WHAT IS THE BUDDY PROGRAM?

New arrivals

Just before the beginning of each semester a new group of international students arrive in Odense. They arrive in a new country where they often have no friends and little knowlege about the local community whose doorstep they've just walked on to. Here's what you can do to help:

The Buddy Program

To give students a head start, ESN has established a 'Buddy Program' where students living in Odense can sign up to become a Buddy for new international students. This way the international students will have a personal contact in Odense even before they arrive which is a great safety to the excided yet maybe a bit nervous foreign students.

If you sign up for the Buddy Program, you will be assigned one or more students as you wish. ESN will do the matchmaking (you can make requests concerning gender, nationality and location of accommodation) and will give you the contact information of your student(s). It will be your responsibility to establish contact with the student(s) before he/she/they arrive(s) and help out if help is needed - e.g. by answering questions about life in Odense.

Welcome!

When you have established contact with your student(s) you must find out when he/she/they will arrive and save the day so you can pick him/her/them up - it will typiccally be at the railway station in Odense and will never outside of Odense. Beforehand ESN will give you a Welcome Package which you are to give to your student(s). Among other things it'll contain the accommodation key. When you pick up your student(s) you must therefore bring the Welcome Package help your student(s) find the way to his/her/their new home(s).

The following days and weeks you can help your student(s) in many ways. You can go for a walk in the centre and point out some supermarkets, the post office, banks, good places to hang out, the cinema and so. Before your student(s) arrive(s), ESN will invite you to a Buddy meeting where you'll meet the other Buddies. It's a great opportunity for you to ask questions and for ESN to make suggestions. Furthermore it's a possibility for you to group up with other Buddies and make plans about meeting in groups with your international students when they arrive. ESN arranges several events and trips in which you can also paticipate with your student(s) and the other Buddies.

Friendship

Many Buddies become friends with their assigned students and keep in touch after the foreign students have finished their stay in Odense. Being a Buddy will give you the opportunity to get friends worldwide whom you can also visit when you go travelling.

Make a difference while making new friends!

Practice your languages and expand your networks both inside and outside of Denmark!

Sign up above under Buddy Program > Join the Program