Goodbye Week Winter Term 2016/2017

We have enjoyed amazing Winter Term 2016/2017. Erasmus people loved to attend events organised by ESN KE and we can say it was successfull Term. ESN KE during the Term organised various events from every field possible, so everybody could find some event for her/him. We showed to Erasmus people our beatiful nature during hiking trips, amazing architecture during one-day trips, traditions and meals during Nation to Nation events... we did sport a lot, sing a lot and also we were dancing in local clubs. Now the Term has come to its end, so what is better way how to close the Term than close it with Goodbye Week? ESN KE prepared Goodbye Week full of adventours, events, and little bit of sport, too. ESN KE also presented Christmas Slovak traditions to more than 130 Erasmus students who were residenting and studying in Kosice during Winter Term 2016/2017. We visited Christmas markets together, we showed ESN KE Office to Erasmus people, we prepared Goodbye Christmas Dinner, we were ice-skating and also bob-sledging on Hrebienok. Here are the events which will stay in our memory and heart for long time.

 

Goodbye Christmas Dinner 14/12/2016

Goodbye Dinner was an amazing opportunity to dig into the Slovak culture a bit more one last time for all the students who only came for a semester. At the same time, it was a great way not only to say goodbye, but to get to know each other even a bit more – the conversations were more personal and we were exchanging news about our countries and our own traditions for the Christmas time. But let's start at the beginning.

It was a chilly Tuesday evening (as most evenings are this time of the year in Košice). We met in T-Klub, to keep the Nation2Nation tradition alive. A lot of the Erasmus students arrived (and surprisingly, they were all there in time!). We began with the dinner, which consisted of the two traditional meals that we have on Christmas Eve: Sauerkraut soup and Fish with potatoes. The food was quite tasty and many students liked it, even came to ask for more in spite of the fact that it was only served on plastic plates (it really is difficult to feed 150 people). We chatted through the dinner and then went to take pictures at the photobooth some of our ESNers had prepared. Those pictures are funny and they will be a beautiful memory of that night!

Later on we also had a presentation about Christmas in Slovakia. Our students learned everything about the traditions and superstitions of the Christmas Eve, such as eating honey and garlic to be healthy, hiding money beneath the table cloth to be rich, not eating the whole day (while cooking, cleaning and decorating!) so that we would see a golden pig and so much more. We also talked about the individual dishes and other festivities of the Christmas time, including Štefánska (parties organized on Štefan's nameday, Dec 26), New Year's Eve (or: Silverster in Slovak), and Epiphany (also known as Three Kings' Day, Jan 6).

The night shifted smoothly into a cool party with great music and a lot of special dance moves!

 

ESN KE: Natália Uramová, Timea Krauszová

Photos: ESN KE