Activity Report ESN-EYE

ACTIVITY REPORT WINTER SEMESTER 2012/2013

ESN-EYE ERASMUS STUDENT NETWORK- EUROPEAN YOUTH EXCHANGE ŁÓDŹ UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

CONTENTS 1. Introduction 2.Activities in winter semester

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2.1.

2.2.

2.3.

2.4.

2.5.

IFE Newcomers Integration Weekend Flea Market Erasmus Welcome Party Fuksówka IFE Recruitment 2.5.1. Workshop-integration meeting 2.6. Mobility Week 2.6.1. International Lunch 2.6.2. Polyglotus Cafe 2.6.3. Animal Party 2.7. All Saints’ Day Photowalk 2.8. International Santa Claus 2.8.1. International Santa Claus Party 2.8.2. Making Christmas Cards 2.8.3. Christmas Market 2.8.4. Christmas in Orphange 2.8.5. Christmas Dinner 2.9. Masquerade Party 2.10. ESNOLYMPICS 2.11. Let’s talk - Tandem programme

3. ESN meetings 3.1.

3.2.

3.3.

3.4.

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Council of Local Representatives Katowice ESN Upgrade Łódź Central European Platform Graz National Platform Warszawa

4. Changes

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5. Partners and sponsors

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6. Photo Gallery

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IFE newcomers Integration Weekend Coordinator Kinga Nowicka From 28 to 30 September, 100 students from 13 different European countries spent 3 days full of great fun and joy. Integration Weekend is an event organized by ESN-EYE every year since 2004 and is extremely popular among students, because it creates an opportunity for people to meet and make friendships even before the beginning of their studies.

When we reached the place in great moods, after a short rest we started the integration in the open air. Students were divided randomly into groups who had to get through different integration games to break the ice and get to know each other better. In the evening, we organized a mask party

in a specially prepared tent, where everybody had a lot of fun.

The second day was devoted to sport games. Each group had to stop at every of 10 stations and perform different exercises. To be able to determine the winner, at every station the scores were written down by the coordinators and compared at the end. It was absolutely the best part of the weekend and it brought a lot of laugh. The next point of the trip was “Music Quiz”, in which took part all of the participants. After this big portion of emotions we could warm up at the bonfire and have fun during “Kitch Party” During the whole weekend we could feel the amazing atmosphere among new students. Everybody was open and willing to play.

Unfortunately, after three days of unforgettable fun we had to come back to Łódź. On the other hand, it wasn't a big worry for us, because everybody knew that there'll be many other opportunities to meet in the same group.

Erasmus students’ opinions: Adrien - France „I don't want to talk about this messy weekend because I will write all day :) Quickly, it is an unforgettable week-end which allowed me to be integrated easily with erasmus. It was also a great way to meet polish student. For me that's the ONLY WAY to start an erasmus semester. Btw, you are right to set up a second integration weekend.

Everything was perfect.

I still love ESN” Nelson Sousa – Portugal „Just the best weekend of all time, really awesome organization :P would just like that the partys lasted till later” Rui Costa „Everyone should go to this activity ;)”

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Flea Market 05 October 2012 Coordinator Justyna Paradowska In order to meet the needs of Erasmus student, limited with the norms of the baggage weight, who weren't able to bring all the necessary stuff to Poland, on the first Friday of October we organized the Flea Market at International Faculty of Engineering. Thanks to many Erasmus students from the previous year, we were able to gather many different objects – from plates, through furniture, to white goods. At the end we found out, that even this entity of staff wasn't enough to meet the high interest of buyers. On the other hand, we are obviously very glad because all of the money gathered during Flea Market was donated for the charity!

Erasmus Welcome Party

WHY NOT

03 October 2012 Coordinator Zuza Magnuska Like every year, at the very beginning of the semester, we welcomed new Erasmus and Polish students in Łódź Kaliska Club. Erasmus Welcome Party attracted, as always, a lot of people and was a great success.

We hosted about 750 people who had great fun during the whole night. The dance floor was full of people, but no one was paying attention to the crowd. Our newcomers had a possibility to meet other people, but mostly – to see how to party with ESN-EYE. Costa e and mood” Rui ac pl od go y ll ea „R

„Really amazing” João Rodrigues

Fuksówka IFE Crazy Science Party 12 October 2012 Coordinator Zuza Magnuska Crazy Science Party is the second party that we prepared in this semester.

It is one of our best parties, right now organized already for 3 years, where students dressed up as crazy scientists had fun until the morning.

As always, we prepared a special scientific menu and incredible potions with dry ice, so people could feel the atmosphere of the crazy science better.

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Recruitment

October 2012 Coordinators Paweł Kordek and Żaklin Fornal

This year the recruitment to ESN-EYE took place in October. For the first three weeks of the academic year, every student of Lodz University of Technology had a possibility to fill the registration form on the Internet. The whole action was strongly promoted among students by posters and leaflets at every faculty and of course on the Internet. Then we had a series of information meetings (in groups of 6-10 people), where potential members had a possibility to get to know better the structure of our organization and to try the work in groups on some of our projects. Having the basic knowledge about our activities, students chose the workgroups in which they wanted to start their activity in ESN-EYE. From about 70 people attending the information meetings, the majority decided to join our organization. To end the period of recruitment, in November we organized for our newbies and older members the workshop-integration meeting in Sulejów.

16-18 November 2012 Workshop-Integration meeting Coordinators Paweł Kordek and Żaklin Fornal

The better we know each other, the more efficient is our work. This is why members of ESN-EYE took part in the workshop-integration meeting that took part from 16 to 18 November. On Friday evening, about 50 smiled people started their trip to Sulejów, to expand their knowledge in the field of finances, time management and to develop their interpersonal skills. We started the first evening with a series of integration games, that aimed at getting to know all the newbies and older members of our organization.

After the integration part, we had a themed party: “Back to school”. Despite the fact, that the party ended up in the morning, on Saturday everybody attended the workshops and trainings without any complaints. During the workshops we could get familiar with the structure of our organization and ESN Poland association. We also found out how to financially plan and account our events. The president of ESN-EYE, Liliana Ćwik, conducted the training “Five steps to gain a sponsor”. She showed what to take into account while preparing the offer and during the conversation with a possible sponsor. Our former members conducted the workshops about time management and business communication. Each participant could test his skills in transferring complicated information in a clear and concise way. Even though the workshops lasted the whole day, after the dinner all the participants met to take part in Music Quiz with the Hawaiian outfits. The evening passed on trying to recognize the titles and authors of the songs. The games ended after few hours and the good mood rested in our hearts till the end of the trip.

On the Sunday afternoon, all the participants left the resort, enriched by new experiences and acquaintances and with the smiles on their faces.

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This year, for the third time, members of our organization had a pleasure to help in organizing the cyclic event of Lodz University of Technology – Mobility Week, which aims at promoting international exchange of Erasmus programme among students.

18 October 2012 International Lunch Coordinator Klaudia Hillebrandt One of the attractions of this year's “3rd Mobility Week” was an “International Lunch” where we could taste delicious dishes from all over the Europe. The event took place in the Centre of Languages of Lodz University of Technology. Our members along with Erasmus students prepared the stands of Spain, Turkey, Portugal, Germany, France and Poland, where foreign students could present their national specialties. In the contest for the best stand, Spanish students declassed the opponents and won. They prepared gazpacho – a tomato-based cold vegetable soup from the regions of Andalusia, paella – a plate based on rice and different additions and tapas – small sandwiches served on toothpicks.

Besides the degustation, students could also take part in many interesting games and sport competitions in front of the Centre of Languages, for example a race with a ping-pong ball on a spoon held in mouth.

18 October 2012 Polyglotus Cafe Coordinators Ania Komenda and Weronika Pawińska

„Tamten słoneczny dzień wszyscy zapamiętamy jako dzień, w którym świetnie bawiliśmy się, najedliśmy do syta i co najważniejsze mogliśmy spędzić go razem w miłej atmosferze.”

Olga Ogieniewska, Business&Technology student „Oportunity to taste something from many countries and know something about them. Also good thing was the sport competition outside.”

Barbora Hollá - Slovak Erasmus Student

One of the events organized within the framework of Mobility Week was Polyglotus Café.

We met on 18th October in MScafe to develop our foreign languages together. Obviously the most popular was English. The meeting began with the short quiz, that helped us to know each other better. But at the end, we discovered that the most popular activity was Speed Dating. Even though we organized many rounds, there were still plenty of people willing to take part in this great game. The perfect atmosphere was assured by the leader of this event – Josh Skjold, English language teacher from IV High school in Łódź.

3. Mobility Week AfterParty

Animal Party 19 October 2012 Coordinator Zuza Magnuska Animal Party ended the 3rd Mobility Week. It took place in Czekolada Club. People came in great amounts, dressed up like, more or less wild, animals. We could notice, that some of them sacrificed a lot of time and work to prepare their animal outfits. Everybody had a lot of fun, and about 500 people that showed up at the party took over the dance floor. Animal Party is for sure the next party, that we can count as a great success.

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1 November 2012 All Saints' Day photowalk Cooridnator Justyna Paradowska

„It was really impressive to see how different the Polish culture is from mine.

The atmosphere while visiting a cemetery during All Saints Day is amazing! Its beautiful and crowded as everyone is visiting there relatives and leaving candles on the graves. An experience I would not miss in my Erasmus diary.”

Marina Ströer - Dutch Erasmus Student

On 1th November, members of ESN-EYE along with a group of Erasmus students went to the cemetery at Ogrodowa street to show the foreign students our Polish tradition and one of the monuments of Łódź. The All Saints' Day has it's specific climate which, for sure, is the best visible during the evening, when all the candles illuminate the sad alleys of the cemeteries. Erasmus students were interested in the history of our Old Cemetery, told by one of our colleagues. They eagerly watched the ancient tombs and listened to the different stories. Even we were surprised with some of the stories, that we heard.

Polish Communism Party 9 November 2012 Costume hunt Coordinator Justyna Paradowska On 9th November, few hours before the party, a group of ESN-EYE members and Erasmus students went to the second-hand shop to search for a perfect outfits from the age of Communism. The atmosphere was really cool and the hunt very intense. At the end, almost everybody left the shop with something. Thanks to this trip everyone had an opportunity to get prepared for the evening party and come well dressed. „Go od mu sic, Bar d bor ancin ideal for Era a Hol g” smu lá s St Slov ude a nt k PRL Party Coordinator Zuza Magnuska

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PRL Party is another flag party of ESN-EYE organized for many years. This year it took place in Ambasada Club and, as always, it was a perfect hit! Apparently the specific climate of those years never will be boring for people and each year it amazes new Erasmus students. Everybody came dressed in the proper outfits from the times of Polish Communism age. At the entrance for our guests were waiting traditional Polish specialties such as herring, bread with lard and pickled cucumbers. Moreover, during the party we NTER SE WI hosted also the participants of the first edition of ESN Upgrade meeting, which took place in 7 Łódź.

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23-25 November 2012 Coordinator Szymon Klepacz

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After a short promotion, the trip to Cracow took place between 23 and 25 November. 17 participants took part in this event among which 15 were Erasmus students willing to visit the best places in Poland. We settled in AQQ hostel near to the Floriańska gate, in the main center of Cracow. Right after coming to Cracow, we had a dinner at “U Babci Maliny”, a lovely restaurant with many traditional wooden decorations, promoting Polish cuisine. After the meal we had time to take a walk through beautiful streets of Old Town and to meet people from ESN Toruń, who stayed in the same hostel. We also met there coordinator of Tour de Cracow project of ESN UEK from Cracow. After getting to know each other, we went to one of clubs to have some fun at the party.

Our first morning in Cracow we spent with a very nice guide who told us about the history of Cracow's monuments: the Old Town, the Cloth Hall, St. Mary's Basilica and the Wawel Castle. In the afternoon we enjoyed a bit of free time to feel the spirit of the city, buy some souvenirs, take some photos and relax. During the evening, once again we had fun with our new friends from ESN UMK Toruń. The third day we made the trip to Auschwiz-Birkenau concentration camp. Even though the visit lasted for 4 hours, we all were the attentive listeners, absorbing every word of our guide.

Erasmus students were shocked with the history of this place but also glad, that they had an opportunity to see this monument, so important to us. After the visit in the camp, we only had time to buy some books about its' history and come back home.

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The trip to Krakow was very good organized – from the beginning to the end. Of course not everything can be 100% correct but I never thought it was a mistake to join the trip.

The price for the trip was cheap and the location of our hostel was very central. The planned events during the trip were good choices and also good organized. The size of the group was not too big and not too small. I really like this trip and I was sad that there wasn’t another trip organised by ESN to another city.

Dziękuję bardzo Pascal Bayard – German Erasmus Student.

28 November 2012 Coordinator Justyna Paradowska

The Pianist

On 28th November at 18:00 in one of the classes of IFE building, took place the first movie projection for Erasmus students. According to the trip to Auschwiz, which was organized the previous weekend by our ESN Travel group, we decided to show “The Pianist” by Roman Polański. We wanted to show to foreign students one of the best examples of Polish cinematography and teach them a bit about the history of our country. The movie screening went very well – the only weakness was low attendance, so next time we have to think how to encourage students to take part in such events.

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International Santa Claus coordinator Justyna Paradowska The main goal of International Santa Claus, as a part of SocialErasmus project, is to help children from the orphanages in having the possibility of learning foreign languages. Moreover it's a great charity action, whereby we are able to gather money for buying gift for those children, so during this magic Christmas time, they can also be visited by Santa Claus with a bag full of presents.

7 December 2012 International Santa Claus Party Coordinator Zuza Magnuska International Santa Claus Party is an extraordinary event. All the money collected during this party is always destined for buying gifts for children from the orphanages. The party was organized in cooperation with a section of ESN UŁ and Ambasada Club. During the event, we organized different attractions such as the lottery or photos with Santa Claus. The party was an absolute success – many people came, so later we were able to bring smile to the faces of children from the House of a Small Child at Lniana street in Łódź.

8 December 2012 Making Christmas Cards The members of SocialErasmus group with curious Erasmus students went to the local day room where, with the help of very nice and joyful children, we made many exceptional Christmas cards. In accompaniment of Christmas music, we all created such a great atmosphere, that we didn't even notice when those few hours passed. We cannot wait for the next event like this.

14 December 2012 Christmas Market The next event organized within the frameworks of International Santa Claus was the Christmas Market – selling of cakes made by our members and the auction of different gifts from our professors. Everything started in the early morning and lasted till 3pm. In a Christmas atmosphere, students were selling and buying cakes and bidding the exceptional gifts from professors. This was absolutely a great success!

We gathered a lot of money for the presents for children from the orphanages and the sweets influenced the great moods of everybody.

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17 December 2012 Christmas in Orphange A summary of International Santa Claus was a visit in the House of a Small Child at Lniana street. Like each year, we gave children many presents for Christmas: different sweets, toys and games. The main goal of the visit was mostly to please the children in this special time and to spend some time with them. We also wanted to support the establishment, so we bought many useful things like: pampers, toilet paper, towels and detergents. The money was gathered during the whole semester, for example at the Flea Market or Christmas Market. We also had a lot of fun with children and played with them in different integration games which helped us to get to know each other. Children were amazed with the surprises and the gifts from Santa and the employees of the institution – with the help we offered. The biggest attraction for children were of course our Erasmus students, who accompanied us in this visit. It was a really great time, after which it was really hard to say goodbye to each other.

19 December 2012 Christmas Dinner Few days before Christmas we all met to have a Christmas dinner together. Really nice was the fact, that not only actual members showed up – we also hosted many former members of ESN-EYE. Each of the guests had to bring a small present starting with a letter “C”, to take part in a gifts lottery later.

There were also many traditional Polish Christmas Plates, such as dumplings (pierogi) or beetroot soup (barszcz czerwony). We spent a really nice evening in a great, Christmas atmosphere, eating, talking and singing Christmas carols together. The only minus was the lack of foreign students.

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Masquerade Party

11 January 2013 Coordinator Zuza Magnuska

The next and also the last party, that we decided to organize this semester was the Masquerade Party. This time we wanted it to be totally different from the rest, so instead of the big club, we rented a cozy hall and threw a party inspired by Polish weeding. Evening clothes and masks were obviously obligatory. The ticket price included hot and cold snacks during the whole evening. Furthermore, at the beginning of the party, we danced to the music played by the band and after the midnight the DJ stepped in. The party was really great and many people say that, so far, it was the best party organized by us. Also because of relatively small amount of participants (about 150 people), we were able to create the unforgettable atmosphere and people could integrate better.

Moreover, we hosted some of our professors and office workers from IFE, who had fun with us.

We think that this kind of parties is a really good idea and we definitely want to continue this new tradition in the future. „It was totally awesome, a lot of polish people from IFE were mixed with us (that's very important).

Moreover, everyone were beautiful as far as the dress code is concerned. In addition, the place sounded like a communism meeting point. I mean the vintage touch of this place were very uncommon for me (but great). I love ESN” Adrien Salvat - French Erasmus Student „Just an amazing party at an amazing place, really enjoyed the vibe of the party’’ Nelson Sousa - Portuguese Erasmus Student

ESNOLYMPICS Coordinator Tomasz Ścibiorek This year's ESNOLYMPICS games consisted on 2h meetings every week, during which both Erasmus students and willing students from Lodz University of Technology could try themselves in different disciplines. The most popular among students was of course football. During 8 weeks of weekly games, about 50 students took part in this event. For every meeting, the participants received points. We led the general classification and at the end the best players were rewarded with medals and diplomas.

Let's talk – Tandem programme Coordinator Nansi Bosakowska

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Tandem is a new project in ESN-EYE, which started at the beginning of this semester, but already is very popular among students. The main idea of this programme is learning foreign languages by talking with Erasmus students, who also can improve their Polish and try themselves conversing with Polish students.

In general we had about 30 applications. First two meetings took place in a bigger groups, then individually. The form, place and time of meeting are dependent only from the participants. Some of them meet at the university, others prefer to choose more casual places like dormitories or NTER SE I W cafeterias. It's worth mentioning, that the project is an opportunity to meet interesting people from all over the Europe and understand their culture and habits.

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ESN meetings coordinator Krzysztof Podstawek

Council of Local Representatives Katowice 2012 From 13 to 14 October in Katowice took place the Council of Local Representatives of ESN Poland. It is an assembly in which all 33 section delegates take part and which concerns the current matters of our association. One of the most important decisions taken during the Delegates Meeting were: organization of national New Year's Eve Party in Wrocław and changes of one of the meetings' (Świeżynki) structure and name for ESN Upgrade. During the assembly the National Board and Committees resumed the previous period of their work too.

ESN Upgrade Łódź 2012 From 8 to 11 November in Łódź one of our section, ESN University of Lodz (in cooperation with a Board Member of ESN-EYE – Krzysztof Podstawek and a Treasurer of ESN-EYE – Piotr Sordyl) organized ESN Upgrade – workshop meeting for ESN Poland members. The participants of this event were the newbies, as well as older members. For 3 days, both groups took part in workshops organized by experienced members of ESN Poland and by partners of ESN Poland – Jeronimo Martins and Danone. Workshops mostly concerned self-development, motivation and time management.

Central European Platform Graz 2012 From 15 to 18 November in Graz, Austria, took place an international assembly of Erasmus Student Network organization. Among about 150 participants, there were ESN members from Central Europe countries, such as: Austria, Slovakia, Slovenia, Poland, Czech Republic, Denmark and Lithuania. Regional Platforms are the informational meetings which main goal is presenting to ESN members countries, sections, their projects and sharing the best practices.

During the assembly take place also workshops, led by ESN members.

Their cover mostly the topics of development of participants, their project management skills, communication and working in groups.

Regional Platforms are also a great opportunity to meet new people from other countries, exchange experience, get to know new cultures, but mostly – to get new friends.

National Platform Warszawa 2012 From 13 to 16 December 2012 in Warsaw took place a National Platform, which is one of two most important electing assemblies of ESN Poland members. During the meeting we discussed different matters essential for our association, such as: future of association and the directions of its' development, different projects and also summary of previous period of National Board and Committees work.

National Platform is a possibility of meeting over 150 people from the whole Poland, developing yourself, getting knew knowledge and also exchanging the experiences with others.

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Changes...

On 18th January 2013 took place the General Meeting of ESN-EYE, where we resumed our activities from the winter semester. Everybody had a possibility to present his accomplishments an also express his opinions. Furthermore, during the meeting, we proceeded the supplementary elections to the board, as 2 members were going for their Erasmus exchange and had to resign from their functions. Our new board for the summer semester is: Liliana Ćwik – president Justyna Pietrzak – vice-president Piotr Sordyl – treasurer Justyna Paradowska – secretary Mateusz Sowała – local representative

Moreover, this semester we actualized our logo, so it shows the actual English version of our university. It entailed also changes in our promotional materials.

Partners and sponsors Our existence and diversity of our activities we owe not only the creativity of our members, but also, or maybe mostly, our sponsors and partners. Thanks to them we are able to spread our wings and broaden our horizons.

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Coordinator: Justyna Pietrzak Graphics: Justyna Pietrzak based on projects of: Liliana Ćwik, Sebastian Dziomdziora, Wojciech Kabat Text: ESN-EYE members Correction: Liliana Ćwik Translation: Krzysztof Podstawek

Contact: ESN-EYE students’ organization ul. Żwirki 36 IFE Building A16, room 118, 90-924 Łódź Tel.: +48 501 874 515 E-mail: contact@esn-eye.pl