Erasmus+ Journal (Issue 2) 2013/14
Ana Ruiz, Hajni Virag, Gemma Rué, Virag Dan: Erasmus Welcome Days
Authors: Ana Ruiz, Hajni Virag, Gemma Rué, Virag Dan
What are the “Welcome days”?
Every year, lots of students all over the world do Erasmus studies, which means that they are studying abroad for a time. Studying in a new country, living abroad and learning a foreign language are some of the challenges they have.
The “Welcome days” are a 3-days trip organised by the UNI to help the incomings to integrate more easily into their new environment. In it are taking part not only the incomings but also teachers and their families, friends and “buddies”. In that sense, it is also a big opportunity to get to know each other in a friendly and cozy way.
Our trip: day by day
Our welcome days consisted in a 3-day trip to Dachstein, the highest montain in upper Austria.
Day 1: The arrival
We arrived at the hotel at 18.00 and had dinner together. Aftet that, the incommings played some games with the buddies and then we met all together to talk about the welcome days and our plans for the weekend. Here are some photos of the first evening.
Day 2: Hoher Dachstein
View from Dachstein. (CC by sa-2.0) Anna Jimenez
On Saturday, we went to Hoher Dachstein by taxi. Hopefully, the weather was really good and we could reach the top of the montain and enjoyed its beautiful sights. We also visited the ice museum –it was for most of us the first time to visit one like this-.
At night, we had a meeting with the teachers and buddies about our first sensations and feelings about our experience in Austria. We also talked about our future lessons and plans in university. It was very helpful for us to resolve our first doubts and to answer our questions.
In two groups, we did this murals answering the next questions related to our erasmus studies:
- Why Erasmus?
- Why Graz?
- Expectations
- Your first impressions
Both groups conclude that our main aims and goals for this erasmus are, first of all, to learn from the experience, not only to achieve new knowledges but also to learn about the people and the life in Graz. Secondly, we wanted to enjoy our stay here and meet new friends from all over the world. We also were interested in knowing new places and travelling around Austria and its neighbour countries. In other words, the Erasmus studies are for us an opportunity to learn by ourselves and from the others, to share and discover new sites and cultures with people around the world and to gain new personal skills and experiences from our studies abroad.
Why Graz? Most of us choose this city because of the possibility to study and learn two languages: English and German. Graz is also a perfect combination of green -the nature- and entertainment -thousands of students come to Graz every year-.
Day 3: The last day.
On Sunday morning, we had breakfast at the hotel and after that we had our last meeting of the trip. We did a collaborative evaluation of the trip and talked about our impressions about it, possible suggestions for future trips, etc. In my opinion, it was very nice to put in common our feelings and sensations of the trip and I think that everybody felt comfortable talking and assessing our trip.
To sum up...
I really enjoyed these days spent together and I think it brings the incomings the opportunity and the possibility to meet new friends and know a little bit more of their new country. All my memories from this experience are positive and I totally recommend to continue with that “tradition” because it’s very helpful for us. Both teachers and buddies have done a big effort for us and we also want to thank them their compromise. To sum up, I want to share some reviews from the other incomings about the trip.