'I was born in Florence, but I was made in the Erasmus Programme'

A personal account of how travelling to Germany changed my life (and that of many other students!) forever.

As a fully committed European and Remainer, I was gutted when the Referendum took place and resulted in my adopted country [I am originally Italian, but have lived in London since 1993] leaving the EU.

As an ordinary citizen and person, I have benefitted extensively from the freedom of movement that being in the EU has afforded us, ever since I was 10 or so. As someone operating in the travel and tourism industry, I too have witnessed the industry flourish and thrive also because of this freedom.

Over the period 1993-2010 I saw London change considerably and become a beacon of openness, enriched undoubtedly by the cross-fertilisation, the extensive exchanges, the interconnections that came with that freedom of movement for people, for thoughts and for cultures...and for the budget airlines, that increasingly transported people back and forth.

I - therefore- hoped and prayed for the Brexit negotiation to result in a deal and felt a slight relief when the news was shared of an agreement that would still encourage British and other European to travel and explore our 27 countries without too many bureaucratic burdens, whether this may be time spent queuing at the airport, the need for a VISA or additional costs to a family holiday. This was always important, but no more so than in this 2020, Annus Horribilis, in which my colleagues and I spent so much time supporting women made unemployed as a result of Covid19. Seeing the industry grounded and hearing the relentless news of liquidation, administrations and redundancy had me often reflecting on how Government's action around Covid19 and Brexit seem to be missing some of the fundamentals of travel. Giving up on the Erasmus programme is in my opinion yet another demonstration of this lack of understanding and the way in which some so-called peripheral decisions impact the industry. It is possibly a small example; not a make-or-break for the industry perhaps, but in my opinion still a critically important one!

Erasmus enabled us to embrace the real meaning of 'travel' by opening up and connecting young minds; by helping them explore and connect with other cultures; by fostering deeper and more meaningful discoveries.

This is the type of travel that many of us are advocating now in the wake of Covid19, one that fosters understanding, peace and a real sense of place.

I admit, I was always a rather privileged young girl. My parents loved to travel, mostly to uncover the history and heritage of Europe and so, most summers since the age of 10 my dad, my mum, my sister and I would jump in the car and spend what my sister and I felt were interminable hours criss-crossing France, Austria, Germany, Netherlands and even as far as Greece and Turkey...these were the late seventies and the eighties and we were really adventurers!

Later on I went abroad on language exchanges and even home-swaps, but it is really only in my third year of University, when I got the chance to spend a year in the German city of Bremen of 'Musikanten'-fame that my love for travel and my London destiny was sealed. It is there that I met my now husband and partner of 30 years, another Erasmus student.

In Bremen, in 1990, aged 22 and studying business at the FachHochSchule, I truly understood the meaning of Freedom. I was living with students of all nationalities; studying with the locals; working in a shop to supplement the scholarship fund and spent most of the free time getting to know the city, the region and beyond. I celebrated one year of the fall of the Berlin Wall in the Cathedral square; met many east-Berliners and came face to face with what I had only been able to glimpse through history books.

In the process I discovered that many students were away from their families for the first time; that Erasmus gave us all an opportunity to compare and contrast while also reflecting on the similarities; that by staying away for many months and being steeped into the local University, using their sporting facilities and libraries, one really got to feel a part of the country, not just a visitor. The second-hand (perhaps third or fourth) bike I bought for 10 Deutsche Mark at the local flee-market and used for the best part of 12 months surely made me one of them!

I am told that the new Turing Scheme will be even better for British students and I really hope so. Just like I was, my children are lucky and now even more privileged as they can flaunt an Italian passport as needed. I do hope that future generations will have the same opportunities to appreciate travel in that very unique way that Erasmus allowed. Travel that open the mind and create life time friendships (and perhaps more) !