca currently has about 50 active members, committed and involved in many projects and sub-departments. The year 2008 was one oriented towards evolution and structural changes of the LBG, which lead to better management and spectacular increases in the quality and quantity of events.
Some of the most recent and fulfilling projects include: GreenWeek, an environmental CSR campaign which encourages recycling among students and university staff; BTW (BEST Training Weekend), an opportunity for students to participate in trainings delivered by BEST trainers; Season BUZZ, a guide to BEST Season Courses, distributed free of charge to the students and also a great FR instrument.
LBG Cluj-Napoca prides itself with organizing the first National Engineering Competition, RoBEC, hosting 48 top students from all over the country in July 2009, in their quest for engineering excellence. However, this LBG’s ambition does not stop here, as 2010 brings the entire continent’s attention to Cluj-Napoca, through the second edition of EBEC.
But it all started with...
December 1994, when Cristi Bogdan and Lucia Cristolovean from LBG Timisoara went to a party organized by the students of Economical Engineering in Cluj-Napoca. A few drinks, as well as the intriguing words these two were flashing about (LBG, GA, JobShop, baby member, etc) seem to have been the starting point for the history of this LBG. In January
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1995 the organization was registered officially in Romania, several months before it became
Observer, under the careful nursing of LBG Timisoara.
The first events soon followed - the first job fair in Cluj-Napoca in 1995, growing with every new edition, reaching 50 companies and 3500 visitors in 2008; “Cooperation through
Internet” in 1996, the first of 17 Season Courses to come in the following 15 years; the first PC Party in 2000, expanding to such an extent that in 2003 it was already the largest multimedia festival in Romania. Other memorable internal events were GA 1998 organized together with Bucharest and Timisoara, Jamboree 2000 and TRAP VII.
Little space for such a large history of a much loved LBG, but keep in mind, you have to know your history to prepare your future!
Story of LBG Coimbra
Created in November of 1992, in response to an invitation from Local BEST Group) Lisbon, in the Faculty of Science of the University of Coimbra, BEST-UC as since then represented the University of Coimbra in BEST International.
Initially BEST-UC belonged to the Engineering Association of the University of Coimbra, but in 2001 has become an independent association with the name BEST-UC Local BEST Group from the University of Coimbra, becoming a member of the National Registry of Juvenile
Associations in 1992.
BEST-UC strives to provide support to students who want to be more internationally minded, promoting contact with other European cultures, as well as share Portuguese culture with other European students.
To achieve these goals, BEST-UC interacts with other LBGs from different countries, giving the members of the group the opportunity to exchange experiences and knowledge. This is achieved organising events like spring, summer, autumn and winter BEST Courses, Cultural Exchanges...
Locally, BEST-UC organise activities to enrich students and create contacts between University, Students and Companies, organising events such as Engineering Competitions, Company Days, WorkShops...
Story of LBG Copenhagen
The story of LBG Copenhagen begins in 1991, where we first got introduced to BEST. One year later (that is 1992) our journey began as full members at General Assembly Liege (GA Liege) and since then Copenhagen has established itself as a strong, innovating and at times a slightly crazy LBG (Local BEST Group).
The everyday life of at Copenhagen BEST member is fairly hectic. We have always been a
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small group, normally the amount of members is between 5 and 15, but that has never kept us from trying to reach what might seem as impossible goals. Since 1994 we have organized a Summer Course (SC) every single year. Among the most crazy and challenging courses, both budget wise, amount of people and logistical are the following three of our Summer Courses:
•SC 2003 Greenland: No need to say more
•SC2007 Mind NoE: Had 60 participants
•and our last course the SC2008 in cooperation with LEGO
There has however been one year where we did not organize a Summer Course and that was in 2004, where we hosted the General Assembly (GA) of BEST at our University.
This GA was different from most GAs in BEST. Our group decided to organize this GA with the help from LBG Lund, when no other LBG had been willing to take up the challenge. However this meant that the time we had to plan was short and we had no money to put into this project from the beginning. We knew that we would have to think out of the box to create a GA which would match our budget and the BEST spirit. This meant that we had to transform most of the university. Everything was build from scratch, i.e. the sports hall was used as a giant sleeping hall. But even though this GA was not hosted in a big hotel (as most of the recent GAs have been) it is still remembered as one of the BEST GA ever. Maybe because of the atmosphere you get from sharing sleeping and shower facilities with around 250 people.
In this time, LBG Copenhagen had a strong international involvement. Having members from our LBG represented in the XVI, XVII and XVIII board of BEST.
Shortly after the GA 2004 our LBG became revolutionized. The group went through a major generation shift and a new all blonde girl board decided that the group needed a makeover.
So together with a new and bigger office, we got ourselves a new colour. Since then LBG
Copenhagen has been known as “the PINK LBG”, which we together with our Mascot, the beautiful and pink “Ducky” try to promote as often as possible.
As mentioned before, LBG Copenhagen has always tried to be innovative and try out new projects in which they see potential. It was therefore no surprise that when one of our members came up with the idea of hosting a huge regional Train Shop for the newly elected board members that the group gave their support and decided to host this event. The event is called Nordic Joint Board Training (JBT). And the Train Shop became famous, not only for being a huge success and the first of its kind, but also for barbequing a whole pig, which got on fire. It was such a success that we repeated it on our SC08 (the pig, not the fire).
We do not have many traditions in our LBG, but the ones we have we cherish.
It is seldom that we have a meeting where we do not sing a bird-song or drink FISK, which is our official drink.
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LBG Copenhagen today consists of many motivated members and a Regional Meeting (RM),
Cultural Exchange (CE) and a Summer Course are in the planning phase. We are after 18 years in BEST still around and rocking!
Story of LBG Eindhoven
BEST Eindhoven is one of the founding members of the BEST organisation. Nowadays it’s mostly known for its various traditions which the members proudly carry out everywhere in Europe. Who hasn’t heard of their famous red&blue stickers?
During the first few years BEST Eindhoven organised various courses and even 2 WorkShops on growth & continuity and strategy & Minerva (the current BCC). Important issues that are still playing a big role inside BEST nowadays.
In 1998 though, one of the most important changes in the image of BEST Eindhoven occurred. A generation shift had taken place and with that also the image of the LBG would change for the BEST. The red & blue stickers, sweaters and various other merchandises were born!
But it didn’t stop with only colours; also various other traditions came to live in that era. Some of you might remember the famous “fritsing”, the numerous cans of Hollandia or Keizerskroon that BEST Eindhoven members are always carrying, the wabo, which is a warm beer with whipped cream and of course Nijntje, the famous mascot of BEST Eindhoven!
Nijntje, a famous children’s book character that started in the 1950s was a present to the LBG from the participants of the Summer Course in 2001. Since then she’s travelling and exploring Europe and the same time conquering the hearts of everyone she encounters.
Besides having a very distinctive image and identity with various traditions, Eindhoven is also very innovative, flexible and always puts fun into everything they do! Probably the 3 most remarkable events of recent years that fit this description the most are: The very first
BEST European Engineering Competition in 2003 (together with BEST Ghent), the Board In
EindhovenRallies,thathappeneveryweekend,butuntilknowonlytheBESTBarcelonaboard of 2006-2007 survived a whole weekend, and of course BEST Eindhoven was responsible for the culture programme (aka parties) at the Presidents Meeting in Ghent in 2006!
As you can see BEST Eindhoven has been very active and very important these last 20 years and hopes to continue this for at least 20 years more.
Story of LBG Ekaterinburg
Thanks to web-surfing, one day in 1998, when majority of russians have never heard about
Web, one Ural guy found www.BEST.eu.org. And our lives completely changed!
Marat’s brave and enthusiastic speech made us Observers in Cluj’98. And BEST got its most Eastern LBG! So Eastern, that we are already 20 km away from Europe :) .
Step by step, we were exchanging our soviet-mind-borders to Europe-open-friendly look and representing wide Russian soul to BESTies all over the organisation. We keep the incredible
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atmosphere during all BEST events and we meet great people - that’s something we keep in our hearts forever. Believe...
Imagine how we, BESTies from the heart of Russia, discovered Europe with BEST! Wideopen eyes, extreme level of adrenalin, memories to pass for sure to grandkids…
There is no place for digits here about statistics what we have organized and participated in. But we remember thousands of smiles, kilometers of gratitude, books of fantastic pictures. Last year, we celebrated 10th anniversary of LBG-Ekaterinburg. We have completely changed not only the age of the LBG, but also the people. So now BEST in Ural is represented by new young strong people with other ideas, but respecting the traditions. And now, even if our city of Ekaterinburg is naturally in Asia, we are Europeans! Thanks, BEST.
Story of LBG Ekaterinburg USTU
“Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.” And it is absolutely truth.
“It was February 2002. I and Marina Shevelyova, who was a President of LBG Ekaterinburg, went home from the railway station. It was around midnight and we were talking about BEST. Suddenly Marina asked: “Why don’t you set up BEST group in your university?” And it was starting point for me. I made BEST presentation for Students Union and International department. They supported me and my project and I applied for a membership in BEST. My application was refused. But I’m not the person who agrees with negative answer. I like to fight. So I started to fight for the right to present our university on international level.
I faced with a lot of hard work, so I asked for help my friend, Anastasia Mylnikova. She thumbed thought all BEST material I had and finally joined me. We applied for he second time, and again we were refused. But as you already know, I don’t like negative answers. So we decided to try one’s luck again. With the help of International department we made a great presentation. I finally our energies were rewarded - we were invited to General Assembly as a candidate. First day of the General Assembly can counts like first day of our group. And from that moment students of Ural State Technical University are the part of BEST World!”
First President - Anton Farlenkov
First Secretary - Anastasia Mylnikova
Our completed projects:
6-15 February 2004 - Cultural Exchange with Slovakia
2-10 May 2004 - BEST course “Radioactivity in our life” 4-10 February 2005 - Regional Meeting “Russian Jamaica”
1-10 May 2005 - Engineering competitions
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1-10 February 2006 - BEST course “Artificial intelligence”
Autumn 2006 - Bologna process and BEST
1-10 February 2007 - BEST course “Constructivism. Untimely message of architecture” 4-13 February 2008 - BEST Engineering competitions “Create your future”
27 October 2008 - Local Engineering competitions “BEST Building Boom”
1-10 February 2009 - BEST course “Save your place - Dynamic Space” (almost complete)
Story of LBG ENSAM
LBG ENSAM is one of the founder members of the BEST organisation!
It exists and is active since 1989. Thanks to our motivation we are the LBG which organised the most external events in BEST! (37!!)
Today, since we are divided into several campuses in France, we organize 3 courses per year! Another record for our LBG!!
Story of LBG ENSTA
LBG ENSTA was born at the very beginning of BEST, and became a Full Member at GA 1991. From spring 1999 to winter 2001, non-academic events were organized in the university (language Course, discussions on modern problematic).
With GA 2002, the team grew into a motivated, well organized and internationally oriented group. Then every winter from 2002 to 2009 was lighted up by a
Winter Course. The themes of the courses have been very various, from Artificial Intelligence to Naval Architecture, illustrating the different Masters available in our University.
In December 1995, we organized WS95, during which some important decisions concerning the organization of Summer Courses were taken. BEST University Centre and other international projects were born there.
Within the years, we developed collaboration with the other French LBGs, which was reinforced when we organized the GA2002 in Paris, the GA 2005 in Polytechnique and the GA07 at ENSAM.
In 2005, ENSTA welcomed the Board training; right after Jiji had been elected as treasurer of the international Board, after being active in FinTeam since
2004. Our involvement in the International Committees was empowered in year 2006, as
Alice joined EduCo and Cecile became French RA. We also organized the Corporate Relations Round Table in 2006 at ENSTA, which was a brand new event.
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