ESN Zadar

ESN (Erasmus Student Network)

The first time I heard about it was in Brno (Czech Republic) where I spent two semesters as Erasmus student. What I knew about it: nothing. As Erasmus student back then, all I needed to know was that behind that name there were some Czech students who organized trips for us, parties, sport activities like swimming, volleyball, social games nights and basically almost every event we went to. I knew some people from ESN (actually, ISC - International Student Club) there, but most of them not. I say that back then I didn't need to know anything more: I was there to have fun and enjoy the international experience. And to study, of course. But although I didn't care to find out more about it, I decided to join ESN when I come back home.

Honestly, the first reason to do it was to hang out with Erasmus students in Zadar and to participate in the fun events.

I always loved foreigners and people from other cultures, I don't know, it kind of fascinates me how different we are but how we can always find something in common and to talk about. The second reason was the will to make Erasmus students in Zadar experience and enjoy their Erasmus like I did mine. So, despite the fact I knew nothing about ESN, the ISC Masaryk University Brno inspired me to get involved: without them my Erasmus wouldn't be half fun than it was, and not just for me but for all of us who were there those two semesters. Thank you, ESN-ers from Brno!

I remember when I went to a ski/snowboarding trip with the ISC in Brno; there was a group of maybe 15-20 of us or so, plus a couple of ISC-ers. When we were in the pub in the evening, the last day before we went home, this girl, the organizer of the trip, was trying to tell us something. We were quite noisy, talking, excited, nobody payed any attention to her. She raised her voice, you could say she yelled. Then everybody started to listen to her and she told us something like it would be nice if we would shut up for a minute and hear what she has to tell us and that it isn't easy to organize a trip like this one and that we are making it even harder. She was pissed at the moment and all of us were surprised, we thought she wasn't nice and that she's yelling without a reason; we heard a couple of times that they are doing all of that for us and that we don't appreciate it and we thought it was bullshit - they didn't have to do anything for us, we could have gone on this trip on our own.

Now I see how stupid we were and how right she was. We were there to have fun, we were spoiled Erasmus students who thought Czech Republic is there to serve us, including all the people there, and we didn't think about all the effort and people who stand behind all the things offered to us. We really didn't appreciate it. But that was only because we weren't thinking about it, we took everything for granted. So now, dear ISC MU in Brno, maybe it's not too late to say: thank you so much, you were great!

Now, when I am on the other side, when I am a part of ESN, I see how big the difference is. Like I said, the first reason to join ESN was to party with Erasmus students, but I realized very soon that that is just a tiny little piece of it. It is completely different to be Erasmus and have an event made for you and to be the ESNer who organizes it. Of course, you enjoy the event together with Erasmus students, but you are the one who is responsible and who has to take care of every little detail. It's not easy to organize events for groups of people - sometimes they don't give the feedback so you don't know how many people you can count on, sometimes they give up in the last moment, sometimes you have to change so many details in the last minute and you are the one who gets the evil eyes from people you are negotiating with. But it is all worth it, every single bit, because when Erasmus students are happy, you did a good job.

After I finished studies in Czech Republic, I returned home, but just for a couple of weeks; I moved to Ireland to be au pair. I prolonged my time there as much as I could, but eventually I had to come back. So in the beginning of November I returned to Zadar for my last year of studies and since I've been in contact with the vice-president of ESN Zadar the whole summer, I decided to definitely join. She invited me to their meeting and it was there where it all started. They explained a little bit what is ESN, what they do and how they do it. It was just basic information and it sounded easy, fun. I said I'd like to be a part of it, and they told me they needed somebody who is staying in Zadar the whole year for sure and then - bam! - they nominated me to be the president. Maybe not such a wise decision at the moment from their side - hey, I had no clue about ESN and they put me to be the president! - but it turned out it wasn't a bad one. When they nominated me, I asked what should I be doing as the president; oh you know, just supervise the work of the whole group, organize the responsibilities, sign some papers and act on behalf of the organization. Fine, I can do that, I thought - so I said yes. On the first meeting they made me a president. Way to go, Vale, you're progressing really fast! Marija, the vice-president, told me she will help me with everything until I get accostumed to it and find my way.

When I got home that evening, I already received like 10 friend requests on Facebook, messages, 10 different emails, I was added to several different groups all connected to ESN. I got spammed. And frankly, a bit scared. However, everyone was very nice, they all told me I can ask them whatever I need or don't know, that they are happy to have me in ESN and that I will get to know everything very soon. It was great to get a support like that in the very start, thank you guys for that.

In the following weeks I was lost in all the things I was supposed to do - make a profile on some Galaxy page, organize all the new Facebook and email friends to different ESN sections, National Board, different cities, different functions; read the guide with the responsibilities and obligations of different functions in ESN, including the one of the president of section; read and sign all the papers regarding the registration of the association of ESN Zadar (Marija, the vice-president, already did all the job, but still I had to check everything and see what it was about, go dealing with all the paperwork stuff); find out what has already be done in ESN Zadar and what still had to be done etc. With all that, I didn't have the time to properly meet Erasmus students at our university. So much for the first reason of my joining ESN.

Luckily, maybe a month after my first presidential steps, there was a big international platform in Zagreb - SEEP (South-Eastern European Platform). They sent me and Lily, our PR to participate, especially because on this platform we learned everything from the very beginning: what is ESN, how it is structured, different functions in ESN and so on.

There were workshops just for presidents of sections and many other, where people were sharing the problems of their sections, offering solutions, exchanging ideas and views. I couldn't contribute much because I was completely new to all of that, but they sure helped me a lot. There as well everybody was encouraging me and made me feel very welcomed. I learned a lot and realized a little bit how big ESN actually is; I had no idea.

After SEEP, Lily and me were so excited, we had so many ideas, and we wanted to pass that enthusiasm on all the members of our ESN. I remember our meeting after SEEP, Lily and me were talking about everything at the same time, we couldn't decide what to talk about first. I think our friends at ESN thought we are crazy. After that, we got down to making our little ESN work properly, to put it back on its feet. Our ESN exists for 2 years now, since one girl who studied with me before came back from Erasmus and founded it, together with another girl.

But then she left for master studies in Germany, somebody else took over the leadership, and in the moment I came to Zadar there was no president, just Marija who was the vice-president and was actually dealing with everything, together with 3-4 other girls. So now we are trying to stabilise the foundations and to create some new for the next generations. I am quite optimistic about it and I think we are doing a good job.

We were a bit afraid of what is going to happen because half of the members are going on Erasmus in the summer semester, but there is no reason for concern or fear: we already have new members who are showing great interest in the work of ESN and I believe they will be very active. There is one girl on Erasmus internship in our ESN, she is here maybe for a month now, and she's doing a great job. Last semester one girl from Slovakia was in our ESN as well, but she left for Split this weekend. She was very active and nice too, made us realize what we are doing wrong and what could be better. We are planning to recruit some new members as well because the more people, the merrier, and easier to realize all the plans we made.

Although to be in ESN requires some free time, patience, good will and responsibility, it all pays off because you get to hang out with other ESNers, make great new friendships, learn about many different possibilities you otherwise probably wouldn't know about, you get to spend time with Erasmus students, but you also develop, not only your personality but your skills such as organization, planning, communication. Simply, ESN offers so many benefits, you just need to dive in. And although in the beginning of my ESN experience I felt like I was about to drown, I didn't: I learned how to swim better.

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