POGLED Z DRUGE PERSPEKTIVE I PHARMSPECTIVE
Pogled z druge perspektive Pharmspective Faces from abroad Hello, my name is Leonor and I’m a 24-year-old Portuguese recent-graduate from Lisbon. As a student, I felt that there should be more to my academic experience than just lectures and exams, so I started looking for other activities that would allow me Leonor Pereira to make the most of my 5 years of studies. I found Lisbon, Portugal recent graduate the answer to my problem by learning more about Students’ Associations and, eventually, engaging in them. It all started in my 3rd year, when I attended my first international congress – the 38th European Pharmaceutical Students’ Association (EPSA) Annual Congress, in Toulouse, France. Once I got a glimpse of what it meant to be an active student I couldn’t stop, and it led me to the best 4 years of my student life. I started as a participant in EPSA events, which allowed me to enjoy the “carefree” experience of pushing myself out of my comfort zone and learning from students just like me, while building lifelong friendships with people from different cultures. However, I felt that it wasn’t enough to just be a bystander and I decided to take on a more active role, so I became the Liaison Secretary (LS) from my local association (AEFFUL). Basically, I was the local representative from my faculty in EPSA and served as the bridge between the European association and my fellow students. I enjoyed that mandate so much that I couldn’t just stop being involved, so I stepped-up my game and became the LS & National IMP Coordinator at my national students’ association – APEF. Being part of these two associations also allowed me to be an active member of my student community, by collaborating with my teams in the organisation of educational activities, as well as representing our students’ opinion among
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the major stakeholders in the pharmaceutical field in Portugal. After that, I had the opportunity to join the EPSA Team as Secretary General for the mandate of 2017-18, where I worked in a multicultural team. I could tell you all about the memorable moments I collected throughout these past years, but it would take too much space. Instead, I´ll just point out that this experience has allowed me to travel across 8 countries in 4 years and meet friends from all over Europe, who