Im Herzen der Europäischen Union

Im Zuge des Erasmusplus-Projekts „Wir und die EU“ reiste eine Gruppe von Schüler_innen der HAK Spittal gemeinsam mit ihrer italienischen Partnerschule aus Reggio Emilia ins Herz der Europäischen Union. Die Highlights der Reise für die Jugendlichen der HAK Spittal waren der Besuch der Partnerschule in Italien sowie der Besuch des Europäischen Parlaments und anderen wichtigen EU-Institutionen in Brüssel.

Michael, Armin, Roland, Chiara, Lena, Nina und die zwei Fabios der Erasmusplus Gruppe kehrten nach dieser unvergesslichen Reise wieder in die Normalität und in ihren Schulalltag zurück – aber erfüllt von  wertvollen Erfahrungen, bereichert und glücklich, die Orte und Institutionen kennengelernt zu haben, wo die europäischen Gesetze beschlossen werden, die ihr tägliches Leben beeinflussen.

During this school year Scaruffi Levi-Tricolore and HAK/HTL Spittal did the Erasmus+ project “Noi e l’UE – Wir und die EU”. The purpose of this project was to make us more conscious of the work of the European Union to encourage our sense of European identity and the understanding of democracy. The project involved 8 Austrian and 16 Italian students and was organised in three trips, one in Austria, one in Brussels and the last one in Italy.

Both student groups worked on different topics regarding the European Union and their institutions. Before the first trip to Carinthia, we got to know each other at an online meeting in December, where we presented our first work progress.

WHAT DID WE DO in Italy?

After the trip of Italian students to Austria and our common journey to Brussels, the Austrian students went to Reggio Emilia from 23^rd to 27^th May. Happy to see each other again, we went together to the “Fondazione 35”, where we got a lot of interesting information on the European projects and partnerships in Reggio Emilia. During the week we completed our transnational group-work on the different topics, which we presented to the headmaster of ITC Scaruffi Levi-Tricolore, Domenica Tassoni.

Besides our work at the school, we also had some walking-tours through the beautiful town centre of Reggio. One of the highlights was the official visit with the mayor of Reggio, Luca Vecchi, at the “Sala del Tricolore”, where the flag of Italy was born in 1797.

Moreover, we visited the city of Parma, where we got to know the town centre with the gorgeous Palazzo della Pilotta, built in the 16^th century, with the Farnese Theatre and the National Gallery of Parma, with artworks of da Vinci, Carracci, Tintoretto, and others.

On our day trip to Liguria, we had a long walk along the Ligurian sea, on a hiking trail, funded by the European Union, that connects Rapallo to Portofino, passing through Santa Margherita.

After our farewell in Reggio Emilia, we spent the last day in Bologna. We walked from the train station to the Piazza Maggiore with the Basilica San Petronio and the Sala Borsa; from the Archiginnasio, the former seat of the oldest university in Europe, to the Piazza Santa Stefano with its "sette chiese" (the seven churches), into the university quarter of Via Zamboni and the "Due torri", the city's landmark.

The new friendships, the unforgettable shared impressions in Carinthia, Brussels and Reggio Emilia, the meeting with local and EU politicians and, not to forget, the cultural and gastronomic delights made us want to have many more experiences in the EU.

Erasmusplusteam