On the 4th April 1991 a number of landscape architect students arrived to Budapest from Europe on the invitation of their Hungarian colleagues. Hungary organized the second meeting of the European Landscape Architect Students' Association (ELASA).
Many of the 71 students had met last year in Lisboa and Evora, Portugal. In Evora in 1990 80 European L.A. students founded ELASA. They issued a statement and a questionnarie which those had to fill and sign and return to Portugal who were chosen as representatives for their country. In the following year these students became the contact persons for their country. The Association of Hungarian L.A. Students asked every country to send two representatives from each country who were given full board during their visit to Hungary, staying with families. AII other participants stayed in halls of colleges.
Last year in Evora it was decided at the representatives' meeting that ELASA would meet annually. When the question concerning the following meeting was put forth we said we would organise it provided our colleagues and the University back at home agreed. On returning everyone applauded to the idea of organising the 1991 ELASA meeting. So eventually we started at it.
First we founded the Association of Hungarian L.A. Students and thus, as an organization it became far easier to find sponsors, to open an 'official' bank account, etc. lt was hard to find sponsors however, because of the financial situation of the country at present, we were canvassing at the wrong moment... Finally we managed to raise the amount necessary for the meeting with the help of Hungarian firms and foreign colleagues.
After one year the representatives met again. There were a few changes only, most of us remained. We discussed last year's activity, everyone talked about job possibilities in his country, how easy it is to organise for foreign students to work there. Several new student associations were founded. L.A. student associations in Europe now: in Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland and Norway.
For more effective work we divided ourselves into smaller groups who discussed different topics:
The following day we continued the group-work and at the last representatives' meeting we discussed the results.
On the very last day the representatives' forum summarised its work.
The name of the organization was originally ELSA (European Landscape Students' Association) but in Budapest we decided it was appropriate to add the word 'Architect'.
ELASA is sending representatives to the EFLA congress in Brussels and also to the IFLA congress in Columbia.
Miss Christina Coelho from Portugal was elected the chairman of ELASA until the 1992 meeting in Switzerland. Her address is: Rua Cidade Joao Belo, II. R/C 1800 LISBOA
When we first founded the Association of Hungarian L.A. Students, we had no money at all and even during the following months we had to rely on the membership fees collected from our students. Also, the University helped us, we were allowed to use the photocopier free and all our postal fares were payed by them.
We founded the Association in the autumn but our search for sponsors and all other practical work didn't start until December. It was rather difficult to find sponsors. There were several reasons for this. Firstly the changes that have happened in Hungary, the poor financial conditions made it difficult.Secondly because landscape architecture and environmental protection in Hungary are still rather neglected and hence people aren't interested in giving money for their development.
Still there were a few to whom we owe special thanks:
We also gratefully thank all our foreign student colleagues who financially helped the 1991 ELASA meeting and with their presente helped to make it a great success: Swltzerland, Sweden, Portugal, Denmark, Austria, Gemany, Norway.
We set up the information centre and our headquater in the main hall of one of the University buildings. This was where everyone arrived with huge backpacks and where the exhibition of foreign and Hungarian students' works was set up. In the evening we held an introductory party on stage... We taught Hungarian folk dances to the participants, which was followed by rock and roll and disco.
The representatives' meeting was held from 10 o'clock with the participation of two representatives from every country. Parallely with this the others - non-representatives - went on a tour of the city led by one of our students. The representatives took their turn at night instead of sleeping... In the afternoon the University's new rector, professor Mihaly Mocsenyi and Dr. Gabor Szabo from the Ministry for Environment and Regional Policy gave a lecture. In the evening we continued the representatives' meeting.
In the morning most of the students visited some of Budapest's green areas. During the afternoon the forum continued and parallely an environmental protection workshop was on. In the evening a concert was held in the main hall where renaissance and baroque music was played. This was followed by the performance of a pantomime group and a general party with lots of food and drink.
Two buses left the University for the Danube band. One had an English guide, the other a German one, for those who managed to get up for the 8 o'clock departure. We visited the open air folklore museum in Szentendre, the royal palace in Visegrad. We saw the uncompleted hydroelectric power plant on the Danube and later, the basilica in Esztergom. We broke our trip in several historically important places. lt was a delightful, yet tiring day.
In the morning the last phase of the representatives' meeting was held. ln the afternoon we planted a tree according to the 'tradition', then the newly joined members (USSR and Belgium) gave a lecture on their own country, also France and Poland had brought an interesting collection of slides. In the evening there was another projection - slides taken during the meeting. We then danced until very late to finish the 1991 ELASA meeting.
The last breakfast at the University for those who hadn't left yet and everyone then returned home.
SEE YOU IN SWITZERLAND NEXT YEAR!