SocialErasmus week Spring2014 by ESN Košice

SE week in Košice was dedicated to local students and our 4-legged animal friends. ESN Košice organised 3 SE activities. First one was Erasmus in schools during the week and two weekend activities dog walking and stable cleaning & horse riding (hippotherapy). Altogether 10 Erasmus students and 5 ESN members took part in these activities.

Erasmus in schools on 28.4 was traditionally successful activity organised at our partner EiS school – Hotel Academy in Košice. They are very welcoming and always happy to have Erasmus students at their classes. Two hours passed so fast as always. Two Erasmus students, Alexandra and Kisesa became an international guests in the class 2.A. Both Erasmus students prepared interesting presentations about their countries, Poland and Tanzania that brought hidden interesting info about these countries. After presentations students were divided into two groups and the practical part of EiS started. First activity aimed at speaking – free conversation among the local students and Erasmus student while local students were supposed to find the most information about their Erasmus guest. Second activity was crosswords, one about Africa, second one about Poland and then also two with the Europe theme. As Hotel Academy is associated with tourism studies, other activity included maps of Poland, Africa, Europe and students were supposed to mark some interesting touristic places and other places on the map. Before the last activity students were asked to answer some short questions about EiS project with the main aim to find out what did it bring to them. The last activity, the most creative one was T-shirts painting. Local students painted the T-shirt with some nice comments and pictures for our Erasmus students and they were very pleased! 

The first weekend activity, dog walking took place in the same animal shelter in Košice – Haniska -  Únia vzájomnej pomoci ľudí a psov as usually. Erasmus students bought some little treats, pasta and rice for those little ones and with mixed expectations entered the shelter. Just after 10 mins everybody was running with a dog around the shelter. In three hours we took around 15 dogs for a walk. Some of them didn't want to enter the shelter again. At the end everybody was happy, tired Erasmus students but with smile on their faces and exhausted dogs with long tongues. 

We finished the week in the spirit of animals and on Sunday 4 Erasmus students from the Technical University of Košice attended a stable cleaning connected with hippotherapy event and neither the windy weather stopped them. This event took place on the small horse farm in Košice-Šaca. This farm, called Hippocentrum Šaca, is run by a non-profit organisation Klub priateľov koní. The club focuses on hippotherapy for children with palsy and recreational riding. Before the event we bought some carrots, apples and sugar cubes for the horses. After this little shopping spree we moved to the farm. Were welcomed by the owners and they showed us around. Except 7 beautiful horses and 2 ponies they also have around 7 dogs and many rabbits and guinea pigs. 

The cleaning went really well and we were done quite quickly. After the hard-work we got invited for coffee and tea by the owners. We learnt some interesting facts about their farm and hippotherapy. After that lovely coffee break we cleaned the horses and saddled them meanwhile we rewarded them for patience with sweet apples, carrots and sugar cubes. The students did not forget about the rabbits and guinea pigs either which also got some carrots to munch. After the horses got saddled we moved to a nearby meadow where everybody could ride a horse either alone or guided by the owner. The two ponies followed us around like dogs which was very amusing. We could say there was some horse-walking going on. It was getting dark when we got home from the meadow. We helped the owners with putting everything back to its place and we left some donation for the Hippocentrum to help them. The students left with happy faces and a nice experience. Some of them were interested in attending such event again or at least visiting the centre in the future. It was a very nice end to the SocialErasmus week and we are looking forward to the next visit! 

Some feedback and warm words from Amadeo from Spain:

“The staff was very kind. They invited us to have a tea and explained “hippotherapy” to us. After cleaning the stables we went to ride the horses for couple of hours. For me it was much fun, a great experience, and we received much more than we gave!” 

Authors: Andrea Hanáková, ESN Košice president & Anna Beňová, ESN Košice local SocialErasmus coordinator