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Higher education

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Original poster

Semester abroad Italy cancelled

29 replies

bevelino · 12/03/2020 22:02

DD’s semester in Italy looks to be all but over after just 6 weeks, but she is not concerned about herself and is thinking about how Coronavirus is affecting Italy. Luckily she was able to leave Bologna for home before the lockdown, but obviously will need to go back at some point because all her belongings are in her apartment. Dd is applying for jobs locally, is studying and fairly upbeat.

What do I do about the 6 month rental contract in Italy, do I keep paying because after all it is not the landlord’s fault the whole country is inaccessible?

OP posts:
Needmoresleep · 13/03/2020 16:36

Presumably she signed a contract and so is obliged to pay. Could you contact him and ask whether she could surrender the contract now for an agreed fee. (2 months rent perhaps?) And ask if storage can be arranged for her things.

Original poster
bevelino · 14/03/2020 09:06

Thank you Need. Dd has found out that her insurance will cover the rent for the duration of the lockdown. Once the country is open again we will go and collect her belongings. In the meantime dd has found herself a job to keep busy.

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BubblesBuddy · 14/03/2020 09:15

I have been wondering about all the Erasmus students at the Universities in Northern Italy. It must be a total disaster for everyone. What are the British universities doing about how they grads the year? How and when can it be completed? DD loved Bologna but found Italy and Italians somewhat chaotic. She’s not surprised the virus spread so quickly there.

BubblesBuddy · 14/03/2020 09:16

Sorry: grade the year. DD had to complete the Italian courses I believe.

Original poster
bevelino · 14/03/2020 09:26

Dd has no idea how her year abroad will be graded. Dd had problems in Chile due to the civil uprising and her university in Santiago was closed 2 months after she arrived. Now Italy is in lockdown after just 6 weeks.

Dd has found an Italian tutor locally and her university in the U.K. have sent the students work to do.

Dd has friends from the U.K. who remained in Italy and are now regretting it.

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GrouchoMrx · 14/03/2020 10:24

bevelino,

Universities have contingency plans in place for this scenario. Many universities have already had to deal with this issue for exchange students who went to Hong Kong in semester one who had to leave HK half-way through the semester as the universities went into shutdown in the middle of November.

Universities across the world closed this week and students are returning en masse. For example, Harvard made the decision to close last Tuesday. What seemed a major headache before Christmas is now but a drop in the ocean.

All universities here are now actively making plans to shutdown next week. If the government does not make the decision, the universities will be forced to do so as they have a duty of care towards their staff and students.

BubblesBuddy · 15/03/2020 08:50

Not a great year, bevelino! Could and should have been wonderful. What a shame. I think tutors are not the same as learning in your host country.

DD wasn’t surprised about northern Italy though. She thinks Italians are not used to listening to advice and taking it. It’s all a bit chaotic there apparently.

Needmoresleep · 15/03/2020 09:54

Brevelino, my experience, and I once had the sort of job which involved picking up languages quickly, was that radio is your friend. Find an Italian station you like, a music station perhaps, and have it on in the background as much as possible. (TuneIn radio is the app. And perhaps identify a local station from where the language is spoken with most clarity. Northern Germany, French Switzerland etc.) Slowly your brain starts to decode and it becomes less of an effort. My test of fluency was being able to have the radio on in the car. In Germany I had to be north of Luneberg, before I could listen without needing to concentrate.

The magazines. I would skim read magazines I found interesting, Cambio16, Stern, Paris Match, and then pick on a couple of short articles which I would try to decode completely- grammar and vocabulary. (High brow was often too hard and low brow too slangy.) Children's TV was also good at the beginning...Sesamstrasse! And news programmes as the vocabulary only changes slightly from day to day. Also finding a box set to binge watch. Or perhaps make a list of classic Italian films and work your way through.

It can end up being quite a work out for your brain. But if it leaves you feeling tired, it also means that language is going in. Part of the trick then is to balance with exercise so your body is equally tired.

But a real shame. Part of the joy is when you make your first real non English speaking friend, or are just included rather than being seen as the foreigner. With that mirror on your own Englishness and culture that comes with it.

Seventyone72seventy3 · 15/03/2020 09:57

She thinks Italians are not used to listening to advice and taking it. It’s all a bit chaotic there apparently.
I think that has changed in the last few weeks. Everyone is following the rules now!

The university hasn't actually closed you know - the lessons are now online. Which faculty was she at? She can follow the lessons from wherever she is.

Original poster
bevelino · 15/03/2020 16:09

@Seventyone72seventy3, dd is participating in some online lectures, but it is a bit chaotic and the lectures are not always announced. Dd is philosophical and at least she’ll have plenty to talk a in interviews.

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Original poster
bevelino · 15/03/2020 16:10

I meant to say plenty to talk about in interviews.

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simbobs · 15/03/2020 16:36

Hope it's OK to join in here. Is your DD doing the semester as part of a language degree? My DD is doing a work placement at a private language school in France as part of hers. She left a week ago and started work on Weds, the day before they announced that schools were closing. All I have heard from her is that she is fine. She is independent and uncommunicative unless we are together, so I have no idea what the situation is on the ground. If she gets stuck there she has work to complete from the German part of her year, but it won't be the experience we were hoping for.

Original poster
bevelino · 15/03/2020 20:04

@simbobs my dd is currently on her year abroad as part of her modern languages degree.

I hope your dd is ok.

My dd is starting a job in retail tomorrow and hoping that the U.K. will not be locked down any time soon.

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simbobs · 15/03/2020 20:32

@bevelino do you know how uni deals with a placement not completed through no fault of the student?

Sunndowne · 15/03/2020 20:45

feel for you all bevelino- dissapointing. My DD is set to go to Europe in July! Hmmm.

Yes , saw that Chile problem. My DD did fancy Argentina and then decide dshe's do a LA tour at end . But now thinks she'll do tha tpost degree. Has a year placement and corona may slow things up all around!

Hope your DC is okay simbobs.

surely unis will be understanding back home. Unprecedented times.

Sunndowne · 15/03/2020 20:46

gosh. sorry about all the typos- was rushing!

BubblesBuddy · 15/03/2020 22:24

They will have to decide what they will do about replacing or lifting the requirements placed on the students when at the universities abroad. My DD had to take the exams for her courses at both universities. As students cannot now take exams at the universities, what now? Also the research and writing about a topic in relation to a country visited will be somewhat curtailed for the second country. Of course students in one country have a truncated experience too.

Of course studying abroad isn’t solely about gaining the language skills. It’s immersion in the culture and learning how somewhere ticks.

Bologna uni was never organised! It’s Italian!

simbobs · 15/03/2020 22:30

My DD is doing 3 languages and is on the 3rd part now. She has done different things in each place but is working in France, or at least was supposed to. No idea how this will end.

Seventyone72seventy3 · 16/03/2020 06:45

Bologna uni was never organised! It’s Italian!
Hey! Not everyone at Bologna uni is disorganized. Wink

bruffin · 16/03/2020 06:50

Dd is in Belgium on erasmus doing placement in a hospital. Her uni have offered to pay for her to come home early. She is due to come home on Saturday. She was supposed to be doing a presentation before that. The hospital hadn't given her any guidance but I think her hours will be short but are willing to sign her off , so she is coming home tomorrow or Wednesday.

bruffin · 16/03/2020 07:57

Dd booked to come home tomorrow now

GrouchoMrx · 16/03/2020 08:20

DD loved Bologna but found Italy and Italians somewhat chaotic. She’s not surprised the virus spread so quickly there.

The UK is two-weeks behind Italy on the curve. Italy was taking a lot more measures two weeks ago that the UK are taking today. The rate of increase of deaths is much higher here in the UK.

The UK may well look back at Italy as models of organisation.

GrouchoMrx · 16/03/2020 08:51

two weeks not two-weeks Blush

BubblesBuddy · 16/03/2020 08:56

My DDs point was that she didn’t expect Italians followed advice. They have a sceptical view of government and a dislike of being told what to do.

No, of course everyone in Bologna isn’t disorganised. However, as DD had transferred from a university in Switzerland to Bologna, the differences were stark. Bologna was disorganised. Room changes, lecturers not turning up, exam timetable confusion, and lots more. As an organised person, she found it annoying. Before her experience she believed she could live in Italy. After 5 months there she knew she simply couldn’t. Great places to see as a traveller and she loved that side to the experience but the university could be better! Sadly. It’s the best in Italy though.

simbobs · 16/03/2020 08:57

My DD being sent home from France due to lock down. 😞. She had such a good placement there she is really upset.

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