Editorial

Dear readers, Have you noticed that the issue of the European Geographer that you’re holding in your hands does not have a topic? We racked our brains to define one but found that we could not narrow this diverse choice of articles down to one keyword or phrase that fits them all (besides Geography, obviously). However, this actually reflects EGEA pretty well. The topics that EGEAns work on and study are incredibly diverse; aside from the classic physical and human geographers, some people might study tourism or geology. Congresses are held on a wide range of topics from hydrology to GIS. “Geography is what geographers do”, and if there is one scientific discipline that could be regarded interdisciplinary in itself, it would be geography. Issue 16 is a colourful potpourri of different topics. No matter what (parts of geography) you are interested in, this volume has very likely got you covered. Are you a gamer or interested in sociological research? You might want to read Dymphie’s article dealing with raising awareness about extreme rainfall through gamification. Physical geographer, GIS geek, or geologist who is excited when it comes to remote sensing or volcanic eruptions? We’ve got a review in the GeoTalk section that may be of interest to you. Do you like mountains and want to know what it is like to climb one of the most famous ones? Lisa’s GeoTalk article will take you to Kilimanjaro and definitely spark your interest in travelling to Tanzania. Are you a historic geographer or generally interested in Europe’s past? Did you participate in some of the activities that were part of EGEA’s theme year zero on the Iron Curtain? The Iron Curtain team wrote an exclusive report on the project for this issue. Are you the average EGEAn who enjoys travelling, going on field trips, and indulging in culinary specialities of different aggregation states (yes, that includes beer)? There are two more articles for you to read in this issue! Just as diverse as this issue’s articles are the people who worked hard to publish it and keep the European Geographer running. We would like to thank everybody who wrote for us, edited, worked on the magazine’s layout, joined discussions in e-meetings, helped us at congresses,

enabled last year’s fabulous live meeting (this one goes to you, EGEA Jena!), promoted the EG online (follow us on Facebook and Instagram!), or contributed in any other way. As you can see, there are many ways to devote yourself to EGEA’s magazine. We want to take this opportunity to promote the European Geographer as a committee. We are open for creative minds and everybody who has an interest in science, the English language, layout/design, or promotion. You do not need to be an expert in anything to become an active member of the EG, only curious and willing to learn. We will make you an expert. The EG has its own unique spirit that makes people stay in the committee for a long time; some of us do not plan to ever retire… Of course, the side note on lacking retirement plans referred to us. This issue is already the second one we are publishing together as chief editors of the European Geographer, even though at the time of publishing we are actually not chief editors anymore. We are sad that this phase of our lives is over, yet very happy about our fabulous successors. We passed the torch to a new team of dedicated leaders (shout out to Daphne, Luana, and Maisie!) and joined the club of ex chief editors. But, of course, we are still always on call for referencing emergencies and will come to rescue when the EG signal is projected onto the dark skies over Europe.

Your Chief Editors 2018/19 Maike & Dymphie