Giada Soldani’s essay on her participation in the EUdemos Brussels Summer School offers far more than a simple recount of a trip abroad. It captures the deeper educational, cultural, and civic value that the EUdemos project aims to cultivate in young Europeans. Her words remind us that meaningful learning does not happen only through textbooks, but through lived experiences that bring European democracy to life.
What stands out most in Giada’s reflection is the shift from theoretical knowledge to direct engagement. Like many students, she had studied EU institutions in school. Yet stepping into the European Parliament, attending briefings, and seeing decision-making spaces with her own eyes allowed her to grasp the scale, complexity, and purpose of the European project in a way no lesson could replicate. This is exactly the transformative effect EUdemos seeks: helping participants understand the EU not as a distant bureaucracy, but as a living system grounded in cooperation and shared values.
Giada also highlights one of the foundational pillars of the programme: intercultural dialogue. Her experience working and interacting with students from across Europe mirrors the EU motto “United in diversity.” The ease of communication, the exchange of perspectives, and the friendships formed demonstrate how quickly young people can create a genuine European community when given the opportunity and the space to connect.
Her constructive critique regarding shared accommodation and meals also carries an important insight: European identity grows through everyday life as much as through academic activities. Sharing routine moments — breakfast conversations, evening debriefs, spontaneous laughter — strengthens bonds and fosters a sense of belonging.
In the final lines of her essay, Giada expresses gratitude and a renewed awareness of what it means to be part of the European Union. This sense of ownership, understanding, and connection is precisely what EUdemos intends to ignite. By empowering students to see themselves as active citizens within a wider European public sphere, the programme builds the foundations for an informed and engaged generation.
Giada’s testimony is a reminder that European citizenship is not an abstract concept — it is something lived, felt, and built together. And her experience in Brussels shows just how powerful that journey can be.
