Semester abroad Italy cancelled

[bevelino]

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?

Simbobs, I hope she gets home safely. It sounds chaotic.

My experience with Italians is that they tend to be very cautious when it comes to health, particularly in the context of their children or older members of the family. We Brits are positively laissez faire in comparison. My understanding is that our delay in instituting much more restrictive measures, is in part because we are a couple of weeks behind in epidemiology terms, but also because behaviourists are concerned about how long Brits would comply before complacency sets in, so want to keep extreme measures for when they are really needed.

Actually, I agree with that sentiment. The media are hounding the government to implement stricter measures but since when were we an obedient nation?

Life expectancy in Italy is 83.1 years whereas life expectancy here in the UK is 80.9 years.

Italy's healthcare system is superior and Italians take health advice more seriously.

The Mediterranean diet has long been considered superior and an aid to longer life. It certainly isn’t all about health care. There are a number of factors that influence life expectancy. Self care and diet being one of them. Anyway we shall see what happens.