The Summer School was attended by students selected from the seven partner universities of EC2U, namely Pavia, Poitiers, Iasi, Turku, Salamanca, Jena, Coimbra. The week was full of events, workshops, conferences and activities, alternating theoretical and practical lessons that allowed students to live an international experience belonging to the EC2U community, as well as an European identity.

The students from Pavia, once they returned to Italy, created a video and wrote a letter sharing their experience:

Dear all,

We are the students who had the opportunity to participate in the first EC2U Summer School: “Smart Aging and Healthy Life”. We would like to tell you what this experience meant for us by showing the journey we have undertaken in the city of Iași, the third largest city in Romania.

The first day was very exciting as we met students from different universities and took part in group exercises which were meant to help us understand the importance of communicating. Then we attended two lessons “Promoting physical activity with wearables” and “Uncertainty in times of the COVID-19 pandemic: who is saving the most resources to cope?”. Afterwards, the welcome dinner concluded the day in the best possible way: new relationships and traditional Romanian food.

The next day was dedicated to the topic of seniority and people with disabilities. During class, we were trained on the different pathologies that lead to disability of the lower limbs and on the use and functioning of different types of wheelchairs.

We started the third day by visiting the Anastasie Fatu botanical garden and enjoying its beauty by playing different game sets. These activities aimed at strengthening our teamwork skills, but they also showed us the importance of sport in creating and intensifying interpersonal relationships.

The fourth day was dedicated to “First Aid”: we learned the basic steps and practiced first hand on how to correctly apply a bandage and carry out the first rescue manoeuvres. We then followed two conferences on personalized physical activity and integrated care.

On Friday morning we were taught various breathing exercises: we thus understood the care and correct use of the respiratory system. In the afternoon we witnessed the fun and fierce “Science Battle“, won by the University of Pavia.

The last day was one of the most exciting as it was dedicated to reflections on lived experience, newly acquired knowledge and greetings with our colleagues. In these days we have understood the importance of teamwork, sharing and discussion, only with dialogue and exchange of views can you learn and grow by discovering new points of view and best practices on how to analyze a problem. The day ended with the City tour, that made us discover the city of Iași.

To conclude, this article is just a hint of the knowledge we have acquired by participating in the Summer School. We are grateful to EC2U, the University of Pavia for allowing us to experience this wonderful opportunity and we invite other students to travel and open their minds and hearts to learning.

Aisyha, Giovanni, Ines, Marta, Mattea, Pinar, Tayyab, Ulkar