I would do it all again in a heartbeat!

By Anna Grennan

When I was sitting in my English class and received an email titled ‘Schools Beyond Borders and Regions Project’, I had never imagined the immense impact this would have on me. This project has been one of the most informative and interesting experiences I have ever taken part in. Every second of it was filled with new adventures, from meeting students from all across Europe, taking on the mountains in Fassa Valley, learning about Sarajevo and the history of the many places we visited and working on problems that the modern world faces.

I cannot even begin to comprehend the amount of effort that Professor Ferrari and Professor Zorzi put into this and I will forever be grateful for that and their willingness to teach and inspire young students.

Speaking of students, I cannot lie, at first it was quite daunting to meet the other children taking part in this. I was scared there may have been language barriers or differences but after spending days, hiking up mountains, (hiking as in slowly walking and panting), having our meals together, taking part in the group work in the mornings where we all mixed up, sharing our ideas about sustainability, participation and inclusion, I have been proven to be very wrong. There was never a need to worry, the students were some of the kindest, most brightest people I have ever met. The differences were, in fact, the thing that brought us together. Each student was able to bring in their experiences that they have faced in their country to the projects. This led to a more diverse and stronger project. Although there were very early morning starts, I would do it all again in a heartbeat! Every part was exciting and had well thought out plans that would fill the day.

I had so much fun getting to know all the students from Italy and Bosnia and even girls from my own school that I had not known very well. It is safe to say that I will remember this forever and bring different learning aspects from it into my everyday life. So once again, thank you to Professor Ferrari and Professor Zorzi.