The third week of April was all about relaxation at Széchenyi István University: numerous leisure and sports programmes, concerts and parties awaited the students and interested external visitors at theSzéchenyi University Days. Follow The Flow, Valmar and AWS, among others, performed on the main stage of the Bridge Student and Teacher Club, while fans could also meet Olympic champion water polo players during the daytime programmes.

Although the fickle April weather did not favour the Széchenyi University Days (SZEN) at first, by mid-week the sun had arrived on the Győr campus, which was vibrant all day - the Student Self-Government, the organiser of the event, made sure that students would not get bored during the daytime programmes.

As usual, the programmes started with sports activities, which on Tuesday were complemented by e-sports: the Local Hero Tour Győr was held in the lobby of the New Knowledge Space building, where participants could try out different games and consoles, even classic arcade machines. Also on Tuesday, the NFI Film Club held its April event, where the film The Gold of the Nation, about the success of the Hungarian water polo team under Dénes Kemény, three-time Olympic champion, was screened.

István Gergely (on the left) and Dr. Barnabás Steinmetz (third from left), Olympic champion water polo players, were also present at the film club.

In the picture you can also see Gergő Scheck, organiser of the film club (second from left) and Dr. Tamás Gyömörei, head of the University's Centre for Sport and Recreation (far right). 

From basketball and American football to yoga and e-sports, the visitors had the chance to try everything. (Gallery: Patrik Lukács / Helix Event Management Office, András Adorján, Máté Dudás)

"Some of the daytime programmes were cancelled due to the cold and rain, but what we could was moved to the lobby. The crafts were popular again this year, with lots of people taking part in the canvas bag painting, bead weaving and the now traditional teddy bear making. The glitter tattoos, which this year were complemented by body painting and hair braiding, also attracted a lot of visitors," said Enikő Balogh, head of the Helix Events Office at the university, who believes it to be great success that the teddy bears made by the students and the money from the cake and cookie sales are donated to the Bóbita Children's Home.

After the Faculty Days, the international students of the university again presented the culinary specialties of their home country in the main hall (Photos: András Adorján)

On Thursday, comedian Ádám Török and rapper Lil Frakk, among others, performed on the E.ON stage.

The chill park was the centre of the daytime activities at SZEN (András Adorján, Máté Dudás, Bence Horváth / Helix Event Management Office, Richárd Németh / Helix Event Management Office)

On Wednesday, the Bridge Student and Teacher Club also opened its doors: on the upper level, Matyi and the Fiddler and Döndi Duo & Roli created a great atmosphere, while popular Hungarian DJs took to the stage below. On Thursday evening, on the big stage in the club's courtyard, fans of several styles could find the performance they liked: WellHello, Follow The Flow and Valmar for the fans of pop music, Elefánt from the alternative genre, and Road and AWS for hardcore rock enthusiasts. As the bands' frontmen told the audience, this was their first festival concert of the year, and SZEN opened the outdoor concert season in 2024.

"I knew a lot of people at SZEN, both first-year students and outsiders. The silent disco was definitely a winner, everyone loved it. I'm from Fejér county, we've never had anything like this before, I've never seen it at a big festival, so it was a novelty. The fact that the music is played through headphones, on several channels, is a completely different experience from traditional disco. We were happy to experience it not just one but two nights this year," said Alexia Unti, who started her degree in Business Informatics at Széchenyi István University last September.

Alexia Unti from Fejér County has already arrived to SZEN as an organiser, and among other things, the students could meet her at the fortune tellers' (Photo: András Adorján)

"I'm not a student anymore, I commute daily, I get up early, so I could only come on weekends," said Botond Nagy, who returned to SZEN as an alumnus, having graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering just a few months ago. "It felt good not to be able to walk around the festival area without meeting people I knew. I ran into a lot of my former classmates and many of my freshmen were here," he said. He added that he welcomes the fact that the organisers are open to alternative music. "For me, Elephant was my favourite this year. I hope to see more acts like Elephant at SZEN in the future," he said.

The Bridge Students and Teachers Club was packed on the days of SZEN.

"The event would not have been possible without our supporters and helpers," Dávid Vályi Nagy, President of the University Student Council, told our portal. "I would like to thank Széchenyi István University for the partnership, the Helix Event Management Office and the Sports Office for organising the daytime and sports programmes, the Bridge Student and Teacher Club for providing the evening programmes, the Dormitory Studio for the sound system of the chill park, E.ON for the quality shows and gifts, Audi Hungary and all our other sponsors for their contribution to raising the quality of the festival ", he concluded.

Although SZEN ended at dawn on Sunday, the summer still has a lot to offer: the Bridge Garden will open again this year, hosting all the major artists of the Hungarian music scene until October. Details will be published in a separate article soon.