This past April, I had the wonderful opportunity to take part in an ERASMUS BIP in Catania, Italy. I’d therefore like to share my enjoyable experience.
You may be wondering what an ERASMUS BIP is; it involves bringing together several universities to work on a joint project. Both lecturers and students take part in this project; from ESADA, there were 8 students and 3 lecturers, and groups of people came from each university. Our programme was divided into two parts: the first part was online, to familiarise ourselves with the project and get to know our fellow students – this involved several sessions over the course of a month – and the second part was face-to-face, which lasted a week.
Although it was a very short period, you gain a wealth of new experiences by living together on an Erasmus programme with your usual classmates, whilst everyone else is in the same situation as you, working together towards a common goal. You could say it’s short but intense.
The project involved refurbishing a town square to make it more liveable and pleasant for local residents, and this was to be complemented by a mobile kiosk. It was very well organised, as there was a group for each task, and at the end of the day we would pool all our work to ensure a smooth workflow. I wasn’t part of the group in charge of the graphic design, which I liked because it meant I could take a bit of a break from my day-to-day work whilst also learning new skills. My team’s mission was to research the native plants of the area so that we could incorporate them correctly into the project; we also collected samples of these and classified them for the project log. Using some of the samples, we made two planters to place in the square, whilst the rest were used for the scale model of the square and the kiosk prototypes. The project was completed very successfully, and we were delighted with the result.
Despite having to work on the project, we also had time to explore the city and enjoy its traditions, as well as doing what any Erasmus student would do: going out to meet new people and make friends.
This has undoubtedly been one of the most enriching experiences I have ever had; I will cherish it in my heart forever.
