„So you have something to remember and do not regret your decision to come to Nitra, and so you stay in touch with our university and its students.“ By these words our rector, prof. RNDr. Libor Vozár, CSc., ended his welcoming speech to Erasmus students during the meeting, that took place in the Representative Hall of the Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, as our university is the one these foreign students chose to exchange their Alma Maters for.

Meeting, during which the foreign students could taste our typical delicacies including ‘pagáče’ and ‘linecké koláčiky’ and refresh themselves with sip of our Kofola, was organized by our Vice-rector for International Relations, PhDr. Martina Pavlíková, PhD. In her opening speech, she welcomed all the foreign students at our university. She asked some of them, why did they decide to choose our university and what of it do they like the most. The most recurring answer was that they like the local people and the town in its entirety. Apparently, they like Slovakia a lot and their impressions seem to be positive.

We currently have 54 students studying at out university via the Erasmus project. The biggest group came from Spain (11 members), the second biggest comes from Russia (8 members) and the third position is split between the Portuguese and the Ukrainian groups (6 members each). Other countries, however, are also represented by students from Belgium, France, Georgia, Poland, Belarus, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Serbia and Turkey.

While the foreigners were trying our delicacies, the Vice-rector for International Relations presented the most beautiful places in our country. To her delight, she found out many of these students have already visited some of the sightseeing locations. In order to let them see more of our country, however, our university’s Office for the International Relations prepared two sightseeing trips in this semester.

One of them will lead to Komárno and the other one to Trenčín, where our foreign students could see and learn more about our culture and traditions. The trip to Trenčín also includes the typical Slovakian Christmas fair, so our esteemed guest could also experience the Slovakian spirit of Christmas with all of our traditionally crafted goods.

Besides our rector and the vice-rector for the international relations, the head of the Office for the International Relations, Ing. Silvia Hrozenská, PhD. and our ESN (Erasmus Student Network) section were also present at the meeting. Our university’s section of the ESN regularly organizes events and activities for our guesting students and was represented by its president, Tímea Holúbková, and her colleagues from the organization.

Text: Mgr. Ľubica Račeková – a PhD. candidate at the Department of Journalism, Mgr. Patrik Lenghart – a PhD. candidate at the Department of Mass Media Communication and Advertisement