Event

   One the 12th-13th of March, 15 sections came together as the 27th National Platform of ESN Lithuania began. Organized cooperatively by ESN KK and ESN VU KHF. With the plenaries and workshops being held in VU Kaunas Faculty of Humanities. Among other things, this NP was focused upon the reports of the National Board members, National Coordinators, National Committees and of the sections themselves.

   On the first day of the Platform they saw the reports of Eduk8 Starter participants, "Colours of Lithuania", CNR Jyvaskyla and the National Board.

   The day came to a energetic end as ESN ISM and then ESN ŠU presented their candidacies for the OC of NP'28. And finally the evening was a part where all faces began to fade, as the night brought on the Masquarade. An evening part with many games and a wonderful performance by the OC.

   On the second day of the Platform. For the second time at a Platform of ESN Lithuania an infomarket was held to present the sections, where everyone got a chance to get up and personal, meet face to face and learn all they could want about other sections and share gadgets with eachother.

   The votings decided ESN ŠU as the OC for the next platform and "Go Xtreme" as a National Event.

Written by Tautvydas Utyra

On the weekend of 14th to 15th of November, the fourth international training Survival Kit vol.4 took place in Lithuania. This event was held in Vilnius, by ESN ISM. During this event we gathered more than 60 people, including participants, ESN Lithuania NB members and international trainers. In the course of two days we had two training tracks – one for newbies, one for advanced learners.
Newbies workshops was held by Kacper Olczyk and Lerio Cunha. In Kacper’s training course ESN newbies were learning about successful promotion of events and  what is the best way to master the art of a perfect promotion. Lerio was teaching  volunteers the art of public speech and how to learn to trust yourself and another person during teamwork workshops.
Advanced track was held by Carlos Guillermot and Piero Gentilini – they formed one amazing cooperation and led their course as a team. Another advanced workshop was held by Mikas Macijauskas.
Carlos’s and Piero’s training was focused on improving skills of time management in order to increase one’s working abilities and possibilities. Also, another workshop was held about motivation was based on self-motivation and teaching leaders to bring  motivation to sections in everyday ESN’ers life situations.
Mikas held a training about visual communication skills, simple rules of  logo or  banner creation and simply how to communicate with ESN world using just visual material.
Every day after training sessions teambuilding games were held. They helped to know more about yourself and your fellow ESN’ers. ESN Lithuania can proudly say, that during this weekend a lot of ESN’ers believed that things might not be as hard as they first seem to be and that learning together -from each other- is one of the best ways to learn something new and usefully integrate it into their lives.

The weekend of 21st-23rd of November was dedicated to fostering mobility among young volunteers in already third Mentors' Days conference organized by ESN Lithuania and Education Exchange Support Foundation.

First mobility conference in Lithuania, under the Mov'in Europe sign, was attended by more than 100 participants including devoted and prosperous volunteers from the Network and ESN LT Alumni, representatives from Education Exchange Support Foundation as well as a special guest from International Erasmus Student Network, Icelandic Hero, Mr. Patrick Doodt. Set in the largest Lithuanian resort city Druskininkai, within the walls of Grand Spa Lithuania Hotel, the weekend promised comprehensive presentations and fruitful discussions.

Even though the outside grounds were covered with the first snow and frost, inside the participants were turning up the heat from day one in various get-to-know-each-other games and teambuilding activities, concluding the day with international film night.

On the following day, in all day long plenaries, everyone learned more about international exchange learning possibilities, had a glimpse into the lives of International Board of Erasmus Student Network and engaged into discussions of intercultural voluntary possibilities provided by such exchange programmes as European Voluntary Service and always growing Erasmus+. Long anticipated appearance of our international guest Patrick Doodt was more than captivating. Patrick shared the idea of Mov'in Europe Ambassadors and highlighted the importance of this flagship project, as one brand uniting all the mobile people and possibilities. Seemingly, every doubt about us not being mobility generation vanished after this presentation. After all, mobility is a lifestyle.

Guests and ESNers delivered efficient workshops and small sessions on topics such as implementation of Mov'in Europe project in the local level, successful future career opportunities and reenacted an impromptu job interviews with employers of desirable positions. All these activities were highly appreciated by the participants and with lifted spirits and motivation boost everyone went to enjoy the refreshing pleasures of SPA and waterworld without having to leave the building. Saturday closed up with first National Responsible Party this semester.

After nutritious breakfast, Sunday morning kicked off with more personal interactions. ESN Lithuania members were invited to have small sessions with the National Board to discuss the future of the Network as well as engage in the further shaping of already highly acknowledged communication committee PuRe Committee.

They worked hard and moved like Bernies taking back home knowledge and experience which will improve the new generation of mobility ambassadors.

Written by Karolis Kriuka, proud member of PuRe Committee

Over the weekend of 12-13th of April, delegates from all 12 ESN Lithuania sections, as well as representatives from ESN Alumni, gathered within the welcoming walls of Mykolas Romeris University in the capital Vilnius to attend already the second edition of ESN Lithuania’s National training programme – Survival KIT Vol. 2.

ESN is all about improving, motivating and aiming higher. That is why the second piece of training cake had to be bigger, better and with an international taste. ESN Lithuania HRC Tomas, who was nurturing the idea of National trainings for quite some time, remarks: “I was very happy to see such activeness among the sections: the number of applicants was increasing each day and every spot was taken”. Four ESN Eduk8 trainers from Austria, Switzerland, Poland and Czech Republic shared their knowledge on time planning, leadership, constructive feedback and conflict management. Let’s take a short look back over the things that inspired members of ESN Lithuania this past weekend.

Day 1, Saturday

After a short opening word, trainers took the initiative into their hands leading a series of vibrant and dynamic energizers and teambuilding activities that allowed us learn a thing or two about each other and feel more comfortable working together. Later on, for workshops to be more effective and productive, participants were divided into three smaller teams and from that very moment members of ESN Lithuania are better known as cherries, strawberries and watermelons. Three out of four fields were covered during the first day of trainings, involving a lot of practical assignments, role playing and discussion.

In leadership and time planning workshop, instructed by Ludo “the Lazy Lizard” Coudray from ESN Switzerland, participants learned how to recognize different types of leaders, what strategies to apply in order to ensure effective section-work and progress; how to prioritize and plan your schedule. Communication expert Robert Banet from ESN Poland performed valuable workshop on delivering and receiving constructive feedback, which is an essential part in maintaining an operative ESN work from local to international levels. Members were taught some methods of positively delivering criticism. At the end, everyone were only left craving for more.

The day was not over yet as OC from Mykolas Romeris University had prepared a challenging surprise. ESN’ers and trainers participated in a scavenger hunt and discovered the secrets of Vilnius. Afterwards everyone met up to have some refreshments.

Day 2, Sunday

Starting off the last day with some powerful energizers, participants headed to their last workshops. Working side by side, Lukas Oppermann from ESN Austria and Stanislav Stanek from ESN Czech Republic delivered crucially beneficial session on conflict management. Before starting, participants were asked to share their expectations on the upcoming workshop. Two hours of strategic actions, performances and analysis of real-life conflict situations both in daily and ESN life caused great discussions in the room. For most, expectations raised at the beginning were fulfilled or even exceeded as from now on everyone will keep in mind that avoiding conflicts is not an option.

It did not take long for the trainings to prove being worthy as towards the end of day 2, motivated, eager and fruitful with fresh ideas, ESNers brainstormed about the future projects of ESN Lithuania. Hoping that planted ideas will soon harvest into prosperous and large projects participants reviewed this notably productive weekend after which Eduk8 trainer Stanislav Stanek had this to say: “It was very inspiring to see how motivated the participants are after the Survival Kit training. As a trainer it is a best reward you can get. I hope that we encouraged them to be hungry for new knowledge and they will spread their enthusiasm in every section!”

And spread they will. There are already some new ideas pursued throughout the network. It is safe to say that everyone left with bigger baggage than they came with: knowledge of new fields, motivation, inspiration and promising new acquaintances once again ignited the spirit of ESN!

Huge thanks on behalf of ESN Lithuania to Živilė and the whole MRU team who courageously stepped up in organizing and hosting the Survival KIT Vol.2 National trainings!

P.S. People say, all of them took a good selfie...

by Karolis Kriuka, proud member of ESN LT PuRe Committee, [email protected]

Erasmus Student Network has an opportunity to meet only once a year. Only 3 letters, standing for 641 people, 4 days and the most important event of ESN in general. It is AGM or Annual General Meeting, which was organized already for the 25th time in the history of the organization. This year it took over the city of Milan, Italy from the 3rd to 7th of April.

This time ESN Lithuania in the event was presented by 15 members of the network, representing 10 sections and National Board of Lithuania.

While most of the participants were just packing, National Representatives and special guests were already present in the pre-CNR, which this time has resulted into the growth of network since the 37th country was accepted. From now on ESN Russia is a part of the family.

While pre-CNR was closed and NRs were counting their first days and nights without sleep, cars, busses and plains were bringing hundreds of ESNers from the various corners of Europe to Milan, which at least for 4 days has become European capital of youth.

Thursday, 3rd of April

The first official day of AGM Milano 2014 was opened by Italian minister of Education Stefania Giannini, president of ESN Italy Carlo Bitetto, head of the AGM OC Lorenzo Campini and our dear president of ESN International Stefan Jahnke with wishes to “stay hungry. Stay foolish” and reach for more international experience. After ceremony at Arena Civica was closed and wishes for the fruitful meeting was shared, streets of the city were flooded by ESN Flag Parade, where each country presented their country by dressing up in the colors of their flag. Nonetheless, marching in the streets of Milan was not the purpose, this time ESNers have set a goal for themselves, which was to hug the Duomo di Milano. Symbolizing Europe unifying at the very heart of Milan the goal was successfully achieved. Rest of the day offered a chance to better get to know each other or revive old friendships before plenaries of the AGM have started.

Friday, 4th of April

Schedule of AGM from the beginning promised tough days – waking up at 7 am and having plenaries started at 8:30 am already. Day one has started with the presentations of ESN partners. Italo trains, Generator hostels and FIAT took the stage for few hours. Afterwards the real fun began with the activity reports of the International Board, which were followed by presentation of the recent changes in Erasmus+ program given by representatives of European Commission Runa Vigdis Gudmarsdottir and Daphne Scherer.

After the lunch Flagship project for the year 2014 was presented. New initiative Mov’in Europe will promote mobility as a lifestyle, through the engagement of ambassadors in local, national and international activities. Afterwards the time came to listen to the presentations of candidates to the new IB. Stefan Jahnke and Jesús Escrivà Munyoz as the candidates for the President and Dominique Montagnese, Evagelos Tsoumas as for the Vice-President. Plenaries were closed at 8 pm and participants were invited to enjoy each other’s company and cultures at the Eurodinner in the “Karma” club.

Saturday, 5th of April

Starting from the morning presentations of the candidates to the IB continued with Jonathan Jelves for the position of Treasurer, Robert Klimacki and Cristina Gavrila for the position of Communication Manager and Adam Farnik for the position of Web Project Administrator. Afterwards Ankara and Thessaloniki presented their candidacies for organizing the upcoming AGM as well as Vilnius, Plodiv and Barcelona applying to organize the upcoming Council of National Delegates.

Second half of the day was dedicated to the infomarket with the Higher Education Institutions from 37 countries of Europe represented by ESNers themselves. Event gave a perfect chance for ESNers as well as local students to better get to know the opportunities of continuing studies in the country abroad. Workshops were organized at the same time offering the possibility to better get to know the organization and projects or initiatives related to it. As well as how to use other opportunities offered by European Union.

Saturday was coming to an end and this time ESNers had an exclusive opportunity to finish the day while relaxing in the Aquaworld together with local Erasmus students.

Sunday, 6th of April

The last day of AGM has started with the presentations of 5 international committees of ESN and numerous other projects ESN lives with these days. 5 min dedicated to the Alumni Report and 12 min for our commercial partners, followed by election of the OCs with the amazing results following, that this December ESN international will gather in our capital Vilnius, because ESN VGTU with Indrė Kasiliauskaitė in front got a chance to organize CND Vilnius 2014! While Lithuania is already preparing to host around 120 ESNers this December, Ankara is preparing to welcome more than 700 ESNers next spring while organizing AGM Ankara 2015.

After getting to know places for the future events the most exciting part of the event started with the election of the new International Board. After minutes of waiting and tension in the room huge applauses were dedicated to the new IB of Erasmus Student Network for 2014-2015:

President – Stefan Jahnke, ESN Sweden

Vice-President – Dominique Montagnese, ESN France

Treasurer – Jonathan Jelves, ESN Sweden

Communication Manager – Robert Klimacki, ESN Poland

WPA – Adam Farnik, ESN Slovakia

Official part was already over, but day still had a lot to offer with Gala dinner waiting. This time organized in the Bocconi University, dinner has offered not only 3 course Italian dinner, but also STARawards of the very best ones of the network, including ESN KTU, which were noticed for having 3rd best logo in the entire network.

After all these days, awarding the best ones and making final photos the time came to close the event. AGM Milano 2014 was over, but it will definitely stay forever in the hearts of nearly 700 hundred ESNers, who left home with passion in their eyes and huge motivation to work for the beautiful tomorrow of the organization.

by Sandra Baltkojytė, ESN LT Communication Manager