From 19 to 23 of February 2024, at the University of Bielsko-Biala there were organised the orientation days for the Erasmus+ students coming to us for the current semester. During those days, our guests had a chance to get acquainted with the university, the city and the region, as well as to discover the Polish and regional culture.

The orientation days began on Monday, 19.02.2024, at the Student’s Dormitory of the University of Bielsko-Biala. There, the students have been introduced to the rules of occupational health and safety and first aid by dr hab. inż. Robert Drobina, prof. UBB.

On Tuesday, the Erasmus+ students were co-participating in the events organised at the UBB for the foreign guests of the Bilingual Kopaliński High School in Bielsko-Biała: the welcoming presentation on the city and the University of Bielsko-Biała, delivered by Aleksandra Hasior, the lecture “Sustainable development and environmental policy – how we should protect our Earth” by dr hab. Mariusz Kuglarz, prof. UBB, as well as the introduction to Polish language and guided tour on the UBB campus by Bartosz Dębowski.

On Wednesday, the newcomers were participating in a meeting of the “Meet my culture” series, being a part of the project “Internationalisation starts at home”, co-financed by the Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange. Within this framework, there was a presentation about the project as a whole, and then the presentation on history, conditions of development and the most important persons and works of the Polish culture delivered by Bartosz Dębowski, subsequently, the presentation “Stereotypes  - how the Polish people are perceived in the world?” by Stanisław Olearczyk and finally – the “culture shock” workshop by Aleksandra Hasior.

Thursday was planned as a city visiting day. The students have started it with a meeting with a representative of the Youth City Council of Bielsko-Biała, at the city hall. After that, and after visiting of the interior of the building, they walked to the Castle of the Sułkowscy Princes, visiting the historic centres of Biała and Bielsko on the way. In the castle museum, they were guided by dr Cezary Namirski through the general exposition, telling the history of the two joined cities and their neighbourhood and the history of the castle itself. The last point of the programme of that day was a common lunch.

The week was crowned with a kulig in Wisła. A bus took the participants from the Student’s Dormitory and then, passing through Wapienica, Ustroń and the centre of Wisła, it took them to the Wisła Czarne hamlet. A kulig typically means a sleigh ride, but due to lack of snow at the time, the carts were used instead. That, however, did not prevent the participants of the trip from having fun of the ride. Treated with specialities of the local cuisine, the students got back to the bus, which in turn took them back to the Student’s Dormitory.

We hope that the orientation days were just a beginning of a wonderful adventure in Bielsko-Biała fo our students, on the course of which, we wish them a lot of good and enriching experiences.