HAPPY BIRTHDAY ITALY

 

 

“We have made Italy. Now we must make Italians” (Massimo d’Azeglio).

 

Applied to the actual European Union, Happy Birthday Italy is an event whose aim is to bring back to life the spirit of the young rebels of the Risorgimento.

Of course, the activities in Turin are not that revolutionary.

 

The goal was to gather young people fro; all across Europe, allow them to interact with one another and discuss various European and youth-related topics.

The main idea was to develop ideas and solutions to current issues through a festive event.

ThinkYoung in collaboration with Thinkingpot launched the event based on the last experience of the Yeppies.

 

With the support of the Officine Grandi Riparazioni, the Turin museum created in a former train factory, and the CUS Torino, the universitary gym which provided the accommodation, youngsters made an appointment at the beginning of the summer holidays, from the 7th to the 11th of July, 2011. It has been organized for Happy Birthday Italy in three sessions.

Among the workshops, the participants had the opportunity to talk about youth opinion, the Franco-Italian Relation, Kosovo, team spirit, legality, the role of social journalism, agriculture, law and the sustainable development.

 

These workshops have been prepared by professionals or even the youngsters themselves. Several student associations were involved in the organization such as the European Law Student Association (ELSA), the Association Internationale des Etudiants en Sciences Economiques et Commerciales (AIESEC) or the Erasmus Student Network (ESN).

The atmosphere of the whole event was both serious and easy-going.

 

The enthusiasm of the stakeholders and the participants was palpable.

A lot of new ideas emerged and together they tried to find solutions to the different issues discussed.

The perspective of meeting a lot of young people from throughout Europe was a big motivation for the participants to join in Turin.

With this unique human experience, all the participants left with the pleasure to have met a group of diverse European people and even beyond. We had the pleasure to welcome people from Russia, India and China for example.

 

All these elements mixed together made HBI a huge success.

As one of our participants said, “Looking forward to the next event! I had a fantastic time in Turin”.

 

Some have already expressed their desire for the event to be organized next year in another city next. Maastricht? To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Maastricht treaty. Rome? To celebrate the 55th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome.

 

European history conceals a lot of important dates and with this comes the chance to celebrate and allow young Europeans to meet and discuss the future of Europe.

 

The fate of Europe is in our hands.

Let’s link young European citizens together for a brighter future.

 

Have a look at the pictures here.