Semester One:
The travel into Milano was smooth and easy. This enabled me to arrive at my new home for the next 10 months, one hour early. Unfortunately, my landlord wasn't answering her phone and I found that my arrangements had been passed onto a different lady instead, who let me in through the gate and into the building. As I walked into the courtyard, I noticed what I imagined would be my flat, 5 floors up. The flat looked inviting and of a modern Italian build style. I was thankful for a lift so I took it up to the fifth floor and guessed that the only open flat door in front of me was in fact for me; I was right. The overall flat felt a bit outdated, but, it was evident Teresa (the housekeeper who let me in) took good care of it and made the effort that the landlord seemingly didn’t.
I spent the next day working out the best way to use public transport to get into the University, only one short metro ride from Inganni (my home metro stop) to Cadorna, then a short walk, took me to the main campus of the University. Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, known as Cattolica. Slightly set back from the main road the building in front of me was outstanding and resembled its description of an old monastery. All the buildings Cattolica owned are exceptionally detailed and have strong religious influences. This was especially so for the main entrance, which had statues of many religious people of importance set high into the brickwork. This was my first time attending any private educational institution and what played on my mind was my less-than-positive perception of this type of education. Nevertheless, I felt that now was my best opportunity to experience this, away from the divide in people between public and state education in England. The University environment was one of the main draws for me. The old monastery section was split into four quadrangles, each with a beautiful garden and one long corridor that snaked its way around all four, connecting them together. Lecture rooms split off around the corridor and exits allowed for places like the library and the cafe to also be interconnected along the sides.
The phrase I've heard, “Don’t leave the organization to the Italians” rang true over the next few months. I learnt this the hard way when I found out that the journalism course I’d intended to study at Cattolica was only taught in Italian and, furthermore, there were no other media-related courses at all taught at the University. It took me a few days to come to terms with my new situation: at this university you must sort everything out yourself and chase up everything, if you want it to work out. I’d already been given a heads up about this by a student who had studied there last year, but it was a difficult challenge to work with. The student support system was seemingly there more to support the overall processes of the university than individual students. This cultural difference, however, allowed me to practise working in a more independent environment which would be an important skill for any career pathway.
Having to now take courses not related to Journalism, my home course, I found it incredibly difficult, because I didn’t have the basic knowledge required for: ‘Social Network Theory’, ‘Graduate Coding’ (which transpired to be a postgraduate course) and an economics course, ‘Business Government and the Global Economy’. To deal with this predicament, I spoke to Coventry University on the phone. They were very supportive, suggesting that I dropped the first two courses, to focus on learning economics as fast as I could for the economics course and on passing my International course. They also offered a free online Italian course (I had looked into Italian courses at Cattolica but they cost 400 Euros) which I could now fit in. This course really helped consolidate what I knew from the self-teach app ‘Duolingo’, audio language programmes and just living in Italy, and especially built on my grammatical knowledge.
An unexpected challenge to me was the practicality of studying. At Coventry, the library is open 24/7 and it is easy, and works well, for me to study at night. In Italy, the library closes at 8 pm, ruining my normal study plan. Adapting to study during the day was a new challenge for me. In the end, I decided my best option was to study straight after class with my friends; the initiative of seeing them study and the espresso we would have before (learning the Italian coffee culture) made me focus more and psychologically made me feel as though I had to study. This worked well and a lot of the time I managed to get more done.
Across Milano there were also many free public libraries that I could use. Also, although they closed at 8pm, I adapted to this and was able to take in not only their beauty, but also the atmosphere of a silent library. Many had high shelves of ancient books and interesting designs painted along the artistically designed brickwork and large open staircases leading to more rooms. The cafe culture in Italy was a nice change to library working. After finding a cafe I Iiked to work in (Cafe Carducci close to the University), I spent a lot of time there. I got to know the staff on a first name basis, they gave me discounts and I saw them most days. Knowing them in this way, they spoke only in Italian to me, which helped me practice and learn. I started to a make a list of the contrasts between UK and Italian culture which I called ‘Things Italians Do’. (This list was added to over the entire time I was in Italy and can be found HERE).
When I came across a deal to get to Venice and back for 9.99 Euros, I had to take it. At the time, I had not taken into consideration that 9.99 is maybe too cheap and what that might mean. I was going to find out though. The bus time was set for 3 am, to get to Venice for 8 am. Due to metro times and other factors, my friend Hanna (who joined me) and I arrived at the station at midnight. Then we sat in the shelter for 3h waiting for the bus. That wait, however, became a 5h wait as the bus was ‘running slightly late by two hours'. When it eventually arrived, the journey was long and long and long. I am still yet to work out whether Hanna and I were very lucky or very unlucky, that when we arrived, most of the centre of Venice was flooded with the water, up to our knees in places. This resulted in a very wet, but by no means wasted trip. Wading through the water to find different parts of the city, hidden areas and flooded streets was such an amazing experience that highlighted the effects of climate change and I really don’t think I will ever come across again. Two days later the city fully flooded, and several people died. It's probably best we went when we did.
Revising for an exam is difficult in any situation. However, the economics exam was the hardest I have ever revised for. On the other hand, I did find the subject increasingly fun and interesting. I’ve always had an interest in the subject, but never felt I had the maths skills to fully understand the graphs and tables. Doing it at this time, older and with a better understanding of how it worked, I felt a lot more engaged and focused hard on how to calculate the numbers into graphs and which formulas to use where. This, along with an improved ability to research and revise the content from my Journalism course, made revision easier. I revised with my course friends and went into the exam feeling confident, but with enough nerves to drive me into a good psychological state for working. In all honesty, the exam system was the most relaxed I have ever been in. The professor sat at the front on his phone and a fair few of the class just wrote from their notes, which was completely alien to me and many of the Germans I had been revising with, as we are used to formal and strict exams. I passed the exam with a 1st. Feeling accomplished from this made me feel confident for the second semester.
