Welcome week – winter term 2014

One of the best welcome weeks ever! Every event crowded with 70 – 90 Erasmus students, what an amazing first week! Thank you Erasmus in Kosice 2014/2015.

Our welcome week started by the first welcome info meeting at Pavol Jozef Safarik University on 16 September. This meeting was basic introductory meeting for  new 44 UPJS Erasmus students. They were welcome by the university Erasmus coordinator Mrs. Viktória Giannakos and other departmental coordinators. ESN Kosice had a welcome presentation during which presented plan for the winter term 2014. The same welcome info meeting happened week later on 22nd of September at the Technical University where university Erasmus coordinator Mrs. Erna Beres welcomed new 27 TUKE Erasmus students. 

The second day of the welcome week was traditionally dedicated to table-football tournament in Relax bar, where more than 70 Erasmus met to play table-football, pool, darts and other bar´s games. It was the evening full of activity! And the first time to taste Slovak traditional drinks! It was the first integration evening where most of the students from all 3 universities met and got to know each other. 

On Wednesday, 24 September 2014, we welcomed our amazing 80 international students at Ceska hospoda restaurant with three different traditional Slovak dishes – bryndzové halušky, chicken stroganoff with Slovak rice, and last but not least pirohy (also known as pierogi) filled with either cottage cheese or plum marmalade.  For those who are not familiar with the term bryndzové halušky they are potato dumplings with bryndza sheep cheese, sour cream and bacon. Of course we were thoughtful about our vegetarian and Turkish friends who could ask for the meal without bacon on it. After the Welcome Dinner some of us moved to Collosseum club to end the night in a new, exciting way. For many of our Erasmus students it was the first experience to taste traditional Slovak meal and the first time in our undergound club which everybody enjoyed.

    Thursday and Saturday were the days for the guided city walks through Kosice. Erasmus students had this tours with one of the experienced city guides – Veronika Holeckova who is also an ESN Kosice buddy.  Little bit cold afternoons were full of new informations about the new – second- home for Erasmus students. They heard the stories about the city and discovered nice sites such as the little side street – The Craftmen lane or Rodosto. It had also a nice end – with a hot tea. 

On Friday, 26 September 2014, in cooperation with The Next Level  we prepared an epic night for our beloved international students.  In the evening around 8-9 p.m. we joined them at so called pre-parties at Jedlikova 13 dormitory,  MEI hostel and Podhradova 11 to prepare for the main event of the evening – Welcome Party at Ibiza club with three international DJs: DJ Ed Gravity (Portugal), Dj Manolo (Greece), and last but not least DJ Zan (Greece)! Each student that had bought a welcome package received a welcome drink voucher which they could use at the bar to receive their welcome shot. Around 90 international students attended this amazing event. We danced until our legs could carry us and many new friendships were made that night. I believe everyone had a lot of fun and it was an unforgettable night. 

Sunday - Sun, wine, food – Paradise! For the last day of Welcome week ESN Kosice team organised Wine tasting trip in wine growing area Tokaj.  On Sunday 28th of September 2014, 22 Erasmus and 5 ESN members visited small village Mala Trna. Tokaj is widely known for its typical Tokaj wine cellars, hills surrounded by vineyards and the unique phenomenon coming from this area – the Tokaj wine. 

After we came to the destination we were divided to the three groups and went with winemakers to theirs cellars. Winemakers told us something from viticulture history and about winemaking.  We were in 3 cellars and tasted 5 samples of Tokaj wine in all of them, so altogether 15 samples of different Tokaj's wines. We had possibility to taste traditional Slovak cheese and ham too. Both wine and food was delicious. In the end of trip was possible to buy some bottle of Tokaj wine as a souvenir. On the way back home we stopped in restaurant in Velaty where we enjoyed beer and some small snacks on the terrace of the restaurant which was covered in sunbeams.

Authors and photos:  ESN Kosice team 

(Andrea Hanakova, Anna Benova, Lucia Tverdakova)