My Exchange Experience at Bocconi
It always sounds like a dream to live in Milan for half a year, even after I have finished this trip and back to China. To become an exchange student at Bocconi means not only a unique trip to travel across the European cultures, but also a once-in-a- lifetime opportunity to study in one of the best universities in Europe.
First of all, let me introduce something about Bocconi. As a private university, which enjoys a great reputation for its education in economics, finance, business and MBA, Bocconi put emphasis on all-around training of its students. Every student is granted the right to choose his own study plan every semester according to the requirement of the program, and the selective courses will not be bounded by his/her own major.
What’s more, the timetable there is rather flexible. Students can decide the time of attending class, midterm, final exam and so on. For example, the course “investment banking”, the teachers give 2 same classes in the same day, then, the students can switch according to their schedule. For me, what attracts me more is the fact that they invited some guest speakers to make speeches on the most recent cases, say the Hong Kong Disneyland Project. More than half of the lectures are made in this form. I personally believe, with such close interaction with the business field, the graduates from Bocconi would become more knowledgeable and competitive.
According to my own experience, I want to give some tips on studying in Bocconi. It’s better to bring a digital voice recorder together with you, especially for those who want to take the course financial statement analysis, because, sometimes professors would speak with such great speed and almost every point is so important. Another reason is that you surely would not want to miss the chance to discuss with the guest speakers just for taking notes!
Besides the university and courses, I also want to share something about my own experience. My life at Bocconi, should be divided into two parts, study and leisure. Coincidently, all the four courses chosen by me were arranged in Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. After three days full of courses, I have so much time to travel around. Just think about the names of the cities: Roma, Venice, Napoli, Pisa, Munich, Barcelona, Amsterdam! It would be unforgivable to live in Europe for such a long period without visiting these historical cities.
What worth mentioning are the guides provides by “mafengwo” and “qiongyou”, together with the APPs like “baidu traveller” and “maps with me”. With their help, I believe everyone can make an elaborate travelling route. But, there are still some dos and don’ts:
Never forget to book your trains, flights and hostels beforehand; otherwise, you will miss the special discounts.
Sometimes, the popular tourist attractions will require on-line book in advance. So, it’s better to check the spots and download the official guide APP at least one day before your visit. Just imagine this: after queuing up for the Sagrade Familia Cathedral for three hours, you are told that the earliest visit available is 5 o’clock p.m while you have to catch the flight at 4:30! What a pity! This is what happened to me.
Last but not the least, for me, it’s more than fun to stay in a country almost everyone loves football. I can watch SerieA live, go to the fanshops and talk about my beloved club even with the old lady next door! By the way, one of the most interesting experience is, one day, when going into a cafe, one of my friends and I were grieving over the depressing performance of international Milan yesterday, and the ups and downs of the Italian football. However, with a glance of the posters and photos hanging over the counter, we suddenly found that the owner of this café is a super fan of International Milan! So embarrassed we were that we could do nothing but say forza Nerazzurri and run away.
Everything was so amazing there, and I tried to enjoy the life to the fullest. Even after getting back for several weeks, I still will think of the time when I stepped onto the flight, which would bring me to Milan. Hardly could I fall asleep during the 14-hour journey—as long as one knew that one of the best, the most colorful dreams was awaiting him/her, there would be no need to create another one with his/her poor imagination.
—— By Dan Lv, student from 2012 WISE Master's Program
