My Extra-Polished Christmas

There is great beauty in diversity, they say; but that never really holds true until one gets to live that diversity. Which is probably what Erasmus Mundus is all about: bringing everyone from everywhere into one pack of curious minds with eager spirits. Tales abound of how rich Erasmus Mundus life is, but the fun part of my experience in the Christmas of 2008 would underscore why anyone—and I mean anyone—would kill for a stint at an EM program.

I was docked in Wroclaw, Poland for a portion of my EM scholarship, and our high-rise dorm was a time-bomb of students from all over the world: the non-Europeans for their respective EM programs; the Europeans for their Erasmus exchange semester/year.

Just a week before Christmas I went to Warsaw for some partying, which I felt I deserved after all the grueling courses and pre-break exams. After all, this would also be a time when those Polish migrant workers in Germany, England, Netherlands and Ireland would come home to splurge their earnings on booze and shopping; so I thought it would be fun hanging with the locals. I’m most glad to have friends like Igor, Jakub and Radek who kept me entertained with cheap Polish vodka and beers in the middle of a white winter-y Christmas.

The extra bonus to the thrill? Their moms and grannies probably thought I was some cute little extinct animal from an Asian zoo, with brown skin, dark eyes and black hair; so they fed me non-stop with pierogi (dumplings), kielbasa (sausages) and, of course, vodka. I just love being the foreigner!

Before I could think of crashing (and trashing) their Christmas eve dinners I decided to join the other kids back in the dorm who stayed for the break. Most of them were from Turkey, Vietnam and Kazakhstan—places where Christmas isn’t as much of a big thing as it is back here or in Poland. So why not mount a party in the dorm for us who were stuck in there, while all the Europeans and Americans flew off for their holidays at home?

Although I’m completely useless in the kitchen, I embraced the idea of a pot-luck. The Turks brought mezes, kuzus and turlus; the Vietnamese whipped a wicked platter of spring rolls; the Kazakh served mantis and baursaks; a fellow Filipino served a delicious casserole of adobo while I blasphemously invented my own recipe of menudo. They all loved it, except they didn’t know if it really should taste that way.

Soon after the jello shots and vodka and beer were done we all headed out to hear mass. Why not? This is Poland—probably the most Catholic place in Europe along with Italy and Spain. And despite our challenged grasp of the Polish language, we endured an entire Christmas eve mass in, well, Polish. The priest gave away chocolates and fruits and when it was our turn to receive some, he gave the mic to one of us to say a few words to the community. Bahan, one of the coolest and funniest Turks in the group, shamelessly announced, on the mic: Nie mowie po polsku! (I don’t speak Polish!)

The whole congregation laughed in delight, noticing we were all foreign. The priest yelped back, jokingly: Ale nie mowie po angielsku! (But I also don’t speak English!). Another thunderous laughter and applaud from the crowd. As a result, when the mass ended and people were exiting the church, the locals, especially those cute little kids, couldn’t help but take a good glance at us with a very warm, friendly “Merry Christmas” greeting. In Polish, mostly. All we could do was wave and smile back.

The EM Group

My EM group

EM Christmas Dinner

Hosting dinners at our apartment for the ladies from other programs

Multi-ethnic Noche Buena

Multi-ethnic Noche Buena

Jello Shots!

Multi-ethnic Noche Buena

Polish priest giving away goodies to the Christmas Eve congregation

Group shot after Christmas Eve Mass

Snowy Polish Christmas

Snowy Polish Christmas

Snowy Polish Christmas

With friends on the ascent to the Polish alps just before Christmas

Tuba, from Turkey, in eager Christmas spirit in Wroclaw

Our gracious host, Sebastian, with a present we gave him

My funny present to Sebastian, cuff links

Our gracious host, Marta, with son Roch

The Feast at Sebastian’s

The Feast at Sebastian’s

The Feast at Sebastian’s

My first real White Christmas…in Poland

Come Christmas day itself, our very good friend and program coordinator Sebastian invited the entire group to his family house to join him and his lovely wife Marta and uber-cute little boy Roch for lunch and dinner. Again, this is Poland—where they take the word “feast” seriously; another reason why I felt very much at home in this country. As token for their kindness in averting our (possibly) home-sickness, we each brought him and Marta a nice little present.

Why am I writing about this now? Because I miss my friends. I miss Poland and I miss Christmas in Europe. I miss the diversity of my circle of friends who are now all in their home countries, probably missing that Christmas the same way I do now.

Above all, I miss all those different dishes on the table for Christmas, in the company of good friends, throwing snowballs at each other on the walk back to the dorm, and singing Merry Christmas songs in our respective languages. Of course, most of us had beers or vodka in hand at that moment.

Merry Christmas, fellow–and future–EM scholars!

Mike Saycon
MA Global Studies, Major in International Relations 2006-2008
University of Vienna (Austria), University of Leipzig (Germany)
London School of Economics (UK), University of Wroclaw (Poland)

Reposted from thegoodmike

Christmas in Europe

Winter Wonderland
Last December 2010, I spent Christmas with a Czech family in Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic. It was one of the most memorable Christmases I ever had away from my family.

Adobo Fridge
I made it a point to share our traditional Filipino dish, adobo. They all loved it. But since the fridge was quite full, we had to find another place to store my adobo — the balcony at -15 degrees Centigrade…

Prague Main Square

Christmas in Prague
Czech Republic is perhaps one of my favorite European countries. That’s why for my second Christmas in Europe away from my family, I decided to spend it in Prague with friends.

Berlin, Germany

Berliner Christmas
Going around Europe during the Christmas season has become one thing I look forward to. I have always loved Christmas tiangge. All over Europe, Christmas markets are famous but the one in Berlin is one of my favorites.

The author (far right) with Chinese-Australian friends

Ken Subillaga
Doctorate in Educational Design and Innovation
University of Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de Compostela, Spain
3rd Year – EMMA program

Join the European Union’s Feature Writing Contest

British Council Philippines Pre-Departure Briefing for UK-bound students

From the British Council website:

The British Council will have a Pre-Departure Briefing seminar on 12 August 2011, Friday, at the British Council Philippines office from 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM.

The Pre-Departure Briefing is intended for those who will be going to the UK to study this academic year. The 2 hour programme will cover topics ranging from academic life, accommodation, cost of living and many more.

We have invited Filipinos who have studied in the UK to share experiences on their student life in the UK while British Council Philippines staff will be on hand to answer other queries about studying and living in the UK.

HSBC will also present their personal account products to facilitate financial transactions in the UK

To reserve a seat, please email your name and contact details to educationuk@britishcouncil.org.ph

Admission is FREE.

This seminar will also be broadcasted via live internet feed (WEBINAR). We will send the webinar link to your email address hours before the event. It is advisable for you to have a good internet connection for the webinar, use either Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox and a headset for better quality viewing of the webinar.

Prizes will be raffled off for those who will attend the event with their current acceptance letters from UK educational institutions.

For further enquiries, please do not hesitate to contact us at britishcouncil@britishcouncil.org.ph  or check us out on our Facebook page .

Experiencing the World of Erasmus

by Sheryl Lozel Bico-Arreola

Students and staff in Gent

My year-and-a-half Erasmus Mundus experience was like living a dream adventure–pursuing higher education while traveling around the world!

Four years ago, I was surfing the internet when I came across the European Union’s Erasmus Mundus website and learned of the European Masters Courses being offered with scholarship grants. Scholarship coverage includes tuition fees, travel expenses, stipend, insurance and accommodation. So I said to myself, “Why not?”

I applied for one of the programs, EM Food Science, Technology and Nutrition (www.sefotechnut.org) and two months later, I was accepted. What a great way to realize a dream – pursuing a higher quality of education, European standards at that, and traveling at the same time to some of the most beautiful places in Europe!

The SEFOTECH.NUT program was participated in by students from the EU, US, and Third-Countries like the Philippines [ed’s note: Third-Country means outside of EU and EEA). Although English was our medium of instruction, an English language course was still offered to us to facilitate interaction among students of different cultures and languages. More importantly, a Dutch language course was offered for everyday situations.

The program was organized in a modular format. These modules were offered in specific partner institutions where the topics are most suited. I took the six compulsory modules at Catholic University of Applied Science Sint-Lieven (Belgium) and the four optional in three consortium partners: Dublin Institute of Technology (Ireland), Hochschule Anhalt (Germany), and Universidade Catolica Portuguesa (Portugal). The modules enriched our skills and knowledge for us to understand the complex and important issues of the food industry. Learnings also integrate
the application of other technologies to food such as biotechnology, packaging, engineering and agriculture.

My scientific project, which is a requirement of the program, was conducted under the supervision of Dr. Alcina Morais of Universidade Catolica Portuguesa, Portugal. With her perseverance and determination, we were able to publish two refereed journal articles!

To relieve ourselves from the rigors of studying, we were privileged to have endless possibilities in exploring the grandeur and wealth of cultures in the European Community. We could go on a weekend trip to some of the most beautiful cities like Barcelona, Madrid, Paris, Berlin, Rome and Venice! A train ride across many cities, along the tranquil rivers, with majestic castles and mountains as the backdrop, offers a relaxing yet learning experience like no other. The architectural masterpieces we see only in school textbooks abound in every European town or city. And with one currency, the Euro, we could always take the trains, buses, or taxis and buy souvenirs from almost any part of Europe.

What an experience! European standards of higher education. Intercultural interaction. Magical mystery tours. True enough, Erasmus Mundus was well worth the trip!

Vote for your Erasmus Mundus Course Representative

All EMA members are welcome to cast their votes to select their course representative!

Just log in to the EMA Community, read the instructions, look at the profiles of the candidates and press the VOTE button!

The online elections are over on March 21st, 2011 (23:59 CET).

Feel free to contact us with any questions.

[via EMA]

Filipino graduates summa cum laude from doctoral degree in Germany

An alumnus of the University of the Philippines School of Economics and the Erasmus Mundus program European Master in Law Economics, Alfredo R. Paloyo, 29, obtained his doctoral degree with the highest distinction in the Ruhr University of Bochum (RUB), Germany.

After three years at the Ruhr Graduate School in Economics (RGS Econ), Paloyo defended his dissertation, “The Armed Forces and Society: Econometric Analyses of a Military Drawdown and Compulsory Military Service”, on January 29 of this year and graduated with the degree of Doctor rerum oeconomicarum (equivalent to a PhD), summa cum laude.

The RGS Econ is a joint program organized by RUB, the Technical University of Dortmund, the University of Duisburg–Essen, and the Rhine–Westphalia Institute for Economic Research (RWI).

His dissertation dealt with two themes: (1) an impact analysis of the German military base realignments and closures and (2) the labor-market and human-capital effects of compulsory military service in Germany. His supervisor is Prof. Dr. Thomas K. Bauer of RUB and RWI. His previous works have been published at Defence and Peace Economics and the European Business Organization Law Review.

The 2002 (B.S., cum laude) and 2005 (M.A.) alumnus of the UPSE entered the RGS Econ in 2007 after completing the European Master in Law Economics (LL.M.), an Erasmus Mundus program of the European Commission. The EMLE was jointly awarded to Paloyo by the Erasmus University of Rotterdam (Netherlands), University of Hamburg (Germany), and the University of Bologna (Italy).

He graduated as the best student of his EMLE cohort and also earned the award for the best thesis for his work, “Minority Foreign Ownership of Filipino-Controlled Corporations: An Exploratory Study”. His thesis was supervised by Prof. Ronald J. Gilson of the Stanford Law School and Columbia University’s School of Law.

Paloyo was previously a Teaching Fellow at UPSE, an Assistant Professorial Lecturer at De La Salle University Manila, and a Research Associate at the Institute of Human Rights of the UP Law Center. Currently, he is a researcher at the RWI, evaluating the minimum-wage policy in the construction sector for Germany’s Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs.

His father, Wilfredo N. Paloyo of Camalig, Albay, and mother, María Lourdes R. Paloyo of Tuguegarao, Cagayan, are both self-employed. His brothers are Dr. Siegfredo R. Paloyo, a Clinical Associate Professor at the Philippine General Hospital and a member of the kidney transplant team of the National Kidney and Transplant Institute, and Wilfredo R. Paloyo, Jr., a Metadata Specialist for the Dow Jones Corporate Media Group in Barcelona, Spain. Both his brothers are also graduates of UP.


Survey of Erasmus Mundus students and alumni

The purpose of the longitudinal survey is to measure the impact of Erasmus Mundus on the career prospects and on personality of students’ and alumni.

This year the survey contains additional questions on employability. The reason for that is that the Commission wants to have more specific insights in the career development of alumni, including the measures taken by Erasmus Mundus courses to enhance student employment perspectives.

Participants in the survey would greatly help the European Commission. The more people fill in the questionnaire the more usable are the survey results, so that the EC can further strengthen the focus of the Erasmus Mundus programme on employability.

Filling in the questionnaire will take max 20 minutes for students and max 25 minutes for alumni. As a sign of appreciation, 45 online bookstore vouchers of EUR 50 are offered as prizes.

As a student or graduate of Erasmus Mundus you are the one who knows the most about the programme! Tell us about it!

The survey will be open until March 10th, 2011.

[via EMA website]

European Union Higher Education Fair, February 16, 2011, RCBC PLAZA

Do you want to pursue your Master’s and Ph D Degrees in any of the European Union countries?

Get more information about your dream destination to study in the EU. Join us at the EU Higher Education Fair on 16 February 2011 at the La Salle Hall of the De La Salle University, at the 4^th floor of the RCBC Plaza/Tower II!

 

EUROPEAN HIGHER EDUCATION FAIR

A presentation of the European Union and the RCBC Plaza

British Council

Embassy of France

Embassy of Germany and Goethe Institut

Embassy of  Italy and Philippine-Italian Association

Embassy of Spain and Instituto Cervantes

Delegation of the European Union to the Philippines

With support from the EU Cultural Group in Manila

Oh my daily.com, Official Online Media Partner

Presentations

11:00 a.m.  to 12:00 noon    STUDYING  IN SPAIN

Speakers:  Mr Javier Menendez, Spanish Embassy

Ms Isabel Fernández, Instituto Cervantes

12:00 noon to 1:00 pm STUDYING IN FRANCE: Programs, Scholarships and

Being a Foreign Student in France

Speaker: Ms Kyla Monique Alas, Embassy of France

1:00 to 2:00 pm     THE ERASMUS MUNDUS JOURNEY:  SHARING OF EXPERIENCES

Speakers: Mr Philip Arejola, Erasmus Mundus Scholar, Master in Global Studies

Atty. Dashell Yancha, Erasmus Mundus Scholar, MA in Human Rights Practice

Ms Rita Bustamante, EU Delegation to the Philippines

2:00 to 3:00 pm STUDYING IN GERMANY

Speakers:  Ms Davina Dy , German Embassy

Mr  Helmut Frielinghaus , Goethe-  Institut and DAAD

Mr Jed Tabamo , DAAD Scholar, Masters Degree in Spatial Planning for regions in Growing Economics

3:00 to 4:00 pm STUDYING  IN ITALY

Speakers: Ms Emanuela Adesini, Italian Embassy

Ms Cristina Moricca, Philippine-Italian Association

4:00 to 5:00 pm, A PINOY’S GUIDE TO LIVING AND STUDYING IN THE UK

Speakers:  Mr Alec Ladanga, British Council

Mr Mike Cabigon, British Council

Attendance is free on a first-come, first-served basis!
RSVP by 11 February 2011:

Thelma Gecolea, Public Affairs Officer, EU Delegation to the Philippines

Phone 8595124. Mobile 09209441371. Email thelma.gecolea@ec.europa.eu

Pinoy Erasmus Mundus cited in Emanate, the EMA magazine

The Pinoy Erasmus Mundus blog was one of the EM-related blogs featured in the Blogosphere section of Emanate, the magazine of the Erasmus Mundus Students and Alumni Association. In issue 5 (December 2010), Pinoy Erasmus Mundus was pointed out by Russian MSc EuroAquae alumnus (2005-2007) Kostya Vasilyev, alongside the Euroculture Globetrotters blog and the Erasmus Mundus page on the Russian Facebook equivalent vkontakte.ru, among others.

The blog is a platform for communication and “first aid” for the Erasmus Mundus students from the Philippines in Europe. It contains plenty of information about Erasmus Mundus presented in a very organised and easy to read manner with some humour as well. it is enough to have a look at the Frequently Asked Questions section of the blog. I am sure the blog will be interesting not only for students and graduates from the Philippines, but for other students willing to get similar information about living in the EU as well.

Thank you for the mention, Kostya!