Interview

ESN LT Alumni months ago has presented an initiative under the name success story. 1st  of it was told by present ESN LT Alumni Head Coordinator Julius Zaburas. Today is time to listen to another important person in ESN Lithuania's history. Let us to present you - Giedrė Gelšvartaitė, former president of ESN Lithuania, Head OC of the international Summer Camp'11 and much more. So here you go: her success story.

“You are one of 6 milliard people in the world, you won’t become successful by accident”, don’t remember who told me that, but it made me clear - I have to do something.

So it started back in 2008, I decided to go to Erasmus program. All my life I was very excited about traveling and exploring, the word INTERNATIONAL sound magical for me and I knew there are much more in it than just the meaning of different countries.

That time I chose Italy and of course I was very happy because of that, I got to know and experience one of the greatest ESN sections - ESN Padova, they were really hard working team, a great example and a perfect place to get to know Erasmus spirit from all sides.

All my life I had this crazy feeling that I need to do more, that somebody needs me and I need to be useful otherwise it is not interesting to live, but I never knew how and what to do. And there in Italy I finally realized the meaning of the word – Volunteer.  So when I came back I knew I had to do something here, we already had ESN started in 2 cities – Vilnius and Siauliai and something like this going on in Kaunas. From the first day I knew I have to join them and help them create something amazing.

I met some really wonderful people who were thinking the same, that moment I knew these people are the group who is going to do a very good job here and I have to be a part of them.

I remember our first official ESN meeting, we all gathered together for a coffee drink and one girl of us, was just back from the meeting in the international office, so she brought us news: “guys we need to elect the president”. The first election, it went fast and was so funny, someone just said: “does everyone agree that our president will be Giedre”, and everyone said YES, rose their cups, congratulated me and we continued the evening. It was easy for them, but for me I knew that I just got a great responsibility, I have a perfect team, we have got to do something here.

I was really proud of our team and our work. I can honestly say we did a good job. For me the basic thing for first year was to build a big team, I concentrated on motivation seminars, team building, and making the national group stronger and bigger.

After one year we already had much more sections in Lithuania, international level got to know us and we did projects that really rocked it.

After one year I went to international level, don’t get suspicious, this time I was elected with all the rules. And here I was also very successful because once again a got a good and strong team. The most interesting part for me in ESN was always the national level, because the people I met here were always able to do something special, we were small and we wanted to get big, so this is what we were working for.

Not even we managed to raise the quality, become strong, but also to organize some international events, which was also complimented by other countries.

So now I am retired, in ESN words I joined the alumni team, I knew that these years for me were enough because I know that I left ESN in a great hands, we all are different and we all have different understanding of the actions that should be taken, but we all have the same dream and the same goals.

This entire success story wasn’t just me, it was the team that I had, those people who did something incredible, and they still keep doing this, I am very proud of all of them, including myself.

One very smart person once told me: “if you see that you won’t reach your dream, don’t change the dream change the actions you make”. I think this is what we were doing, we had same dream but different actions in our minds, putting them all together and sharing them helped us get closer to the dream.

I was very successful and I still am, and these 3 letters ESN that changed my life, wasn’t just the place to do something it was a place of strong motivated hard working and creative people that taught me a lot of things, that helped me be successful and showed me what can be done while working together.

Always believe in others, no one ever did big things alone, help the others and they will help you reach your dreams, chose the right actions.

written by ESN LT Alumni Club

3 month ago 12 exchange students with a help of ESN Lithuania in cooperation with “Invest Lithuania”  and ESN VGTU started their new adventure in a totally different role – they decide to become their native language teachers. Except one brave Lithuanian student who decided to teach not his native language, but Russian.

The others were teaching German, Chinese, French, Croatian, Spanish and Turkish languages.  It was a big challenge for them, because almost nobody had experience in teaching, but still it didn‘t scared them!

At the begining of this project some languages (Spanish, Russian, Chinese, German) gained a huge interest and it was even impossible to teach everyone, that‘s why registration were made and just 25 lucky students had opportunity to learn these languages. The other languages were less popular, but for their students it was a big advantage, because each of them got more attention and even became friends with their teachers.

Here teachers of Turkish, Russian, French, Spanish and Chinese languages shared their opinions about this project:

Why you decided to take a part in this project and become a teacher?

Romain (French): Because I wanted to share my knowledge and my culture and have a new experience (teaching).

Andrius (Russian): I think answer is in the question: “to become a teacher”. Isn’t this a wish of every student? To be that person who finally gives homework and not does it. Of course, it is not the most important point. I decided to participate in this project to prove myself that I can do this; that I can be that person who can help others to improve their language skills or learn something new.

Eva (Chinese): I wanted to get more experience and share my language, and the most important is meet the new friends.

Serkan and Celilsemi (Turkish): There was a big opportunity to introduce our language and culture to foreigners. Also, this kind of project makes us more sociable. That's why we decided to take a part in this project.

Alejandro (Spanish): I decided to join this programm for improving my English, learning from my students and not to be scared of talking in public in the future.

How was it to be in the teacher's role? Did you like it?

Romain (French): It was a very great experience, I loved it !

Andrius (Russian): This is a question for my students. I hope, I wasn‘t a horrible teacher. However, I liked teaching. It is a wonderful feeling to help others and even better feeling is seeing how my students are improving themselves.

Eva (Chinese): Being a teacher is really good, because you can share your knowledge and get more experience. I like this project and like to be a teacher.

Serkan and Celilsemi (Turkish): We liked it. We enjoyed it so much with our dear students.

Alejandro (Spanish): I liked to be a teacher, of course :)

What kind of experience did you gain in this project?

Romain (French): I gained oral presentation practice, preparation of  presentation (PPT).

Andrius (Russian): Firstly, with every next lesson I became more self-confident. I lost my fear which was over me in the first lesson when I had to stand up in front of almost 30 students who were sitting and looking at me with their wide eyes. Secondly, this project made me more organized because I had to prepare all material for students. And of course, I made a lot of new friends. It was strange, but sweet when someone saw me and said to me: „Hey, I am your student. What are we going to learn next week?“ :)

Serkan and Celilsemi (Turkish): We got some experience from this project such as teaching, searching information, leadership, leading and managing our studentassss:), teamwork etc.

What is your opinion about this project? Do you think it's useful?

Romain (French): Very nice project, useful for "teacher" and "students".

Andrius (Russian): I think that project “Multilingual Lithuania” is a successful idea. There are a lot of students who really want to learn foreign languages and this project is the best solution, because you are being thought by students from countries which language you want to learn. I admire all teachers and students who participated in this project and gave their time for teaching and learning. Great job! You made this project awesome!

Serkan and Celilsemi (Turkish): It is definately useful for improving language and teaching skills. It is making easier to understand other cultures.

Alejandro (Spanish): I think this programm is a really good idea.

Tell about your teaching methods

Romain (French): We prepared presentation at home firstly, then we presented it to students. All presentations are divide in 2 part: a lecture part and cultural part. We also made a quiz about what we just learned and sometimes about what we have learned previously.

Andrius (Russian): I’ve tried to make an informal atmosphere as much as I could by talking with my students and letting them to speak (in Russian, of course). I wrote on blackboard that students could improve their writing and reading skills. Sometimes I asked them to come to blackboard to write. Moreover, after all lessons we all together reviewed past lessons. I was just walking around students asking them some random words or sentences and they were answering in Russian.

Serkan and Celilsemi (Turkish): We used almost everything we can use, PowerPoint presentations, blackboard, music, pictures, example sheets from some other resources.

Alejandro (Spanish): I used a PDF for self learning, and I tried to get as more feedback as possible. I think it‘s better to listen and speak a language instead of learning only grammar.
The most memorable lesson?

Romain (French): The most memorable lesson was maybe the lesson about French cuisine (talking about eating snails and frog legs).

Andrius (Russian): I will never forget my first lesson when I introduced myself in Russian and I saw how confused my students were. Unforgettable…

Alejandro (Spanish): The best lecture: that day just two students came. I was teaching some grammar and later a lot of funny expressions, we were laughing a lot during that lecture.

Your wishes or suggestions to future teachers.

Romain (French): Don't be scared everybody can do it. Enjoy this moment!

Andrius (Russian): Have patience and believe in yourself.

Serkan and Celilsemi (Turkish): Before starting lectures, they should advertise their lessons to get more students then don‘t forget to keep students till the end of the semester. If they find a book to give papers for students, it will be more useful and easier for them and their students. We wish they will enjoy time with their students.

Alejandro (Spanish): Be patient.

All in all, “Multilingual Lithuania“ project was beneficial for both - students and teachers - teachers have gained a new experience and students got an opportunity to learn new languages totally for free!

We approve this project and really hope that it will last for a long time!

Thank you Kathleen, Eva, Romain, Hugues, Kenny, Brian, Marina, Iva, Andrius, Alejandro, Serkan, Celilsemi and Ozan – you are the best!

SocialErasmus project “Erasmus fairy-tale” for the first time was realized in December 2010. ESN VGTU (Vilnius Gediminas Technical University) wanted to do something special, something they had never done before, so their vicepresident Gintarė Vaiginytė and VGTU International Relations manager Jelena Mazaj came up with an idea of a new social project: they have suggested to prepare a fairy-tale before Christmas: to teach Erasmus students a fairy-tale in Lithuanian and perform it in the kindergarten, and… this project is continuing until these days!

While volunteers are still preparing for new performance, called “Pagrandukas” (English -  “Round bun”), we are curious to know more details how ESN VGTU is implementing this project. Today we speak with Sigita Pociūtė - current ESN VGTU SocialErasmus project coordinator and Justina Prunskaitė, who is responsible for „Erasmus Tale“ implementation this semester. 
 
How you choose tales and actors?
 
We are thinking about it all together during our Social Committee meetings. Members of committee wrote down all the nice fairytales they know, but still it is difficult to choose the best one, but somehow we make decision. For example this semester we have chosen already mentioned “Round bun”, because one of committee members saw this tale, performed by her relative and she noticed that children were impressed.
 
Concerning actors, we invite volunteers by announcing the first audition on our facebook page.  Those who come and, after seeing what kind of activity it is, still stay, these people are our actors. Then, we divide roles by discussing among each other… always in friendly way.
 
How much time you need to prepare the performance?
 
Practice makes it perfect, so almost whole semester. Making decorations for the performance also takes some time, as most of them we do by ourselves, some of them we get with a little help of our friends. 
To create decoration we organize workshops. For example, last semester we were preparing for the fairytale ,,The sky is falling“ : Spanish guys made a house from cardboard; Other actors created domino masks decorating them with the features of different animals. After the performance in the kindergarten we gave the masks to children, because we thought it was the last performance. But then we decided to make more children smile, so we arranged one more performance and we had to create new masks. 

Where you usually show these performances? 
 
In kindergarten and children hospital. But this year we also want to have one performance at Bernardinai Children centre (social center). Mentioned institutions are always waiting for us, welcomes us warmly - they have already seen previous performances and know how amazing this project is.
 
And what is the feedback from Erasmus exchange students? Do they enjoy participating in this project?
 
The feedback is always positive. Our actors are very artistic and creative, also the enjoy learning fairy-tale in Lithuanian:  some words for them look funny, and some learnt words they can even use outside rehearsals, so - it is useful and fun. 
 
What is the main challenge implementing this project?
 
The most difficult part is gathering actors to rehearsals. Everybody is very busy, it is hard for students to find some time for rehearsals and not to be late. 

These are the main ideas ESN VGTU social committee wanted to share with you about the project  ”Erasmus fairy-tale”. And while waiting photos and video of “Round bun”, which will be perfomed in May, have a look on previous tales:

2012 video

2011 video

 

After half of the cadency and the recent report of ideas realized during it National Platform was cheering for the work done by ESN Lithuania SE Coordinator Kristina Selezniova. Visiting schools, collecting coins, filming videos, contacting tens of people that projects would become real and even writing articles after all of that – this lady could teach us a lot about  multitasking. 

Today we will try to steal some of her time and find answers to questions why ESN and why Social Erasmus? 

 
How did NBM in Dijon go? Came back with lots of motivation? 
 
NBM was the great opportunity to see once again all the motivated and ESN-inspired personalities. People from different countries, different positions, with various experiences and ideas, but the same goal - ESN.
The most motivational thing was Dijon OC team work – they were amazing! They thought about all the details and made our time in Dijon unforgettable, what once again proved, that together people can really do incredible things.  

 
But it’s not your first international event. How the SE meeting in Brussels helped you for career in ESN? 
 
I was elected as ESN Vilnius University social committee head in the end of 2012 spring.  During few months of action I’ve realized that I really enjoy social activities, and during the summer I started to think about national position. But I still had questions and doubts – what it is and won’t it be too difficult to work on national level. But during SECM I was so impressed by what others are doing in their countries that I decided to be the one, who will motivate Lithuanians to reach higher in SE activities… and one week after SECM we had NP, where I was elected as first national SocialErasmus coordinator.

How does ESN Lithuania look in International context of SocialErasmus?
 
Recently we have uploaded one video-project (for “Global education week” 2012) on internet and international SocialErasmus coordinator Tarek Keskes commented on it:  “ESN Lithuania ROCKS”. I think that what he really meant was that Lithuania really implement lots of various and original projects, in that way promoting SocialErasmus Lithuania activities much more than it was ever done before. 

I believe that Lithuania really needed national SocialErasmus coordinator, but not because that sections were not realising social projects before. No. What we were really experiencing – lack of visibility – in local and International level. New ideas as well. And now we really work to make us visible – we write articles (even small ones on Lithuanian Ministry of Science and Education page), post photos and videos on Facebook and ESN Lithuania web page, upload videos on YouTube. 
 
Which of the projects is your most favorite? 
 
Difficult question! I like them all. But if I have to choose… I really like “Erasmus Unites” video, which was created for 2012 “Global Education Week” (because Erasmus students are speaking in Lithuanian and it’s perfect promotional material for “Erasmus in Schools” project implementing) and also our spring semester “Erasmus Post Cards” project, which, I hope, will become tradition of ESN Lithuania, because it is very simple and involves Erasmus exchange students into social activities from the early beginning. 
 
What are the biggest challenges you face while coordinating SocialErasmus over entire Lithuania?
 
I think the biggest difficulty for sections and at the same time challenge for me, is too frequent changing people in local SE positions. It negatively affects transfer of knowledge about SE activities.  But I try to compensate this by creating some guidelines about already implemented projects, by workshops during NPs and SocialErasmus coordinators’ meetings (we had one, but I hope there will be more of them in the future).   
 
Who or what inspires you not to stop, to reach higher, go further, go social?
 
I think that the main motivation for me is my SocialErasmus coordinators team, who are realizing really wonderful ideas. After one and a half of semester I can bravely say that Lithuanian SocialErasmus coordinators’ team did a huge step forward – we are searching for new partnerships with other organizations or associations, we are not afraid to try something new, we try to be visible and share our experiences with each other. I’m really proud of my team ;)
 
For sure, another inspiration – active Erasmus exchange students, who are extremely happy having opportunity to discover Lithuania while participating in social activities. When in the end of semester Erasmus exchange student says me, that “SocialErasmus activities were the best moments of my Erasmus in Lithuania” I really believe that it’s worth doing.
 

What skills and character features should the following SE coordinator have to continue your successful work? 
 
Inspiration and deep believe into this project – the best ideas come if the person believes in something, not forcing himself just to do one’s duty. That is the most important for SocialErasmus coordinator, whether on local or national level. And then – creativity – to have new ideas for projects, patience and flexibility – to transfer the knowledge and experience for new coordinators and finally, lots of optimism, to motivate ESN’ers and foreign students to be social.

 
And finally: why ESN and why SocialErasmus?
 
Thanks to ISI (International Student Initiative) — organization working like ESN in SciencePo de Grenoble (France), which helped me to discover France, its culture and people during my Erasmus exchange in there. After this wonderful time I decided that I also want to help others to discover Lithuania, but I never expected that my experience in France will lead me to such activity as SocialErasmus.  
 
After my year experience in ESN I can assure that me, and other SocialErasmus coordinators, we not only help to get acquaintance with Lithuania to foreigners. We also experience it in new and unexpected ways by ourselves. And it is the biggest discovery for me. 
 
On behalf of ESN Lithuania Board and entire of the network we thank Kristina for the successfully made effort during all the recent months. Keep up the sprit!

An event, happening three times in a row might be called a tradition. For ESN Lithuania it is so called Bling Bling party, this time organized for the 3rd and not for the last time. Idea to dress up and to spend a night together with international students from 5 different universities and ESNers from 5 different sections this year seemed to be attractive for more than 700 participants.

But who is standing behind all of that and makes the ends meet and everyone enjoy the results of it? These are 4 people who are hiding under two letters “OC”. Today we will talk with one of them - Darija Kupstaitė.

Why Bling Bling?

The organizers of the first party (a year ago) wanted something not so hard to prepare (either for exchange students or for organizers) but at the same time something memorable, shining and sparkling.  That was how Bling Bling theme came up.

So what does the OC made of? What are you responsible for?

OC is made of people from different sections in Vilnius (one person from each section) and those who were organizers of previous parties. We are responsible for everything actually. We are looking for the place, DJ, musicians, dancers, we even had a violin player. We are also trying to get some discounts for students and trying to keep everything in order. Personally I was responsible for tickets, for counting money and paying for everything (I think it is because I am an economics student :) ), also for decorations and together with all other organizers for keeping the order during the event.

As shortly as possible, what are the main stages of organizing this kind of event?

In my opinion the most important thing is a good team. A clear plan of the event should be in the second place and the third stage is about being stick to the plan.

What was the biggest challenge you’ve faced while preparing Bling Bling 2013 Spring?

Definitely the biggest challenge was the place for the event. We couldn’t get the same place as we had during the previous parties. We called to more than 5 places and every time we got an answer “Sorry, no”. But finally we succeed, we found a very nice place, it wasn’t perfect but it was the best option from those that we have had.

Are you happy with the final results?

I’m quite happy, we did everything we could. Of course we made some mistakes but I believe it will be a lesson for everyone. 

What, do you think, is the reason of Bling Bling’s success?

The main reason, I think, is that students were interested in this event more than ever before. We couldn’t believe that there are so many students who want to attend this party.

Maybe something fun or interesting have happened during the evening what all ESN Lithuania would be interested to read about? :)

The most interesting and a bit unexpected thing was that a group of students was waiting for the last tickets since 9 pm (the door was opened at 10 pm). 

ESN Lithuania sincerely thanks for all the organising team for their amazing job done before, after and on 8th of February!

For 11-18 of November North-South Centre of the Council of Europe organizes “Global Education Week”.

This year Erasmus Student Network of Lithuania also joins this event providing the society information about the Erasmus exchange possibilities and its’ importance to the development of the global citizenship.

Here you can find short movie how ERASMUS, and exchange programs at all, can be benefitial for the person, local society and all the world! ;)

Attention: exchange students did a great job - explained everything in Lithuanian!!!

Thanks for all participants for educating our society!

One more semester, one more Lithuanian delegation joined annual international ESN event organized by ESN Sweden in cooperation with all Scandinavian countries and Baltics. At the late evening of 22nd of April more than 40 students from ESN VMU, ESN VGTU, ESN Vilnius University, ESN MRU Vilnius, ESN KK and one Group Leader of Lithuania Sandra Baltkojytė gathered together in Cathedral Square, Vilnius ready to experience what does really mean being with ESN, being at Sea Battle.

After 9 hours journey from Vilnius through Latvia, Tallinn was finally reached where the cruise Baltic Queen was already waiting. But before the boarding possibility to see one more capital of the Europe couldn’t be left apart, so delegation moved through the beautiful streets of the capital and largest city of Estonia. Only few hours spent in an Old Town, which is included in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and it was already the time to come back to the port.

Boarding, which started at 4pm, didn’t last for long and soon cruise with more than 400 exchange students and ESN’ers inside headed to Sweden. During those 17 hours inside the ship a lot of happened. While Group Leaders from Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia listened for the Head SB Coordinator Anton Lukeniuk, Sea Battlers tried to settle into their rooms, to make new friendships. Evening of the 22nd also invited for the much more activities. After a great dinner everyone was invited to the Starlight Palace for the Ships House Band. After that – Midnight Show started, which was followed by Disco in Ibiza Club. Party lasted until the morning. People who saw that would assure you that the motto of that night was “sleep is for the week”.

23rd of April was already there then everyone in their cabins were woken up by the voice announcing that there is only 1.5h left until arriving.  That day invited to explore beautiful Stockholm, to find many new friends since there were already around 1500 Sea Battlers in the ship after Scandinavian students were let into. Speed dating, karaoke, dance floors in Ibiza and Starlight Palace – that’s what the Sea Battle 2012 Spring has offered for its guests. And of course thousand of different things, which were left at the other side of the story.
 
During these few days lots of things have happened, hundreds of people met hundreds of new people, someone enjoyed seeing new capitals of Europe, some people were happy even about going with the cruise for the first time, but finally everyone came back home safely. Sea Battle is more than you can imagine. In all the possible ways. That’s why it’s worth going, because there everyone finds its own.