1. What does ESN mean to you?
Pretty often I caught myself wondering, what regular people do everyday after they leave their office in the afternoon. After so many years working within our organization, I just can’t imagine doing anything else that would occupy my time that well. It may sound trivial, but thanks to ESN I had a chance to meet truly amazing people, travel around Poland (but not only) few times, and for sure thought me what I don’t like (and it will be quite a long list).
2. How did your ESN adventure start?
Until this day I still don’t honestly know how it all started and what am I still doing here! Even though I was then studying at PW, I became a mentor at SGGW (and during our first meeting I got lost at the campus and my Erasmus had to look for me..). But that was the moment I joined ESN PW when I felt that I finally found the right place for myself.
3. How did ESN change your life? Why have you joined it?
It’s extremely hard to answer the question how ESN changed my life, as I just can’t imagine my life without ESN now! But I perfectly remember our recruitment meeting, and our former HR, Bartek talking about his experience - a couch potato watching series alone every single evening before, and whe after joining the ESN he didn’t have time to even go back home. At that time I couldn’t relate more and that’s why I joined, and I believe that’s something that changed for the majority of us at some point.
4. If you were an ESN project, what would you be?
As I consider myself highly organized (and sometimes it’s hard to say that about our projects), I am also very determined in gettings things done, I would say I’m not a project, I’m rather the Section Questionnaire - that ask many questions and won’t stop until it’s finished.
5. #FunFact about a life in ESN.
Once my Erasmus told me ‘Zusana, you’re not fun at all’, so I guess it may be hard to came up with something interesting, and amount of years in ESN doesn’t the rest. I believe one of more interesting stories from last year would be a ride with the Rector of PK to the gala dinner during NP Krakow, when I got lost in definitely too high heels on a definitely too steep hill.
6. Did you go on the Erasmus+ exchange? / What is the most interesting experience you had so far?
Many reasons kept me from going on my own exchange, but I always consider my work at the ESN as ‘Erasmus at home’. And there were some many amazing experiences during those years that it’s just hard to choose the best one!
7. What inspires and motivates you the most?
Even though I pretty often work in PR areas, I don’t consider myself a creative individual - I prefer organized spreadsheets, which usually don’t require much of inspiration. But I do love following pages on Instagram, that showcase amazing pictures of Warsaw, which make every day a little bit easier to go through.
I am not a big fan of doing things just for the core fact of doing them, therefore I get motivated when my work actually brings some value. So no matter if that was previously a successful event for Erasmus students, now a workshop, graphics, documents or spreadsheets - If what I do actually helps someone there is no better motivator.
8. Favourite place in the world?
Probably I should say that it’s my family home or choose one of the beautiful European capitals, although I am drowned to modern, bustling with life Asian metropolises. My favourite place is for sure Shanghai, where traditional chinese culture mixes with western approach, where one can spend hours on a bench at the Bund admiring an amazing and colorful city panorama of the tallest skyscrapers in Asia.
9. Did ESN help you discover some things you didn’t know you were good at?
I believe almost everything I do, all my skills, got better thanks to the ESN - no matter if that was when I learned on my own how to use Photoshop, or when I wrote my first statute. One of the most important things I’ve learned over the years is for sure how to give someone a constructive feedback.