The last weekend, three members of the ESN EU participated on the ESN Slovakia National Platform, the first one in this year. The “NP” has taken place from Friday 29 of April till the International Worker’s day, the Sunday 1st of May in one of the oldest city in Slovakia, Nitra. Among more than 40 ESNers, our section was represented by our president Iveta Pavlovčíková and two members Michaela Rojáková and Marián Polášek.
The programme started on Friday afternoon by the first plenary session where every of the 12 ESN sections in Slovakia presented its most successful projects and events, which could inspire the other ESN sections to make them as well. We were proud to present in the name of our ESN EU two FIFA tournaments which couldn’t be so successful without the active participation of our Erasmus guys. Therefore we would like to say a big THANK YOU to all you who have been there!
ESN National Platforms are not just about the boring stuff on plenary sessions but also about having fun and meeting other ESNers from Slovakia and other countries. The partying on Friday gave us an opportunity to meet our guests and friends from ESN Czech Republic and ESN Greece. The waking up on Saturday morning was a little bit difficult but we managed to keep the schedule and start another plenary session on time. The Mov’in Europe project, was presented by the Slovakian Mov’in Europe Coordinator Martin Schon from ESN CU. Besides the others, we could welcome one of the most well-known alumni of ESN Slovakia, Miroslav Hajnoš, who became an ESNer almost eight years ago. He introduced us the new initiative “Fair Transport Europe” to improve the working conditions of people working in the European Union as drivers.
Later, the Saturday’s afternoon, the ESNers have been divided into groups of “newbies” and “oldies” and participated on separated programmes. The new fresh members have seen the general presentation and introduction into the structures of ESN International while the older members have met to discuss new challenges and plans of ESN Slovakia in the near future. The Saturday evening was dedicated to ESN gala evening in Nitra.
The last plenary session has taken place on Sunday morning and at noon all points of the programme have been officially concluded. All participants have said goodbye and have left towards their university cities to prepare for the end of this semester. But as every Erasmus knows, an after party has to take place and the Bratislava United ESNers finished this awesome weekend in the city center :)
We would like to express our thanks to our three ESN EU members who represented our section on the National Platform, to ESN UKF and ESN SUA Nitra sections who organised this National Platform, and mainly to all our exchange students in Slovakia, because we are here only thanks to you and your Erasmus spirit.
If you are interested to come back to Slovakia after your exchange stay finishes, don’t hesitate to join the ESN section at your home university and you may come to visit us as guests on our National Platforms the next academic year :) because #ThisIsESN
Written by Marián Polášek, local PR manager