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A year full of sun, pizza and self-development.
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For me, Erasmus was the first time I moved out of my parents' house and lived alone abroad. I didn't think much about my choice - when I found out that one of my friends from the year above went to Sapienza in Rome, I did everything to secure myself a spot there. It was the biggest city on my list, and as I am from Warsaw, I wanted to spend my Erasmus in another capital city.
I didn't expect to fall in love with Italy that hard. My initial plan was to spend one semester abroad, but this time flew by in the blink of an eye. Besides Rome, I discovered nearby cities with friends and joined many ESN trips, but it was not enough. Encouraged by other Erasmus people, I decided to prolong my stay, and that's how I ended up spending 10 months in the Eternal City. Throughout this time, I had a chance to discover Italian culture, as I had the pleasure to live with two Italian boys in the second semester, the beauty of the whole country due to many travels in all the regions, and the exceptional Italian cuisine that never gets boring. For me, this period was also very developmental, as I experienced many things for the first time: finding an apartment and living without my family, adapting to a new culture and university system, and even experiencing my first broken heart.
All these experiences shaped me into the person I am today, and I couldn't be more thankful for this opportunity. When I came back to Poland, I redefined the word "home" in my dictionary, as I left a big part of my soul there. Although almost 2 years have passed since I finished my adventure in Rome, I'm still in contact with my 2 flatmates, whom I consider lifelong friends, and with other Erasmus friends that I met along the way!
I didn't expect to fall in love with Italy that hard. My initial plan was to spend one semester abroad, but this time flew by in the blink of an eye. Besides Rome, I discovered nearby cities with friends and joined many ESN trips, but it was not enough. Encouraged by other Erasmus people, I decided to prolong my stay, and that's how I ended up spending 10 months in the Eternal City. Throughout this time, I had a chance to discover Italian culture, as I had the pleasure to live with two Italian boys in the second semester, the beauty of the whole country due to many travels in all the regions, and the exceptional Italian cuisine that never gets boring. For me, this period was also very developmental, as I experienced many things for the first time: finding an apartment and living without my family, adapting to a new culture and university system, and even experiencing my first broken heart.
All these experiences shaped me into the person I am today, and I couldn't be more thankful for this opportunity. When I came back to Poland, I redefined the word "home" in my dictionary, as I left a big part of my soul there. Although almost 2 years have passed since I finished my adventure in Rome, I'm still in contact with my 2 flatmates, whom I consider lifelong friends, and with other Erasmus friends that I met along the way!
Additional testimonial
For me, the biggest shock was getting used to the Italian university system, as I found it very different from the Polish one. Classes in Italy were much longer compared to those in Poland, and there was no division between lectures and laboratory classes, as we do in Poland. Moreover, many of the final exams were oral, which was never the case at my home university, so as you can imagine, the exam session was a very stressful period. One thing I really liked was that professors treated students like adults, definitely more than in Poland. In my country, a lot of classes have mandatory attendance, while in Italy, you could decide if you wanted to participate in classes or read materials at home (with a slightly different final exam).