Welcome Week Summer Term 2016

(15th -19th of February) 

Welcome week was a great start of the Summer term where “new“ and “old“ Erasmus students got a chance to get to know each other better and creat new frienships. Again, the week was full of activities.
On Monday, February 15th, we officially began the summer term for our new incoming Erasmus students. And what is a better way to start if not with music? :) ESN Košice with cooperation with ESN Prešov presented a music show of ESN Prešov’s president, Vlado Železňák. The musical concert was only the small part of the whole evening. But let’s take it step by step. The concert was hosted in the popular coffee/bar/bistro/gallery, basically all in one, Tabačka. The big star of the evening and the main performer was a pianist and composer, Vlado Železňák with guests. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vlado performed several electro tracks already composed before, but with live piano playing. One of the songs had a success in international musical competition. To make it even more interesting, he was accompanied by 2 great musicians playing a violin and percussion. The evening was probably most enjoyable for Spanish students in the moment, when Vlado stood alongside the piano and sang the song in Spanish language. For all those with a brave soul, there was an opportunity to go down on stage and compose a melody with the musicians.                                                       
 As was mentioned, the concert was only a small part of the evening. Vlado is not only a great pianist, but he is also a president of local ESN board in Prešov. It was a great idea to create a closer cooperation between two biggest cities in the Eastern Slovakia…and we made it! Students from both cities, from all universities met at one place and had such a fun together. We believe that this concert will become a nice tradition for future welcome weeks and Erasmus students, and also the first step of ... some kind of small Eastern union :)

A: Hi, how are you? My name is … And what’s your name?
B: Hi, I’m fine, thanks! My name is … and I’m from …
Something like this was a common beginning of conversations during “Speed dating” organized by ESN Košice as a part of Welcome week on Tuesday, February 16th. Loads of new Erasmus students as well as some “old” gathered in T-club and tried to find out more about each other. Benches were aligned into two long rows of which one was for girls and the other for boys. During the period of one minute, the participants had to find out as much interesting facts about each other as possible. And remember it! :- ) After one minute boys moved to another girl and the conversations stared all over again. Believe it or not, but it was a quite tough job!  
Nevertheless, the atmosphere was really good, people had a great time, we talked a lot and hopefully, we will remember each other next time we meet.

Welcome dinner in Summer term was organised on Wednesday, February 17th in a beautiful traditional Slovak restaurant with modern elements – U šuhaja. It is a typical Slovak restaurant with wooden interior including wooden tables, chairs and beautiful traditional decoration. Almost eighty Erasmus students came to taste our traditional food – Bryndzové Halušky (potato dumplings with sheep cheese) and as a dessert they served homemade salt cakes – oškvarkové pagáčiky. In the background there was a traditional Slovak folk music played. Erasmus students liked and praised our halušky and pagáčiky and ate everything. Dinner was very successful and we had a great time together.

The guided tour took a place  in front of the Hotel Hilton on Thursday, February 18th  at 3 p.m. and our aim was to explore the Old Town of Košice. 
Despite the fact that only three Erasmus students came, we had a pleasant walk around our historical city during which we discovered for example the most eastern Gothic cathedral (St. Elisabeth´s Cathedral), the birthplace of Bela Gerster (co-architect of Panama and Corinthian Channel) or Rodošto (the Memorial house of Francis II. Rákoczi built in Turkish style).
Due to the fact that two of the students are coming from Turkey, they were very pleased to see an impact of Turkish culture in Košice. 
We made also several pictures as a proof that we had a lot of fun besides listening to the historical facts. The students got some more information about our small, but still charming city.

What rhymes with Friday? Party! The last day of the welcome week, Friday 19th, was dedicated to having some fun and dancing. The evening started traditionally at the dormitory at Jedlikova 13, where few of our ESN members came to join Erasmus students before the party and just have some fun. The party took place in Noise Arena and officially began at 23:00. It was a great opportunity to get “old” and “new” Erasmus together so they could get to know each other better and just break the ice. And they did! We danced until the early morning which was our cue to go home and get some sleep 
Food, tour, music, and dancing, what a great start of a new semester! We had fun and we hope for our Erasmus to enjoy the rest of the semester the same. Have fun! 

Authors: Peter Matík, Ján Krchňák, Viktória Pirochová, Zuzana Gimerová, Barbora Bobaľová
Photos: ESN Košice