Rewarding Experience in Bologna, Italy Past Review
By Julia V (Anthropology., Wellesley College) for
Eastern College Consortium (ECCO): Bologna - Università di Bologna Study Abroad Program
I became a more independent person and am learning how to travel. I enjoyed italy and seeing every aspect of it and I think a year is a the right amount.
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 1 month - 6 months |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
The workload was not a lot in comparison to Wellesley's and the grading system was different. They grade on a scale of 19-30 and anything under a 19 is failing which was difficult to figure out sometimes. I also thought it was interesting that most of the students in my University of Bologna class did not attend class and just went to take the exam whenever they felt like it, which gave the class a different feel than at Wellesley. Overall, I would say I had a pretty good experience and learned how to navigate the system for this upcoming semester. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
The directors were here to help us. i think that sometimes they could be a little more helpful with academic information and how to navigate the University courses and which are appropriate for us and maybe how to pick them. The program size was around 30 this past semester and I am not sure if it was a little large because it made it easier to hang out with Americans and speak english a lot more than I should have. |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
Living with Italian students in apartment-style dorms was nice and better than living with just Americans but I also think that maybe the program could look at other options to such as homestays similar to the Holy Cross Program or having us find apartments like the Indiana Program in Bologna because what happens to us when we are put in the apartment-style dorms is that the Italian students do not always like having us. It is a lot more work for them to help us learn italian and hard for us to communicate but with the other two options, a host family understands what they are getting and finding an apartment with other italian students in this university town allows you to pick people you think you would live well together with and the people pick and want to live with you as well. But I think it is important to be living in a situation with ONLY italians in order to learn the language. |
| * Food: |
I would recommend cooking for yourself to save money and use it to travel! |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
The Lecce Program had a lot of field trips which was nice and the ones that we have had from Bologna were good too, but maybe the program could help us/advertise more clubs or activities we can become involved in with Italian University students. |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
It is safe. I never felt not safe and I havent had any health problems. |
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
Yes
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Finances
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* Money: How easily were you able to live on a student's budget?
(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost) |
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| Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? | less than the 13 euros a day they gave us as a food stipend. |
| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | I would recommend spending wisely so that you can save money for travel. |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
| How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? | Beginner |
| What was the highest level language course you had completed prior to departure? | All of my classes were in Italian. |
| If applicable, to what degree did your living situation aid your language acquisition? |
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| Language acquisition improvement? |
They did an excellent job with this part of the program. We are fully integrated into the italian language and culture where italian is spoken in the program offices, in all classes and at home since we live with other University of Bologna students. |
Other Program Information
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* Where did you live?
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* Who did you live with?
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* Who did you take classes with?
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A Look Back
| * What did you like most about the program? |
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| * What could be improved? |
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| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | I would definitely consider this program. It has so many great aspects to it like the complete immersion into the Italian Language. I think students who are looking for a program that is completely in italian should definitely consider this program. |
