As the semester is drawing to an end, the International Office of the University of Debrecen, the  International Relations Committee of the Student Government, and the Erasmus Student Network Debrecen bid farewell to international students who had spent the previous weeks and months in Debrecen thanks to a variety of mobility programmes. More than 140 international students celebrated the end of the semester and the advent of Christmas on 14 December. The students recalled their memories and experiences in the framework of a semester-closing Christmas dinner.

A record number of international students came to Debrecen and spent the autumn semester there in the framework of various mobility programmes. The Erasmus and Stipendium Hungaricum scholarship programmes mainly enabled exchange students to come from member states of the European Union, but this year, the university also welcomed students from Albania, China, Japan, Kazakhstan, Serbia, South Korea, Ukraine, the United States of America, and Turkey.

At the Farewell Dinner, the exchange students decorated the “international” Erasmus Christmas tree with the national flags of their own countries.

 

Based on the votes of international students, some Hungarian students received the title of “Best Erasmus Buddy”.  The hosts staged a mini surprise concert for those now leaving.

“It feels as if it was only yesterday when we welcomed you and promised that you would have the best and most substantial semester of your lives.  I sincerely hope that you are, indeed, going home richer with such experiences. You had an opportunity to encounter a culture different from your own, as well as numerous interesting people from almost every corner of the world. New friendships were made, and we even say that we kept together as a family, the Erasmus family over the past semester,” Réka Jakab, president of the International Relations Committee of the Student Government and the Erasmus Student Network Debrecen summarized the autumn semester.

DEHDK PR and Press Office