Type of housing: Apartment/House

Arranged by: Host university

If returning, I would choose: Apartment/House

Why? I would have preferred to have lived in the centre of the city because it was very difficult to go out on my own in the evenings; what with being a woman in Italy. Also the flats in town are more convenient when you have 6 hour breaks between lectures.

Personal comments:
Most of it is very very ancient!!!! There is the story of a ceiling falling in on a 12th century apartment...My own personal accomodation was a bit of a concrete block and by March it was infested by ants and massive bugs of an indescribable nature??? Sharing a room was quite trying and it meant coming to terms with not being able to have one's own space...which can encourage you to climb the walls.

Describe host city: Students equally interact with the local and student community

Activities, Nightlife, Travel: Takes place mostly outside the university/student environment

Personal comments:
It depends on whether you fancy ERASMUS student nights or the all hallowed "Locals" nights. Personally after the first three months I lost my will to be a stranger among the locals and I opted for the safe haven of the other Northern European students. "jam" is where the crowd head to on a Saturday night. The Golem cafe is good for unwinding the morning after and for cosy little meetings on cold winter evenings. The Giardini Margherita has a nice little cafe and is where everyone heads to "fare la passegiata" on a Sunday. I personally enjoy the walk up to the monastery of San Luca and then having a beer in the restaurant at the top (I would only advise this for the most active of you-there's a challenge!!). There is "Soleluna" the cheesy (fake) beach disco bar and if you fancy a real cheesy disco bar head down to Rimini (apparently the new Ibiza-I never saw much evidence of this???). Also make the most of the fact that Bologna is the central rail terminal and go anywhere you feel like!!!

Course recommendations:
The level doesn't seem to change regardless of whether it's a 1st year or a third year course (or an 8th year??). The lecturers treat you like a piece of dung if they ever notice you at all and there seemed to be a great deal of animosity towards English speakers (especially non-American ones who don't pay huge amounts of money for support). Don't rely on the teaching staff to help you in any way and it is nigh on impossible to find anyone who can assist you with any academic questions you may have...in my opinion give up on trying to learn anything (you won't- maybe the meaning of the word bureaucracy) and have some serious fun!!!

Personal comments:
It would be nice if they could actually take the trouble to assign you to a supervisor who might actually know something about your course area or the differences between courses and assessment methods in your native country. Oral exams are normal in Italy and most British students are used to a written culture, some assistance would have been good to help us with the transition.

Language of instruction: Italian

Main source of funding:
An ERASMUS grant

Other sources of funding:
Government assistance

Work opportunities:
I worked during my study abroad experience

Personal spending habits:
This is Italy baby!!! You have to shop!!! and the opportunity to travel is just too tempting...and it doesn't always come cheaply. But food is cheap and good and wine and booze in general is sooo cheap it could become easy to be an alcoholic...

Travel, Nightlife, Overall: was more expensive than at home.

Telephone: was the same price as at home.

Food, Housing: was less expensive than at home.

I wish I had known...
Don't go on your own!!! I did and despite the fact that you meet a lot of people...these other people have often come in huge groups and they know who their friends are and they don't seem to have much room for loan stragglers. I went from having an amazing social life and loads of friends at my home university to being a bit of a castaway in Bologna. I now know that it wasn't my fault because the emails kept coming from home and as soon as I got back I was able to make friends again and be normal?? Also be aware that without a pile of money it is very hard to maintain the social life required to be a member of the "In-Crowd" in Bologna, it seems to attract the rich, useless crowd???

In my opinion:
Most people loved it.