Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.

My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds.

As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices.

What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars,

poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples.

If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds.

Welcome to the Witness History Podcast on the BBC World Service with me

Rachel Naylor. Today I'm going to take you back 35 years to the birth of the

Erasmus scheme which allows European students to attend universities

across the continent. More than 10 million students have taken part in the

program and I've been speaking to the woman who invented it as well as one of the

first students to take part.

It's September 1987, an Italian economic student,

Lucio Pichy has swapped Bologna for Brighton.

After a tiring train journey via Paris, he arrives on the south coast of England and is shown to his

room in a big shared apartment. Immediately he feels at home.

I remember from my window I could see cows.

There were many cows around.

So it was like very bucolic view and I liked it a lot. You know you could walk on campus it was green many trees.

It was a perfect situation you know we were treated quite well.

Lucho was looking for adventure and the new Erasmus scheme seemed the ideal way to get it.

Imagine studying in Europe with sun, sand and surf after classes.

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