by Jirka Heller
This weekend, ESNers from 19 Czech universities met in Olomouc to share ideas, taste-test tvarůžky, do some serious politics and play with fire. Jirka was leading our one-man delegation and he enoyed it more than he expected, so he wrote an article to tell you more in case you forget to ask him.
What even is this?
National Assembly (NA) is a meeting of representatives from all ESN sections in one country + that country’s National Board (NB). It’s usually a weekend event with a few presentations and votings and then a lot of opportunities to meet, chat and hang out with like-minded ESN people from other schools. This NA was called YOLOviNA because it took place in YOLOmouc.
Why are you so excited about THAT?
I’ve never been to a national ESN event before, so I didn’t know what to expect, I didn’t know pretty much any of the people there and I didn’t know what’s the point of spending a weekend with them. Now I do. It’s about the inspiration and motivation you get from talking to people who do similar things, but differently.
ESN Liberec throws themed costume parties every other week. ESN Zlín has a checklist you have to complete to become a member. ESN Charles University Prague recommends study spots on Instagram and thousands of exchange students love it. And so on.
Most sections struggle with similar problems, but each finds an original solution. In two days, I’ve heard more good ideas than we could ever brainstorm alone. For me, this was the most exciting part of it. And it was also a great reminder that we don’t have to just keep doing exactly what we’ve done last semester. We can scratch whatever is not working and try whatever we want to try. Being an ESN volunteer means more power than it might s…
Mkay, enough motivational speech. What do you like… actually do there?
The volunteers from ESN UP Olomouc prepared a pretty impressive program, so each of us 80 participants found something for them. After a few welcome speeches and presentations on Friday afternoon, there was a surprise juggling-with-fire show, after which they even let us try out some moves on our own 🔥🔥🔥. Then a karaoke party, painting workshop and free tickets to what’s apparently Olomouc’s version of Duplex (but what do I know) – all of that still on Friday night.
On Saturday the National Board introduced their proposals and new candidates, we had some time to spend with our Section Care Verča, took too many photos with flags and then boasted our meme knowledge during a pub quiz in a board games bar. And of course, we got to see the calm student city of Olomouc with its so-much-more-readable astronomical clock, parks you cannot avoid and oddly-specific store names like Paštikárna, Štrůdlárna and Sáčky do vysavačů.
One thing Olomouc should work on though: selling tvarůžky on weekends. Who’d expect that there’s not a single place to buy olomoucké tvarůžky in Olomouc on Saturday afternoon? Not me. But at least we tried a tvarůžkový burger.
How did we vote btw?
I’m getting there! Voting is one of the main things on every NA’s agenda and each section has one vote. Either the “statutory representative” (aka President) comes in person or they delegate their vote to someone else. In Olomouc, there were 8 votings, and because the whole event was comic-book-superhero-themed, we voted by raising speech bubbles above our heads.
Some votings were more of a formality, like whether we approve Hung to be in the Electoral Commission (we did), but the Sunday ones were juicier. For example, we were the only section to abstain from voting on SIR changes (which are internal rules of ESN CZ) because they included a name of a specific commercial partner, which our Board agreed is a weird and unnecessary complication. But it was passed anyway. We also approved the national Strategic Plan for the next three years and agreed that ESN MUNI Brno will host the NA in November.
What’s most important though: three members of the new National Board were elected! From July, Kuba Starý will be the new President of ESN CZ, Kája Macháčková will become Network Manager (something like HR) and Janča Mrkosová will be the Communication Manager (pretty much what we call PR). They were the only candidates and the remaining four positions (Vice, Finances, Events and IT) will hopefully be filled at the next NA in June. Speaking of which…
Anyone wants to join me next time?
The next National Assembly (called NA Vltavě) will be hosted by ESN USB Budweis in České Budějovice from 12 to 14 June. I will be there and you can be there too. It’s a great new experience, a source of ideas and fun weekend trip all at once. Plus, all the people there are solid friend candidates because they share similar interests and you automatically get a lot of easy conversation starters (“Why the heck is your mascot a pair of acorns?”). Oh and did I mention that our section usually covers the participation fee (incl. accommodation and food) as well as transport tickets, so it’s basically free?
If you’re curious or considering joining me in June, let me know. If not, see you at the next Culture Evening, International Day or any other event 😉
