Università Degli Studi di Perugia

Finding out these things is all part of the experience!

You make your own fun! It takes the more inventive ones among us to have a really good time out here. Perugia is small, and does get monotenous after a year, but this is Italy, and this place is pretty big and modernised as far as it's smaller cities go. The beauty of it is that there are enough things to do without having to trip over tourists every day, and people here still speak Italian to you. as you will notice, especially if you are British like me, when you go to places like Rome, Florence, Verona etc that the locals are more exposed to foreigners and so it is a mission to ever get to practise your Italian!

This is pretty much pot luck, the best advice that I can offer is to speak to any Italian student friends, or the boys at the Erasmus meeting point (they organise trips, and social events for the international students, aswell as helping you out with any queries if they can!), and ask them about the different courses, and what the teachers are like. Because although I hate to say it, you're mark depends on how much of a swot you are, and how nice the teacher feels like being. The exams are all oral, so therefore are not anonymous, fair and just. It's all exam politics here, giving the right impression, asking lots of questions in class and always sitting at the front to be seen to be attending. For some modules you will be expected to do exactly the same as the other Italian students, and for some you will have to do less than half the workload, though unfortunately for you, or fortunately if you are a lucky person, you will have to take a stab in the dark as much as we did! Just choose something that you think you will be interested in, and that you already have some knowledge about.

Here it is the students that do the chasing. If you need something then ask, and keep asking until you are blue in the face! Be prepared to wait until you can't feel your legs anymore, and never let them put you down, you have just as much of a right to be there and to be seen to as quickly and as efficiently as everyone else- just keep reminding yourself of that!! As I said before, be clever. Know your teachers! and be honest about your ability and what would be a reasonable compromise.

I'd like to live in an apartment shared with other students (as I did when I was in Italy) for the great opportunity to live with people of different countries

That it is so difficoult to communicate in English with Italians

More practice!