Semester Two
I moved back to Milano on the 11th January. Although my courses didn’t start till February, I still wanted to productively use this time. I spend the first few days finalising my course choices. Because no one had communicated when the University started back again, I presumed that, with the International curriculum starting in February and first quarter exams still going on till February too, that the second semester would also start in February. Unfortunately this was miscommunicated as it had started back one week ago. That was a challenge for me now as I could not do the good Economics courses I wanted to do. (For context, I take Journalism in Coventry, but when I arrived at Cattolica they had not told me before I moved that their only Journalism course was taught only in Italian. This left me only non-media related courses to choose from.) However, there were many other options available and I spent time looking through them and creating a study plan so when it got to the start of the courses I knew exactly what my timetable was. Within studying, my handwriting has been a challenge for me as I get stressed writing quickly as my hand sweats a lot. This has been an issue in exams. To counter this, I like to plan ahead and making this study plan now in advance, I knew would help counter this challenge, thus allowing me to focus on the courses.
Right before the start of the new term I took a trip to Germany - Berlin to meet a friend. On my way into Berlin City, two girls who had been on my flight walked down into the train station with me, and from overhearing their conversation on the flight I knew they were Italian, and (It’s rude I know, but it helps me learn to listen in on Italians conversation's to try and learn how people speak, the local lingo and how to form sentences). I spoke to them, asking if I was taking the right train and they understood. I felt proud that I was able to put in practice what I had been working on so much. Many people had told me that Berlin is a very industrial city. Indeed, I found this too, outdated buildings and factories haunted much of the outer city with the river Spree running through the west side of the city, snaking through into the centre. While at a street market, I was looking through the old photos, objects and other bits and pieces on sale, when I came across a letter. All I initially saw on it was the Nazi stamp and from there I knew I had to get it. Paying the two euros, it was mine. The letter turned out to be what I have now guessed must be a letter from a Nazi soldier to his wife from 1943. The letter folded out with several paragraphs written in German on the inside. The image of it be can be seen HERE (Scroll to the bottom of the Images page.)
In Italy especially within Universities, studying is based on a lot of ‘do it yourself’ so for me to come into that system and ask for help on what to do has led to much confusion many times. I was expected to find and sort my courses and any problems I had with them myself. The International Office is there for general guidance. This was a difficult challenge for me to overcome, as I never understood really what was happening or what I had to do to solve the problems I faced. On a few occasions, the office seemed more frustrated with me for trying to solve it and failing than focused on giving me the possible solutions. I have learnt from this that I can be more laid back and not stress so much if I had a problem. Perhaps from my personality and the British culture of sorting problems quickly, I always tried to sort out my problems as soon as I got them. Being here, I realised over time that this just doesn’t happen. Many times, I would chase up emails and stress the Office, when in fact it was easier just to wait a while and eventually the problem would be sorted. It helped to have a wide range of international friends as well. This allowed me to learn about so many other cultures and better understand the Italian culture from this. I went on many trips with my friends and the Erasmus Office at Cattolica offered lots of trips to help get to know other people. The integration weekend in January was one of the best. From this, I built many lasting friendships with others around the world which is amazing for personal life and for careers. Hanna who I went to Venice with in the first Semester is from Lebanon, while my flatmates now are Andres from Colombia and Rossina from Peru. While meeting and communicating with people from all over the world can be challenging, it is so valuable, and having the opportunity for an Erasmus experience is so important, especially with such an interconnected society.
It was one of my hopes to see a concert in Milan. While scrolling through my social media feeds on the 14th February I saw Milky Chance was set to play in Milan the next day. From working on my Italian, I was easily able to book tickets through the Italian website. This made me feel proud, as I had been working hard on learning to speak better and living in a foreign country it can be hard to always find the opportunity to practice what you learn. I have found that Italians can be difficult to speak to, because if they don’t understand your Italian pronunciation, they will ignore you a lot of the time. But then, switching to English, they won’t speak to you either, as they feel you should speak Italian. For me, this is negative as I feel my hard work isn’t paying off. However, here I could understand and write what I needed to, to book the tickets. This left me feeling accomplished that I had got over the challenge.
I have thought through all the surprises I have experienced while being out here. I'm writing this now in early April, with May and June yet to come. I can't yet know what is going to happen. When the Coronavirus initially hit Italy, I don't think anyone predicted how bad the situation would get. Now there is a global Pandemic and Italy is currently standing second in the world for cases. (Though I think Spain will make us third soon.) This situation, this moment in time, will always remain for me, the biggest: surprise, challenge, problem and experience I could ever have imagined for my Erasmus Year. Although the virus has managed to bring my movement around the city to a halt, I still wanted to make the most of my time here and document what was happening. In early March, I reached out to some contacts I have in the media. From local radio to the Chief Editor of BBC East Midlands Today, asking if they needed interviews in regard to the current Coronavirus situation in Italy, all my contacts replied and said they did. From here I went on to do: six interviews with BBC Radio Leicester, including live interviews and creating an audio diary for them. Five interviews with BBC East Midlands Today over Skype; and one interview for the local radio station Fosse 107. Being able to do this and setting it up helped a great deal for my journalism experience and confidence in a live, real life setting that can't be gained any other way. I also felt as though I was contributing to my own future by building on my contacts and creating new ones, while making the most of the exceptional circumstances I was faced with at that time by using my skills and situation to help others.
Although it has brought Italy and most certainly Northern Italy, and the Lombardy Region much suffering, the hope brought by the people living here and shown to the world was and still stands as, the highlight of my entire time here. 1h shopping queues and unrest in the city are worrying. Not to mention military patrols on the street and overrun, overworked and underfunded hospitals. But when the time was dire, the people came together. Flags waved and songs sung; the country will pull through. Andrà tutto bene. I have many images and videos of this time period that I wanted to share. There's too many for the blog and it's not all relevant enough for my writing, so I have put them on their own page to share remember them. You can find this by checking out the 'MORE' tab.
