ESN vid Åbo Akademi r.f.

ESN vid Åbo Akademi r.f. (also known as ESN Åbo Akademi or ESN ÅA) is the official ESN section of the Erasmus Student Network at Åbo Akademi University, the only Swedish-speaking multidisciplinary university in Finland. Even if ESN stands for Erasmus Student Network, referring to the European Erasmus programme, the section doesn't limit its program to only European students but focuses on all international minded students in Åbo (in Finnish Turku), Finland.

ESN Åbo Akademi was founded 1994 and is the second oldest ESN Section in Finland. Historically ESN Åbo Akademi has been a very active section being the first one in Finland to officially register at the national association office, and having had several former actives working on the ESN International level.

The section aims at fostering the integration between international students and local students in Åbo, Finland. This is done by organizing trips, both within Finland and abroad, cultural events, parties, sport events, etc.

Background
Åbo Akademi University has every year over 200 exchange students and hundreds of international students and researchers. The international students reach over 10% of the total number of students in the university which makes Åbo Akademi University the most international university in Finland.

The association aims at fostering the integration between the exchange students and the local students at Åbo Akademi University and to improve the well-being of the exchange students in Åbo. The section organizes trips, parties, sport and cultural events, etc.

In Åbo there is, except ESN ÅA, also two other ESN sections: ESN IAC and ESN Uni Turku. Together with ESN ÅA the three sections form the unofficial ESN Turku - Åbo, which organizes most of the biggest ESN events in the city.

History
ESN ÅA joined the ESN network in 1994, and is the second oldest ESN section in Finland. The section has been, since it was founded, very active on all levels - Local, National and International, having had several National Representatives representing Finland on the international level, and also having had board members in the ESN International board, the most prestige duties within the ESN organization.

During recent years ESN Åbo Akademi has cooperated a lot with the two other ESN sections in Turku and so improved its activities notably. ESN Åbo Akademi has also taken a very active role in the work of the new, in 2010 registered, ESN Finland ry., being responsible for several projects within this organization.

ESN Åbo Akademi traditions
Being from the only Swedish-speaking multidisciplinary university in Finland, ESN Åbo Akademi has during the years established some traditions different from other ESN Sections in Finland. The most important is the Sitz Parties, a tradition involving informal dinner parties including a lot of singing. This tradition comes originally from Sweden, but has a long history within the Swedish-speaking minority in Finland.

In Finland an important tradition is the student boilersuits used by the students especially during informal parties. ESN gots since 2009 also its own ones. ESN in Åbo/Turku was the first city in Finland to get own boilersuits, after which it also spread to other cities and ESN sections in Finland. Each year over 250 international student acquire student boilersuits from ESN or from their own subject associations.

ESN Turku-Åbo organizes also twice a year a City Race for the new international students. This race takes the students around Åbo and gets them to know important and touristic places in the city. International tutors and members of ESN Åbo Akademi cooperate in this event.

Since 2010 ESN ÅA organises the weekly sports events, mostly Futsal. ESN Åbo Akademi, since several years ago, also organizes monthly theme movie evenings. Beginning with the Finnish movie evening and later also other themes such as Horror, Swedish movies, Comedy, etc.

Former ESN Åbo Akademi actives

 * Catharina Lindström / First National Representative of Finland 1999
 * Catharina Lindström / Secretary of ESN International 1999
 * Hanna-Maija Saarinen / National Representative 2002
 * Hanna-Maija Saarinen / President of ESN International 2002–2003
 * Ilona Salonen / National Representative 2003
 * Heidi Hietala / National Representative 2008
 * Aino Lyytikäinen / Officially registered ESN ÅA as the association 2008-2009
 * Pancho ESN Åbo Akademi / Official Mascot since 2010
 * Oscar Boije / Vice President of ESN Sweden 2010-2011
 * Oscar Boije / National Representative of ESN Sweden 2011-2012
 * Jerzy Janusz Jasielec / National Representative of ESN Finland 2011-2012
 * Jerzy Janusz Jasielec / Network and Events Committee Chair 2012-2013
 * Oscar Boije / Partnership Manager of ESN International 2014-2016