Pallomeri

If you don't understand the word PALLOMERI, you don't have to worry about your English language skills, but probably about your Finnish language skills. Indeed, PALLOMERI is a Finnish word, which has a really funny meaning: it is the place, filled up with many small coloured balls where kids go playing in the shopping centres, hamburger restaurants or ferries - a sea of balls.

At the 9th AGM in Graz (Austria) PALLOMERI evolved from its literally meaning to an acronym for ESN in which the specific letters stand for:

Pan-European
Association
Leading
Local
Organisations
Making
Erasmus
Richer
Inside.

The expression PALLOMERI shall represent on one hand the fun and the activity in ESN and on the other hand it is what you make out of it: it can be the PALLOMERI feeling you have when you are organising parties, it can be the list of the new PALLOMERI friends you have from all over Europe. It represents the passion we put in things - and therefore PALLOMERI is something that we, as ESN members, have in common!

Since the AGM in Graz, PALLOMERI has been a new way of saying "Hello" and also "Goodbye" between ESN members. Funny ways of greetings are for example: "Might the PALLOMERI spirit be with you!", or "Have a nice PALLOMERI!" or "May the PALLOMERI-spirit enlighten you!" In a funny way ESN members change the word into current issues. Already seen: Pallo-love-o-meri, Europe-o-meri, Card-o-merri, Pallo-MERRY Christmas, Pallo-Marriage.

So, be creative and Greet-o-merri with the PALLOMERI spirit!