During my studies at the University, I was offered the opportunity to discover the possibilities of the Erasmus + program. I didn’t know anything about it until then, so I consulted with the Erasmus coordinator, who kindly and in detail explained the conditions of the competition and what documents I had to submit in order to apply. Collecting documentation took time, but it paid off in the end. I went on three exchanges. The first exchange was in the year 2019/2020 in the summer semester when I went to Slovenia, as part of the Erasmus + competition, for the purpose of a study stay.
The second exchange was in the year 2020/2021 in the summer semester when I went to Slovenia, as part of the Erasmus + competition, for the purpose of doing professional practice.
The third exchange was in the year 2021/2022 in the winter semester when I went to Montenegro, as part of the Erasmus + competition, for the purpose of doing professional practice.
For me, all three exchanges were a wonderful experience, and I cannot fit them into the few sentences I will write here, and you have all my recommendation that all of you who are reading this dare to have your Erasmus experience. Namely, as far as my first Erasmus experience is concerned, for the purpose of a study stay, I was at the FUDŠ Faculty. I agreed on the subjects I was supposed to take in advance with the ECTS coordinator at my university, who coordinated everything with the coordinator at the Faculty where I was. After the acceptance letter I received, my experience began. I found affordable accommodation in Nova Gorica very easily, and before I came I studied the website of the Faculty I was going to. Their Erasmus coordinator kindly prepared my schedule, professor contacts and introduced me to the professors. The professors were very accommodating and available at all times. The courses I took were recognized at my home institution, so there were no problems.
In addition to studying there, I also had time to get to know the city, its culture, and most importantly, I made some new acquaintances. My second Erasmus experience, for the purpose of professional practice, was again related to Slovenia, but this time to Ljubljana. During my study stay, a year before, I met the director of the company where I came to do my internship the following year. I also persuaded my brother, Josip Lozina, to take part in this Erasmus experience, and together we applied for the aforementioned competition. We did our internship at a company called CEOS d.o.o. This company covers a number of managerial activities and is a great company where you can learn a lot about management. The main focus is CEO support, which is support for managers in large and small companies and holding companies, but in most cases they also perform operational tasks in companies. Efficient, highly professional and with many years of experience, they offer their business partners top-notch service. Our mentor who was in charge of training us and showing us some of the jobs was more than patient and always ready for our queries. As for accommodation, everything was easier to organize because I wasn’t going alone, and of course we had a great time at the end.
So the third and last year of my studies came, this time Josip didn’t need much persuasion, we decided together that we would again apply to the competition for professional practice and we just followed the development with the COVID situation to see when we would be able to travel. My third Erasmus experience, for the purpose of professional practice, is related to Montenegro, that is, to the Faculty in Bar. We applied for an internship at the Faculty of Maritime Affairs and Tourism in Bar, more precisely, we were on an internship at their Training Center for training seafarers. During professional practice, we performed administrative tasks that included:
Organization of maritime courses according to clients’ needs
Preparation of course documentation
Keeping candidate documentation
Preparation of a certificate at the end of the course
Certificate expiration monitoring
Filling in various forms
And other tasks by order of the director of the Training Center
My brother and I graduated from maritime high school, studied at a college that runs a maritime inspection and personnel management program, so working at the Training Center for Seafarers was a real opportunity for us because maritime is what falls into our field of interest. We learned a lot and supplemented the theoretical knowledge we had before we came here. Apart from that, Bar is a beautiful city, but apart from Bar, during our stay we also visited the surrounding cities, which are also oriented towards seafaring and have a wonderful Mediterranean climate, so we felt as if we were at home. Everyone was very helpful and very accommodating, and in addition to work experience, we also made acquaintances that we will not easily forget.
Erasmus + is the perfect opportunity to have fun, explore a foreign country and its culture, and in the meantime develop your individual and social skills.
Stipe and Josip Lozina