Categories: 
National Events
Written by: 
Tudor Țoțovînă
Sunday, 31 October, 2021 - 10:19

ESN Romania - 17 years and going

Seventeen long years have passed since the approval of the first ever local section - ESN Cluj-Napoca. This moment marked the birth of ESN Romania, and the beginning of the ESN-esque adventure for many fellow volunteers.

 

What can be said that hasn’t already been mentioned in this history of ESN Romania? Well, a lot actually!

Across the years, our dedicated and motivated volunteers organized lots of events, be it local, national or even international. 

Let us have a look at a few notable events, organized by the sections themselves. Currently 15 local sections with plenty of volunteers in each of them:

 

We invite you to our Local Sections page, where all local sections are listed, as well as their websites/contact page. 

 

Up one ladder, we find ourselves amidst national events. This right here is what we’re known for (worldwide, I mean). Every ESNer has at least heard (if not seen glimpses) of Halloween in Transylvania. 

ESN Romania’s most iconic event, held on Halloween, annually - it gathers up to 700 Erasmus students, in Transylvania to spend four days visiting, learning more about our culture; and three nights to party Romanian-style (with one of the party being Halloween-themed). This event is, more often than not, organized with the help of ESN Brasov’s city hall contacts, as you can see from this amazing Flag Parade held in Brasov in 2019’s edition.

The second semester is more fruitful, when talking about national events: National Erasmus Games and Escape to Vama Veche.

 

National Erasmus Games is an event focused on sport competition, and is in fact the national phase of International Erasmus Games. Fun fact: ESN Romania was supposed to organize the International Erasmus Games in 2020 - they even received an ESAA grant for it, but sadly...pandemic happened…Under normal circumstances, it would host teams formed by Erasmus students and volunteers alike that are competing in futsal, basketball and volleyball.

 

Last, but not least - it is Escape to Vama Veche. Best described as a party-oriented event organized around the 1st of May, in the splendid beach village, Vama Veche. EtVV developed during the years, eventually combining parties with eco-friendly activities (trash-collecting contests on the beach) and sports (treasure hunt all over the village, Beach Olympics, Color Run/Battle).

Before reaching the INTERNATIONAL level, we have to at least mention our National Assemblies (National Platforms in the old language). In past years, these assemblies would take place four times/year, now reduced to two times/year. The other two have been replaced with training events, one for volunteers, one for the local boards, to keep facilitating the improvement ouf our new generations.

The National Assemblies would be organized by one section, in alphabetical order and then voted upon by the rest of the sections. It is a place to discuss, learn and vote upon ESN related topics. It is also a huge motivation-generator for all local volunteers.

 

Okay, drum rolls please...International Events.

Romanian ambition is nothing to joke about - across the years ESN Romania has organized a plethora of international events:

  • Eduk8 - T4T Cluj-Napoca 2013, STARTER Timisoara 2016
  • NBT - Timisoara 2013
  • IEG - Cluj-Napoca 2020 (sadly cancelled)
  • SEEP - Cluj-Napoca 2014
  • CNR - Bucharest 2016, Bucharest 2018
  • Community Meetings: Communication Summit 2021, NETx 2021, IT summit 2021, Business&Finance Conference 2021

Seeing them written like this puts everything into a new perspective right? Thought so, too.

 

Would you like to see your initiative written in next year’s ‘18 years anniversary blog post’? Then go ahead, rally up your local section and start prepping!