It’s time for Emmanuelle Mourareau to get in the picture! Emmanuelle is in dialogue with us in the context of her interesting project: ‚L’Esprit de Rome‘. We will report on her project in more details shortly. Check out her answers to our questionnaire ‚Faces behind Alumni Europae‘:
Which European School are you from?
I’m from the European School of Uccle (Brussels I).
Which apprenticeship or studies did you decide to do after school?
I studied law in Paris.
What is your feeling when you hear many languages around you?
I feel nostalgic! When I arrived in Paris for my studies, I experienced a significant sound impoverishment. All these languages heard since childhood at school suddenly disappeared. It was sad.
How do you respond to the career tip "stay as you are“?
I can only approve. However, when you don’t fit the mold, it takes a lot of strength of character to stay true to yourself. The world is not kind to “outsiders”.
Are you rather "everybody's darling" or "a person with clear ideas and their own profile"? Why?
Rather the second one… the privilege of age, no doubt?!
“Europe” - which is the first thought that comes to mind?
The Spirit of Rome: peace above everything! A great achievement.
What was the most important “lesson learnt” from your time at a European School?
An opening to the world and to others through the experience of cultural and linguistic diversity in particular.
Do you think it was an advantage to grow up and learn at a European School?
It was a privilege! I feel rich with an extraordinary experience.
Your favourite painter?
God there are so many… Let's just say that one of my last great pictorial emotions was the Zao Wou-Ki exhibition at the Musée d'Art moderne de la ville de Paris late 2018.
Your strategy when it comes to turbulences?
Get into battle order.
Your favourite composer?
As for painters, there are so many. Nevertheless, a CD that I have listened to more than a thousand times is Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No2 by Sviatoslav Richter. Profoundly beautiful.
Which person do you most admire (alive or deceased)?
Hum… Charlie Chaplin…
Preferred quote, aphorism?
“Shadow lives only in light”, Jules Renard.
Your recommendation for the next generation for personal and professional development?
I 'm sorry, I have no advice or recommendation to make. If not, perhaps, to remain faithful to oneself.
If you were to write a book - what would be its title? What would be its story?
The Spirit of Rome… It would be the story of the women and the men who defied the obstacles to make Europe. Women and men who managed to work side by side, driven by the imperative for peace at all cost so that “never again” could happen.
Would you prefer a “good lunch in a lousy hotel” or a “lousy lunch in a good hotel”?
A good lunch in a… good hotel!
Appreciation - is this important, and why?
For there to be appreciation, it is necessary that there be exchange, debate, in short, the very meaning of enriching social and professional relationships.
Reliability - is this important, and why?
What can you accomplish when you can't rely on others or vice versa? It's like walking on quicksand..
If you could spend 1 Mil Euros for a project - which one would it be?
Unfortunately, I don’t have 1 Mil Euros. In fact, I am looking for a few hundred thousand euros for a project that is very close to my heart...
Do you have some book recommendations?
The last book that excited me was the Council of Egypt by Leonardo Sciascia. Under the guise of a historical novel, this committed work of 1963 is a plea against the abuse of power by the powerful, against privileges, torture and the death penalty. It is also the incredible and comic story of a chaplain who falsifies a biography of the prophet into a political text. In the end, he literally invents a story and makes a literary work of sorts.