Thread by @MadeleinaKay

1/ This year, I had the privilege of travelling the EU28 thanks to a #DemocracyNeedsImagination grant from @ECF_tweets & my generous crowdfunders who believe #TheFutureisEurope 💙🇪🇺
Find below my love letter to Europe: The UK is turning its back on our greatest relationship 🇬🇧💔

2/ Dear Austria,
I got sunburnt sitting on the bank of the Danube River sketching the Slovak boats entering the city.
I met a friendly fellow Artist at the Karlskirche where we watched a gymnast in the fountain - we follow each other on Insta now 🇦🇹💙🇪🇺
crowdfunder.co.uk/eusupergirltou…

3/ Dear Belgium,
I have been to Brussels more times this year than I can remember: Always a delight to see my wonderful friends who live & work in the city: Playing Bubble Darts with @happeningo at the James Joyce where I got to perform this year 🇧🇪💙🇪🇺
crowdfunder.co.uk/eusupergirltou…

4/ Dear Bulgaria,
I met a 16 year old lad on the train to Sofia who had travelled 8 hours to visit a girl (who he had met on Facebook) only to be turned down. He said to me "Your sketches are all of buildings: But it's the people that make Europe." 🇧🇬💙🇪🇺
crowdfunder.co.uk/eusupergirltou…

5/ Dear Croatia,
I met a pair of fellow inter-Railers who had seen me sketching in Ljubljana & recognised my blue hair.
I stumbled into a summer night street party & found the stunning St.Mark's Church after a FB follower insisted I had to see it 🇭🇷💙🇪🇺
crowdfunder.co.uk/eusupergirltou…

6/ Dear Cyprus,
Island of the Cats: where the kitties crowd around the dinner tables in the street and beg for food from the tourists - only too obliged. 😺🐈
I saw a fellow traveller sketching on the beach remembered I wasn't alone 🇨🇾💙🇪🇺
crowdfunder.co.uk/eusupergirltou…

7/ Dear Prague,
I got to perform at an event in the Old Town organised by the wonderful people @PulseofEuropeCZ.
Walking across Charles Bridge the next day in a #StopBrexit hoodie (by @DemarcationDSGN), an English man yelled "BREXIIIIIIT" at me. 🙄
🇨🇿💙🇪🇺
crowdfunder.co.uk/eusupergirltou…

8/ Dear Denmark,
A group of young girls eating pizza sat next to me & said something in Danish. I apologised: I didn't understand, they replied in English "You draw beautifully".
Also: extremely impressed by the quality of the public toilets 👌🚾
🇩🇰💙🇪🇺
crowdfunder.co.uk/eusupergirltou…

9/ Dear Estonia,
I took the ferry from Helsinki to Tallinn: a beautiful, quirky city with such a rich history. I sketched one of the heritage buildings being restored thanks to funding from the EU.
🇪🇪💙🇪🇺
crowdfunder.co.uk/eusupergirltou…

10/ Dear Finland,
There was a boat decorated in flowers outside my hotel on the harbour with a sign on the door: "99% sure I am a pirate". 🏴‍☠️🛥️
It was nearly impossible to find an ATM so I could buy some tourist tat from the market stalls.
🇫🇮💙🇪🇺
crowdfunder.co.uk/eusupergirltou…

11/ Dear France,
I was reunited with my guitar after leaving it with @JEF_Europe in Rome during their bus tour of Europe before the #EUelections.
A nice guy called Yann came to the event & gave me a comic book he had created about #EUsupergirl 🇪🇺🦸‍♀️
🇫🇷💙🇪🇺
crowdfunder.co.uk/eusupergirltou…

@JEF_Europe 12/ Dear Germany,
Berlin: my Darling city - because I have so many wonderful memories at events with @SchwarzkopfStfg @zeitonline @z2xfest. I was privileged to perform for @PulseofEurope in Berlin & Frankfurt, @Chris_Pyak in Dusseldorf 🇩🇪💙🇪🇺
crowdfunder.co.uk/eusupergirltou…

@JEF_Europe @SchwarzkopfStfg @zeitonline @z2xfest @PulseofEurope @chris_pyak 13/ Dear Greece,
Athens: a city of stunning views, amazing graffiti & free-roaming cats (& tortoises!)😺🐢
I had an issue with street harassment here (a problem everywhere) but the local newspaper were supportive & wrote an article to call it out 🇬🇷💙🇪🇺
crowdfunder.co.uk/eusupergirltou…

@JEF_Europe @SchwarzkopfStfg @zeitonline @z2xfest @PulseofEurope @chris_pyak 14/ Dear Hungary,
I only had 1 night in Budapest but it was a stunningly beautiful night looking across the Danube.
I had to waste some of my precious time here searching for a new suitcase after a wheel came off mine travelling from Zagreb.
🇭🇺💙🇪🇺
crowdfunder.co.uk/eusupergirltou…

@JEF_Europe @SchwarzkopfStfg @zeitonline @z2xfest @PulseofEurope @chris_pyak 15/Dear Ireland,
A delight every time I visit Dublin - Irish people are so friendly but very concerned about the impacts of #Brexit on Ireland. A hotel receptionist joked he was "getting popcorn to watch the next instalment in the UK's soap opera"🤦‍♀️
🇮🇪💙🇪🇺
crowdfunder.co.uk/eusupergirltou…

@JEF_Europe @SchwarzkopfStfg @zeitonline @z2xfest @PulseofEurope @chris_pyak 16/ Dear Italy,
I love your coffee but it is too small & strong ☕️
I travelled to Ventotene where Altiero Spinelli was incarcerated by the facist regime to film a documentary for RAI - the manifesto for a united EU was conceived in the island prison
🇮🇹💙🇪🇺
crowdfunder.co.uk/eusupergirltou…

@JEF_Europe @SchwarzkopfStfg @zeitonline @z2xfest @PulseofEurope @chris_pyak 17/ Dear Latvia,
I visited Europe House in Riga & left some #24ReasonstoRemain posters - I was tweeted later by someone who had picked one up😊
I filmed a video about the 1st Xmas tree fight with Estonia & it's being used in a documentary 🎄
🇱🇻💙🇪🇺
crowdfunder.co.uk/eusupergirltou…

@JEF_Europe @SchwarzkopfStfg @zeitonline @z2xfest @PulseofEurope @chris_pyak 18/ Dear Lithuania,
The 1st thing I saw in Vilnius was the magical egg which @Sazmeister missed when she visited.
A man chased me down a street - then confessed to being a "Norway style" Brexiter & hating what is happening in the UK 🤔
🇱🇹💙🇪🇺
crowdfunder.co.uk/eusupergirltou…

@JEF_Europe @SchwarzkopfStfg @zeitonline @z2xfest @PulseofEurope @chris_pyak @Sazmeister 19/ Dear Luxembourg,
I'm sorry I still haven't arranged to perform @pulseofEurope event in Luxembourg - we keep discussing it but it hasn't happened yet.
An insta follower sent me a photo of the train station on xmas day - I sent back my painting😊
🇱🇺💙🇪🇺
crowdfunder.co.uk/eusupergirltou…

@JEF_Europe @SchwarzkopfStfg @zeitonline @z2xfest @PulseofEurope @chris_pyak @Sazmeister 20/ Dear Malta,
Where the rocks look confusingly like @MaltesersUK but the name is apparently a co-incidence 🤷‍♀️
My favourite things in Valetta were Cat Island & Duck village where "all animals live in harmony" (without eating each other!) 😹🦆
🇲🇹💙🇪🇺
crowdfunder.co.uk/eusupergirltou…

@JEF_Europe @SchwarzkopfStfg @zeitonline @z2xfest @PulseofEurope @chris_pyak @Sazmeister @MaltesersUK 21/ Dear the Netherlands,
This year I visited: Den Helder ⚓️ Texel 🐑 & Amsterdam (twice) it was always very cold weather - but the Dutch people are heart warming. 🔥💗
A nice man brought me tea & cookies when I was sat sketching outside his house🍪
🇳🇱💙🇪🇺
crowdfunder.co.uk/eusupergirltou…

@JEF_Europe @SchwarzkopfStfg @zeitonline @z2xfest @PulseofEurope @chris_pyak @Sazmeister @MaltesersUK 22/ Dear Poland,
I visited twice before: to speak at the Schuman Foundation in Warsaw & perform at Open'er Festival in Gdansk. This was the 1st time I got to see the beautiful Old Town which was rebuilt after being destroyed by Nazis during the War
🇵🇱💙🇪🇺
crowdfunder.co.uk/eusupergirltou…

@JEF_Europe @SchwarzkopfStfg @zeitonline @z2xfest @PulseofEurope @chris_pyak @Sazmeister @MaltesersUK 23/ Dear Portugal,
Lisbon is stunning, full of street art & the trams are adorable. Your cobbled street stones are awfully slippy though!👟
My Uber driver chatted enthusiastically about how he loves Ricky Gervais & how stupid he thinks #Brexit is 🙄
🇵🇹💙🇪🇺
crowdfunder.co.uk/eusupergirltou…

@JEF_Europe @SchwarzkopfStfg @zeitonline @z2xfest @PulseofEurope @chris_pyak @Sazmeister @MaltesersUK 24/ Dear Romania,
I stayed in Timisoara en route from Budapest. Some of my followers alerted me to an anti-corruption protest in Bucharest the day that I visited: I found the pro EU activists who loved the #BollockstoBrexit stickers.
🇷🇴💙🇪🇺
crowdfunder.co.uk/eusupergirltou…

@JEF_Europe @SchwarzkopfStfg @zeitonline @z2xfest @PulseofEurope @chris_pyak @Sazmeister @MaltesersUK 25/ Dear Slovakia,
I only made a quick day trip to your capital city, Bratislava only 1 hour away from Vienna by boat or train.
On the way back a lad travelling from Uruguay recognised me: Apparently they think #Brexit is stupid in S.America too 🤦‍♀️
🇸🇰💙🇪🇺
crowdfunder.co.uk/eusupergirltou…

@JEF_Europe @SchwarzkopfStfg @zeitonline @z2xfest @PulseofEurope @chris_pyak @Sazmeister @MaltesersUK 26/ Dear Slovenia,
The sun shone down on the city & the "Tree-Top Library" in Tivoli Park where children were looking out of the Fish Monument lake🌳📕
The Old Town Centre was full of American tourists - but they liked my sketches 😊
🇸🇮💙🇪🇺
crowdfunder.co.uk/eusupergirltou…

@JEF_Europe @SchwarzkopfStfg @zeitonline @z2xfest @PulseofEurope @chris_pyak @Sazmeister @MaltesersUK 27/Dear Spain,
I flew to Barcelona to join the amazing campaigners @Suewilson91 @ElenaInLimbo who have been fighting tirelessly for their rights @BremainInSpain event 🇪🇺✊
In Madrid I saw loads of cute pups & kitties at an "me adoptas?" festival🐶😺
🇪🇸💙🇪🇺
crowdfunder.co.uk/eusupergirltou…

@JEF_Europe @SchwarzkopfStfg @zeitonline @z2xfest @PulseofEurope @chris_pyak @Sazmeister @MaltesersUK @Suewilson91 @ElenaInLimbo @BremainInSpain 28/ Dear Sweden,
I had less than 24 hours in Stockholm after lightning hit the rail network & my train from Copenhagen was delayed by 7 hours. The train manager kept us entertained with her sarcastic comments "We'll have lots of time to chat now"🤦‍♀️
🇸🇪💙🇪🇺
crowdfunder.co.uk/eusupergirltou…

@JEF_Europe @SchwarzkopfStfg @zeitonline @z2xfest @PulseofEurope @chris_pyak @Sazmeister @MaltesersUK @Suewilson91 @ElenaInLimbo @BremainInSpain 29/ Dear UK,
These are my paintings & sketches from N.Ireland, Scotland & England (sorry I didn't visit Wales!): together we are a united country but #Brexit threatens to break us apart just as it divided us from our European friends💔🇬🇧
We know not what we do. 😰
#StopBrexit

@JEF_Europe @SchwarzkopfStfg @zeitonline @z2xfest @PulseofEurope @chris_pyak @Sazmeister @MaltesersUK @Suewilson91 @ElenaInLimbo @BremainInSpain 30/ Dear @TimmermansEU @EU_Commission
It breaks the hearts of many proudly European Brits that we are leaving you: Many people will never understand what you have done to improve our lives: But I hope 1 day we will come back to you #TheFutureisEurope💙🇪🇺
bbc.co.uk/news/world-eur…

@JEF_Europe @SchwarzkopfStfg @zeitonline @z2xfest @PulseofEurope @chris_pyak @Sazmeister @MaltesersUK @Suewilson91 @ElenaInLimbo @BremainInSpain @TimmermansEU @EU_Commission 31/ Please keep fighting in our absence to make Europe a stronger, fairer, safer, fairer place for all its citizens 🇪🇺
#ThefutureisEurope and it's a future worth fighting for - no matter the odds stacked against us 🇬🇧💙🇪🇺✊