OC members

Being a part of Vilnius Welcome Party OC is one of the most memorable moments from the time I was leisure affairs coordinator in my section.

First of all, because this was my first time organizing such a huge event! Before this experience I didn’t have a chance to do anything in National level so having a tiny glimpse of how things work there motivated me explore ESN deeper.

Secondly, seeing so many students coming to this event and actually enjoying it paid off every struggle I faced organizing this party. Even after a few months students still kept telling me how great it was and how this event highlighted their Erasmus experience.

Not mentioning other advantages like meeting new people, gaining skills or having good time this event a great opportunity that everyone should take.

After being in ESN for a long time it’s quite easy to forget about international students, the first and, actually, the only reason we’re doing this. That’s why it was important for me to create something for them, all of them staying in Lithuania. That’s what gave me the idea of national event ESCAPE and driven me the whole way through.

And, of course, the whole OC and any person who helped. You can never do anything alone so the people around you are everything - when you have someone who helps in the most difficult situations or just understands what you’re going through - that means the world. During sometimes very long and hard times of organizing an event people who you work with becomes so important to you.

In the long run, even hardest times become just the lessons you learn. All hard work disappears from your memory and the only thing left is support, laugh and good times you spend with those people.

And of course, the final result - smiles on students’ faces and memories for a lifetime. Realizing that you can do more than you think you can, creating something that you were scared to even dream about is just an awesome feeling.

We had a bit of a rocky start, but we survived. I guess that the most important fact was that we trusted each other and always knew that we are a team no matter what. That is why the atmosphere between us was so lovely. Organizing a national event is not always easy, but it can really increase your motivation if you do it right.

Furthermore, trust is extremely important. You need to know that the people you are working with are ready for anything. I must admit that it is not very easy for me to trust people with every task. For example, I was very sick during the National Platform, and preparing for it was quite difficult. At some point on Friday night the rest of the team almost forced me to go to sleep for a while, but the decorations were not finished yet, so I was a bit unsure about leaving the main entrance. However, I came back after a while and everything was done according to my weird and confusing requests, and I could not have been happier. This is when I knew that our OC and volunteers were so dedicated and ready for anything.

I guess that organizing a national event really helps you see what you can do and how far you can go. Leaving your comfort zone can feel so calming, as you understand that maybe you are capable of more than you have thought before. I am not saying that everything will always go as planned, but at the end of the day you will be happy with your work because you know that you did the best that you could.

My advice for the next OC of any national event would be to enjoy what you are doing. There will always be people who are unhappy or unsatisfied, but you need to know that you tried to make the environment welcoming and that your team will have some good memories and maybe inside jokes after the event. It is your time to shine, so why not enjoy it?

How did it feel to be a part of OC? A-ma-zing! Really. One of the best experiences in ESN or even in my life.

At first, there were a lot of questions in my mind: how will we do everything on time, how to do this, how to do that… But after some time, everything fell into places.

The most important thing in OC is to have people that you trust and believe. I had. That’s why I always was motivated and wanted to do as best as we could. It’s always about the team. Being part of the OC let me know my section members better, strengthen our friendship and be proud of my team.

No matter how hard or easy it was, everything paid off at the end – when I heard feedback and saw people standing up. Would I repeat this? Yes. Again and again. Every ESN’er, who is motivated to do more than just be, should try to be part of OC for once. Just to know how it feels.

What does it mean to be a Treasurer of a National Event? It is a great opportunity to receive knowledge in financial structures and it’s a good way to practise.

Being a Treasurer of a National Event you have the opportunity to make other OC members happy or not. You let them to buy stuff or no. You have an excel file and you make this file colourful and other just look and say “what?” and then you try to explain, because everyone should understand it, especially the OC.

Being a Treasurer is not just about money. It’s opportunities, generating ideas and of course it’s team work. The OC team has one main aim to have a great event and one should support the other and must work like team and think about other OC members before and during the event.

To sum up, this position is one of the most important - without money you can’t have things (Capitalism 101) however, you should understand each other and the OC as well to reach the main goal: TO HAVE THE BEST EVENT.

Every ESN event is just a new possibility for you – a possibility to grow, to find your true talents, to discover something you didn’t know was even there. But of course it is a challenge too – the road you will be taking will have his own ups and downs. But that is the beauty of possibilities, and for me – that was the greatest beauty of ESN.

Being a part of CEP OC was one of the biggest challenges that I had. During this event, I truly understood how important it is to have a team - not a group of people with different views. Moreover – this event and my team showed me all the different ways for me to improve as an individual and for all of us as a team.

All in all, I could say that without ESN and all possibilities that I have taken, I would not be who I am today and I am just wishing you will take the best from it.