History Book of BEST
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The next famous one was taken at Alpine JAM 2006 Turin:
This one was the best organized picture. We collected all the scarves and then we promoted the idea to the girls at the party. Many of them wanted to do it. So we went in a room and started to practice the order of the girls, the position of the scarves, etc. The boys did some topless pictures in the snow just to test the light, distance, flash, etc. When everything was ready the girls stripped and got out in the snow. Because of all the preparations they were only in the cold for a few seconds, we took it and they went back in.
At Pekmez 2007 Serbia there was also one:
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By this time the girls already knew the concept and many of them wanted to be in the picture ... but there were not so many scarves available.
At PM 2008 Bucharest, Nuxa (Ana Relva Pereira) really wanted to do another one. So she prepared the scarves and recruited all the girls. She told me to be ready at a specific time.
I went for 5 minutes in my room and I was so tired that I fell asleep. Later I saw they did it without me ... I am still thinking how stupid I was to miss it :)
At JAMon 2008 Madrid there were many scarves and many many girls. We did it but the room was not big enough for one good shot of the entire group. So I took 3 shots and somebody later stitched them into a panorama (sent later on junk@).
However the thing became too disorganized. A lot of horny guys wanted to get inside the room and take pictures while the girls were changing. Also it has been done so many times it’s not original any more.
So maybe it’s time to stop doing it ...and leave it just a part of BEST History...
Article written by Sabin Popa
Roof Parties
The original roof parties were at the GA in Patras 1995, when a bunch of people met up before the GA at a youth hostel. The best place to drink and chat happened to be on the roof. Later at the same GA, a larger bunch of people managed to climb a shelter on a beach to induce more alcohol and sing and dance. The most notorious roof party at that GA was when some BESTies convinced a bunch of people it would be a great idea to party on the roof of the hotel. The tricky part was that the best way to get to the roof was by opening a window, squeeze out through a net, and climb on the neon lights (hotel name) on the facade of the hotel. It was a rather dangerous proposal. This party was abruptly finished as
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the hotel personnel had their quarters just below and called security. That was probably for the better as the amount of alcohol consumed in no way could improve the climbing skills for getting back down...
After the Patras GA there were a set of small roof parties, but the real memorable roof party was the one at the Lisbon GA (1999 I think) where everyone, still standing or being carried up, gathered on the top of the hotel to meet the sun and celebrate the ending of the GA. It was probably the last but the greatest roof party BEST had.
Article written by Busse Pettersson
International Evening
If you are a BEST members, for sure you attended at least one International Evening …at a Course, or a Summer Meeting, a SIM or Trainshop, not to mention the ones at General Meetings.
The International Evening was first seen in BEST at the GA in Tallinn 1996. Busse Pettersson, then vice president of the VIII-th board, had been at one international evening the year before at the Erasmus Student Network Annual General Meeting (or ESN AGM for short) and thought it was a brilliant idea. He proposed it to the GA organizers who managed to squeeze it into the GA agenda.
Greeks at IE GA Ljubljana in 2001
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International evenings are the party where each country has a table, and the participants present their country’s most specific foods and drinks. Some people try bringing the best and finest their country has to offer, but most of them go for the strongest and the unique.
It is very important to know that you can’t touch any food or drink before the table was presented to everyone.
It is also not uncommon for each country to have to sing a specific song. Once again, national anthems are not as big as you’d think, but they would rather sing short and funny songs that everyone can remember.
Another BEST tradition connected to the International Evening is the Death Tour. This is an honor reserved for the Event Main Organizer / Coordinator / LBG President / BEST President or even all of them at once if they are there. They have to prove their leadership by going to each table as soon as it is presented and drinking a shot of the country’s strongest potion.
It is probably the most interesting and craziest party that BEST keeps on having event after event and for sure it will be present on more and more event’s schedules.
Article written by Busse Pettersson and Cristian Arteni
Zoltan’s Mother
As many people know, during each GA, Zoltan’s Mother is proposed for president, and she never confirms. Few of us know where it comes from, so here it is. The history has been told by Ludovic Charpentier on alumni@ and junk@.
“I can tell you as I am the author of this joke (with Jesus Hidalgo’s help) during GA02 in Paris.
At the first plenary session, delegates have to introduce themselves, which can be quite a boring exercise except when some of them put some fun. After N presentations of “Hi my name is ..., I come from LBG ...” it’s Zoltan Bartalis’s turn and his famous: “Hi, my name is Zoltan Bartalis, LBG Lulea, and I want to thank my mother!”. A few rounds after, it’s Jesus Hidalgo’s turn, saying: “Hi, my name is Jesus Hidalgo, LBG Barcelona, and I also want to thank Zoltan’s mother!”.
So, naturally, during the first nomination round for the board candidates, I’ve nominated
Zoltan’s mother for president. Unfortunately, Zoltan’s mum resigned and Zoltan read the delegates a nice letter when she said she was too busy taking care of her lovely son to run...
As Zoltan also attended GA03, she was also nominated there... but I didn’t expect her to get nominated again, and again, even when Zoltan stopped attending GAs.”
Last time Zoltan’s mother was nominated was GA09 in Budapest (last GA before the
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book was written), when she also got a first name. The people editing the excel file with the nominations suggested the name Boglarka Bartalis for Zoltan’s mother, but this was never confirmed. We bet that Zoltan’s mother will be nominated over and over again…..
I’m a strawberry. Eat me!
Well actually, the first time the sentence was ever heard was at Skiozart 1995 in Les Arcs
(it is the annual ski trip organized by all ENSAM schools in France). I was talking with some of the ENSAM students and asked them if they could teach me something in French. “What would you like to say?” they asked. During the 2 seconds I was thinking, the best I could think of was “I am a strawberry” and got as a reply “aaaaahh” (some hand waving) “Je suis une Fraise!”. By then I had had a few more seconds to think and thought “Eat me!” would be the natural continuation and even better phrase to learn. “Mange moi!”
After Skiozart there were a few more trips before Patras GA and everywhere I went I tried to learn at least the strawberry phrase. At the GA in Tallinn I also got a nice flipchart where people had written “I am a strawberry” in their respective languages (I still have it somewhere). Interesting to see that a phrase coined by a drunk Swede with poor imagination has lived on for over 10 years! The hardest language I have found so far is Chinese, which I have never managed to remember more than 5 minutes (and with horrible pronunciation).
Article written by Busse Pettersson
WebTeam Birthday tradition
First of all, it was NOT a bug in the system. The tradition goes back to the PM2000 in Balatonfoldvar (organised by LBG Budapest). At that time Daniel Buxeres I Petitpierre (LBG
Barcelona) was the web-master of BEST (webTeam didn’t exist yet, it was officially founded a bit later). He was a funny guy liking practical jokes a lot.
At a certain moment, when he entered the dining room, Cristi (one of the founding fathers of ITC), Toto, I and some others decided to run a joke on him: we started singing happy birthday. This was very funny since he didn’t really know how to react when the whole room joined us in our song. There we got “the joking master” finally back.
We liked it so much that we started to sing every day this song for him. Sometimes it was just a song of two minutes, sometimes it really got super-funny because of the reactions of the people.
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Stefan Baebler (another practical joker around) decided then to continue this joke by adding Dani on a daily basis to the birthday mailing list. He didn’t know (again) how to react. He received hundreds of emails by people wishing him a happy birthday.
Later onwards, the tradition was started by transferring it to Maria Alandes Pradillo (LBG
Madrid), the next webTeam coordinator. It happened with a small delay (so at first it was not a webTeam coordinator thingie, but a Dani-feature). At the closing dinner of the PM01 in Toledo (organised by LBG Madrid), there was a particularly good atmosphere. There was plenty of drinks around (for free) and good quality food. Maria had contributed greatly to the PM as well, but preferred to stay ‘behind the curtains’. Together with Fred Habils and Dani, we decided to ‘reward’ her for her efforts (both in webTeam and also during the PM) by making the whole room sing ‘happy birthday’ to her. A clever ITC guy (I have no clue whom) did some programming one of the next days and suddenly a tradition was born: the webTeam coordinator birthday tradition.
Since then it has had its heights and lows, but in the beginning it surely was a tradition to sing every day during the international events where the webTeam coordinator was present. Sometimes we even had a birthday cake (taken care of by internationally involved local organisers).
After my mandate as webTeam coordinator (2002-2003) the tradition got a bit less intense, probably caused as well because the new webTeam coordinator (Iulian Tatarcan, LBG Timisoara) was overloaded by studies, job, girlfriend, LBG presidency and webTeam on top. He was thus not very present.
The tradition still didn’t die out and when Zanda Sproge was elected webTeam coordinator it got a small new boost. But the main showing of this tradition was on the birthday mailing list from that moment onwards. And still a bit during the General Meetings, where (as I remember) the birthday song was sung right after the approval of the new webTeam coordinator.
Article written by Nico Deblauwe
Stealing the mascot
One of the most famous thing BESTies do, is creating mascots. Each group, LBG, board, team, person or any entity has a mascot and they are very proud of it! They carry it around and show it off to people that are not in their team.
This habit can only be overruled by another, even stronger habit: BESTies stealing those mascots. It is normal that this habit is stronger for three reasons that can be proven mathematically:
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•There are more people outside than inside each group: Meaning that all BEST members are around 2.000, and each group is usually 30-40 people. Do the math and you’ll find out why it’s most probable to want to steal a mascot than having one! ;)
•There are people inside each group that steal their own mascots: Yes, it sounds crazy, but craziness didn’t ever stop BESTies from doing something. Desperate teams that nobody cares about their mascots, might refrain to such tactics in order to gain publicity for their mascot and feel a bit better themselves.
•You can steal each mascot more than once: That is easy to understand.
There are mascots that have been stolen (and restored) for about 15-20 times. Something like this increases the balance of people that have stolen a mascot, over those that never stole a mascot. Read more to find out ;)
It all started with one of the most (maybe the most) famous mascot in BEST: Nijntje! Nijntje, a famous children book character that started in the 1950s in the Netherlands was a present to LBG Eindhoven 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. Of course this results to the mascot being stolen, but members of LBG Eindhoven are always happy for their child to be able to see places and people in all four corners of Europe.
Of course other mascots tried to imitate the mascot of Eindhoven. It’s what is known in BEST as the “Nijntje effect”. Teddy bears, snakes, chickens, bunnies, bodyless plastic heads, little fishes that look like Nemo, and many more mascots appeared in BEST. However, none of them left a mark in BEST for so many generations as Nijntje: The only mascot with a blog http://nijntje-best.blogspot.com/
Roll me over
What BESTie never heard Roll Me Over? What song-book does not contain it?
The original song is performed by “The Sassy Lassies” and it’s a soldiers’ song, popular during World War II. The rhyming, melody and rhythm probably have stayed the same over the years, but it seems like it’s very tempting to change a verse or two in this song.
And this is exactly what BEST did!
Roll Me Over is present in BEST culture from the very beginning of the organisation. This song was extensively used as one of many songs that was known to the early BESTies at
“nachspiel/late parties” with more than one bottle of wine...and this was already back in
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1989.
BEST members sang this song at every event back then, including the “I like this feeling” line; from the Lisbon GA in 1991 was included in the first BEST song-book at the time.
From that point, Roll Me Over conquered the hearts of all BESTies and many versions were born.
At the BEST-bonding workshop in Nuernberg/Muenchen in 1998, other versions were even recorded by the BESTies and bonding members: Bach, Oktoberfest, orthodox and country versions.
The most popular BEST version of the song is the following:
“This is number one and the fun has just begun
CHORUS:
Roll me over lay me down and do it again
(Women yell: I like this feeling)
Roll me over, in the clover Roll me over, lay me down and do it again, again, again...
This is number two and my hand is on her shoe.
…three and my hand is on her knee.
…four and our clothes are on the floor
…five and the girl is still alive
…six and I show her all my tricks
…seven and she says: “I’m in heaven”
…eight and we start to masturbate
…nine and I take her from behind
…ten and I use my tinted pen
…eleven we start it back from the seven
…twelve and she says “Do it yourself!”
…twenty and my gun is getting empty.
…thirty and the song is getting dirty. (very slowly, tired… till the end)
This is number one thousand two hundred and forty four and she says: “I want some mooooooooooooore…”
(repeat chorus with an everlasting “do it again, again, again...”)”
In 2001 on GA Ljubljana, there was a brave attempt to remake the song from a woman’s perspective. The result was still a basic draft, but it was worth the try.
After 20 years of BEST, Roll Me Over is still rocking hard! Do it again, again, again…
Article written with the help of many alumni
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BROWN
Have you ever noticed that there are some people who are not able to say “NO” when you propose them a task that normally nobody would be willing to accept happily? Well, in Spanish they have a name for these tasks: marrones. And if you translate it to English you get: BROWN.
As all groups that have strange names have acronyms (and BEST loves to have acronyms for everything), this way it was found what BROWN stands for:
BESTies Replying Always Without No
It goes against the membership rules of the group to say NO when someone is offering you a task. However, since no structure inside BEST can survive without a Handbook, one was developed in order to support and sustain the health of the committee. Besides tips and tricks for the possible BROWNer, there is also a terminology developed, that was used by its members in order to avoid possible incoming BROWN.
These people officially do not exist, but everybody knows that these people are everywhere, in every corner of Europe working passionately for the organisation, day and night, 24 days a week, 30 hours per day, 24 seconds per minute. Are you maybe one of them?
Simply the BEST
“I call you, when I need you my hearts on fire
You come to me, come to me, wild and wild
You come to me, give me everything I need
Give me a lifetime of promises and a world of dreams
Speak the language of love like you know what it means
And it can’t be wrong, take my heart and make it strong, baby”
There is something that shaped and still shapes the heart of every BEST member, and of the people that attended one of the BEST events. If BEST had a hymn, then this song would most probably be it. If BEST had a wish, it would be to have Tina Turner joining a General
Assembly. If BEST had an official movie, it would be the video clip. We’re talking of course about ‘Simply the BEST’ as sang by Tina Turner!
“The Best” a.k.a. “Simply The Best” is a song written by Mike Chapman and Holly Knight. The song was originally released in 1988 by Bonnie Tyler on the album Hide Your Heart a.k.a. Notes From America in the United States, and later was re-released as a highly successful single by Tina Turner in 1989 on her hit album Foreign Affair. This version was
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made widely popular inside BEST.
It is not known when exactly did the tradition start, but there seems to be a strong connection between the date that BEST was founded, and the release date of the song. An interview with Mrs. Turner would clear it all, but we just didn’t have the chance to meet her yet. However, for some reason the song became very popular and it is THE soundtrack that connects all the people that tasted BEST. Is it the passionate lyrics? Is it the magnificent saxophone? Is it the repetition of the word ‘BEST’? No one knows, but whenever the guitar starts playing the rhythm of the song everybody grabs each other and they all start jumping up and down forgetting all the tiredness, the disappointments, the bad moments of the day, celebrating like this life and the joy of being again in a BEST event!
“And you’re the best, better than all the rest, better than anyone, anyone I’ve ever met! I’m stuck on your heart, I hang on every word you say
Tear us apart, baby I would rather be dead, ooh you’re the best!”
Worst (World Organization of Radical Students of Technology)
The World Organisation of Radical Students of Technology was meant as a tension relieving moment at GAs, in the evening, after day sessions were over. People having made interventions during the day would play a kind of parody of themselves in a funny and informal way together with the others. BEST spirit and spirit in general, was abundant.
Worst members know the meaning of terms like “Board of Worst”, “Moral Keeper”, “Treasure of Worst”... Saying that, too much has been said. WORST had a main rule that nothing written about WORST shall exist. But it’s a BEST tradition that has been passed along in the most traditional way (by voice, noting written) and that is probably still alive today, even though it’s hiding. For this reason, not many things are going to be written about WORST, in order to preserve the original tradition of passing everything by voice.
Going against the rules (or better the Traditions, as WORST has no rule) a presentation of WORST was made since people realised it was forgotten during GA2003 in Bratislava. That presentation was never seen again...
WORST was the counter-organisation of BEST, living in parallel with it. WORST and BEST brought balance to the force, even though that many people believe that WORST doesn’t
exist any more... But remember, always two there are.
Board names
During the last years, a new tradition got popular in BEST: the board names. A board name is a word (it can be anything... from a fruit till an animal an object.... anything) that characterises the team that consist the board. There are several purposes behind this:
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