I always knew Erasmus was going to be mad. But I didn’t quite expect the events of the last few weeks. After the initial stress of moving all my stuff over and realising I had in fact forgotten the last two years of Italian teaching at Bath and was now back to “errr, posso errr avere una *shit what’s the word for stamp* por favour”. Nevertheless I grew some balls, got sorted at uni with an exciting time table of French theatre and Italian journalism and started to really get stuck in. It was when my Italian lecturer added me as a friend on Facebook that I first knew things were going to be a bit different here. Since then we’ve had transport strikes, power cuts, successions of praying Italians chanting down our street and of course have been beeped at walking down the street by anything from policemen to bus drivers.
Kian McCarthy was at Bath University and spent his year abroad in Rome, Italy. Here is his definitive guide to your plan of action when you arrive in Rome for your year abroad; accommodation tips, surviving La Sapienza University and other inimitable advice straight from a student who's been through it all himself.
The city of ancient civilisation that vanquished, conquered and reinvented the way we used to live, Rome is without a shadow of a doubt one of the most breathtaking and awe-inspiring places on earth. Rushed city dwellers whizz about on Vespa scooters, past the great remains of their ancestors' architecture across town, men and women have animated conversations over a cappuccino or glass of fine wine, students clamour together over a tasty lunch, grannies stroll about town, Gucci sunglasses on—Rome can only be described as a mish-mash of style, glamour and charisma.
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