How many times have we been told that studying is not on par with working and that we will surely one day regret those wonderful years spent doing nothing. Between Easter, Christmas and various family dinners there will always be someone ready to throw the dart of "When do you graduate?" Because in the end, the time and days spent among the cold desks of the university with no heat will have served no purpose other than the attainment of that coveted piece of paper. Piece of paper that, however, for many people will only have its value if obtained in record time, July session, honors and academic kiss! What not everyone sees or pretends not to see, however, is the effort and the sacrifices and the money saved and the anxiety of possibly losing the scholarship and the terror of not finding a home and the lines in the cold to be able to get into the library because it is always full and the miles walked because of a student's ineligible pass.
It is because of the unsaid and the unseen that International Students' Day exists and is celebrated every November 17.
The anniversary owes its origins to October 28, 1939, when Nazi authorities in Czechoslovakia quelled a student demonstration. At that event a student was shot in the head by gunfire, dying on Nov. 11. At the funeral procession, thousands of students turn the event into an anti-Nazi demonstration, leading the authorities to take drastic countermeasures. On November 17 itself, nine students and professors are executed without trial, many are sent to concentration camps, and all institutions of higher education are closed. The decision to declare that date International Students' Day is made in 1941 in London by the International Council of Students. Today's is an anniversary aimed at claiming one's student rights and freedom of expression. In addition, there are many students who take advantage of this day to celebrate the multiculturalism of universities.
In a city like Perugia, which boasts more than 35,000 students enrolled at the university, it is important to make one's voice heard and to try, through these anniversaries, to give voice to the thoughts of students who are always too little heard.