On the first day, the newcomers come in, on the last day, Széchenyi students come out - in a nutshell, this is what Freshers' Week at Széchenyi István University is all about. The camp - which takes place on the campus of the institution - is primarily about this process of transformation, through which the participants become integrated into the university community: they get to know the traditions of the institution, integrate with their peers and get a taste of student life. All of this is done in teams, under the supervision of team leaders and mentors, in a playful way, competing with each other - and of course, in the evenings, with parties to relieve the days' fatigue.

During the four days of the event, the freshers will be informed about the most important issues that concern them, including the basics of the university education system, the different scholarships and grants available, and the sporting opportunities at the University. And in the "subject briefings" organised by the Student Union, everyone will be able to hear first-hand the most important information and advice on courses related to their own degree subject from seasoned veterans.

Freshers had the opportunity to learn the most important things from the seniors (and occasionally instructors) about their own degree subjects during the "subject briefings"
(Photos: Márton Horváth)

Of course, learning a wide variety of songs, marches and rhymes is an inevitable part of a freshers’ camp, so those walking around campus will often encounter the emblematic "Széchenyi István is the greatest Hungarian!"

As for entertainment, the organisers made sure that in the evenings the Bridge Student and Teacher Club was filled with dancing young people. Still, the main attraction of Freshers' Week is not this, but the ATMOSPHERE, which is hard to describe in words: the exuberance that radiates from the faces of the organisers serving lunch, and the sometimes extravagant costumes of senior students, who challenge the freshers with entertaining tasks - not to mention the special atmosphere of the bustling, pulsating, vibrant campus.

It's an offer that more than a thousand freshers, seniors and organizers couldn't resist this year, as they experience the quintessentially Széchenyi feel of Freshman Week.

The 2022 Freshers' Week at Széchenyi István University kicked off with nearly a thousand freshmen (Photo by Csaba József Májer)

Freshers’ Week is on the scale of a small festival in terms of organisation, so it is no wonder that the camp management sticks to the recipe that has worked well in recent years. As we learned from Adrienn Horváth, the main organiser, this year's festival has few innovations, but they rather added a few tweaks to the perfectly polished concept.

"We don't want to experiment, because as the saying goes, what works, you shouldn’t change. For this reason, the backbone of Freshers’ Week is very similar to what we have done so far, we have only tweaked a few points in the programme," said the camp leader, adding that every year they collect feedback after the event and try to address any problems that the organisers or team leaders have reported to the camp management.

Photos from the registration (Márton Horváth és Csaba József) 

As every year, this year's Freshers’ Week is built around a theme. This time, the world of animation and cartoons was the theme of choice.

„We decided to go with fairy tales because the theme has so much potential. For example, one of the teams was given the film "Frozen", which they can use as a basis to make a costume, paint a flag, create  a marching tune, come up with marching choreography... The point is that it gives the company a distinctive character and they can relate to something," said the organiser.

Team activities take place all over the campus during Freshers' Week (Photos by Márton Horváth and József Csaba Májer)

This year, seventeen teams are taking part in Freshers’ Week, which means nearly a thousand freshers. This is the largest number ever for the event.

"There was a huge turnout, we opened registration three times, and twice for additional registration, but we still sold out quickly. We also had more than eighty people apply to be team leaders and we had to select thirty of them," said Ms Horváth.

Pumped Gabo was behind the DJ booth on the first night of Freshers’ Week (Photo: Márton Horváth)

A special feature of Gólyahét is that for years now, international students have been a separate team at the event. Most of their programmes are shared with their Hungarian counterparts, but they differ in some specific points, such as a special presentation by the Centre for International Programmes on the most important things to know.

"International students are not in an easy situation, as they are in a foreign environment where they have to familiarise themselves very quickly. We help them with this," said Dávid Vályi-Nagy, chairman of the University Student Committee for International Affairs, who stressed that they try to ensure bilingualism at all points of the event, so they employ special helpers to translate the instructions for the quizzes. In addition, senior students from the Stipendium Hungaricum mentoring network have volunteered to lead the freshers, with four of them in charge of the team during Freshers' Week.

"The majority of the participants are Stipendium Hungaricum scholarship holders, but some of them are self-funded students, and some of them came to Győr as part of the international programme for Christian youth.

The students are from different countries, so they may not be familiar with the freshers' camp tradition at all, and for many of them this is a completely new experience. However, we are determined to give them the same atmosphere and the same feelings that this event represents for us." emphasised Dávid Vályi-Nagy.

Márta Mészáros, staff member of the Centre for International Programmes gives a presentation to international students (Photo: Márton Horváth)

In the spirit of internationalism, Dr Eszter Lukács, Vice President for Global Strategy at Széchenyi István University, welcomed the guests in Hungarian and English at the opening ceremony of Freshers' Week.

„Of the twenty five thousand universities in the world, Széchenyi István University is in the top eight hundred. We, for our part, will do our best to provide you with the best quality education, entertainment and sports facilities, quality infrastructure, so that you can have the best possible time. We see you as our own children and we are honoured that you have chosen us."said the Vice President.

Dr Eszter Lukács emphasized that Széchenyi István University is among the best in the world, so those who chose Győr as their place of further studies made the right decision (Photo: Csaba Májer József Májer)

On behalf of the host city, Péter Rózsavölgyi, Representative of the Municipality of Győr, welcomed the new students, expressing the hope that the environment and the mindset of the citizens of Győr will have an impact on the new students.

"There will be many of you who will find your vocation, your home, your friends here. In the years to come, you will all be a little bit citizens of Győr. Good luck in making your dreams come true with us."he wished them.

The city of Győr offers a long-term future to the students visiting here, said Péter Rózsavölgyi, Member of the Municipal Council, in his welcome speech.

After the opening ceremony on Wednesday, students will enjoy the hospitality of the campus until the final competition on Saturday, and after the enrolment on Sunday, the 2022-2023 academic year will begin with the opening ceremony on Monday.

Organisational Open Day

The organisers of the Freshers' Week programme have highlighted the organisational open day, which will take place on 6 September in the New Knowledge Space aula, where students can get to know the Students’ Union, the specialist Halls of Residence and other student organisations.