Pictures from trip

In spring some of the organizers went to Casoaia, we had a nice time:

Program concept

The ISWinT 2008 project is wanted to be not only an event that takes place in a well defined period of time, but a change in what concerns the actions developed by the initiative student organizations.
Within the framework of multiculturality and the free dialog between the young, we suggest tackling present themes that increase the involvement of youth in their home community and ashore an international dissemination of information achieved and shared during the festival.
We want to put forward the person’s vocation through the angle of choosing a professional path, choice that doesn’t need to be influenced only by the multitude of information received via a virtual way or only by the existing educational system.
The virtual education based on the use of the computer and the WWW facilitates a better perception on information. Concomitantly, due to this technology the interhuman contact is lost resulting in a degraded integration of the person in the society. The festival proposes to moderate the access to virtual information through establishing equilibrium between the classical means and the new technologies.
In the present context of globalization the risk of losing the identity is evolving. We propose the facility and encouragement of activities that have as a goal the development of a personal value system based on the capitalization of vocations.
From the concept point of view, the International Students Week in Timisoara Festival frames in the youth dedicated activities category – students or fresh graduates of some learning institutions.
Being young we are drawn to develop activities in a constant changing society. The technological evolution and the cultural diversity are the two coordinates that we need to look-out for when we decide to follow out vocation or to get our calling according to the actual demands.
The two directions that we follow are: on one side, the acknowledgement and to draw the attention of students on some actuality problems, on the other side, the informing of the main personalities capable to give solutions in these matters: spokesmen of the private and academic environment, leaders of the youth organizations.
Taking into consideration the proportion this event will take, the theme of present interest – Revolution – real vocation meets virtual education – as well as the ingenious way to approach it within the workshops, conferences and debates, being aware of the need of evolution/progress, instigation to change and the courage to put into practice ideas at first sight unrealizable are inherent consequences of this project are. Therefore, those who will have benefits from this multicultural week will be a large section of the population of Timisoara.
Concomitantly we have to take into consideration the indirect benefits that will come out after the ending of this event. Involving in the same time the academic and the private medium, the communication between students and teachers and the spokesmen of the public and private domain will be facilitated. They will become aware of needs and will search for solutions for the safety of those which they are preparing for there future occupation, future employees – the students of today.
Also, by involving the students’ organizations and the cultural centers we will facilitate the access of students to information and we will lead towards new directions on cultural and youth level.
We predict that through this project we will succeed in actively involving the main structures of decision in student life and we will convince a large number of students that evolution and change are not only necessary but accomplishable in the simple context of initiative.
The theme of ISWinT 2008 is: “Revolution: real vocation meets virtual education”. Starting from the fact that we live in a world dominated by technology, through activities related to this theme we would like to combine classic with modern and bring together talent, aptitudes, accessibility and speed of communication. With this purpose workshops on different themes and conferences will take place during the festival and activities where participants will try to interact also know better Timisoara and its culture

Words from our organizing team

Ioana – Image department:

For me, the second year at ISWinT marked a new chance to learn something new, a challenge, a battle with myself. We all work to make a memorable festival, to be better than our predecesors and to give an example for the future generations. ISWintT is a lot of work, but it is an enjoyable one, because you are not alone and can always count on the people who put as much soul in this festival as you do, who embrace the wonderful idea of friendship; the exact kind of friendship that is transnational that doesn't care about distance, language, culture or politics. In the end, we are all human beings and it is amaizing to see how a group of young people, who apararently have nothing in common, manage to become a creating force that will transform ISWinT in something more than a simple festival.

Olivia - public relations:

For me, ISWinT represents an oportunity to learn how to work in a team and it is also a good way to build new frienships. The satisfaction that you have managed to get a project done, and to see that all the participants are happy and feeling good. There are many hard to forget memories: shawarma at 3 am, WTF , the trips. Besides the fact that you learn more about other countries culture and customs, the festival is a week full of insanely amaizing fun. Here at ISWinT we are all like a large family, that deserves all the work and effort.

Moni Poni - WSH:

Curiosity brought me at ISWinT, and i am very glad to have joined the organizing team. With my colleagues i have learned what is true team work, i have made new friends, i have found out many exciting new things from the all around the world participants (about their countries, their student life, etc). ISWinT is a beautiful experience, without it, i don't think my student years would be the same.

Sorina – vice coordinator:

At first there was curiosity... then there was the entuziasm to see people that work, find solutions and harvest ideas for something that i didn't immediately understood: ISWin. Soon afterwards came the beleif that i can also do the same things, in a glimpse 3 years flew away, but i am still going forward.
For me, ISWinT is the living proof that you can do what you like, that you are not restricted to usual college activities. You just have to dare to dream, don't hesitate to tell your opinion, and never give up fighting even though you have limited resources. ISWinT teaches you to enjoy the ride, buy encouraging others to enjoy this experience.
ISWint means unenclosed dreams, restless days and nights, headaches, a lot of fun, addiction. ISWinT has the power of a vice!

Anamaria - WSH:

A great chalange, that first aroused my interest a year before i have arrived in Timisoara (a firend told me about this festival). And when i soon came to the college i didn't hesitate to join the organizing team. What this festival stands for? Passion and creativity, dynamic team work, and the sensation, that by the end of each edition, your soul will fill with the joy of succes and with the desire to do more next year. This festival helped me to gain more confidence in my forces, i felt i nedeed that.

Words from iswint participants

1) Greate week in Timishoara…defiantly something I cant compare to all my other trips…I’m thrilled that I participated in ISWinT06…everything was beyond my expectations… If someone is looking for reasons to come…don’t think further, do it just for fun and friendship…This is something you have to experience, after all “What happens in Timishoara, stays in Timishoara”


2) It was a really great week the one i had in Timisoara last year. The list of what you gain by attending iswint is pretty long, i'll try to shorten it a bit. You get:

- a lot of fun
- you meet great people...
- then they become your friends
- sharing experience in a lot of fields, starting with life and not
ending...
- you hardly sleep (at night at least :))) and you are not sorry for
that
- you get to live for a week in one of the most beautiful cities of
Romania
- some great trips
- some tryed shawarma at 3 am... ask them about that
well, WTF, you'll be sorry if you don't try it!
good luck everyone!

3) I was very glad to be a part of ISWINT06 and I like to congratulate
the people involved for their good work. My only complaint was the
fact that some of the people that needed a visa didn't receive one in
time.

Words from our coordinator

Hi, I’m Bogdan... a simple iswint-er.

To start off I’m going to suggest you to describe in a page the thing you love the most in your life.

I realize that it is very difficult, if not impossible. I’m being put face to face with my student life.

I have to define my life, my experience, my friends, I have to define my humanity.

For me the ISWinT phenomenon is a vice that became a virus, it’s a piece of my heart. Because it is true: the festival bounds friendships, develops personalities and improves creativity.

I never thought we don’t have a limit, that every reached point is the first step to a new level, every level you get through gives birth to a challenge: to be better than you are, to outrun yourself. Every day you are born for the million time, to live with your dream and realize that your thought is real, tangible, it exists without any doubt; and then go to sleep creating a new dream. Can you turn it into reality?

Yes, of course, because the limit is only where you can’t dream anymore.

And ISWinT is my dream.

It started in an unexpected way, on a chilly march afternoon, I was returning from school. I was talking with a friend. She was telling me: “Tonight I’m going to a meeting, I have joined the organizing team of an international festival”. This phrase abashed me, I curiosity started invading me; I couldn’t help myself, I wouldn’t have been in peace with myself if I didn’t get involved. And there I was that night at the meeting: a lot of people, fuss, a blackboard full of notes...I didn’t understand anything. I entered the room, took a seat in a desk and listened.

The meeting ends, the coordinator of the festival comes up to me and asks me in what department I would like to activate...but what are the departments? I’m going to join Entertainment; I heard something about parties, trips ...it sounded pretty good.

And it begins: ISWinT 2006 “Future foundations for young minds”...What? Who? How? And we where organizing, making friends, we where having fun... after a while I got hungry, I tell the participants we should go in the student campus to eat something. And this is how “shaorma at 3AM” was born; you got it right, I was responsible about that after-party. So responsible that I used to stay up until 7 o’clock in the morning with all the team talking, when they had workshop at 9 o’clock.

And I loved it so much that I missed them every moment; us, the organizers, used to cheer up each other by going out, the whole gang.: our stories about the festival that ended used to last for hours, we where missing it...and suddenly I was surounded by people with whom I had to discuss something else than the every day monotony.

ISWinT 2007: “Influences”, I wonder what can influence me. Can it be friends? Certainly, the organizers of last years festival became my family, we where sharing joy and sadness, we where sharing aspirations and experiences. I grew up too, I became coordinator of the Entertainment department, more responsibilities and a team to coordinate, the festival needed me, but maybe not as much as I needed it. I still look at the hundreds of pictures I have, search my messenger list for the friends I have made, I dream, I experience, I believe...I live.

Now the 15^th edition of ISWinT is getting close, I can’t wait, I dying with desire, days are passing with difficulty, but it will happen. It will be our little revolution, the evolution of our personality...it will be the impersonation of my dream, that became our dream thanks to the team; will I stop here? I don’t think so, but for sure I will give my best. It our reward for the past generations of organizers, brought with your support, the reader...

And all this because the ISWinT spirit is in all those like me: people for whom the limit is where dreams can not enter.

Bogdan – coordinator ISWinT 2008

A more detailed history of Iswint

ISWinT 1994 - Our Generation, Our Future
- The beginning of a wonderful tradition. Congrats to the ambitious
organizers!
- The future’s our mirror; if we’re optimistic, so will the future be.
Don’t make a mockery of yourself if you don’t want to mock our
future. Be wise.

ISWinT 1995 - Communication for a New Europe
- Look around with your heart and express in words what you see.
Let’s talk things better.

ISWinT 1996 - Communication for a New Europe
- Communicate through words, through sensations, through gestures.
Everything around us is communication.

ISWinT 1997 - Let's Build Together the Common European House
- No political barriers, no racism and no prejudices. Europe is our
house, with many doors and many windows. Open them!

ISWinT 1998 - A New Millennium, A New Europe (30th March – 5th April)
- Optimistically prophecies and cheerful attitudes. Let’s keep the
good things and change the mistakes. Let’s reinvent Europe!

ISWinT 1999 - A New Millennium, A New Europe
- We need to make a change and we’re ready to stand for our
causes; because we believe in ourselves and in new beginnings.

ISWinT 2000 - Borders vs. Globalization (22-29 May)
- Have you noticed how things look better if you look at them as a
whole and not at every component? The sea and the sky should be
our only borders; actually, not even those.

ISWinT 2001 – The III Millennium: Intention, Innovation, Identity (12-18 March)
- Dawn of a new world; motivate your intentions, renew what is not
working anymore, but, most of all, find your true self.

ISWinT 2002 - Future Education (25-31 March)
- Education is one of the major factors that determine one’s
personality. Education brought us till here and education will take
us further and make us better.

ISWinT 2003 - Attitude! Altitude (10-16 March)
- Discover the attitude that will help you reach the highest peaks
of your personality. Dare and remember that no one has ever
bumped into the sky.

ISWinT 2004 –Human Rights: IS or SHOULD?
Human rights have to be observed; Where do rights end and where do obligations start? What do we deserve by right and what do we have to fight for?

ISWinT 2005 – Beyond Boundaries >> Fast Forward
Personal reinvention; Rejuvenating of spirits >> Have a common case in present in order to bring the future closer; Changes caused by the influence of volunteering. If society invests in youth, how can they return the favor?
Does youth adapt the system or try to adapt to it?

ISWinT 2006 – Future Foundations for Young Minds
How does art influence self improvement? Prejudice is at every step: racism, xenophobia.
Aim towards settling individual goals.

ISWinT 2007 – Influences
Do people around us influence us in taking decisions?
Sometimes a simple opinion can have determinant consequences, a decision hard to make under the influence of others. We let our selves influenced or we influence the ones around us.


…and the show must go on. The history doesn’t write itself. Be a part of the ISWinT history by enjoying the present session of the festival. 15 years of ISWinT, 15 years of friendship. This is tradition!


NEXT:

ISWinT 2008: Revolution –real vocation meets virtual education

Short history

Taking a look in the past we can be proud of 14 edition of the festival:

- “Our Generation, Our Future” (1994)
- “Communication For A New Europe I” (1995)
- “Communication For A New Europe II” (1996)
- “Let’s Build Together The Common European House” (1997)
- “A New Millennium, A New Europe I” (1998)
- “A New Millennium, A New Europe II” (1999)
- “Borders vs. Globalization” (2000)
- “The 3rd Millennium – Intention Innovation Identity” (2001)
- “Future Education” (2002)
- “Attitude! Altitude!” (2003)
- "Human Rights: Is or Should?” (2004)
- “Beyond Boundaries >> Fast Forward!” (2005)
- “Future foundations for young minds” (2006)
- “Influences” (2007)

It all began 15 years ago when a group of students from the Polytechnic University of Timisoara decided to take attitude. The had a dream: that of globalization. They also had a lot of great ideas. But the key element was their desire to make a difference.


So they gather all their strength and put their soul into a extraordinary festival: they are those who invented the International Festival ISWinT and they are the ones we have to thank for the inheritance they left. As years went by, their dream became reality: ISWinT is now part of Timisoaras’ traditions and gathers more and more participants from different European countries.

The festival is dedicated to students from all over the world and became a connection between cultures, traditions and customs, ideas and aspirations. But the most important thing is ISWinT became a strong connection between people. This festival offers students the chance to know people like them but also know their selves. ISWinT is an event that gives you the certainty that indeed you count: your opinion is meaningful and your decisions can bring a change.