ESN VMU

All ESN Lithuania this weekend met for the last time before well-deserved summer holidays. Meeting has united 13 HEIs of the country, representatives of Lithuanian NA together with guests from Vilnius Design College applying for the position of a candidate section. For the first time members of the organization were welcomed in Kaunas city municipality what made 20th National Platform even more special.

Three cadences she is the one and only Communication Manager of ESN Lithuania. Sometimes it looks like she is online 24/7. Even at her Erasmus period when she was living in Croatia, she managed to keep in contact and update ESN Lithuania with freshly news. Always friendly, positive, creative and open-minded for new ideas - Sandra Baltkojytė is the perfect example how PR Officer should look like. But what does it take for her to keep ESN Lithuania always informed and connected? 

Olė Sandra! How are you? It’s a pleasure to have an interview with you.

Olė Audre! I am really great, adding the last pieces of my final thesis and looking forward when the time will come for me to move forward with ESN again. And it feels so weird to fill in the opposite lines of the interview than I am used to, so it’s a great pleasure for me too!

So, you are third year in the Communication Manager position of ESN Lithuania. Is it still exiting?

So I am and actually I’m already afraid that with every day people are more and more willing for [Sandra Baltkojyte] changes in my position. Like 3 years already and for me it feels like one mostly, but when I start thinking about all I’ve gone through it could be measured even by 5 years or so. But I’m afraid to confess that things I’m doing probably are no more exciting. It’s even better! These days I’m finally enjoying confidence in my position. After all I finally understand what I am doing, what has to be done and how things are working in general. But new elections are coming, that’s what is exciting!

 

Let’s go back with time machine to the first months after you were elected in 2011. Was it hard? What was the biggest challenge for you? 

Oh my…at the time I was only in my 2nd year of university and 2nd semester in ESN. And I think at that time, nearly after I’ve got elected I was delegated to go to my first ever international event without knowing pretty much anything. Representing well was the first challenge. But then many more came afterwards. We didn’t have any descriptions, guides how to work, so I had to find out everything myself. This was involving investigation and I had lots of fun, but what was really hard – try not to disappoint sections who believed in this newcomer and showed that during my first and the last voting. Even now I’m not sure if I have succeeded. 

I think, everybody would agree that you put a lot of effort to the communication of ESN Lithuania that it would look like it does now. But what personal features it requires from you? 

Oh, you’re so nice! Well I wouldn’t say it requires something exceptional. Being friendly, ready to listen and to hear are very useful. But I wouldn’t describe those as requirements, for me it comes naturally. Most probably it is patience I’m required to have. Sometimes even more than I would have ever imagined.

All this three years you work with different NB members. Do you enjoy the time working together? 

Of course! I have found friends here, what can be more enjoyable? Three cadencies with nearly twenty different people gave me lots of professional experience too. All of them were strong personalities with different mind sets and year to year we all had to collaborate to give the best for ESN Lithuania. It’s the best team work example I could ever live through in my volunteering career. Tough days taught me a lot, best days made colleagues to become friends. 

How do you manage always be so positive and pure in everything you do? 

It’s because of the people like you, words like this I’m gifted after all those hours near my laptop writing, editing, creating. One conversation, chat or even few words can light me up for days. 

What are the three things of your work as ESN LT PR, you are most proud of?

1. Finally established and actively working our national committee for communication (keep doing amazing job, PuRe people!); 2. That our publications in visual and written forms are read, noticed and positively evaluated in international ESN level; 3. And that we have moved so far further during those 3 years in general. Details like having national .doc template, photos in articles or ESN Lithuania’s Facebook page – things which didn’t exist at the time I’ve started.

What could you say to all current and future sections PRs? Maybe you can share some tips or short inspiring story?

 Love ESN a lot. At least for that one year you’ve taken the responsibility to prove the world that it’s worth loving. Don’t hide behind your position, position has to stay behind you and the results of your work. Have fun, realize projects you’ve always wanted to. It’s the best time to learn, make contacts and develop some hard skills. 

 As for the story. On my exchange there were 11 Lithuanians, who knew nothing about ESN at that time. Due to the great work of ESN Zagreb now one is the leader of PR of one of the most active sections of Lithuania. I find it as an awesome example!

 New NB elections coming very soon. What would you suggest to new National Board members? In what areas they should put most of the effort to make ESN Lithuania even stronger organization than it is now?

 Tricky question! Anyway, always seek for cooperation and dialogue. Try not to mix personal attitudes with your professional work. Do not forget that now you represent an ESN, but still a country, so be wise, act wisely. And about improvement…just catch up with what was done and try to move it all at least a bit further. And always take care of your members, happy and determined to act people is what makes us strong.

How do you see yourself in five years? Do you think that this experiences you get being in the NB position for so long will be useful in life, maybe finding a job?

 Well at least I hope so. Maybe not the entries in my CV, but skills developed will definitely be useful. In 5 years I will be somewhere, doing something, having ESN only in memories, but still keeping in touch with friends from that amazing period of my life.  

 

Anything else you would like to share with the network?

If you read it to here – I’m really proud of you! 

by Audrė Chudinskaitė, Proud member of the PuRe Committee, [email protected]

Every time ESN Lithuania meets in the National Platform it gets bigger and better. This weekend it has gathered more than 80 participants from 13 different higher education institutions. For the first time NP was welcomed by the representative of Kaunas city municipality, who was happy to be back to the organization where he used to belong once. After listening to heartwarming speeches from NB representatives and dear guests from ESN Estonia in the morning of Saturday 18th Spring National Platform was opened.

Saturday

Day has started with elections of the Chairing Team. This time it consisted of two long lasting experience having ESNers – Vydūnas Pakrijauskas, former Human Resources Coordinator of ESN Lithuania and member of ESN VGTU, and Modesta Džiaugytė, former president of ESN KK section. This strong duo has definitely ensured an international quality while successfully leading the entire event. Later on 6 sections of the network have presented their goals achieved during the recent half of the year. Ideas realized and upcoming projects were a great proof that ESN Lithuania keeps developing. Afterwards participants were invited to listen to the Communication Manager Sandra Baltkojytė, who has presented an idea to further develop the idea of the establishment of Pure Committee, which would invite to join all interested in communication or public relations.  President of ESN VU Darija Kupstaitė suggested sharing opinions about the future of ESNers contract, which is being developed to better establish the position and the status of the member of ESN Lithuania.
After the lunch NP was invited to participate in one of 4 organized workshops. Participants could choose between Scanbalt Experience WG (Kristofer, Scanbalt Experience) CLR or who needs to know all about ESN International in the Section (Simona Patašiūtė, NR of Lithuania), How Big is THAT (Simas Ivanauskas, Partnership Coordinator of ESN Lithuania) and Lobbing for ESN (Jaanika Saarmets, Henri Vennikas – president and treasurer of ESN Estonia). Second half of the day was dedicated for the reports of NB members for their recent half of the year and presentation about ESN Alumni and their development. Moreover, new ideas were presented as “Photo Rally within Lithuania” idea. Updates about upcoming projects as ABROADIN.EU and STORY were given. Day one was closed by the updates on the recently established positions of free listeners, who are allowed to attend NPs as guests with no rights for voting, and situation with Lithuanian NA, who recently has reached the new level of partnership since the project Erasmus in Schools were totally transferred to ESN Lithuania’s supervision.

Sunday 

New day, new challenges! Agenda, approved in the morning, suggested that this time NP will not be over until lunch as it used to be one year ago. This time it has lasted until 6pm. Rest of the sections were invited to present their achievements, which were no less surprising as the previous sections’ ones. Day was continued by the presentation about AGM and Lithuanian participants present there. This time Lithuanian delegation will consist of even 17 people!

After the lunch 5 workshops were organized: Image ABC (Akvilė Pušinskaitė, ESN ŠU), Goal Setting (Mariin Karp, ESN Estonia), ESN – Way to Success (Julius Zaburas, ESN Alumni), Preparations for AGM (Simona Patašiūtė, ESN LT NR) and Communicators Communicate (Sandra Baltkojytė, ESN LT Communication Manager). 1 hour long lasting conversations about the future of ESN LT and how to seize the opportunities ESN has to offer for you benefited to the motivation and knowledge of every single participant.At the second half of the day guests from ESN Estonia finally had a change to present their activities and structure. 4 NB members and 1 section representative allowed get a proper impression how are the activities in Lithuania’s Baltic neighbor organized. While the guests were already preparing to leave, stage was occupied by Communication Manager and her report for the last 6 months of activities, which was followed by the report of HRC Tomas Tamulevičius, Project&Coordinator Sandra Rimavičiūtė, who at the time was present in ESNSurvey meeting in Brussels, and Ona Bumbulytė, ESN LT SE Coordinator.

Few more discussions were held at the end of the day about the Erasmus+ possibilities, future of Partnership Coordinator’s position and International events of ESN. Event was closed by the NB representatives awarding the Secretariat, the CT and the amazing OC.
This time National Platform only for the 3rd time in the history was organized in Kaunas city and for the first time by the cooperation of two sections – ESN KK and ESN VMU. Great job was done to ensure the quality of the event, starting from the impressive auditorium, capable to contain even 725 people, ending up with the cozy evening part, where everyone had a great opportunity to get better to know each other and even be evaluated by the colleagues for the results achieved.

One day after the NP there are so many positive feedback that it makes us all to believe that ESN Lithuania, which has now accepted already it’s 12th member – ESN LEU – is one big and the most important family, who is united again.

More photos: HERE

Legend of ESN? But it is far too early to call her legend even though she deserves name like that. Simply because of the love for ESN she spreads around and of course all the rest million things she has done for it here, in Lithuania. I am more than happy to present you our former National Representative, person, who has convinced tens of people to reach for more in ESN (thanks for it!) and one of the most passionate ESNers I have ever met – Orinta Movsesjan.

HellooOoo, Orinta! ESN is calling. Do you still remember us time to time?

Definitely, yes! ESN is something you can’t forget so easily, it leaves a mark for a lifetime!

Where are you today? And did ESN help you to reach this point?

Today again I am on the first year, as I started my MA studies. I am also working at VMU International Office. Since the very beginning of establishment of ESN VMU we were all the time cooperating and keeping close relationship. After 3 years of working hand to hand on various social, cultural, academic activities for International students, I received an invitation to join the team and become part of university’s administration.

So tell us the story of your ESN career.

I joined one of ESN sections at Vytautas Magnus University on the first year of my studies. Even thought I had been part of plenty youth organizations, ESN was something new, something different, something special. I still remember my first National platform more than 3 years ago. It motivated me to reach higher and go further (will steal the slogan and the main idea of Social Erasmus project, as it perfectly describes my feelings after visiting Mentor’s Days in Trakai in 2010!). After that I became more than sure that ESN is the organization I want to be a part of and that I want to become a member of a National Board. National Representative was the position I dreamt about, so I decided to participate in the next elections. There were still a lot of things I did not know about ESN but I was ready to learn, so after the summer I submitted my application, run for my favorite position and was elected. And then the journey begun… I participated in international meetings of ESN (CNRs, CND, AGM), became a part of chairing team of pre-AGM CNR Budapest, coordinator of project “Ride for your rights”, learned a lot about ESN as an organization, gained loads of new skills. It was the best year of my studies. After my cadence was over, I came back to my section, wanted to implement all the new ideas, help the current section board and make it as amazing as it could be. At the same time I did not want to lose the connection with ESN International that is why I joined the chairing team of CEP Cracow in 2011. Even now, I am trying to keep a close relationship with my section, share my experiences, participate in the events and help whenever it is necessary. I am in ESN for more than four years now and it still doesn’t seem I am ready to let it go!

What does it mean to be National Representative?

This position is a combination of loads of responsibilities, fun time, new experiences, and new people. NR basically represents national opinion of a country’ on various topics, he or she is a “bridge” between national and international levels of ESN. Being a National Representative (at least 2 years ago) meant you had to:
-    read and answer from 15 to 50 emails a day;
-    follow the situation on all three (local, national and international) levels; 
-    participate in International meetings every couple of months (sometimes even more often) in different parts of Europe;
-    know how to express your opinion in a constructive way;
-    love what you are doing;
-    … and much more.
It’s hard to explain, but I know that being a National Representative for me was one of the greatest experiences.

How much has ESN Lithuania changed compared to the one you were used to work in?

In couple of years this organization has improved a lot of things. It was officially established according to the Lithuanian law, it expanded and accepted even more sections, even more and more ESNers are getting involved in to activities on the national and International levels, we got our first star award… There are even more things which were improved, thanks to the dedicated and motivated members of the National Board and local sections. And I believe this is just the beginning!

Which values of the organization you find the most attractive?

I like principle “students helping students” the most. It is amazing how much can students do, how much they can help the other, and how much they can achieve on voluntary basis.

What was the hardest for you during all these years in ESN? 

To decide that it’s the time to quit and move on! Once an ESNer, always ESNer! Have never thought it is going to be so hard to say goodbye for an organization.

What was your motivation to keep going?

The greatest motivation was and still is people, the feeling of being a part of ESN family. It’s always nice to see smiling faces of International students after each event, project, initiative, and happiness of ESNers after each achievement, no matter how small or how big it is. 
ESNers, International students) and the feeling that you are doing something, which has a big value for other people.

Which ESNish moment you cherish the most, the one you could share with us?

My first National Platform as it helped me to understand how much ESN can suggest as an organization and how much potential it has; the National Platform during which I was elected as a National Representative, as it was the beginning of something new and unexperienced; all the International meetings, as each of it was a huge opportunity to learn new things, gain new skills, meet new people; and many many more! 
 
Anything more to share with the network? 

Once you get in ESN:
-    don’t stop in one place reach for more and for better, 
-    try to do things as good as you can, 
-    don’t stop, always reach for your goals, 
-    take as much as you can from being part of this amazing organization and don’t wait till someone will push you, show the initiative yourself, 
-    if you don’t know something don’t be afraid, it’s never too late to learn and you are not alone, there are plenty of people who can help you,
-    love this organization as much as you can! 
 
Thank you very much, Orinta, and wish you never stop feeling ESN in your hearth!

Two months ago started project "Multilingual Lithuania" already gained acceleration. Organization ESN VMU together with"Invest in Lithuania" successfully fulfill project during which international students are teaching their mother tongue everybody who are interested.

Currently "Multilingual Lithuania" project covers seven languages - Spanish, Turkish, Latvian, French, Japanese, German and Russian. International students as participants of this project not only had an opportunity to become lecturers but also teach language using various, unconventional methods. Before the start of the project there was a registration process to enter language classes. Some of the languages such as Spanish, French and Turkish acquired such a huge interest that not everybody could get in the language groups. Languages of small countries were  not left behind, for example Latvian language. Student from Latvia Ilzė who arrived at Vytautas Magnus University through Erasmus program, told that in the beginning she was quite scared that there will be just few persons interested in her mother tongue as this language cannot boast about its huge popularity. However everything turned out otherwise. Now Ilzė has even 16 students in her language group. Although in the beginning it was a bit strange, now Ilzė enjoys the process.  She claimed that presently she understands the difficulty of  the lecturer work. Person must observe the situation in classroom, prepare for the lectures and always arrive on time as student are already waiting.

Other student from France, Juliane, willingly shared her experience while teaching the students: "I am trying to create various games, presentations and discussions-everything happens connected with the theme that  I am presenting" - says Juliane. After returning to France she is going to fulfill this project in Paris as well.

Student Yakup, guiding German classes also shared his methods while teaching students: "I always prepare presentation and several tasks. I am trying to ask questions in that way I check what students have already learned and remember and also what must be repeated. I Feel that I am not jus educating others but also learning myself. I am improving my public speech skills, learning how to adjust to the students that I am teaching. I know these skills will be beneficial in the future!"

Because of huge popularity and plenty of positive reviews concerning the project "Multilingual Lithuania" among international and Lithuanian students, organization ESN VMU hopes to proceed this project and assist students while learning other languages in different way in Vytautas Magnus university next semester as well.

Usually it takes a long time to get there. Once you do that, there is never enough: of ESN, of people you meet and spirit you feel. Official description tells you that it is the main decision-making body of ESN International. Well, it is. And it is much more at the same time: future cooperations, knowledge transfer, gathering information, sharing experiences, developing ideas, creating personal long-lasting relations, simply having fun and believing in ideas of the network. 

The idea of AGM is to gather together around 600 current and former members of ESN from international, national and local levels. 36 countries – numbers only prove how broad our organization is. And while wearing different colors and realizing slightly different projects we manage to keep unity in diversity. 

ESN Lithuania also was a part of it – 12 delegates representing 9 sections of ESN Lithuania together with NB delegates and NR in front of. Great purple cloud took over the city of Maribor for 4 days starting from 11th continuing to 14th of April. 

Thursday, 11th of April

While our NR Simona Patašiūtė was catching a breath after intensive and productive pre-CNR delegation of Lithuania was slowly starting to appear from different corners of Europe. The fastest ones were invited to explore Maribor – former European Capital of Culture 2012 during guided sightseeing tours, which invited to share “Brez objemov” or “Free Hugs” with the citizens. Surprised, smiling faces and a bit scared ones from too high dose of Love, but after all – socially aware ESN greeting for the city, which hosted the biggest event of the network. 

Opening ceremony of the event was soon to come so after making few more circles in the city time for preparations to meet Mr. President of Slovenia Borut Pahor. After his speech even more greetings followed by ESN AISLB president Emanuel Alfranseder, partnerts of the network and even Androulla Vassiliou, European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth. Ceremony was opened and closed by Slovenian singer performing anthem of ESN SB – “Don’t You Worry Child”.

Afterwards delegations were invited to enjoy traditional Slovenian dinner together with songs and dances followed by Responsible Party where RP ambassadors were taking a great care of ESNers while providing them water and other goods.

Friday, 12th of April

From 7am in the morning participants were invited to enjoy the breakfast and so prepare for the following sessions when procedures of AGM were presented, chairs were elected, agenda approved and presentations of the candidates for 2013-2014 IB were heard. 

Later the action was moved to the Technical Faculties, where local Slovenian people together with the members of ESN were invited to participate in the Uni-market which has lasted for 3 hours and has invited to get to know more than 300 universities across entire Europe. 

After the market was finished ESNers were invited to attend the variety of workshops starting with the diplomacy lessons taught by Slovenian Foreign Affairs Minister ending up with project management and team building. Impressions and lessons which were learnt were shared during the National Platforms, which invited to talk about candidates for the IB, about AGM itself and to prepare for the loud and colorful flag-parade. 

Parade which took for more than few hours and was captured by various media representatives ended up in Festival Hall Lent where the Eurodinner took place. Crazy night with loud music, various goods from different countries of the world leaded to the one of the most important days of AGM.

 

Saturday, 13th of April

The 3rd day of AGM invited to the sessions where the most important decisions were made. OCs for the future international events were elected:

• AGM Milano 2014;
• CEP Košice 2014;
• CND Lodz 2014.

Later on budgets were discussed and presentation about the work done by IB 2012-2013 was given. As well as standing orders were changed with the biggest innovation – bringing the chairing team to the CNR meetings, which from now one will be made of CNR Administrator, Secretary and Technical Assistant. 

44Changes for the Visual Identity Manual were also introduced with a suggestion to allow the use of ESN logo in full solid ESN Colors, including ESN Pink/Cyan/Orange/Green/Dark Blue. The next day proposal was approved by AGM, so from now on we have even more colorful and flexible visual identity of the network! 

AGM was continued by presentation of the Board Action Plan for 2013 – 2014 with concrete actions how to improve the structure, budget, work of secretariat and strengthen up ESN Brand. Promotion of the mobility, concentration on the projects as ESNSurvey, PRIME, Erasmus Impact Study will remain. Will be working on strengthening up the Eduk8, Alumni network, working with facilitation of international jobs, traineeships and volunteer opportunities for ESN members.

During the rest of the day international ESN projects were presented: ESNWiki, Responsible Party, where ESN Lithuania takes the first place by the number of RP parties organized! Time for the session was coming to an end so lots of discussion points were delayed to the coming day. 

UV Youngle Party followed afterwards, where with the help with OC, IB and NewYorker everyone was dressed the same – T-shirts of ESN, which later on were covered by the layers of ultraviolet sensitive paints. 

Sunday, 14th of April

New day, new challenges and huge amounts of information! Projects as ESN Satellite was presented with having a first look to the new version of it and promise for it soon to come. ESN Survey was analyzed, recent results of Eduk8 were presented continuing with the presentation with the rest of projects as Erasmus in Schools as a Flagship Project for this year, Social Erasmus as the latter Flagship Project of ESN, Section Quality Development, Section Cooperation, ESN Galaxy, ESN Card, Ride for Your Rights, ExchangeAbility presentations. 

Reports of CNR, CND, Committees, Liaison Office and Network itself followed together with presentation of commercial, institutional partners.

Alumni were also invited to the stage to present their new work done during the recent year, attempts to gather all national Alumni coordinators to one place and to share their knowledge and possibilities between each other. More information about Alumni network might be found HERE. Also traditional Alumni grant was given. This time it was ESN Rijeka which was awarded by 500eu for the innovative trainings for ESN members of their section. 

Also that day IB for the next cadency was elected:

• President – Stefan Jahnke;

• Vice-president – Dominique Montagnese;

• Treasurer – Jonathan Jelves;

• Communication Manager – Robert Klimacki;

• Web Project Administrator – Salih Odabasi.

After the reports of the auditors and vote of AGM event was officially closed. Only Gala-prom was waiting for the participants.

Gala this year was different. The idea was to have a prom date like in the times of finishing high school. That was the reason why everyone that night came by two. High heels and ties, dresses and suits – that night we’ve proved  how different we can be – from dirty t-shirts to fancy look, from crazy parties to Social Erasmus. That’s what ESN is about.

15th of April

Then the sun started to appear in the morning of 15th AGM came to an end. Lots of goodbyes were told during the breakfast, many free hugs made to each other hoping to see each other again. Once more hundreds of people from different parts of Europe spread apart to work for the same ideas and values only through different projects and venues. Work for the local, national and international community. Spread responsible and socially aware ideas.

Every time we meet, something changes. In statutes, standing orders, VMI, but the wish to ESN your life always remains.

Pallomeri, dear members of ESN!

More photos HERE!

ESN Lithuania invites to join goodness campaign „Nebūk daiktistas“ (“Don’t be a Thingist”) organized by our friends pagalbadaiktais.lt!
 
Project encourages you to give away things you do not need any more in change of gratitude of people, who need these things more.
 
All and each of you who read this are more than welcome to join campaign of sharing and helping each other!
 
Check your cupboard and think - maybe there are things you don‘t need or don‘t like anymore?
 
It could be:
– clothes – shoes – utensils – stationery – books – toys/board games – many other things.
 
By participating in the campaign “Nebūk daiktistas” (“Don’t be a Thingist”) you will not only help others with things they need, but also you will help to built a proper image of international students as energetic, creative, mobile, tolerant and  socially responsible people. At the same time you will help to increase the visibility of ESN in home institutions and local community.  
 
Campaign will be held from 1st to 16th of March. Soon more information will appear and each participating ESN section will indicate places where things can be left. All the given things will be registered in pagalbadaiktais.lt system. Each participator will be able to see its profile.
(e. g.: Profile of ESN Vilnius University, http://www.pagalbadaiktais.lt/dovanotojas/2313)
 
Event for all Lithuania HERE.
 
By pressing on your ESN sections's name below you will get more information about the project:

• ESN Vilnius University 
• ESN VGTU 
• ESN ŠU
• ESN KK
• ESN ISLB
• ESN VMU
 
If you belong to the section which is not mentioned above then you can contact to any other section in the city!

Go social with ESN!
Reach highier! Go further! Go social!
SE national coordinator: [email protected] 

A girl, who makes ESN VMU events look exceptional, because this is her hobby, her passion and her talent. Designs which you could start noticing in the sky of ESN Lithuania since the September, 2011 then the final PRIME conference was organized in Vilnius and a sudden need of a person, who could make a final flyer for the event, emerged. Probably that is the time then IG designs came into the light for us.

Already 1,5 years passed away after that event, but Indrė Gutauskaitė is still with us. After creating logo of ESN VMU, badges/diplomas for national events, numerous posters for the section. So maybe the time came to get to know better what do precious designs hide.  Few questions from ESN Lithuania to ESN design pioneer Indrė!  

What was your first impression you recall about ESN in Lithuania?  

To join the organization I was encouraged by my friend, who saw that I am always aware of the new challenges, which I could accept and in that way find an opportunity to express myself. At the time I was still involved in the activities of other organizations, but ESN attracted me by the unique opportunity to directly work with international students through mentorship program and other projects, where I could see myself as a possible useful help and support. Then I was also thinking about my future participation in Erasmus program, so I realized, that it is a great chance to better get to know other cultures while I was still here, in Lithuania. And as I was thinking before joining, so I do know – I still can describe ESN as a strong, youthful, focused organization gathering friendly people.     

Why have you decided to devote your time and talents for ESN?  

I always try to show off in the areas, I think, I have what to show. Because of the reason that at the time I’ve joined ESN VMU, they were in need of the person who could implement certain tasks, which I was able to, I agreed to do so.   How did you discover designing hobby?

I suppose it has started already in the childhood, when I used to draw with a hand and all the stands and posters in the school were made by me. After joining university paper was changed by a computer with various graphic design programs. Self-reliant lessons and creative surge, which was always with me – it was everything what did I need to start working in this area. What is true, that until today, I haven’t finished any studies or courses related to that, so I still have a long way to go. So for now it’s just a hobby.  

Where do you find an inspiration for your works?

It depends on the topic and the variety of the ideas for the specific task, which I am asked to realize. I never want to create anything what I have seen before. Generally I try to unveil the main idea and after that continue everything that later spectators (most of them, because you cannot please everybody) could enjoy it visually.  
 
What would be the first step for the person, who would love to learn to work with graphic designs?
 
Just to be creative, have ideas (even sometimes I also do feel lack of them) and learn how to work with one or another graphic design program, what anyone can do.   
 
Did ESN help you to improve your skills? In what ways?  
 
It is certain that working with every design I learn things I didn’t know before. So for me it is a self-education in this area and an escape from my Economics and finance studies in Vytautas Magnus University at the same time.   Because of the reason that this organization has always been a sign of quality for me, I was trying that my works for it would also look professional and quality. What helped me to create my portfolio, which I hope to be useful for my future plans related to studies or work in the field of graphic design. 
 
Which is your favorite work you have done for ESN so far?

I am happy that logo of ESN VMU, which I have created, is valued and appreciated. I managed to hear some rumors that not only in local, but also national and international levels of ESN. While working on it I was trying that to make a logo, which could expose the section of my university the best and I think that I’ve succeeded. So this my most favorite work from all I have ever done for ESN VMU. I also do hope that all members of ESN could say the same.  

Thank you, Indre, for your thoughts! More works of IG designs might be found HERE.

 

When ESN VMU was approved as the OC of the following National Platform not everyone wanted to leave the capital and move to Kaunas for these few days, but seems that hard work, consistent planning and united team fulfilled their promise that there will be No Problems in Kaunas from 1st to the 2nd of December.

Second NP in Kaunas during the history of ESN Lithuania brought together more than 50 active members including and the first Chair of NP in ESN Lithuania’s history. It was Orinta Movsesjan who bravely stood in front of everyone and kept the right order. Therefore at the end of the NP all the sections approved that CT should be elected for every single NP. One more step forward a better work quality was made continuing with the fact that even 6 different workshops were organized by 6 different members of the NB covering the topics from visual identity and marketing finishing with the basics of HTML code. 

Besides that during winter NP much more various information about present projects, outcomes of recent activities and future plans were presented. Kristina Selezniova (present SE LT coordinator) gladly represented visible SocialErasmus improvement in Lithuania, which might be followed on the new SE Lithuania page. Sandra Rimavičiūtė (present ESN LT Project Coord.) talked about the Sea Battle 2012 Fall and about the better level which this project has reached even with plans to organize a Responsible Party in the following SB. Gintarė Vaiginytė (present ESN LT president) together with Augustė (ESN Vilnius University) explained about the new action plan for the reviving project Invest in Lithuania, which is starting from the following February. Later on it was followed by the presentation of Being a Jew, which is officially starting already from this Sunday. Many other topics related to Responsible Party, CEP Graz 2012 and even new partners were covered. 

Apart of that many other opportunities for the members of ESN Lithuania’s networks was offered. One of them – Eduk8, which is inviting to participate all the potential future trainers on almost any topic. In the past workshops have been organised on topics like effective communication, team building and leadership, constructive feedback and conflict management. Also members were encouraged to join international committees of ESN and use opportunities to Reach out for more – go international!

While trying to improve skills of ESN members international students mustn’t be forgotten as well, that’s why the idea brought back from CEP Graz 2012 to participate in ESN Olympics were presented for the NP and approved by 8 from 9 sections, who were present on 2-nd day of NP. International students should start practicing their running, swimming, soccer skills, because already this spring they will be invited to Poland to show the best they can and ESN Lithuania will be there for them with all the help to win the gold!

From activities for international students to Corporal Identity of ESN, to energizers and even development of future ESN Lithuania with inclusion of strong Alumni role. Presentation made by ESN VGTU Alumni Julius Zaburas offered to appoint 5 places for Alumni in every single NP together with the right to choose and approve the participants themselves. Moreover, creation of Alumni network was initiated with more results soon to come. 

NP finished, members left motivated and prepared to seek for more goals, which might be shared with the entire Lithuanian network in the following NP, which will take place in ESN ISM for the first time since the establishment of the section. Expectations are high, so what is left it is only to wish that after the ESN LT NP Spring 2013 the survey giving the feedback about the event would show the same as it does now, that it was “amazing! Thank you, guys!”. Thank you for being together! ESN unites. 

 By Sandra Baltkojytė.