ESN Spring Training Kaunas

“The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will.” (Vince Lombardi)

Willpower and motivation are strong aspects of what makes people succeed. It keeps us focused and helps us achieving things that we never thought we could. But what motivates you and what elements don’t? What about the people that surround you and work with you everyday? Which tools can sparkle your own motivation and the one around the people you deal with on a daily-basis? In this track we will focus on self and group motivation and explore some of the underlying theories and research. Along the way we will get to know ourselves a little better. We will also go deeper into personal experiences with ESN in order to face common problems such as the high turnover of members or the willingness to participate in international projects.

As a trainer I am an outgoing and open person that tries to create active and fun training sessions. I believe that people learn best when they are in a comfortable environment allowing them to try new things and opening up.
I breath and feel the Eduk8 project which I believe is one of the greatest chances anyone could get to develop oneself and others.

Since my time as a section president in Vienna and even more so since I participated in my first training for trainers in Cluj-Napoca in 2013, I am very interested in groups, their development. In the meantime I gained plenty of experience in facilitating workshops on team building and team development but also section improvement and personal development.

I have been part of ESN since March 2012 and since the first minute I joined my local section – ESN Lisboa, ESN has become a real “addiction” to me. Just a couple of months after I joined our beloved network I went to my first international event - Eduk8 Training for Trainers in Slovakia and since then I’ve been a very active facilitator conducting workshops on a different range of ESN events, from team buildings at my local section, National Platforms, Regional Platforms, Eduk8 events and AGMs.

My best memories for ESN trainings are the openness that you can see throughout these events. You can be a newbie, a president of a section or even a member involved in the international level but this is the only event in ESN where you can experience that everyone is on the same level which makes it the perfect environment for everyone to feel welcomed, to share their feelings, knowledge and thoughts and that is the spirit of ESN trainings!

"Our cultural strength has always been derived from our diversity of understanding and experience." (Yo-Yo Ma)

In this track you will learn about culture and its impact on the way you interact with others. We will discuss differences and similarities, raise your awareness towards positive and negative stereotypes and show you how developing intercultural sensitivity can help you with your everyday ESN-work. You will bring this awareness to situations that can happen with exchange students or fellow ESNers with a different cultural background and learn how to better understand or even prevent conflicts within these environments. In the end, you will realise how your section can benefit from a raised intercultural awareness and how can you help them to apply it.

I'm inquisitive, a traveler, an ESN geek and can't imagine my life without laugh, cheese or social media. #THISisINES

My journey in ESN started in 2012 and throughout the years I've been active member, local board, national board, international committee member, international team member... but one thing stayed constant through all the time: I have always been actively involved in Eduk8 and passionate about developing and training our network.

Right now I'm excited to be able to learn from you guys in Kaunas and in the process hope to share some of the knowledge I acquired so far. This is the power of Eduk8 and non-formal education: the world is all a great pool of knowledge, the trainers are just here to help you jump in!

I have been an ESNer for 3.5 years. In August 2013, being still a local section president, I fell in love with Eduk8 and non-formal education at the Training for Trainers in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

Eduk8 has helped me a lot to face unresolved conflicts and sign up for always bigger challenges. Thanks to Eduk8, I had the courage and motivation to chair two Regional Platforms and I am currently the Main Chair of the Network and Events Committee.

Ever since I became a facilitator, I have used the power of non-formal education to help my participants to face their emotions, find motivation in challenges and improve their communication in external and internal conflicts. I believe that non-formal education can truly change you, just as it did change me and I would love to take this journey with you!