This week has been even busier than usual at Széchenyi István University, as the biggest student event of the spring semester, the Széchenyi University Days, has begun. The event, which runs from 19 to 22 April, features sports programmes, games and performances, but the main focus will be on entertainment, with performances by Azahriah, Beton.Hofi, Dzsúdló and the Bagossy Brothers Company, and many more.

In the annual timetable of the Széchenyi István University, the following note can be read next to the 11th week of the spring semester: a period without exams, reports and catalogues. This is not just a random gesture for the students, but an easement well justified: this is the time of the SZEN, the Széchenyi University Days, when studying is accompanied by entertainment, and a little bit of more fun.

Over the past decade, the event has grown from the original student days to a real festival, which - taking into account other institutions' similar events - is the first major event of the long outdoor season in the whole country. So if you want to gain experience in the atmosphere of festivals, you should come to Győr this week - for almost a decade, SZEN has been open to everyone, not just to its own students.

Alumni students also visit the University Days - just like the Freshermen's and Alumni Ball. On Wednesday evening, the band named "Fáraó együttes" entertained the public with its music in the main hall of the Bridge Student and Teacher Club. (Photo: József Csaba Májer)

As usual, the best of the best will take to the stage of the tent put up in the courtyard of the Bridge Student and Teacher Club this year as well, among which the Bagossy Brothers Company, Júdlo, Beton.Hofi and Azahriah are the main names. The latter two proved to be such a potent combination that a desperate hunt for sold-out Friday night day tickets was on social media. Sales figures showed that the other days attracted a huge number of visitors.

"Selecting the performers, we intended to please a wide variety of interests, so that everyone can find the performers best suit their taste. We have the best DJs from Hungary's nightlife visiting us every night, and the fans of rock and retro music have not been forgotten,"

 said Péter Németh-Bende, the manager of the Bridge Student and Teacher Club, who also highlighted that for the first time this year, Elixir Bar 'n Kitchen would be offering artisanal burgers and pizza to the hungry festival-goers.

The atmosphere in the Club Bridge was great on the first night of the SZEN. (Photo gallery: József Csaba Májer)

Experience shows that it is not only the music and dance events that attract students, but also the daytime activities and sports facilities. During these couple of days, young people can try themselves at popular sports on campus, and the fact that they can complete their physical education courses just boosts their motivation. To give you an idea from what they could choose from: a football tournament on the artificial pitch, rowing in a dragon boat, the traditional Püspökerdő run and the FIFA Championship final in the university's e-sports hall on Thursday.

Among the various sports activities, kite flying gained particular popularity. The picture shows the team of the Faculty of Mechanical, Computer and Electrical Engineering and the Audi Hungaria Faculty of Automotive Engineering. (Photo: József Csaba Májer)

Responding to our enquiry about the daytime activities, Petra Hering - the Head of the Event Management Department of the Helix Event Management Office of the University Student Council - explained that besides the regular events (eg. making teddy bears or the beer pong tournament), this year they had been preparing with several new activities.

"My personal favourite programme is the Blind Date, during which people start talking to each other sitting on the two sides of a screen, literally blindfolded, so they can talk to each other without seeing the other person and in the end they just have to make a decision whether they want to continue the conversation or not," said the head of the department.

"And also for the first time, we are organising a fortune-teller's tent for the students, who can find out what luck their cards will bring them. We've also made an improvement with our lectures, providing at least two speakers every day, including comedians, sportsmen and TikTok influencers. In addition, the new play of our amateur theatre group called SZESosemArt will debut at SZEN," we were informed.

Along with many others, dr. Zacher Gábor toxicologist gave a lecture at the SZEN. (PhotoJózsef Csaba: Májer)

Paying attention to producing a smaller number of plastic beer cups left around the venue, the organisers placed plastic bags for at the outdoor beer tables, and with the amount of plastic cups the students gathered, they could vote for their favourite dormitory. As part of their social responsibility, students could also donate cakes for a charity fair, which managed to raise several hundreds of thousands of forints for charity purposes.

The cloudier the weather was at the beginning, the merrier the festival continued at the campus of the Széchenyi István University. (Photo gallery József Csaba Májer)

All in all, after the first few days of warming up, the festival went into high gear from Wednesday to reach its peak at the weekend. Friday's silent disco will offer a unique experience that cannot be found at any other festival, but Saturday's Punkpopsuperstar performance will also be peculiar with their retro hits in a modern guise. Finally, the festival will close on Saturday with the traditional rock disco by DJ Golyó and a performance by the Kollégiumi Stúdió.