When we are not so active on our social media pages, this means we are rather working hard on new projects, or we are exploring new opportunities.

 

During 27-28th October, around 150 professors, researchers, students and representatives of local organisations met during the first hybrid forum of the EC2U Alliance (European Campus of City Universities). The forum took place in the wonderful city of Salamanca, hosted by the Universidad de Salamanca, the oldest University of Spain. 3 volunteers of ESN Iași were also present there.

 

Roxana Cărăbuș and Andrea Ruja were selected to be 2

of the 5 students that represented Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi as members of the UAIC delegation. They are also local volunteers in ESN Iasi, and they wanted to talk about their experience from both perspectives:

 

Roxana: 

 

“The EC2U Forum in Salamanca was an experience that provided me with the opportunity to expose myself to other cultures and mentalities by interacting with students from different countries and getting to taste the flavour of a Spanish University city.  

Whether it was a sports event or a simple city tour, I enjoyed being surrounded by students from other universities like Coimbra, Poitiers, Jena, Pavia and Salamanca, exchanging ideas and thoughts, promoting our culture and discovering others. 

It is not a myth anymore that such experiences can open your mind and make you thirsty for more. That’s why now I’m convinced to try by myself an International experience, maybe in one of the 6 countries of EC2U.”

 

 

 

Andrea:


“To have the honor of representing UAIC and ESN Iasi at the EC2U forum in Salamanca was an opportunity that I will be forever grateful for. To be completely honest, before we began our trip, I couldn't have imagined the wonderful experiences that awaited us there. Besides the guided tours, debates and conferences, what stuck with me the most is how different and at the same time similar we all are. I was able to create friendships and for sure eternal memories with people from France, Italy, Germany, Portugal and Spain and of course with the members of the UAIC delegation. Once I will get home, I will inform myself better on how I can get an Erasmus+ scholarship; I think Salamanca and Pavia are very good options for me, definitely I will apply for one of them. 

But still my favorite memory consists of meeting fellow ESN volunteers from all over Europe.

 

Iolanda is also a student at UAIC, and she was present as the representative of ESN Iași:

“If I should describe this experience using only one word, that word would be “empowering”. It was so interesting to find out how many aspects EC2U covers, and that so many actors are involved. I’m really committed to follow the next conferences of the GLADE Virtual Institute. During the session "How to create an EC2U ecosystem?", a meeting for the EC2U Associated Partners, that was held in the City Hall of Salamanca, the presence of the mayor of Salamanca talking with us about sustainable cities and communities, health and well-being and quality education was such an inspiration!

I’m more determined now to contribute to the integration of the International students in our local community, together with my colleagues from ESN Iasi, with whom I’ve already shared what I’ve learned during these days of the forum. Exchanging best practices with the other ESN sections in this direction will help us a lot in our future activities. Now that we understand better what the role of the EC2U Alliance is, we will easily promote the exchanges between EC2U cities and universities to our volunteers and local students.

 

The city of Salamanca is extremely beautiful and full of history. I hope for many other experiences like these ones, open for students, as I felt that students can do even more to help the growth of the EC2U Alliance and fulfill its objectives. “

 

 

We are really thankful to the ones that made the event happen, and made our presence there possible, Universitatea “Alexandru Ioan Cuza” Iași, EC2U Alliance and Universidad de Salamanca. https://ec2u.fundacionusal.es/

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The ambition of the Alliance is to develop an innovative space between the seven universities and their associated partners, increasing the mobility opportunities within the seven Universities and developing innovative education and research models. https://ec2u.eu/
 
 
Author: Iolanda Bogleș
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