“Our participants were enthusiastic about the amount of art and history!”
Florence is a great location for a Summer University, but the participants of “Michelangelo’s Sunset”, the Summer University of AEGEE-Firenze, got a lot more from the event. A lot of funny moments, for example, like dancing on a ship – with captain and crew. The event took place from 5 to 16 August 2022. You want to experience it too? They organize one this year as well!
GT: What was your Summer University about?
AEGEE-Firenze: Our SU was about History and Culture of Florence and Tuscany.
GT: How many participants and how many organisers did you have?
AEGEE-Firenze: We had 24 participants, 5 organisers that followed the group during the whole event and several helpers.
GT: What were the greatest thematic programme highlights of the SU?
AEGEE-Firenze: The focus was culture, so we had a strong programme of city tours and museums in Florence. Our feet hurt but the participants were enthusiastic about the amount of art and history! The second part of the SU was more relaxing, and we enjoyed some workshop about Italian language and cuisine but also excursions in the nature.
GT: What were the funniest or most exciting moments?
AEGEE-Firenze: In this SU we had many unforgettable moments! During our trip to Elba Island the weather was not so nice: it rained and the sea was wavy… But the spirit of our participants was still high! So we turned on the music and started dancing on the boat. The captain and the sailors danced with us too! Another unforgettable moment was during the last night: we just finished to watch the fireworks on the beach and suddenly the sky filled with lightning. We started to run towards the gym but a huge storm was already starting. We arrived at the gym completely wet, but we didn’t lose our enthusiasm and started dancing in the gym completely wet with just wet t-shirts or in underwear… it was really amazing!
GT: How was the group of participants?
AEGEE-Firenze: We had 16 different nationalities. The group was one of the best of the last year! They were ready to join each activity, both parties and cultural ones, there weren’t any ghettos and also the organizers enjoyed the SU and the friendship with the participants. We’ve done many icebreaking games and team building activities at the beginning of the SU, but when the participants are already amazing they don’t need a lot of activities to create a fantastic group!
GT: How successful was the SU overall?
AEGEE-Firenze: The SU was completely successful! Not only because everyone enjoyed it, but also because we had a big knowledge transfer during it: it was the last SU for Lorenzo Cozzi, our beloved main organizer during the past seven years, but we had some new members that really enjoyed it and decided to become the main organizer for the next summer!
GT: Anything you would like to add?
AEGEE-Firenze: Oh, love was in the air and everyone felt it. Maybe it was the art, maybe it was the Tuscan sea-side, we cannot really tell, but we know that now two couples, who met in this SU, are continuing their very close relationship, proving that in Europe distances are not a problem.
