"Cultural activities are a great way to make new friends, to help you really enjoy your university years.” Giuseppe Mangiaracina, a LUISS student in his last year of a master’s degree in International Relations, took part in three of the workshops offered by LUISS: Theater, Ceramics and Art and the Environment.
"Initially, I chose activities such as manual labor and green issues. As for the theater, I was just curious." Each of these experiences gave him something both practical and emotional that will remain with him for a long time. "The theater helps you overcome mental blocks and shyness: getting on stage means improving self-awareness and the quality of your relationships with others,” says Giuseppe. With regard to manual activities, however, he praises the possibility of learning to resolve certain problems more effectively: "The workshop teaches the importance of order: how to acquire a set of tools, choose them and share them with others."
If the pottery workshop allowed him “to carve out a unique and liberating moment of creativity," the Art and the Environment workshop increased his innate sensitivity to ecological issues. "To be able to get in touch with your creative side is really fun," says Giuseppe, "it helps you broaden your interests and views, and maybe even discover an unknown passion." In addition, "the practical help given by these activities lasts for the long term and is part of what are called soft skills in the business world."
One of his fondest memories was the presentation of various projects carried out in the workshop in front of children from an elementary school: "it was the moment that impressed me the most and that I felt was the most wonderful of all of the experiences I had. To see the new, future generation before you gives you a fuller sense of the work you have done in five years of university and it makes you feel more responsible."