eXpress02

editorial

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editorial

Our cultural shock! // Francesca Marcuzzo

by Francesca Marcuzzo

erasmus experience

Here we are,

I never found my home back // Kristin Zimmermann

with the second issue of press.

erasmus shock

Culture shock: are U suffering from it? // Nadia van Staden

esn inside

Why be an esn volunteer // Valentina Settomini

e-crew:

what curious!

Responsable Xpress: Francesca Marcuzzo

erasmus shock

Editorial team: Anders Aufderhorst-Roberts James Beckett Nadia van Staden Kristin Zimmermann Valentina Settomini Claudia Calin Magdalena Wawrzonkowska Andim Doldurucu Eva Klaveringa The International Board

Dropje? // Eva Klaveringa Erasmus experience’s effects // Claudia Calin

esn universe

Satellite meeting in Brusselles // Andim Doldurucu

esn inside

How to promote a local section // Magdalena Wawrzonkowska

esn universe

Diving into esn // The International Board

Cover Image: frama Design & Illustrations: frama / graphic@esn.it Illustrations: Ismet Lisica Rose Moritz

Something weird happened during the making of it: we made a call for articles, without specifying which kind of topics we wanted to read about.

Well, as you will notice, everybody was writing about the cultural shock! And everybody from a different perspective: Nadia tells us about the typical Erasmus cultural shock, experienced while confronting one’s own culture with the hosting country’s one, but we also have Kristin who wrote about the re-entry shock: when you are coming back home you’ve changed, you’re missing the unique experience you’ve lived, and you still have to figure out how to get used to your old life again... On the other hand, Claudia reminds us that cultural shock is not the only thing one gets out of his/her exchange: among the rest, going abroad helps us in dealing with our stereotypes.

But of course ESN is not there for nothing: staying in touch with international people, speaking another language and finding friends coming from abroad is one of the side-effects of joining us...

Valentina, who is also section president, explains to us why so many people keep investing their spare time with ESN, sometimes for one, two or three years. And what they are doing is really diverse; but every contribution is important, even though sometimes we don’t get recognition for it. So that’s why you will find Magdalena’s hints interesting and useful: she wrote some guidelines about how to promote a local section. Don’t forget that in ESN you can choose different fields of action: for example by joining the Webteam (those guys don’t spend all their time in front of a computer, as you can read from Andim’s report..) or you can choose to have a different level of involvement and an engaging experience: living one year in Brussels as an International Board Member...

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erasemrieusnce exp Perspectives on the Re-entry Shock

by Kristin Zimmermann

Christmas is

over and many of you went back home for the first time with all the new experiences, new friends and different ways of thinking. Did you expect that everything is the same back home as before you had left or were you aware of possible changes and met some surprises?

Nowadays, there is a second phenomenon besides the culture shock that is of high importance for exchange students – the so called “re-entry shock”.

It describes the process of coming back and eventually facing problems in re-integrating into one’s family and group of friends, as the following student reports from his experience: “My year in Finland remains unforgettable – everything turned perfectly well and my dreams came true. I changed a lot during this year

by Rose Moritz

I

never

found

my homcek ba

and alienated from home - so much that I never really found the way back.” (Torsten Seidel, Germany).

The phenomenon of re-entry has two sides of the coin, as I found out in a few other interviews.

A shock does not have to be something negative necessarily.

Students face new interests and changes in their point of view when going abroad. Consequently the group of friends changes most of the times, which is totally normal in life. But those friends, whom you still stick together with after having been separated, can be called “true friends for the lifetime”.

A stay abroad often strengthens the relationship with your old friends: “I now value friendship more than I did before and have for example

emphasized the contact to my old school mates. The same happened with the relation to my family.”

(Philipp Schwamborn, Germany) Many students experience a high amount of support and strength from home and it helps to talk about one’s experiences. One student even said: “Today I say, that with every time I went further and/or longer away, family and friends became (even) more important for my life and I know the meaning of ‘coming home’ by now.” (Uta Scheunert, Germany) The other side of the coin is the negative aspect of the re-entry shock.

When I came home for Christmas, I had the feeling of not being understood by anyone. My relatives asked, how my exchange was.

But after my statement, that it was a great time, they changed the topic into something from my 2000-souls village.

Not only the student’s mind is broadened, but also the lifestyle of students changes when going abroad. A lot of students live on their own for the first time in their life, decide on their own what to eat, when to be home and what to study.

In this situation it is especially hard to come back: “It made me nearly go crazy to live together with my parents again. I missed my independent life.”

(Katrin Ronneburger, Germany) Talking about university, often new ways of teaching and a varying system of education are experienced.

Students have the chance to experience different methods of learning and therefore the new ways at other universities seem to be more attractive. Most students go through a re-entry shock in university life.

During my interviews I got an insight in ways about how to cope with coming back, keeping the spirit of the best time of one’s life and integrating into one’s own culture: - “Nowadays I am busy studying and working... and sometimes looking at pictures from Finland and listening to the Finnish music.” (Magdalena Stanková, Czech Republic) - “Stay in touch with people from

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home and from abroad and talk about your feelings with your partner, family, friends” (Martina Temper, Austria) - It is important to have your family and friends visit you to get a real impression from your new life.

- Organize an Erasmus Revival Party with impressions to be shared and little presentations.

- “I think that this is a very personal matter, so everybody finds his/her way to succeed when coming back, listen to yourself.” (Anna Boschdemont Esparraguera, Spain)

But also other student organizations and we as ESN might become active about this issue.

João Carlos Andrioli from Brazil mentions: “I think that exchange students can be better prepared by the organizations”. This might be thought through in the future to cover the hole of student’s needs when returning. ESN can bridge the gap between the exchange students and home universities. Besides, organizing parties to get the former exchange students together, one could learn from the students and implement their ideas into the home university structure.

But keep in mind: “Be aware that this is supposed to be YOUR experience. Your exchange will be an unretrievable time, which might become the best time of your life! Of course returning home is hard, but the exchange is worth it!”

(Torsten Seidel, Germany)

******** Students are informed about the process of adapting to a new culture when going abroad.

But how are they dealing with the re-entry shock?

Sometimes they take it in a positive way, but not always.

Therefore hints on how to cope with the re-entry shock and suggestions for organizations shall be given. ********

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e r asmus s h ock

by Nadia van Staden

Culture

re U a suffering from it shock:

Have you recently arrived

source: Abroad, ESN Utrecht Magazine

in your host country

or have you been studying there for a while?

Either way, you’ve probably had to deal with a number of changes within your environment.

In technical terms, you’ve probably had to deal with culture shock.

Culture shock is a relatively shortterm feeling of disorientation and discomfort due to a lack of familiar cues in the environment. It is caused by a lack of understanding of verbal and non-verbal communication, the customs and the values’ system of the host culture.

There are 5 stages of culture shock, and the length of time you experience each stage is entirely dependent on the individual person.

1) Honeymoon: excitement or initial euphoria 2) Crisis or disenchantment: excitement has turned to disappointment as you encounter differences 3) Adjustment: you begin to accept the new culture, you make adjustments in behaviour and begin to see humour in situations 4) Integration: you feel at home in the new culture, you become fluent enough in the other culture to move easily within it 5) You may experience reverse culture shock when returning to your home country. This can be as traumatic as the initial adjustment to a new culture.

It is necessary to have specific characteristics to be able to alleviate culture shock. Personal qualifications for a person studying • abroad may include: • adaptability • flexibility • empathy • tolerance • good interpersonal skills • high self esteem

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oad Going abr ge for exchany it’s reall different from being. a tourist.. o t get ready deal with l the cultura shock!

esn inside

?

“The beers are smaller than I expected.”

Dane Bradshaw, UK “It’s strange seeing girls smoking” Anonymous The most effective way to combat culture shock is to step back from a situation that has bothered you, assess it, and search for an appropriate explanation and response. Try this: * Observe how others are acting in the same situation * Describe the situation, what it means to you and your response to it * Ask a local resident or someone with experience how they would have handled the situation and what it means in the host culture * Plan how you might act in this or similar situations in the future * Test the new behavior and evaluate how well it works * Decide how you can apply what you have learned the next time you find yourself in a similar situation Most of all, get out there and enjoy your exchange!

ESN: b ecau everywse we feel a t home her we are everywe, because bec her everyw ause you ca e different, new s here, becau n spot us hores se we the sa , because w reach becau me experi e dream se enc becau we are conn es, se we e speak cted, ESN

by Valentina Settomini August 2007.

“Mum, I need to work, I’ve got an urgent stuff for ESN.” “Why do you do it? You’re not even paid.” ....

Good question.

I can’t really explain it, I think.

The fact is that ESN feels like a family.

I found a group, even if it is a unusual kind of group.

Obviously, every ESN section places a different emphasis on its activity; what I saw about ESN during my ESN period in Spain was quite different from what I’m seeing in my present section.

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However, there’s an element in common to every one of us. It is the huge will to do things, to organise, to come together…

When you are an ESN volunteer, your life is completely changed. The most widespread reason for people doing it is to live a second, third, fourth Erasmus…

Sure, going abroad for an exchange is always a great experience that will never be lost. In a few months one discovers new places, meets a lot of new people from countries all over the world and, most importantly, gets to know oneself better, dealing with the challenges of adapting to a brand new environment. But it doesn’t matter where you live, you can have an Erasmus wherever there is a well functioning Erasmus Student Network section. It’s really the easiest way to be in touch with local people who share your interests and feelings and with international students, who will help you to keep in touch with the Erasmus dream in your own city

Clearly, almost none of us can really live like Erasmus students, because of the increasing number of duties and because of the necessity to keep on with a normal life, while foreign people in a new country want and are able to enjoy as much as possible of the opportunity they are given.

Anyway, everything after ESN comes out twisted.

During the earlier period, one became used to going to the university, to coming back home, to having a still and motionless existence, to stay quiet and to see day by day the same people.

As far as I’m concerned, one of the most frustrating things of my former way of living was the difficulty to organise any sort of activity, from visiting a museum to having a trip.

On the contrary, ESN is a kind of big box, a limitless container which gives every one of us the possibility to express ourselves, our interests. Every person has got his or her space: there room for those Staying in ESN is the only way to live again some of the best moments of my life, like leave for a second Erasmus. I’m proud of collaborate with a staff which shares my same pas sions,my own will to do, working just for work’ sake and having fun.»

n the whartsi’ mind esn

On I fo ce I a e u a vo nd nte de long rtex out red , pe i d n you ra t is ev denc ,pro ggin an er g v d e y m e an okin ve om d f g il of ry th tho ent ling ed u ay ght .

ESN is to g a way n of ti et awa ot me p r as si e ng.

Erasmus Student Network is my Erasmus following

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willing to organise sport activities, to visit a city, to start a band…

There is a new sense of community. As ESN is all over Europe, it is very difficult to know each other, generally speaking, except the people from your country and a few people from other countries; nevertheless, ten minutes speaking, a glance, a smile between two strangers during one of the numerous meetings organised during the year is enough to switch on a sense of feeling good, of enjoyment and of sharing.

Sometimes it feels like it is too much: the increasing amount of things to do and the desire to improve constantly the service provided and all this seems to overwhelm us, in a way.

Anyway, it lasts just for a moment.

The very idea of erasing everything seems absolutely impossible for me.

So I take a breath and I chill…and everything begins again.

«After the Erasmus, you can’t just close the door to a new life, ESN is a friendly way of living without discriminations and without prejudices.

ESN is like a great family.»

e’s on ime g t le in at ious edib g c i r c in d c De pre n in eth n m a ow ch is so me ndly u su n g to s sio akin rofo p a m p nd py! ya l p l a re ha

l «ESN is a rea in h world wit ety. a virtual soci

Dropje?

w hat Curious!

Did you know about this sweet?

Next time you drop by your Dutch friends, you will know what to ask them...

by Eva Klaveringa

Most Dutch

people won’t say no to this question

(would you like a piece of liquorice?), but most foreign people will kindly refuse. Just like the Italians like pizza, the Australians like vegemite and the Americans like burgers, the Dutch like liquorice!

Liquorice (‘drop’ in Dutch) is probably one of the most typical and traditional Dutch sweets. Most Dutch people (according to statistics three out of four!) like ‘drop’, although it has a quite peculiar flavour. Before I went to Australia, I got a lot of gifts from my friends and family and they gave me at least enough drop bags to fill a whole suitcase with. Of course I took it with me (result: 5 kilo’s of excess baggage), but once in Australia I definitely needed some help to finish it, although I love drop. For most of my foreign friends the sweet drop was all right, although they weren’t exactly fond of it, but the salty drop was generally found disgusting! They said it burnt their tongues and the inevitable result was the yummy sweet ending up in the bin...

were children, they are used to the taste and therefore they love it...

Drop is just something you have to learn to eat!

Another reason for drop being typically Dutch, is the fact that most drop factories are situated in The Netherlands. We eat 33.6 million kilos of drop (= approximately 8 billion dropjes!) with a value of 140 million euros every year. Here 22 per cents of all sold sweets is drop!

Last, but not least, some interesting things to know about drop: When a Dutch person has a sore throat, he or she will eat drop all day (at least I do…), because drop is known for its expectorant effects. Always a good excuse to eat sweets!

If you don’t like drop in its eatable version, try the alcoholic version: dropshot!

Nobody knows for sure why we crazy Dutchies call drop ‘drop’. The Latin word for the plant name liquorice is Liquirilla: the English call it liquorice, the German lakritize, the Italian liquirizia, the French reglisse and the Dutch… DROP! Strange, isn’t it?

Of course, one obvious last piece of advice: try it out!

But what makes drop so typically Dutch? Personally, I just think it is a matter of taste. Because most Dutch people eat drop since they source: Abroad, ESN Utre cht mag

azine

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Erasmusce’s

by Claudia Calin

Stereotypes, according to Walter Lippmann, are the glasses through which we see the world around us. They are where we are because they are in us. They are transmitted from generation to generation thus we grow up with them. The stereotypes are there whenever we meet someone and they always come between us and others. Is it good? Is it bad? It depends on the situation and on the person’s background. The stereotypes could be a starting point in discovering a nation but one should not stop there.

As far as I am concerned, I do think that the Erasmus experience is a good way to overcome the stereotypes. Books or movies, dictionaries or encyclopedias, traveling guides are good but not enough when it comes to discovering a country and its people. You have to see it with your own eyes before expressing your position.

This is what the Erasmus experience can do for us - international students. For instance, a friend of mine, a former Erasmus student in Belgium told me that he learnt more about the host country and Europe in general after spending 5 months there then from any book. He had the chance to mingle with people who lived in the cities he had just read about. His conclusion was: “You have to go there and see for yourself. Always be up-todate and do not trust just one source of information. Things change faster than books ”.

Moreover, recently I went at the CNR in a region that I knew

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experien

effects

t d be a starting poin The stereotypes coul e n, but once you se in discovering a natio ize that things can al with your eyes you re people say... t ha be different from w little about: the Balkans (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia). When I told my friends about this, their advice was under the influence of stereotypes that did not ring true during my short journey. I was extremely impressed by the two countries and its people.

What I learnt from the Erasmus experience was the fact that as Erasmus students we have to be the agents of change irrespective of our target: family, friends, relatives, university, and local community.

During our stay abroad we got in direct touch with the host country’s people.

We saw how they worked, how they are. This is not an encouragement for copy and paste behaviour but an impulse to try to filter the information, to overcome long- lasting stereotypes and to keep in mind the innovative aspects - the basis of our community’s development. Good luck!!!

by Ismet Lisica

e r asmus s h ock

Satellite Meeting in Brussels How a virtual network could help us!

by Andim Doldurucu, Network Administrator of ESN

Another big topic was about building a network of regional webmasters responsible for promotion and implementation of the Satellite and in the future, other webprojects covering the whole ESN territory. A short term action plan has been accepted, for the moment each participant is responsible for a group of countries. They will provide Satellite support to the sections in those countries, checking the websites and giving advice to sections on improvements..

During their stay in Brussels, the participants also had the chance to meet the members of the ESN Board, to visit the ESN House and Office.

Of course we had great parties altogether, too.

For your information, I would like to list the people responsible for different regions: 1. Diogo: Italy, Portugal 2. Martin: Germany, Switzerland, Slovenia (and Croatia if it becomes part of the ESN) 3. Oliver: Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Greece, Spain.

4. Wojciek: Poland, Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania 5. Andrea: Denmark, Iceland, Ireland, UK. 6. Antonio: Norway, Sweden, Finland, Malta, Serbia, Austria, The Netherlands, FYROM 7. Peter: Turkey, Azerbaijan, Romania, Bosnia, Belgium, France, Morocco If you have trouble with installing satellite, or you don’t know how to start, they are the right people to ask about it. In addition, if you have good ideas and you want to give your contribution to these projects, feel free to contact them.

If you feel like joining the ESN webdevelopment team, what are you waiting for!!!

by Ismet Lisica

The first satellite meeting took place in ESN headquarters, Brussels. ESN webteam is working with the latest technology, web 2.0, google gadgets, google maps…

The webteam leaders are also following the international events happening like google meetings, drupal meetings…

The ESN webteam organised training on the ESN projects (concentrated on the ESN Satellite and Galaxy project) for the interested webmasters.

Three webteam leaders Antonio, Peter and Andrea, four brilliant webmasters Diogo, Martin, Olivier, Wojciek and I, as Network Administrator of ESN attended the meeting.

During the meeting, ESN webleaders introduced the insides of Satellite and Galaxy projects focusing on the technology behind the likes of Drupal, CakePHP, Subversion, Google Gadgets and the current state of the project.

After the presentations, discussions went on possible improvements for the Satellite and Galaxy; new design modules, satellite support pages like wiki and google groups, and involvement of ESN webteam in the drupal community.

Also the improvement possibilities of ESN Solar Project (which consists of esn.org and ESN Supernova websites) has been discussed.

The requests from the Board and CNR have been analyzed and the solutions have been proposed.

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esn

inside

How to promote a local section

by Magdalena Wawrzonkowska

It is a common

disease of NGOs that although they do a wonderful work, they don’t get recognition. Lack of visibility, appreciation and people are the consequences. How to change it?

Erasmus Student Network is a big NGO which is one of our strongest points as we can promote our organization on international, national and local level. And each of them is very important to build a strong image of ESN. Which steps should we make to promote our local section? First we should think what is our strengths and weaknesses. Then it is very important to think how we can use our strong points to ‘kill’ the weak ones and that’s how or plan starts being created. The next step is to set out the goals and deadlines for them.

Our people They are our first stakeholders: never forget that the word of month is often the most effective one, and keep organising quality activities.

Our partners Whenever we have good relations with International Relation Office (or however it is called at our university) we can also reach another important group – the authorities of the university. It is very important

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esn

that among various student organizations our section can be noticeable for the heads of the university.

We can also cooperate with other NGOs, making common conferences, projects and other activities. If we support their work, they will support ours and when we work united the actions are more visible for the authorities, students and general public.

The press Thanks to the local journalists our target groups and general public can find out about us. But it’s not so easy to get them interested in our work: therefore we should contact them only if we really have something to say (i.e a really good project, or a big event). For a journalist the subject need to be catchy to attract the readers. Think what are the news in which you would be interested if you were a simple reader...

?

Which further steps can we do to promote our section? We can have PR materials of course and spread around the logo of our NGO. Thanks to them our organization can unwittingly appear in mind of other people.

The conclusion is that to promote our local section better we need to have a plan and stick to it step by step. We need to make an effort, but think about the results: more promotion=more people!

Diving into

esn

Esn Universe

Here you are. You have been working for ESN since a couple of years, you saw a call for candidates, sent an email... and as a sudden you are in front of 500 people, explaining them why they should vote for you.

by The International Board

And then you are in Brus sels, with some other people you don’t really know, but you are dying to work with...

Some time after the AGM in Prague the majority of us moved to Brussels to work and live at ESN International headquarters. Each month we met three days for Board Meetings which we used for team building, exchange of knowledge, evaluation of our work, distribution of tasks and so on Doing all our stuff alone was simply impossible. Therefore, we were very happy receiving support from the Webteam, the NRs, our secretary and Sara who came through the EVS scheme. This made life in Brussels easier, but still it had another side. Settling down in a new environment is never a piece of cake.

Dealing with Belgium authorities got on our nerves. Also, sometimes it was depressing to see how small stuff can consume a lot of time and the (constant) rain didn’t give us much pleasure.

On the other hand, it was full of excitement. New things coming up every day, when opening our mailboxes, they were sometimes full of surprises and it has been interesting to find creative ways of dealing with various issues.

And we always kept our heads up and a smile on our faces because we loved (we always will) spending time for you, for ESN.

And here we go, again...

One year has flown.

After a while everything seemed easier, we get used to work with each other, to do the laundry together, to go dancing and to argue without compromising our common work. And we will never forget those months in the ESN house...

Message for the next Board: guys, we wish you all the best!! Keep ESN over the edge!

Sometimes we really felt overwhelmed: moving to an unknown city, working and living in (very!) close contact with people we didn’t really know, dealing with an environment where everything moves faster…

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