In her essay on the EUDEMOS project, Anna Giulia D’Aurizio offers a thoughtful and insightful reflection on one of the initiative’s most innovative components: the COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning) activity. Her narrative demonstrates how meaningful intercultural exchange can happen even without boarding a plane — and how digital collaboration can become a powerful bridge between young Europeans.
Anna Giulia describes COIL as an unexpectedly enriching experience, one that allowed her to connect with peers from another European country — in this case, Portugal — and discover both similarities and differences between their everyday realities. Her account underscores an important truth: European identity is built not only through physical mobility, but also through dialogue, curiosity, and mutual understanding.
What stands out in her reflection is the dual nature of the COIL journey. On one hand, there is the icebreaking phase, where students introduced their cities, schools, and cultural contexts. Anna Giulia highlights the surprising parallels between life in Pisa and life in Portugal, reminding us that Europe is both diverse and deeply connected. On the other hand, the project also invited students to confront complex social issues, such as gender inequality and domestic violence. Through this, COIL became a space for critical thinking, empathy, and cultural comparison — a digital agora where young Europeans could reflect on pressing societal challenges through multiple lenses.
Another key theme in her essay is the transformative role of language. Using English not as a school exercise but as a genuine communication tool helped her understand something essential: languages are bridges. They allow ideas, emotions, and experiences to travel across borders just as effectively as physical mobility. Her realisation captures the very essence of EU-funded educational initiatives: empowering students to speak to the world and be heard.
Ultimately, Anna Giulia’s testimony reveals the profound potential of online collaboration. COIL may not involve travel, but it cultivates something equally valuable: the ability to listen, to compare perspectives, and to imagine a shared future. As she beautifully concludes, international collaboration is made of small moments that reshape our vision of others — and of ourselves.
Her experience is a powerful reminder that EUDEMOS is not only a project about discovering Europe, but also about building a more reflective, open-minded, and interconnected generation of young citizens.
Article-Anna-Giula su Crossing Borders Without Traveling Reflecting
