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What is the Erasmus Programme? It was 1987, people called from telephone booths, we did not have low cost flights and the Berlin Wall was still standing. . . but 3000 young people left their homes to go studying in a foreign country: they were the Erasmus pioneers. Since then, 3 million students have taken this opportunity, 220,000 are Italians. They have learnt a new language, lived in a foreign country, met new people, experienced different habits, discovered new ideas, and made an international experience, which is more and more valuable in the job market. A wise adage says that they have become women and men about town. Eventually, they have discovered that DIVERSITY IS A TREASURE, NOT A PROBLEM. In 2014 Erasmus plus was launched: this time there will not be only students, but also young professionals, and by 2020, they will be 4 millions. Probably, the so-called "Erasmus generation" is the first to feel really European, before being Italian, French or German. Do we need to make Europeans before making Europe? We need to talk about Europe! To inform, not to influence. THANKS!

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Micaela Montano (MSc) studied Biology at the University of Naples "Federico II". On March 19, 2015 she defended her final dissertation (final mark 110/110 cum laude). She took part in the Erasmus + Program, and spent a semester in Amsterdam at the Vrije University.

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