eXpress01

welcome on board

editorial

01* index

01 02 04 06 08 10 11 12 14

editorial welcome on board

the east side a brief glance at Poland

e-crew

the national level a chance for a stronger network

responsable ESN magazine: Domenico Melpignano

Editorial team:

comes around goes around the long trip of Erasmus van during 2007

LLP for Europe to improve Erasmus life

enjoy the esn galaxy our new and interesting project

new point of view

Domenico Melpignano, Zahira Leticia Servera, Francesca Marcuzzo; Magdalena Wawrzonkowska, Ana Maria Panait, Valentina Settomini, Krzysztof Dzikiewicz, and the ESN International web team

cover image: Ischia sunshine / frama

design: frama / esn italy framaboy@yahoo.it

what makes the world go round

italians do it bigger!

3 events to celebrate Erasmus

inside esn the network structure for newbees

index

It is a pleasure to present the first new number ESN magazine. Since I started to work on this project many things have changed, been discussed and solved, so I’m honoured to announce the new, real and folkloristic name of the magazine: -press.

Why this name? I don’t know, because it was voted by all ESNers. The most important thing is that you like it!

Since the AGM 2007 in Prague on the PR Working Group has been looking for writers and macro-topics coordinators. The scope of this editorial team is to inform students, Erasmus students, universities, institutions and partners about what is going on around us, around our evergreen Erasmus world.

Thanks to the ESN international webteam an online version of press will soon be available, where everybody will be allowed to inform about those topics relevant for our world.

And I’m happy that some brave girls and guys started to tell us something about what they do and where they do it. For example, in this edition Magdalena Wawrzonkowska will tell us something about Poland and habits of the Poles. It is a purpose to give very small but significant details about it, you’ve to discover all the rest ;) Than Krzysztof Dzikiewicz explain the importance of having a National Board, and the benefits that a country receive because of this intermediate level between ESN International and the sections.

The new entry of the PRs, Valentina Settomini, in her article give us a general view of the Lifelong Learning Programme (LLP), which include all the actions undertaken by the EU to give to all the European citizens opportunities to study, train and make acknowledge experience around the “Old continent”.

Back to the webteam, it’s good to know the “tools” they are building and giving to the sections in order to improve knowledge and information among them. From their point of view, the astrological situation is pretty good: Galaxy, Satellites and Supernova are those crossways from which information is spread everywhere. Let’s just hope it doesn’t lead to ESN solar thunderstorm and black holes!

Many things happened since the AGM 2007 in Prague! Zahira Leticia Servera is ready to tell us about the Erasmus van and all the adventures beyond 25000 km of funny driving. Don’t forget to check http://20erasmus.eu/ to stay tuned on everything concerning this loooooong travel!

Travel, cities, history and cultures. Ana Maria Panait is ready to reveal to us an unusual full of honour and faith, this time not really from Europe, but with origin at the other side of the globe.

Lastly I will talk about my sunny Italy, telling the story of three big events organized to celebrate 20 glorious years of the Erasmus programme. Sunny beaches, fun, rock music and the typical ESN spirit(us) were the glue of those 7000 people that joined the three events in Northern, Central and Southern Italy. See you there!!!

Domenico Melpignano ESN Magazine Coordinator

good luck

1

eurrooppeeaannss

http://www.uni-bocconi.it

Magdalena Wawrzonkowska PR ESN Poland

a brief glance at Poland A lot of Erasmus students (before they become one) think about choosing the country for the adventure of their lives. They choose one particular country, because they want to deepen their language knowledge or they think that studying in this country will help them in their both professional and personal experience or sometimes they choose rather ‘exotic’ one. How exotic is my country for Erasmus students? And what can it offer them?

What is Poland in the opinion of an average foreigner like? It’s a country in the Eastern Europe, near Russia. The capital city is Warsaw covered by snow and with temperatures unbearable low. Luckily, we have Polka dance, Chopin’s music and of course vodka which helps us to warm up. Sometimes wild bears sneak into the cities searching for food and a bit of warmth as well. Typical Pole is tall blond strong guy with a beautiful wife by his side.

However, he doesn’t spend a lot of time with her as he works laboriously on his field without necessary machines having only his faithful horse to help. When the work doesn’t go as he would wish to he

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Mazury Lake / Poland uses bad words with ‘rrrrrrr’ inside.

By the way, have I mentioned that his surname finishes with ‘ski’ (as an exception with ‘ak’ or ‘ik’)? He is a strong believer praying at the evening and going to church every Sunday. His ancestors suffered a lot during the Second World War because of the German invasion and extermination camps. He was brought up in poverty during the times of communism but then Lech Wałęsa himself caused the decline of the system and introduced democracy. Nowadays Mr. Kowalski (or Nowak) leads his peaceful life complaining about everything and criticizing all decisions of European Union.

These are of course all the stereotypes and prejudices about Poland collected in one.

What is Poland in the opinion of the former Erasmus students like?

It has variety of beautiful small and big cities with huge range of architectonic styles in the vicinity of which we have cosy countryside with evergreen forests among. It’s

so unbearable hot in Poland sometimes! Wild bears must have hidden in the forests because of the heat, they don’t appear on the streets anymore. The cuisine is original, tasteful and based on home-made dishes. A typical Polish student, although his native tongue is ununderstandable and impossible to learn, speaks good English, German and some other languages as well. As a ‘sociable animal’ and quite a good student he doesn’t dig himself in books neither looses himself in parties, he can easily divides his time into ‘partying part’ and ‘university part’. It’s true that the first of them requires sometimes ‘warming up facilities’ mentioned before, but he doesn’t follow the rule ‘Drunk as a Pole’. When it’s about the history and political situation nowadays he respects the history of his country, but he’s neither xenophobic nor unforgiving. And he’s mostly like ‘pierogi’ (typical Polish dish) – you never know what it’s inside, but the filling is generally surprising and always nice.

Università Bocconi was founded in 1902, and over a century late it is still at the forefront in the study of economics, business and law.

Located in Milan, Italy's crossroads for finance, media and design, Bocconi regards its strength in economic research and education in a broader perspective that encompasses management and business law as well as economics proper: As a student you will be encouraged to step outside your academic specialty and take in the bigger picture.

And what a big picture! One thing that international students quickly discover about Milan is that it is definitely not a sleepy tourist town resting on its Renaissance laurels.

This city moves, whether you are working or playing. A great number of concerts, art exhibits, pubs, clubs and restaurants at all price ranges compete for a slice of your free time.

The city center is full of fashion products and fashionable places – great for shopping, browsing or just people-watching, and inexpensive rapid transport gets you there without having to brave the traffic.

Your class group at Bocconi will also contribute to broadening your horizons – young people from over 30 countries study here.

You’ll be struck by the diversity you find on a campus wher you can routinely hear groups of people speaking English - including Italians, because Bocconi is where you’ll find a high percentage of Italy’s most open-minded and internationally-oriented students.

Get a group of friends together and head out in any direction: you almost can’t miss. The Alps, the lake country, the Riviera, not to mention the cultural treasures of two millennia beckon for an afternoon or a weekend, all within easy reach from Milan.

If you don’t feel like traveling, you can take in one of the many cultural and extracurricular events offered right on campus.

Back in class, you’ll be inspired by contact with the qualified international professors that Bocconi has systematically recruited as part of our ten-year Strategic Plan. All in all, your time at Università Bocconi really can be an extraordinary multicultural experience.

And what’s more, when you step out your door you’re in Italy.

national level

ast

Krzysztof Dzikiewicz President of ESN Poland

There are many active sections all around Europe, but let’s analyze what we actually do. We welcome Erasmus students, organize parties, trips or other events for them.

Some sections also offer information to outgoing students about possibilities of exchange. Is this really all the ESNers can prepare? Do we do our best to improve the mobility and to fulfill our mission? From the experience in ESN Poland I can strongly state that there are far more things which ESN, as the international organization presents in 33 countries, can offer to the society.

The national level of ESN has a huge potential which is ready to explore!

One network for a unique project What is obvious for ESN is that all local sections in fact have the same activities, needs and problems. It is easy to find out that with this structure of the organization ESN sections should communicate with each other, exchange knowledge and implement the best practice demonstrated by others. Thanks to the network we can prepare common projects which can be focused on Erasmus students and our ESN members.

Why not to organize the trip to the partner section? Why not have a training event on how to build good relations with the university and how to apply for further financial support?

Such cooperation is crucial for the strong network we build and the more

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e c n ha

c

for the

ronger

Network links we build the more we can do together. ESN card is nothing if it works only in one city, it is a big project when this is accepted in one region but best of all it is when it is recognized internationally in the whole network.

International, national or local On the other hand, we all need to have in mind that Europe is still divided by borders. The differences between sections are based on the culture, national heritage, higher education systems or simply different ways in which Universities operate their student support. If we see these barriers it is still easier to work together and share the useful tips within the country. This was probably the inspiration for the National Platform, the National Board and the National Representative to be put in the Statues of ESN AISBL.

the government and to other funds.

The National Board can work together with its most obvious partner - the National Agency of Erasmus Programme, which distribute grants for universities and take care of promotion of the Erasmus. A good example of this is the cooperation between ESN Poland and Polish National Agency which is at a very high level.

We have regular meetings, we are given financial support (e. g. for issuing calendars after our photo competition or a special grant for the 20th anniversary of the program), we organize conferences together and, ultimately both sides benefit considerably. The only key to being successful in such a contact with institutions is that the National Board has a legal power and represents the significant number of sections which operate nationally. The same rule goes with the various businesses which can provide corporate sponsorship for our projects.

What kind of future?

National level can be much more than a meeting of a country’s sections. We simply need to remember the obvious rule that demonstrates the basic purpose of ESN: the more sections collaborate the more power the organization has. As the national president I represent all the national sections and apply for recognition. The legally registered national body can apply for grants to

Building it step by step Building a strong national level of ESN, like in Italy, Poland, Switzerland, Austria and others, is a step forward in the development of the organization. Working together sections can prepare serious projects like conferences, national campaigns, international trainings and many more! ESN can then have a voice in the National Youth Councils and can justifiably

claim to represent exchange students when dealing with any education institutions. Knowing the needs of exchange students allows us to aim for better provisions for them in this way.

The important remark is that the national level gives possibilities for development for the members of the network. The new horizon is open and those who are ambitious and motivated can take the position of national coordinator, board member or go further to the international level. We all note the gap between the International Board and the local members is huge. Having a developed national level can really change it for better.

How national level works The model of national levels works successfully and in my opinion all countries should build sooner or later national levels which will act in the way shown above. With the new projects and bigger numbers of sections and countries in ESN there is a real need for a national level to facilitate communication and organizational capacity. I am happy that the current International Board seems to understand this need which became apparent with the changes made during the last AGM. The Council of National Delegates, which was established then, should be a platform for exchanging experience with national level and step by step become a meeting of all National Boards.

about the

autor Krzysztof Dzikiewicz joined ESN in Warsaw School of Economics in 2005 and was a Treasurer of the section.

At his first NP in Katowice (February 2006) he was a elected to the Polish National Board. He was the Secretary till February 2007 when he was nominatedfor the position of the President.

Representing ESN Poland, he was a strong supporter of CND during the CNR in January and during the AGM in Prague.

Contact: president@esn.pl

Krt 5

t s e g n the Esn event o ipof Zahira Leticia Servera Vicepresident ESN Spain 20 Erasmus Team

More than 25 countries, 10000 students and dozens of universities have received the visit of the Erasmus Van just in 3 months.

L tr

erasmus Student Network

erasmus

exchanges

From Prague to Zagreb, from Istanbul to Porto the most challenging trip and the longest one (around 25000 km) of Erasmus Student Network has been a reality and a big success.

Rectors, professors, students, esners and even commissioners and politicians have celebrated with ESN the 20 years of the Erasmus programme. The ones who took some days off and travelled with the van from one place to another had the opportunity to taste, learn and experience Erasmus itself and how different countries celebrate it.

A three day music festival in Rome, a zoo visit in Prague, a boat trip in Budapest and an airplane show in Murcia that drew the colours of the Spanish flag in the sky are some of the activities realized during the visits of the Erasmus van.

It was very interesting how countries celebrated Erasmus and how they reacted to the van visit. In Bratislava for example, students didn’t want to be in front of the video camera of europocket, they even ran and hide from it! But on the contrary in Italy or Spain the students not only liked the fact to be on TV but also they talked all the time in front of the camera without any semblance of shyness.

In some countries like Switzerland, you could see how easily that people can understand you switching from English to French or German without any problem, while in some others like Austria or Hungary it was difficult to be understood if you didn’t speak their language.

The van volunteers were distributing the 20 years CD with the best Erasmus experiences and explanations about Erasmus and ESN. They also recovered suggestions and comments of Erasmus everywhere they went and the full records including pictures, stickers and nice comments of the whole journey should be online soon.

It has been an exciting, fulfilling and intensive journey which could not have been possible without the support and the organization of the different branches of Erasmus Student Network as well as other associations and international relations offices.

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your

Life 7

Erasmus Valentina Settomini

f i L

How European Union decided to unify 4 different programmes and develop a new opportunity to grow up as europeans.

Lifelong Learning Programme is the result of a Decision signed by the Presidents of the European Parliament and by the Council on 15 November 2006, published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 24 November. It came into force on 14 December 2006.

This fact will represent an important novelty in the future, because from 2007 the Lifelong Learning Programme brings together four existing programmes1:

Comenius Comenius, which is aimed to satisfy some teaching and learning needs of all those in preschool and school education. It supports the cooperation between schools across Europe on shared projects around language learning and other areas of the curriculum;

Erasmus Erasmus, which addresses the teaching and learning needs of staff and students in Higher Education. It provides support for Higher Education Institutions across Europe to work on shared projects including curriculum development and other areas;

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g n o L e

g n i n r a e L Programme

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo da Vinci, which enables people who are involved in vocational education and training to benefit from work experience placements and career development opportunities in another country;

Grundtvig Grundtvig, which funds smallscale, community-based activities.

It is designed to develop basic skills and to enable learners to play a more active role in their communities. The programme is open to people involved in adult education.

Economic target The indicative financial envelope for the implementation of this Decision for the period of seven years as from 1 January 2007 is set at EUR 6.970.000.000. The Commission shall ensure that the financial and administrative requirements placed on beneficiaries of grants awarded under the Lifelong Learning Programme are proportionate to the level of the grant. In particular, the Commission shall ensure that the financial rules and the application and reporting requirements for individual mobility and for partnerships remain user-friendly

and sufficiently simple not to restrict access for less advantaged individuals and the institutions or organisations that work with them.

In particular, the Commission shall provide the national agencies with criteria which they shall follow in regard to selection and award procedures, as well as contract and payment/audit arrangements, for the funds they manage.

These criteria shall take into account the size of the grants made and, where grants are less than EUR 25.000, they shall provide for simplified systems at all stages involving applicants or beneficiaries2.

The Lifelong Learning Programme is supported by the transversal programme which focuses on: 1. Policy development, aimed to support at the European Level the definition of politics and the cooperation in the field of Lifelong Learning; 2. Promotion of the foreign languages, directed to promote languages learning and to support the linguistic diversity between Members States; 3. New Technologies, whose scope is to accompany the development of contents, services, pedagogical solutions and innovative praxis

based on the information and communication technology(ICT); 4. Dissemination and publicity of the results obtained, in order to guarantee the acknowledgment, the demonstration and the application in an adequate shape and on a large scale of Program’s results.

Jean Monnet Furthermore, the Jean Monnet programme focuses on enabling and encouraging European countries to work together more closely. It also offers support to key partners in the field.

nity as an advanced knowledge society, with sustainable economic development, more and better jobs and greater social cohesion. It aims to foster interaction, cooperation and mobility between education and training systems within the Community, so that they become a world quality reference.

As regards the four sectoral programmes, quantified targets have been set in order to ensure a significant, identifiable and measurable impact for the programme.

These targets are as follows:

for Comenius: Youth in Action Another possibility is represented by the Youth in Action programme which offers a range of international activities for young people aged 13 to 30.

The aim of the new programme is to contribute through lifelong learning to the development of the Commu-

To involve at least three million pupils in joint educational activities, over the period of the programme;

for Erasmus: To contribute to the achievement by 2012 of three million individual participants in student

mobility under the present programme and its predecessors;

for Leonardo da Vinci: To increase placements in enterprises to 80,000 per year by the end of the programme;

for Grundtvig: To support the mobility of 7,000 individuals involved in adult education per year, by 2013.

1

Look at: http://ec.europa.eu/education/programmes/newprog/index_en. html 2 Article 14, Chapter III and point B of the Annex, Decision No.1720/2006/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 November 2006, establishing an action programme in the field of lifelong learning. For more detailed informations look at: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/site/en/oj/2006/l_327/l_327 20061124en00450068.pdf

Krt

Lifelong Learning Programme: http://ec.europa.eu/education/programmes/newprog/index_en.html Comenius : http://ec.europa.eu/education/programmes/llp/comenius/index_en.html Erasmus : http://ec.europa.eu/education/programmes/llp/erasmus/erasmus_en.html Leonardo da Vinci: http://ec.europa.eu/education/programmes/llp/leonardo/index_en.html Grundtvig: http://ec.europa.eu/education/programmes/llp/grundtvig/index_en.html Transversal Programme: http://ec.europa.eu/education/programmes/llp/structure/transversal_en.html Jean Monnet programme: http://ec.europa.eu/education/programmes/ajm/index_en.html Youth in Action: http://ec.europa.eu/youth/yia/index_en.html

for more

info on:

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on lliinnee

enjoy

ESN webteam Andrea, Peter & Antonio

What is ESN? So short a question, so difficult an answer, as any ESN active knows.

Well, it is a huge network, for sure: dozens of countries, hundreds of sections, thousands of members; but numbers are far insufficient to describe it. Not that words can enjoy a much greater success: volunteers, students helping students, national representatives, fostering mobility; but still not enough to convey the meaning.

The Erasmus Student Network is so rich and diverse because every country, every section, every member can interpret it its way and give its peculiar contribution to it. Is it thus impossible to tell the external world what ESN is in concrete, beyond numbers and words?

No, because all of us belong to the ESN Galaxy.

The http://galaxy.esn.org website displays a big map of Europe with balloons for every section in the Galaxy (potentially every ESN section): by clicking on a balloon you can see the next planned events in that section, links to "more information" pages, local news, local partners and contact details.

The "20 Erasmus" project experiences are also displayed in the map, with links to the individual student exchange stories.

Everything in one interactive page, that can really give an idea how varied and lively ESN is to the outside world. Perfect for potential partners, perfect for showing to your University offices and prospective members what ESN concretely is.

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the

ESN Galaxy

And good for ESN too!

We are scattered throughout Europe and even for a section of ours it may be hard to know what activities are being organised by the nearby sections; many valuable ideas and tips that would be nice to implement are lost due to lack of information.

With the ESN Galaxy we become a real network, with fast and automated information flow between sections and a graphical, intuitive, representation of what ESN is and does.

It is absolutely effortless for a section to join the ESN Galaxy: just install ESN Satellite, the free section website template developed by the ESN Webteam and available at http://satellite.esn.org.

You will get a nice website, packed with features (news with comments, events calendar, partners list, customizable photo gallery, private areas for registered users) that you can individually activate/deactivate depending

or your needs; moreover, ESN Satellite is very easy to administer, so that ordinary, non-technical section members can update the website in an extremely intuitive way; in the end, ESN Satellite will make you part of the ESN Galaxy: you can enable it to automatically transmit news, events and partners to the ESN Galaxy, so everything will appear there with absolutely no need of work but theinitial registration!

Even non-Satellite websites can be configured to appear in the ESN Galaxy as long as you make specific RSS/iCal feeds available and contact webteam@esn.org for activation details.

The ESN Galaxy will also enable better and more effective communication from the International to the local level: ESN Satellite can optionally be enabled to automatically display a box with the latest news from ESN International, so that, if you wish information about important ESN projects like the ESN Survey can appear on a dedicated box on your homepage without any intervention from you!

The ESN Galaxy is under active development and the webteam is extending it beyond the initial idea: among the latest integrated features we have the ability to filter content by type and country, to better serve the needs of National Boards. And we can implement your ideas too, just let us know!

See the Galaxy and learn how to join at

http://galaxy.esn.org

What makes

the world go round Ana Maria Panait ESN Italy member

It was a train departing from Milano centrale and going to Livorno, a place you usually don’t know where to put on the map if you come from a foreign country. A train is always an enigma, you know where you’re supposed to arrive but don’t have a clue about who you’re going to meet on your way or how.

Mystery resolved. The skies didn’t open themselves to chant Glory Halleluiah when Andrew Ono entered my compartment, but the feeling that it was going to be an unusual trip was certainly there. Tall and slim, white haired and with Oriental lineaments, you could easily mistake this mild mannered man for one of the thousands of Japanese tourists storming Italy in search of the Stendhal-syndrome revelation.

He entered, put up his world-in-mybag suitcase and, after he asked all of us whether it was the right train, took his seat by the door. No one talked, as busy as we were trying to keep polite silence, but when he opened a plastic can and offered all of us a bit of his onion flavoured macadamia nuts, I decided it was high time I found out something more.

Andrew Ono was a Hawaiian Japanese American travelling to the town of Tendola in Toscana to pay homage to the WWII Hawaiian victims. It wasn’t the first time he came, as previously he had visited it together with Sadaichi Kubota, who had a promise to fulfill to a long-departed friend: “You see, the tradition in the 442nd was that whenever a soldier was promoted to lead a squad, he led by example and took the “point”, to advance at the front of the squad, and thereby become the first man that the enemy would encounter. On that day, April 24, 1944, Beanie insisted on taking the “point” for Sada.

The mission of Sada’s squad was to approach the town of Tendola and determine whether the enemy was pre-

n.p.of.v.

sent. A shot rang out, and Beanie fell, killed by a sniper’s bullet. Sada felt for sixty years that Beanie had taken the bullet that was meant for him. So, he had vowed to return to Tendola, and finding the spot, burn incense and give a Buddhist prayer. He did that. Several months after returning to Hawaii, Sada, who appeared in perfect health, suddenly passed away”.

We are taught that money makes the world go round, that efficiency is one of the leading human traits, that people would normally evaluate pros and cons before any decision, that sense is supposed to predominate over sensibility. Then the myth of the human as a rational animal is taken to pieces as we discover that people undertake 12.500 km-long trips to fulfill a promise, greet the memory of people they have never met, say a Buddhist prayer by the tomb of a friend, recognize the impact of the past on the future: “Italy is full of the past. The people are demonstrably proud of their long and varied history, their art, their culture. In contrast, I find that we Americans are more full of the future. Still, it is a “balance” between the past and future that makes the present. And it is important for us Americans to become aware of where we variously came from, our different histories and cultures, to bring understanding synthesis to our future”.

While growing up my parents would always say “I’ll go to Honolulu” to mean a place beyond reach, an epitome of absurd at its best, inhabited by an unusual, strange species, that no one will ever reach. Guido Piovene, an Italian author once wrote “The best things in life, our hope lies not in the relationships imposed to us by our social environment, but in this invisible net of questions and answers between people all around the Globe, that have never met before and who will die unaware of one another”. The world has just gotten smaller.

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insiiddee eessnn

italians do it bigger Domenico Melpignano RN, rn@esn.it

three big events to celebrate twenty years of Erasmus programme The month of May 2007 was the hardest ever seen for the Italian volunteers of ESN. With the celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the Erasmus Programme among the universities, ESN Italy and its sections organized three huge events in Northern, Central and Southern Italy, involving thousands Erasmus students, citizens and institutions.

The first event was “Venti di Erasmus” (playing with the double meaning of the Italian word “venti”, which means wind and twenty) in Bologna and Rimini. It was a joint-venture with the Presidency of the Ministers Council, the Civil Protection, the Ministry of Youth and Sport Policy and other local institutions. The first day, May 9th, was held in Bologna and started in the Aula Magna Santa Lucia, where the Declaration of the Bologna process was signed. The Rector of the University of Bologna, Prof. Pier Ugo Calzolari, introduced the Italian Prime Minister, Prof. Romano Prodi, and many others political, cultural and economical figures, among them Jacques Delors, former President of the European Commission and Sara Cellemme, Junior Marketing Manager of Heineken Italia and former National Representative of ESN Italy. Between the audience were present ministers, rectors, politicians and last but not the least, delegates of ESN from Poland, UK and Switzerland, beside the delegates of the Italian ESN sections.

Many topics were discussed by the politicians on the common topic of “Erasmus and student mobility” and the bravest affirmation was made by Mr.

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Prodi, that would introduce a compulsory study or training experience abroad in every academic course.

Volunteers of ESN Bologna, headed by Manuel Marabese, made a good job organizing the Pallomeri prosecution of the day, in fact the night twisted in the ESN way!

For the first time it has been issued the V.E.P. (Very Erasmus Person) Pass was issued, allowing participants entrance to the rock party in Chalet dei Giardini Margherita as well as a couple of free drinks during the concert which included three Erasmus bands from Bologna and one from Padova.

After a night singing and dancing, the next morning the ESN delegates, Erasmus students and professors and administrative persons from the University participated at round tables and meetings about the progress of the exchange programmes. Signals of appreciation for the result of those discussions came from the Italian LLP National Agency, with whom ESN Italy has worked and fruitfully for some time.

In the afternoon, the event moved to Rimini, where the local section of ESN, captained by Domenico Melpignano and Aurelio Finelli and assisted by ESN Italy trainee Maud Civallero and a host of the Erasmus students, welcomed around 500 people. Some of them were Erasmus students in Italy coming with their ESN section, but the majority were former Italian Exchange students. The three days in Rimini had been fulfilled by sport, art, dance and meeting with artists, comedians, and politicians, but above all sun, beach and fun.

The nights became colourful thanks to the

ESN Live Project, where Erasmus bands where playing their own music and amazing the audience. Thanks to the chairman of this project, Fabrizio Costantino, participants were been surrounded by rock music. Even thought, after the concert participants moved to Velvet disco enjoying afro, reggae, rock and house music.

Special guests of the event included Aleidita Guevara March (Ernesto Guevara’s daughter), Victoria Cabello (from MTV Italy), Luca Bizzarri e Paolo Kessisoglu (from Le iene, Mediaset).

The final night ended with a huge concert with very famous Italian groups: Tiromancino, Afterhours, Bandabardò, LNRIPLEY. Rock, electro and ska music for 4000 people!!!

One week later 1100 Erasmus students from all over Italy “conquered” the picturesque region of Calabria, better known as Calabrifornia , for its warm climate, nice beaches and folkloristic citizens.

But the National Event (Evento Nazionale) didn’t start in Calabria at Capo Vaticano, but in Milan on Wednesday 16/5: a special train transferred along Italy participants from the North to the South with six different stops, due to participants loading at the stations. Next morning the train arrived in Calabria and participants moved to the starting conference and than to the tourist village at Capo Vaticano. During the four days Erasmus students enjoyed sea, sun, trips, bikini and food, and of course, the Heineken parties!!! In the meantime ESNers had the National Platform, renewed the Board and joined the European Parliament Official Forum of citizens.

The last day participants attended the concert in their honour at Tropea, where thousands of citizens

got in touch with an unusual but funny atmosphere, the Erasmus! On Sunday 20/5 the special train brought back home the participants, wasted, tired but with a full heart of Pallomeri spirit(us).

Finally with a few more clean clothes and a new found energy, from copius amount of RedBull, some brave ESNers and Erasmus students moved to Rome, where the Rome sections of ESN, ESN Roma (President Valerio Noviello) and Erasmus³ (President Diana Valcarce), with the big help of institutions and universities organized “20erasmus@Roma”, the most intense event under the institutional aspect. Workshops on “hot European topics”, round tables with Emma Bonino (Minister for International Trade and European Policy) and Giovanna Melandri (Minister for Youth and sport policy), and also Luigi Cocilovo (Vicepresident European Parliament), Pier Virgilio Dastoli (Director of European Commission representation in Italy), Silvia Corradi (promoter of the Erasmus programme), Domenico Lenarduzzi (former Director of the Erasmus programme promoter agency), Clara Grano (Italian National Referent for Erasmus Programme).

But 20erasmus@Roma had also an informal side with music and expositions. Frequentia Musica and the illustrious presence of Erasmus Van gave a full international atmosphere at the occasion. Artists from Spain, France, Switzerland, Germany and Italy brought to the village photos, painting, music. The tour of the “eternal city”, as Rome is also known, was held by Dino Margiotta, president of AEGEE Roma. The Erasmus village in Rome has been visited by 2500 people, and participants were around 300, the last survivors of this crazy year.

ESN Italy is proud of the work that sections made to realize all this, hoping that all the efforts will bring soon results and awareness of the Erasmus phenomenon.

13

insiiddee eessnn

esnforstructure

Francesca Marcuzzo external@esn.org

Well, you are reading this, no?

That means you are kind of interested in this ESN-thing. But what’s ESN exactly?

Well, how can I explain it to you? I think you will like ESN if you like travelling and learning something about yourself and about the outside world.

If you are the kind of person who does not care about sleeping on a friend’s sofa instead of a proper bed, or if you like to try new food, new ways to eat, new songs and new ways to dance.

You will definitely like ESN if you are interested in exchange programmes, like Erasmus. Yes, Erasmus.

Didn’t I mention it before? My bad.

ESN stands for Erasmus Student Network, simply because it all started with the Erasmus programme. There were a bunch of former erasmus guys and girls who came back and realized that during the exchange they were changed. Developed. And they missed the wonderful time they’ve spent abroad. And they knew that when you are outside your country the problems that are usually small become huge and you may need some help.

So they decided to start ESN. Actually ESN is run by a group of mainly twenty-somethings who like to stay in touch with exchange folks in their own university; and who are organizing a lot of nice activities for foreign students, such as cultural trips, events introducing the locals and their culture (cuisine, music, way to live life..) and parties. Basically they establish a direct contact with each other, and do everything they normally do with their friends but in the meantime they learn a foreign language, improve their organizing skills and learn how to deal with different cultures. I think that’s why people do it for free: because it’s worth it anyway. And maybe that’s why a lot of former exchange students join ESN; because they find the same atmosphere they experienced during their period abroad.

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Our meetings

newbees

But of course ESN doesn’t stop here: we like to travel! That’s why we meet whenever we can: all together during our Annual General Meeting (next one in Besançon), in our Regional Platformsand for the Cultural Medley. I don’t need to list them all, you can check them on www.esn.org.

A meeting is enough to know how other people are dealing with the same problems as you, or simply to enjoy the pleasure of meeting with somebody that shares your outlook; So that’s why ESN has both national and international level: because a national board can talk with national government or big enterprises, and work with them to gain bigger discounts for t-shirts or organize huge events where people meet together in the same place for reasonable prices.

And every nation has a voice in the international level, no matter what dimension it has, thanks to the work of the National Representatives, a bunch of guys and girls who help the international board in its work.

International Board And who are in the international board? Five people who have been elected by all the local representatives (so, by the guys who are acting directly with the exchange students).

They are not paid, but have their expenses reimbursed, since they live all together in Brussels. And what are they doing? And why are they there?

Well, they are volunteering, but ESN gives them the possibility to carry on and achieve their projects, and they have the chance to help the rest of the network: so far, the international board has developed an ESN discount card, a Newsletter, several partnerships with other NGOs, and found sponsors: For example, all ESNers now can fly cheaper with Skyeurope and be insured with Tradiconsult and they are still working on other possibilities. Now ESN is in the European

Youth Forum which isn’t bad especially if you consider that it’s not that easy to get in.

ESN and the EC Plus, thanks to their work, ESN has been chosen as official partner of the European Commission in the celebration of Erasmus programme: a Van has been to more than 30 different cities, carrying more than 60 volunteers for free and hanging around Europe to promote the exchange programmes. Don’t think this is possible? Check the website www.xxerasmus.eu.

Generation mobility Not only that, since ESN is meant to help exchange students, the international level has launched a survey to check what’s going on in their world; the results are freely accessible and were presented to the European Commission.

Webteam is working hard Finally, the ESN webteam is now developing a useful tool for every travelling person: an interactive map of Europe where will be possible to find out where the coolest parties are, the best faculties and all sorts of interesting information for people without borders. They also offer a free website template that everybody in ESN can easily install and manage, even for those without IT knowledge. They are available at http://galaxy.esn.org All this in one year? Just five people? Well, everything that I mentioned was achieved in two years (thanks to the work that former international boards have done). And as for the five people, they are not alone. There are a multitude of working groups that anybody can join who take care of different tasks: talking with potential international sponsors and with external press, publishing this magazine, carrying out the Survey, IT projects and much more!