Autour du Monde, Nantes

Spring awakening in Europe, after one month of hibernation, a new Section in the Spotlight is there: Autour du Monde from France. This ESN section lives internationalization as the section members do not only come from different cities and countries in Europe, but also from different continents as Africa, Asia and America. More than 70 active members work for the international students and the section consists of 400 members in total, who are helping whenever they can. They are not only students, but also Au-Pairs, Ex-ERASMUS-students, foreign language assistants and young workers and there is one paid employee who is coordinating the members together with the local board. The local board consists of four French and four international students in order to have several influences and opinions there. With so many different cultures and so many members the teambuilding and group dynamic is an important part of the daily work of the section. Therefore they regularly organize picnics, BBQs and weekend trips to the seaside.

For more than ten years Autour du Monde is already working for international students and they have a lot to offer: polyglot cafés (café lingua), where you can learn new languages by playing quizzes, games or by cooking delicious meals. Of course the give the international students also the chance to get to know the city, the region and the French country, by organizing tours and trips to Paris, Brittany or by discovering the French vineyards all together. Last semester the section welcomed 1000 people, so the Buddies of the section had a lot to do and the international nights became quite big and a lot of French crêpes had to be made.

With so many members, the section is also aware of its social responsibility and therefore organizes the "Cercles Europe". International students go to schools and talk about their country and their culture in front of the pupils, who are between 10-15 years old. This activity is co-organized by our section and the "Conseil General" (the council of the region) to improve exchanges between children whose parents often come from other countries and European students. The students present their countries not only by presentations, but via games, activities, pictures and more. Here the international students also learn more about the French education system.

The section’s main event during the semester is the "Journées Interculturelles", an international students’ spring festival. The international students get the chance to show their culture to the population of the city during one or two days. They people have stands where they can show pictures,  give out traditional food and drinks from their country and they even perform dances, songs, music, small plays, films and more to show a big variety of the cultures. This way, people can really experience the culture and there is a lot of interaction between the local population and the international students. It is a great opportunity to show international cultures not only to students, but to the people outside the university and last year, 20 countries took part in the festival to promote other cultures and countries to the festival participants. Autour du Monde is a great example how to promote internationalization and how to implement it in their section’s every day life in Nantes.