News

On Wednesday, 10.04.2024, in the Chamber of Senate of the University of Bielsko-Biala, there was another meeting of the “Meet my culture” cycle. This time, it was about the Argentinian culture.

The meeting has been opened by dr hab. inż. Tomasz Knefel, prof. UBB, Vice-rector for Student Affairs and education. Then, Ms. Aleksandra Hasior and dr Dagmara Mika presented the programme “Internationalisation starts at home”, within the framework of which the “Meet my culture” cycle is included.

The next presentation, titled “Traces of Poles in Argentina”, was concerning the history and present day of the Polish community in Argentina, in particular, the group settled down in the province of Missiones, which is located in the North-East of the country, bordering Brazil and Paraguay. The presenters, Ms. Aleksandra Męcik-Blachińska and Ms. Nicoletta Monticelli, the student of Spanish Studies of the UBB, delivered a very interesting tale of the history and the present day of the Polish settlers and their descendants, as well as informed about their participation in economic and cultural life of Argentina.

After acquiring that knowledge, the participants of the meeting were challenged by an interactive quiz led by dr Natalia Wiśniewska. Those who gave the most of the correct answers in the shortest time, were rewarded by souvenirs. However, the quiz appeared to bring a lot of fun to all: the participants and even the non-participating observers.

The next point of the meeting was the presentation of dr hab. Carlos Dimeo Alvarez, prof. UBB, from the Institute of Neo-philology, who originally comes from Argentina. Together with Mr. Hugo Kowalczuk, also professionally connected in the past with our university and also an Argentinian, they took the participants of the meeting to a virtual walk in Buenos Aires. The presentation was adorned with many personal remarks and anecdotes of both the presenters, which made it very lively.

The ending part was a degustation. Prof. Dimeo Alvarez, together with Mr. Kowalczuk, prepared equipment used traditionally to brew mate – a beverage of huge social and cultural importance in Argentina. The participant also had a chance to taste dulce de leche, another tasty Argentinian speciality. The participants got involved in the degustation so deeply, that it was continued also when they had to leave the Chamber of the Senate due to another event scheduled there. That last point of the meeting was then continued in the common space of the Welcome Point.