Hello, dear colleague who is reading this entry to the blog article. Probably the first question that comes to your mind is, “What is this about?” So, please do not close the tab, thanks a lot! Let me tell you about my experience in this event.
My journey to Poland started in Madrid, Spain. From there I took a flight to arrive in Wrocław. From the beginning, I was thinking all the time: How is it going to be? Will I be able to give the speech at the conference (Sorry, I suffer from stage fright, and is talking in front of a big crowd not the best way of facing it)? Will everything work out? Did the OC manage to prepare the streaming? Am I forgetting something?
All those fears went away while I was texting a colleague. I knew he was going on the same trip as me because when I jokingly asked, “Where are you going?”, he replied, “To the best ESN event.”
So I finally made it, after a four-hour flight, I arrived in Wrocław. After leaving my luggage, I went running to a pizzeria where everyone was eating pizza (actually, it was good, even Italians did not complain a lot) and there I realised that this edition was going to be a success. All the people there were quite happy, meeting each other before seeing each other over the next few days, chatting and having fun, trying to fill out a card that the OC had prepared to break the ice.
Not so late after that, we all went to try to rest a little before the actual event started.
Friday morning arrived and it all started with a conference, to which all participants were invited. After welcoming everyone, we headed to the courts. I was hoping to be able to go to the hostel to change clothes, but it was impossible, so I had to stay suited up all day, even with a tie! (I think I was the most elegant ESNer in all IEG history).
Then, when the referee first whistled, everything started. I think it is an indescribable feeling, you have to be there to feel the exact emotion that I think everyone from the Organising Committee felt. It is the outcome of all the work done during the year, all the effort done by everyone, from volunteers to international students, the long hours on calls, hours and hours of reading and writing documents, doing calculations and much more.
So everything started to move, like gears of a watch. Friday and Saturday passed, with exciting matches in all sports - volleyball, futsal, basketball and table tennis. Even on Saturday night, some of us watched the UEFA Champions League final together (with an incredible result for Real Madrid).
All good things must come to an end, so on Sunday, the finals arrived. In this edition, ESN Portugal was most successful, winning the basketball and volleyball finals. In futsal, ESN Germany won a disputed final against ESN Italy, and in table tennis ESN Darmstadt won, officially being the first section that ever participated in IEG, and also being the first winner in any sport discipline.
Now, we are all awaiting next year. I am already asking myself who is going to challenge the champions for the title. But then I realised, in the end, it does not matter who the winner is, but for us, to show that a different Erasmus picture exists, that international mobility is more than going one year abroad. It is about the memories, moments you enjoy, people you meet and those different things that you can make outside your comfort zone.
Home is now behind you, the world is ahead! - The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien
