Erasmus Week 2012 - DONE !

ESN Slovakia is proud to celebrate the 25th birthday of Erasmus programme existence in Europe and the 15th birthday of existence in Slovakia in such a high style. Five towns, 1500 kilometres distance moved, 5 000 of leaflets, materials, lots of prices, more than 50 000 new faces and uncountable amount of feelings from magnificent project called ErasmusWeek has left us – all of these shows itself. We wanted to present to the general public, how Erasmus changes our lives, moves us forward and gives us opportunities, which are not available at home university.

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ErasmusWeek started on 7th may 2012 in Prešov, where 6-member crew in a van full of optimism and good mood arrived in the following formation: the president of ESN Slovakia Mirko Hajnoš, Coordinator of Social Erasmus Mirka Švabová, representative of Erasmus Mundus Lucka Loposová, member of ESN Banská Bystrica Laci Juščák, cameraman Ján Háber and French student studying in Slovakia Maxence Guillemin.

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The opening of ErasmusWeek took place at Rectorate of University of Prešov in Prešov, where the Mayor of the town, rector of the university, president of ESN Prešov and ESN Slovakia became involved in. After the opening speeches, we discussed about Erasmus programme, during which Slovak students were present. Then there were quizzes and finally , piano and  violin concert.  The following stop, after the flourishing start of the tour, was Banská Bystrica. By the time we got there, we were enjoying beautiful views on rainbow after the rain, children´s playgrounds; we were taking pictures and videos for perfect portrayal of this tour.

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Banská Bystrica began with three.hour workshop with three different themes on summer terrace in the town centre. Mirko Hajnoš thought us how to use our communication skills abroad. Jana Šamková from National Institute was speaking about Erasmus mobility in Eurepean Union and Lucka Loposová continued about effective learning. Within the Social Erasmus and its activity “EnergyDrink”, we were playing games such as “live memory games”, “happy labyrinth”, “and colourful world” and a lot of physical activities, during which we made our tired bones moving. Activities were attended by children of different age. The train “Prétorium” was driving children all around the town centre and at the end of the drive we took a photo with them that was in a shape of Social Erasmus sign. For enthusiasts of football, we organized international football match among Slovakians, Polish, French, Italians and Spanish. In the evening we showed local people authentic flag party followed by “tornado” of happy students walking down the street.

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We spent the third day in Nitra, where we took a view of 25 best pictures in gallery of our memories. Pictures had been sent to us by Slovak and foreign students and they portrayed students´ lives during Erasmus stay. These pictures were also shown in the rest of towns we visited on the tour. General public had a possibility to see, how it looks like abroad. We all let out helium balloons from Nitra´s air-space to the rest of the world. At the Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra we discussed various topic that interested local students. Our next steps led to the foster home called “Slniečko” (eng. The Sun), where we played games full of energy, fun, knowledge, as well as deepened relationship and knowledge of English. 45-minutes of hiking to Nitra´s hill Zobor was followed by an international barbecue in front of A. Bernolák dormitory.

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In the capital city Bratislava we organized press conference on the topic “Erasmus has been changing our lives for 25 years” The discussion brought us many stories and facts which had changed a lot of students´ lives. Experience of a Slovak student replaced experience of student studying in Slovakia and finally, foreign student with health problems told us her Erasmus experience with studying in Slovakia. The anchorman of the discussion was a member of the European Committee representation. After the finishing of the official part, we all moved to shopping centre Eurovea, where we were addressing passers-by and created memory wall and little children drew for us memory pictures. We ended the day in Bratislava with international party in bowling disco club with bowling tournament.

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We completed the tour in Košice. We created European city on Main Street In Front Of Aupark Shopping Centre. Passers-by could taste foreign cuisine and meals which had prepared Erasmus students studying in Košice. We divided children into teams and together we created Social Erasmus logo, learned to dance Slovak folk dance and salsa. The whole-week action was ended by the final ErasmusWeek party in 2space club, where we and representatives of universities in Košice wished Erasmus all the best and chose the best picture from the gallery of memories. The winner was handed with hand-out price. We all together celebrated, what had been changing our lives in the right way – that is Erasmus.

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The whole project was published on the Internet and its monitoring, hot news, pictures and blogs were actualized and regularly updated. We did all of these to give a hand to Slovak students who are interested in Erasmus. The mission was completed and we are still trying to keep up with Erasmus. We are looking forward to being part of another amazing project full of great ideas like it was ErasmusWeek. 

All the best Erasmus!