The section of ESN Sarajevo is a somewhat small section located at the heart of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the capital city of Sarajevo. The number of volunteers varies between 20 and 30 truly committed ones, whose hard work pays off when you see the smiles on the faces of your fellow international students.
In order to make the students feel at home and to make the overall mobility memorable like no other, the section organises a wide variety of events, ranging from parties to more relaxed picnics in nature or city tours.
This small section in the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina may be limited in size, but the work and engagement of its volunteers make up for it and create a section equal to larger and more popular Erasmus+ exchange destinations. They make sure that students feel at home, which is mainly done through the Buddy System, where local students are available to offer their knowledge and help every step of the way as the exchange students find their way around the city and complete the necessary registration and paperwork. This system offers more than help, it creates life-long friendships that transcend the borders of a single country.
The two main focus points of the section are the Event Coordinators’ Team, who work diligently to turn every event idea into a reality and create a myriad of events suitable for each student and their personal needs, and the Social Media Team, who capture the essence of those magical moments and share the positive experiences on our social media for the world to see what Sarajevo has to offer.
Unfortunately, not everything is smiles and laughter, as there are certain bumps along the way that overshadow their efforts towards supporting exchange students, local community and volunteers. As a section, they often face financial problems and lack of support from the authorities, but despite that, they continue to work hard, hoping for a better future and easier work within our section. More often than not, the mobility grants are almost non-existent or difficult to obtain from the local authorities. Regardless of all the troubles they face along the way, they never lack the courage and motivation to keep doing what they do best because the efforts always pay off in the end. ESN Sarajevo aims to work better and harder each semester to give international students the mobility experience they deserve.
Sarajevo, as an Erasmus+ exchange location, is not particularly popular among foreign students as, for example, Spain, France or Italy. In most cases, Sarajevo is only the second or third choice of their incoming students. Sometimes there are cases of international students who had never heard about Sarajevo or Bosnia and Herzegovina as a whole. But once they come to experience everything the city has to offer, they leave with a heavy heart filled with memorable experiences and journeys with a promise that they will come back one day.
ESN Sarajevo facilitates the process of exchange and through a variety of events, it helps the students with forming deeper connections. The main events they organise include Pub Quiz Nights, Karaoke Nights, Post-exam Parties, board games, and volleyball tournaments. Despite the smaller numbers within the section, Sarajevo, as an exchange destination, has around 80 incoming students each semester. Since that is a relatively large number of different individuals, they aim to create events that suit everyone’s needs. Besides the above-mentioned, there are hiking events to the nearby mountains surrounding Sarajevo and sporting events such as volleyball and football tournaments and concerts. Regional trips are planned as well in order to broaden the horizons of the exchange students, but also to keep alliances with fellow ESN sections like the ones in Belgrade in Serbia and Split in Croatia.
Overall, ESN is happy to see more and more international students opt for Sarajevo as their Erasmus+ exchange destination each semester and that the city is becoming more popular among young people on the Erasmus+ map.
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