European School Network in my perspective

On the 23th of September started the first international student conference entitled Transylvania,
Land of Tolerance within the framework of ESN (European School Network) and I’m very glad that I had
the opportunity to participate in this conference and host one of the guests. My guest’s name is Maria
Sabatini.

For me, the hole project started on 21th in the evening, because the Italians came earlier. So I
was glad to know that I have with my guest one day more than the others, because I had the chance to
know her better and show her the city. So I spoke to Kiss Dalma, who also hosted an Italian girl, to go out
with them next day.

So next day, on Saturday, we went out in the city to show them the most important places: we
went to the Fellegvár, then to the Central Park, where they could taste the kűrtős kalács and sail by boat
on the lake. After that we went to the Insomnia café and then to the Iulius Mall. During this time, we were
getting closer to each other, we had fun and laughed a lot together. So I felt that the girls became more
relaxed and opened.

Starting with Sunday, the conference lasted a week and we went to many places and did a lot of
activities, mostly related to the topic of tolerance in Transylvania. For example some of us went to a
horseriding centre, which is the one where I go horseriding. There I showed them the hole stable, made a
demonstration about how we train for jumping competitions and they also could try horsebackriding. We
went to Válaszút where we had the chance to know more about the Hungarian, Romanian and Saxon
traditional culture and clothings and we tried Hungarian traditional dance too. Also we went to the Salt
Mine of Torda and to Torockó where we learned about the Hungarian Yurt life and we had the opportunity
to try archery and whipping too. Also we learned more about the village life, for example how they make
their traditional bread. Finally, we climbed the Székelykő and the view was breathtaking.

We had in-school activities too: for example we were split in small groups of mixed nationalities
and worked on a project activity, where we analyzed the practical life-examples of intolerance based on
Marjane Satrapi’s novelette entitled Persepolis. Also we presented the presentations in front of the
students of my school.

Last day we went to the City Hall where vice-mayor Oláh Emese received us, and held a
presentation about the development of Kolozsvár. Also it was the day when we had to say goodbye to
our guests which was really though for me, because we got really close to each other and we became
good friends. But we try to keep in touch through social media as often as possible.

I recommend to everyone to join the European School Network project because beside meeting
new people from other countries, we learn about their culture, their mentality and their opinion about
life. Also you have the chance to make new friends and to know more about yourself. It’s an unforgettable
experience.