Minas Stravopodis

Position: Author of Sociopolitical Novels - Political Scientist - Founder of CultArt Zone

Year of graduation: 2019

From the age of 15, I had already chosen this specific subject and this specific department. The main reason was one: the breadth of the subject was a great challenge for me. It combined all those topics that I felt concerned me. Being a kid coming from the provinces, I felt that this department was a source of possibilities—and indeed it was. During the lectures, I discovered new worlds that I had never imagined existed until then.

This fact played a catalytic role in the further shaping of my personality. This department, through the knowledge I gained, opened doors for me abroad. I studied at King’s College in London, and I worked at the European Parliament, as well as at universities and research centers abroad.

Whether one ultimately agrees with the nature of a certain job is something different from the value of the experience of studying and working abroad. All these things together have woven and continue to weave my work as an author. One cannot be conceived without the other. One aspect of my writing is the political act that I could not find anywhere and decided to create.

If I couldn’t see the world clearly and in depth—beyond any disorientation—if I didn’t have the ability to stand firmly on my feet and take steps forward, I wouldn’t have been able to get involved in writing. A fundamental reason I can do these things is the Department of International and European Studies, as beyond the knowledge it gave me, and beyond the stepping stone it provided for other important things, it taught me to view critically and questioningly even the very knowledge it offered me. The antidote of our times is critical thinking, and the Department can offer it generously!

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