Do you know ESN?

After almost 2 months since we arrived to Porto and that this new adventure started, we’re gonna tell you a bit about ESN, what it is, and what it does.

In our experiences as mobility students we can say that it wasn’t what we expected. We 4 mexican students came with the idea of “we’re going to the beach”, so in our things we barely had warm clothes. We got out Mexico with a temperature of 35°C and arrived to Porto with a 5°C weather, what a welcoming! 

As the time went, the weather got better and our story as well. We have nice classes, we’ve met amazing people, awesome places,  and ESN is an important part of the last 2 things.

3 weeks ago we scheduled an appointment with Ricardo Oliveira, ESN’s president, which happened in March 4^th. The reason? An interview. We arrived to the ESN’s offices, the view is well known for all the students, a few foreign students waiting, different languages could be heard, and if you walked out a bit and looked through the window, you could see a typical rainy winter afternoon.

Ricardo is a nice guy, which helped us to feel more comfortable with the Portuguese, since it is not our main one. When our host finished helping all the students there, the interview started.

-          For how long has ESN been in Porto?

-          In Porto… ESN started in 1991, even though by then it wasn’t ESN yet, it was INNET. It was a project launched by the University of Porto, by the International Students Department. I think it became ESN in 2002, but it has always been working the same.

-          So, what do you do here?

-          Our objective is to help mobility students, help them to integrate to Porto and Portugal, to find a place to live or whatever they need.

-          What does ESN mean?

-          Erasmus Student’s Network; Erasmus is a mobility program in Europe, it is the most known and biggest program, it’s gonna have some changes and will be Erasmus Plus. It is because of that, that ESN is an international association, and has national headquarters, in our case ESN Portugal, there are ESN Porto, ESN Lisbon. The internationl association works with the European Union, ESN is only in European countries, but we help any international students, doesn’t need to be precissely in the Erasmus program.

-          How long have you been in ESN? 

-          3 years, I’m a volunteer, in ESN we all are volunteers.

-          As a volunteer, what have you learned in ESN?

-          Here we learn to work in teams, to organize trips, -we couldn’t help to interrup him and add “parties” hahah-, parties, events. In organization of events we learn a lot, in a team working level we learn to manage conflicts; we learn as well to work as an organization; we learn about other cultures too, because we get to know people from other countries, from Mexico for example –laughs-  We are about 40 volunteers in ESN Porto.

-          Who does the recluting?

-          The candidates that want to get in, give a reason, show their disponibility, and we, the volunteers that are already in decide if they could represent an extra value for the association.

-          So, you’re the president now, how long have you been?

-          1 semester. We’re an association, we make elections every year. There can be re-elections but it doesn’t happen normally cuz we’re students and we’re here 2-3 years then we go to work and sometimes there is no disponibility.

-          In an organizational and personal level, what have been the biggest challenge to get over?

-          Mmm…

-          Everything easy? Hahaha

-          There’s a lot of paper work, burocracy, but nothing too difficult.

-          What do you like the most about ESN?

-          For me…

-          Parties? Hahaha

-          Hahaha “parties”. I think that what I like the most is when the Erasmus enjoyed and feel that ESN helped them, and when by the end of a semester or year they come to us to say “thank you for the help, we loved the activities”. I love to see that Erasmus took advantage and enjoyed their time here and that ESN was part of it.

-          Who organizes the activities?

-          We have different depparments in ESN, we have a depparment for the Tuesday activities, one for Party activities, for communication and branding, fundraising, we have several depparments and each deppartment has a coordinator that checks the disponibility to make an activity, then the event is confirmed. Normally all members can organize them, if it is a new one it is proposed and the association as one decides.

-          How many Erasmus are here in Porto?

-          I’m not sure, 1500 I think, there were 2000 in the first semester and now 1000, so 3000 in total this year, but not all of them went back to their countries so I think 1500. Last year there were more.

-          Which countries come the most to Porto?

-           Brazil then Spain, Italy, Poland.

-          And mexicans? Hahaha

-          Nope, no mexicans hahaha

-          Can you tell certain characteristics or problems with specific nationalities?

-          No, we have to be careful with, for example…

-          Mexicans hahaha

-          Hahaha no, for example with musulmans students that don’t eat pork, so we gotta be careful with the food, to have an alternative dish for them, but those aren’t problems, just details that need to be taken care of.

-          Do you have any funny story?

In the back of the room José, another ESN volunteer, says “something we can share?”. We couldn’t do anything else but laugh.

-          A funny story… sometimes during the trips somebody get lost, but I can’t think of any specific story. –laughs-

-          Or maybe some student that fell in love with you or you with them, maybe marriage already? 

The room was filled up with laughing.

-          Hahaha for example last year’s president has a girlfriend that was Erasmus and they already traveled to Asia, a love story.

-          But do you have any rules as “do not fall in love with other students”? Do you break them? Hahaha

-          No, we don’t have those kind of rules, we all are adults here. But if somebody had inappropriate attitutes for ESN, of course we would talk to them.

-          So all the people here are students?

-          Yep, but some of them already work and still help but when they got in were students.

-          What do you study?

-          Engineering, it is my last year in the university of Porto.

-          And you José?

-           Same thing hahah

-          Together?

-          Yes, we got in together –Ricardo answered-

-          So you got in ESN together, what made you get in ESN?

-          Well I had 2 faculty close friends already here, and I ended up here because I liked it  

-          Seems obvious for 3 years, of course you liked it haha.

-          I always had the curiosity and then I discovered that there were some friends here and they did the recluting and I made it here –said José-

-          You had been Erasmus before getting in here?

-          No, I was here for a year and a half and then I went to Indonesia last year, then I got back and applied for the presidency.

-          Do you speak Indonisian?

-          Just a little

-          And how did you manage with the classes?

-          I passed them, our exams where in English, and I made it haha
What countries have you visited?

-          Indonesia, Italy, Holand, Spain, Germany

-          What languages do you speak?

-           Portuguese, English, a little bit of Spanish and a little bit of Indonisian
What languages would you want to learn? English, Portugues, Spanish? hahaha

-           I think Italian, I don’t know.

-          And you José, which languages do you speak?

-          Portuguese, English and Portuñol (you know, Spanish + Portuguese)

-          Are you the same person? Hahaha… any advice for the Erasmus?

-          They have to take advantage, it is an unique opportunity, have fun, study, you can’t forget school, get to know a lot people, make a lot of friends, travel around Portugal, learn Portuguese, take advantage as much as possible to get to know new cultures.

-           José?

-          For the Erasmus?

-          Most of them will be mexicans actually, but yeah hahaha

-          I think it is important to study…

-           Mexicans come to Porto! –Ricardo interrupted-

-          It is only cold during winter, but I think you will like it, we’re are similar cultures compared to Germany or others, this cultural interaction is interesting –concluded-

We thanked them for their time and took a few pictures. We enjoyed doing this, more than an interview this was like a nice conversation.

Thanks ESN, thanks Porto :)