And a warm welcome it was. The congress 2008 has been a wonderful experience for us all. Creating yourself, look what you can! This theme was fully achieved, participants got the chance to learn about themselves through workshops and lectures and besides that one of the strongest powers of the EFPSA congress 2008 was the social part.
Also in the working force of EFPSA many things were achieved. The National Representatives elected a new Board of Management and the new Executive Board got started during the congress.
Creating yourself, Look what you can! This is important in the life of most students. During the congress there was an opportunity to learn more about what you can, with a wide variety of both formal and informal learning opportunities. The congress took great care of the academic part with a wide variety of topics from ´Nude pictures and relationship satisfaction´ from Finland, to ´Intercultural Understanding´ from Austria, to ´Psychopathy in forensic settings: concept, evaluation, practical implications´ from Lithuania. The participants had a great opportunity to learn about these different aspects of psychology and the differences between cultures that comes with that.
As mentioned, the social part was amazingly organised by the congress org.com. Right from the very first minute they surprised us all. A very warm welcome, Lithuanian style! Throughout the week they kept on surprising us with more and more informal activities, each one arranged to fine detail and very well performed. We could not even keep track who was married to who, which band rocked the most or, of course, which national drink tasted best/worst.
And last but definitely not least, the “EFPSA spirit” was amazing. New people got in contact with this unique feeling of unity and became addicted to working in such a wonderful team! Sleep was a secondary need, people stayed up as late as possible to wake up early and experience more of this wonderful EFPSA feeling! We can strongly recommend you to go to Lithuania and/or to an EFPSA congress and experience it for yourself! Since our words cannot express the experience of the many participants we suggest you to read the Thank you booklet that was filled with EFPSA memories and wishes. You can find it here.
The EFPSA congress is also the moment of year where EFPSA makes some important decisions. During the congress the General Assembly takes place and a, mostly, new team of Board of Management is elected and new staff of the Executive Board are approved by our members (the National Representatives). The new Board presented their vision and hope to make EFPSA even more stable and effective during this mandate, while maintaining the EFPSA spirit! Many things are planned, for example our second European Summerschool (ESS) and our first publication of the Journal of European Psychology Students (JEPS).
We are looking forward to welcoming more and more psychology students and offering them an opportunity to create themselves, both in a scientific way, with the best professors and other motivated students, as in a non formal way by expanding their horizons and getting to know other students from other cultures. Experiences that you will not forget!