My life in the EU

Yesterday I was shocked, sad and angry. Today I am still angry with the people that have voted to leave, but I am mostly sad. I am sad for the 48% of the British population that wanted to remain and I am especially sad for the young people that could not even vote and that will never experience life in the EU.
I was born in the UK and I grew up in Italy in a British/Italian family. I spent most of my summers as a child in the UK.

I studied at a British university and most of my friends were undergraduates, Erasmus* students, PhD students and postdocs from the EU. 

I studied at a French university for a year, as an Erasmus student from a British university, and met lots of lovely people from the EU, including the UK. In France I also met my German husband, by the way.

When I finished my degree I moved to Germany, where I worked and spent my free time with lots of Brits living and working in Germany.

I then moved to London, where I studied and worked with young people from the EU that were living, studying and/or working in the UK.

Now I live in Berlin, which is also the home of thousands of Brits.

My life would not have been the same without the EU. I would not have met most of my friends. I would not have met my husband and I would not have a son that can speak three languages.

I am sorry for the young generation living in England and Wales (Scotland and Northern Ireland may choose a different path) that will not be able to have the same wonderful experiences. They will never know what it meant to be part of the European Union.

*The Erasmus Programme is an EU exchange student programme that has been in existence since the late 1980s. Its purpose is to provide foreign exchange options for students from within the European Union and it involves many of the best universities and seats of learning on the continent.