Greece
participants
This event was organized as part of the Welcome Month, during which we aim to get international students to know each other, to bond and to share as many experiences as possible. This is one of the main purposes of the welcome month and it has to be taken seriously as it determines the success of the semester. We truly want for them to become a family with the help of the ESN Thessaloniki family and make strong friendships with people from all over the world.
Another topic is the importance of exercising, as it keeps us physically and mentally healthy.
Research shows that people who exercise regularly have better mental health and emotional wellbeing, and lower rates of mental illness. Taking up exercise seems to reduce the risk of developing mental illness. It also seems to help in treating some mental health conditions, like depression and anxiety. Often, people who exercise regularly do it simply because it makes them feel good. It is true that exercise can boost your mood, concentration and alertness. It can even help give you a positive outlook on life.
These are the main reasons why we chose to carry out this event. As ESN volunteers, we want international students to have the best time during their Erasmus period. This is actually why we exist as an NGO. We bring international students closer together by organizing events with group activities that allow them to make new friends, learn about other cultures, and have new experiences. And taking care of their mental health through spiritual exercises helps us make them happy and grateful to be here and, of course, helps them enjoy their Erasmus to the fullest.
We believe that activities around good nutrition, exercise and relaxation are all important for mental and physical wellbeing. We also claim that people who exercise outside do it more often, and for longer, than those who work out indoors. Having these in our minds, we wanted to give a chance to the international students to get away from the city, even for one day, exercise outside and have a relaxing and meaningful day close to nature. Our activities were intended to have a great impact on the students’ physical and mental health. We were looking for activities that would help them love their bodies and themselves while also getting them away from the stresses of daily life. This was the core idea to organize the event, "Be a Sailor". An event focused on improving our mental health and relaxing through sailing and yoga.
We have to mention here that we also had other activities to make the experience even better and complete our purpose. More specifically, there was a big area with many picnic tables, ideal for board games and picnic, and a small field with grass, ideal for ball games. Another thing that we provided to the International student was a chance to try SUP (stand-up paddling).
