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Voices from Abroad: Gherardo Liguori

, by by Gherardo Liguori and Patrick Marre' - edited by Jenna Walker
Combined Bachelor and Master of Science in Law

Barcelona (Spain), THEMIS, ESADE

The very first question someone could be interested in is: how can the THEMIS program be valued, what is its value especially compared to the broad range of other exchange programs?

Two students speaking at moot
Patrick and Gherardo at the Moot Court

First of all, values lies in its high focus on Europe: a huge part of what we studied at our host university was concerned with EU law. This is certainly the legal field of the future and already takes a big share in all of our legal systems. Getting a good idea of EU law now makes a lot of sense and will certainly be helpful in the future, because it is not really a "foreign" legal system. The connection of European law students as one of the main goals of THEMIS is probably its biggest strength. After the stay abroad the returning student will find different groups and networks that are trying to keep this connection alive.

Another big value of the THEMIS program is the seminar, which is usually be held at the end of March and which brings together all THEMIS participants in one place. This is a very interesting gathering, where you will get to know a lot of people in a very short time, learn about all kinds of different fields of international law and have a very challenging but rewarding Moot Court session with people who just met but are still on the same page.

As regards Gherardo, during his experience in Barcelona he also come up with the idea of collecting information with pros & cons of all of his past experiences and all of those of other students in a blog he called www.AcademicInsight.it, which reached over 80,000 views in a few months. He was even featured in story on ViaSarfatti.it. Indeed, the THEMIS program encourages you to broaden your perspectives and to share as much information and experiences as possible with all of your classmates!

To sum it up: no one should be put off by THEMIS being more difficult to apply for and the extra mile you have to go is actually fun, rewarding and might give you a benefit in your professional life.

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