There are no strong obligations and your work is fully voluntary. But here are some ways how you can help your assigned incoming student:
The application is done through the Papaya application. A Papaya profile is extremely easy to set up and can be accessed either through a web browser or downloaded via Apple App Store or Google Play Store. The user can log in with Facebook, Apple or Google or register through email and password. If the user logs in with Facebook, Apple or Google, they will be directly prompted to the profile editing page. If the user opts for registering through email and password, they will be redirected to a registration page on which they will be able to select the closest ESN section (ESN Primorska in our case), their country of origin and other basic information.
Following this registration, the local Papaya admin has to confirm the account creation in a timely manner (the admin can either accept or deny the request, the user will be notified via email in either case). After first accessing Papaya, to complete their profile, the user has to fill in fields with information that was not acquired previously (e.g. from Facebook). Finally, the user can land in the homepage and proceed to the last step. In the homepage, the user can subscribe to the Buddy System project, this is done by simply selecting the desired project, clicking on the “I WANT TO OFFER MY HELP” tab and proceeding further with filling in other data required by the project. Once the subscription is completed, the user can sit back, relax and wait to meet their assigned exchange student(s)!
You will receive an email from Papaya as soon as you are matched with a student. The email will notify you of the match and invite you to go to Papaya where you will find the student you were matched with, as well as the contact they provided so you can reach out to them. At the end of the academic year, you will get a certificate for the period in which you have been a buddy! 😊