Medicine, Politics and Law students from Católica explore Heritage, Biodiversity and Geography in an immersive experience in Kaunas
At Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Maria Miguel Gaspar, Miguel-Ângelo Martins Machado and Rita Miguel Prego study Medicine, Politics and Law. But at Transform4Europe Week in Kaunas, Lithuania, they ventured into other areas to explore unlikely topics such as Heritage, Biodiversity and Geography.
Maria Miguel Gaspar is 22 years old and in her fourth year of an integrated Master's degree in Medicine. She chose to take the ‘Critical Heritage’ course during this transformative week, which took place from 20 to 24 October at Vytautas Magnus University.
An experience to be repeated, in the student's words: ‘I would definitely join again, not only because I learnt a lot , specially things outside my comfort zone but also because I had the opportunity to meet a beautiful city and be around marvelous people from all around the world … they taught me a lot too maybe even more than the classes and I believe that was the whole point."
For Miguel-Ângelo Martins Machado, 20, the experience was equally memorable. In a single word, the final-year student of Political Science and International Relations at Católica describes the week as ‘multicultural’.
“If I had the chance, I would participate again without hesitation. At times like these, when Europe faces external pressures that seek to divide us, we remember what truly unites us: the common goal of building ties, cultivating relationships, and maintaining open dialogue between all states on the continent.”
The student believes that opportunities such as T4EU Week are invaluable because “they are not just about academic learning; they are about connecting people, sharing experiences and strengthening cooperation between different cultures and realities. This is where the idea is reinforced that, despite the difficulties, unity, dialogue and mutual understanding remain the pillars of the Europe we want to build.”
“Participating in an initiative like this leaves you certain that every meeting, every conversation and every joint project is a step towards a stronger, more connected and more resilient Europe,” adds the student from the Institute for Political Studies, who chose to take the course “Biodiversity Conservation: Understanding, Threats & Solutions”.
For Rita Miguel Prego, “cooperation” is the keyword to describe this immersive experience. She is 19 years old and is in her second year of law bachelor degree at the Universidade Católica Portuguesa, but at T4EU Week she challenged herself to enroll in the course “GIS 360° Maps that transform society”.
And participation could not have been more positive. Like her colleagues, the student responds with an emphatic ‘yes’ to a possible repeat. "Yes, because it is through sharing ideas that we build a high-quality, innovative, inclusive, creative and prosperous future!" comments.
António Guedes Garoupa, who is in his third year of law school, would also not think twice about participating again. He describes the week as challenging, but in a positive way. "The opportunity to spend a week in contact with different European cultures in a European country diametrically opposed to my own allowed me not only to meet new people, but also to learn about realities I had never encountered before," he explains.
Like his colleagues, 21-year-old António chose a course different from his own at his home university, swapping law for the immersive course ‘Ideas of Europe’.
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