Italy
participants
The objective of this activity was to provide high school students with all the opportunities offered by the European Union in terms of work and academic life. As ESN Modena, our main goal was to describe what ESN does as an international network, the work of ESN Italia and our activities at a local level for the exchange students at University of Modena and Reggio Emilia. Also, we wanted the students to be aware of the possibility of doing exchanges abroad and how it works, by recounting our experiences as exchange students.
Europe Direct Modena is a centre providing information on the opportunities offered by the European Union. During the year, they organize events and conferences with different local high schools, to guide the students through their academic and professional life, for what concerns the multiple chances and possibilities provided by the European Union. As Europe Direct has been collaborating with ESN Modena for years, they usually invite us to these events, so that we can speak about the activity of ESN to support foreign students through their whole exchange period and to recount our experiences abroad, when we Erasmus students ourselves. To make everything more real, we invited a Turkish Erasmus student in Modena, Yagmur, who spoke about her experience of exchange student in Italy. The high school students had also the chance to interact both with Yagmur and the volunteers of ESN Modena by asking questions or making comments.
Both the students and the staff of Europe Direct enjoyed our intervention and asked ESN Modena volunteers and Yagmur many questions. Their enthusiasm and curiosity filled the atmosphere and at the and of the day everyone was enriched by the confrontation among students, volunteers and exchange students, as many opinions on international mobility, Erasmus programme and ESN activities and membership were shared.
