Giorgia Cossu: storia di un successo costruito sull'Erasmus

Friday, 31 July 2020

She sounds like a very confident person Giorgia, with that warm voice and convincing way of speaking, but she hasn't always been like that. 'I was shy but Erasmus changed me'. Giorgia Cossu has a nice job in the marketing sector of the Google empire, in Athens. But her origins are rooted in Sassari, the city where she was born 25 years ago and where she attended university.

Calling her a Sassarese, however, is an understatement: she feels a little Spanish from Huelva, a little Greek from Athens, a little Romanian from Bucharest, a pinch of Argentinian from Cordoba. All the places where this UNISS alumna studied and worked thanks to the international mobility opportunities offered by the University of Sassari.

'During my five-year university career, I enjoyed five mobility stays abroad: in my first experience, I lived in the insecurity of the typical island dweller who saw the sea surrounding Sardinia as a protection from all that lies beyond; today I see this sea as a limit that divides me from a world full of opportunities and wonders, which I cannot wait to explore.'

These are the words Giorgia Cossu wrote at the end of her Master's thesis in Business Economics, a milestone reached in December last year and not at all a foregone conclusion. Yes, because the first step in her university career was a three-year humanities degree in Cultural Tourism Science obtained in 2016. She at that time was not satisfied with the way she was learning English solely from books. "That's why I decided to take advantage of Erasmus, although taking that step and leaving really wasn't easy." Those who have been there know: in the beginning there is a great fear of the unknown, the fear of travelling alone in a country other than your own, and having to solve all the problems yourself. "But if you get over this initial block, then everything changes: you find confidence in your own means and from that moment on you are sure you can manage anywhere. In various corners of the world that can become home, with friendships on five continents that last a lifetime and take on the contours of an extended family. The first spoils, however, are languages: Giorgia has learnt three, English, Spanish and Greek.

2015: Erasmus for study in Huelva (Spagna)

"In Huelva I lived with non-Italian roommates, so I learnt Spanish. One of them was Argentinian and we became like sisters. At the same time, I was duoing in English with Dimitri, a Greek boy who later became my boyfriend. I had to study a lot to take my exams. It's not true that during the Erasmus mobility you don't study, TANSTAAFL'. Giorgia stayed in Andalusia for six months, then came back to Sassari and graduated with a thesis entitled 'The influence of Andalusian Spanish on the Latin American Spanish' (supervisor Dr Sara Chessa, co-supervisors Dr Maria Isabel Espinosa Arronte and Prof. Fiorenzo Toso).

2016: post-lauream Erasmus Traineeship in Athens

Stop here? Not even talking about it: the benevolent virus of curiosity and knowledge is now spreading and Giorgia has to continue studying. "After graduation, I decided to do a three-month postgraduate traineeship in Athens, once more under the Erasmus Programme. I worked for a tour operator offering active tourism packages. So, I stayed until December 2017 to work at Canon".

2018: Enrolling for the master's degree in Sassari and Erasmus+ in Bucharest

The experience gained in various companies prompted Giorgia to continue studying, putting herself to the test with a Master's degree in Business Economics, again at the University of Sassari: 'After a three-year study programme in Humanities, the subjects were hard to grasp. I realised that I needed to fill in my gaps'. But not even this time was Giorgia satisfied, and in September 2018 she left Sassari for the University of Bucharest where she managed to integrate her missing knowledge thanks to a study programme based on practice rather than theory. She returns to Sassari after five months: she is only three exams away from graduating.

2019: Ulusse in Argentina and Master's Degree

"I started working on a thesis on the Business Model of socially-oriented companies and cooperatives operating in tourism, together with my supervisor, Professor Ludovico Marinò, and co-rapporteur Nicoletta Fadda,' Giorgia continues, 'but I decided to write part of the thesis abroad. This time her shoulders are broad enough to allow her a further exit from the comfort zone: thanks to the Ulisse Programme, which is also possible thanks to the thick network of international activities developed by the University of Sassari, Giorgia goes to Cordoba in Argentina, where her inseparable friend Celeste, whom she met in Spain and never forgot, lives. 'In South America I worked in tourism again, collaborating with a travel agency and a tour operator. At the end of the internship, job opportunities opened up, but I returned to Sassari to get my degree'. Right after graduating - on 12 December 2019 - Giorgia is flying again in early 2020.

2020: post-lauream Erasmus Traineeship in Athens and recruited by Google

The new year starts with a traineeship at the Italian-Greek Chamber of Commerce in Athens, where Giorgia works to facilitate import-export relations between Italian and Greek companies. But then Covid gets in the way, so the internship is extended several times and then interrupted. In the end, Giorgia goes back to Sardinia in May, at the height of the pandemic, taking advantage of the possibility of return offered to Italian Erasmus students by the International Relations Office of the University of Sassari. But soon afterwards she left for Athens where a job at Google, which began in early July, awaited her.

"I don't rule out going back to Sardinia one day and maybe creating something of my own, but now I need to learn more, to be travelling to have opportunities that I wouldn't have otherwise. I am grateful to the University of Sassari, which has allowed me to study and work while travelling the world, changing the course of my life'.

The University of Sassari offers a great number of international mobility grants, but then it is up to the individual to seize the opportunities. Giorgia Cossu had the merit of understanding their value, always believing in them, without fear.