day 1 - Novi Sad to Backa Palanka

Day 1
July 3rd

The day started with a very informal meeting by the van, our sturdy Boris. Even though most of us were at the hostel the night before, we hardly got a chance to talk until we were forced to take on the first challenge: fitting all our stuff into the back of the van...



We headed to the meeting point, in front of the Novi Sad City Hall, where the opening ceremony took place. We had speeches from Aleksandar Kravic - city counselor for Sports of the Novi Sad City Council, Miroslav Veskovic - rector of the University of Novi Sad, Wojciech Wolf - vice-president of Campus Europae and our own Julian, then a spin of the Bike of Honour and the handout of the bikes from Ideas on Tour, to whom we'd like to address our thanks and wishes of great success in their future endeavours. They'll earn a longer reference soon, on your new favorite blog :)



The group headed out to Backa Palanka, on the bicycle path along the Danube, with a very relaxing stop at a place called Florida (not to be confused with state commonly known for its orange juice and sunglasses-wearing red-headed detectives).



We had a chance to meet some nice people from the Backa Palanka Youth Club, who welcomed us to our very first stop of the very first stage.
After a nice dinner at a local pizzeria and a relaxing moment by the Danube, we spent the night at the sports hall of the Desanka Maksimovic elementary school.



Our first day was over, and we couldn't really believe that our ambitious project had, in fact, begun. As we went to sleep that night, we had no idea of what lay ahead and the challenges that we'd face. But it was real, at last...

Bike of Honour back in action

So what exactly does the Bike of Honour do? Our little friend tries to meet up with high profile people who support the idea behind our 4000 km bicycle trip. Our goal is to tear down all barriers which still exist for student mobility. So the plan was/is to purposefully meet up with experts in the field of higher education or politicians who support the idea of one united Europe with equall rights for everyone. Every once in a while our white foldable Speedy Gonzales will also be ridden by role models from the field of sports. E.g. once we made it up all the way to Lithuania, our supporter Mindaugas Kuzminskas, will take a ride on it and meet with everyone who will be with us at that stage.

After the tour is finished, the Bike of Honour with all its fame and collected signatures will be auctioned. The raised amount of money will naturally go back to the main sponsors of the tour, the European University Foundation - Campus Europae, which in return will use this sum to finance students going abroad for a second year with the programme and are in financial need due to a lack of national grants.

Our next signatory and Rider of Honour is an expert on higher education. Prof. Germain Dondelinger holds the position of 'Premier Conseiller de Gouvernement” in Luxembourg. Not only is he the coordinator for higher education in the Luxembourg Ministry of culture, higher education and research but he is also the vice-chair of the Bologna Follow-up Group. Thus, he was the right person to answer our line of questions which all Riders of Honour will be faced with.

Check it out:

Bike of Honour meets President

Needless to say that the nomination for the most prestigious youth prize in Europe, the Charlegmane Youth Prize, was a success by itself. But receiving official support from Dr. Jerzy Buzek himself, tops nearly everything so far. So our little rolling white star can adorn itself with signature #3 - coming from the President of the European Parliament.



While telling Dr. Buzek about the concept of our Bike of Honour, the President was also interested in the content of our Manifesto. So with a little bit of optimism, our proposals laid out in the Manifesto will find listeners in circles we originally only wanted to address after the tour with concrete results. This is certainly a huge step forward for everyone.



Meanwhile it is up to you and your friends to back our initiative by signing the Manifesto online. The European Commission is about to publish their draft on the Multiannual Financial Framework 2014 - 2020 and everyone is hoping for a major budgetary shift towards education and mobility. Fraternite 2020 asks for 20 billion Euros yearly for exchange programmes and will launch a European Citizen's Initiative in 2012. Until then it is up to the Ride for your Rights! movement to put some pressure on decision makers from the base of reality. So do something for your own educational rights by signing the Manifesto and by telling your friends about the movement.

This is what the President had to say about our work:



"Ride for your Rights! is a movement representative of a generation of young Europeans who understand their responsibility in the development of our continent and society. These youngsters are an excellent example of active citizenship. I wish all participants the best of luck."

If we take the President by his word, we also count on your signatures!

Julian

Bike of Honour - Inauguration

Ride for your Rights! is proud to present the first official Rider of Honour to break in the Bike of Honour.



In the spirit of the project we aimed high to begin with and were not disappointed the slightest. MEP Doris Pack, Chair of the Committee on Culture and Education, was our first guest to take the tour's special bicycle for a spin and to sign its frame.

The 'Bike of Honour' serves as a symbolic link of all countries involved in Ride for your Rights! It is supported by an electric motor to express the necessity for an extra boost student mobility is in need of. It is reserved for VIPs and European leaders who share the same vision as we do. 'Riders of Honour' will get to sign the frame after haven taken it for a ride.
The letter box attached to it holds our manifesto and is our moving collection point where you can drop in your ideas for improving student mobility in Europe.



But our ideas and your requests are not everything. Therefore, we will ask all our Riders of Honour to share their vision of an ideal Europe with us and to suggest ways how to realise this. Ride for your Rights! strongly believes that student mobility and innovative exchange programmes such as Campus Europae are the answer to an ideal society in Europe. Watch the following video of Doris Pack to hear from an expert on education and culture what needs to be done and improved in a joint Europe.



Who will be the next Rider of Honour? Stay hooked and find out soon.