Semester Abroad in Italy at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano – Bachelor's Degree in Communication Design (BA)

Why did you want to do a semester abroad?

I decided in favour of Bolzano for two reasons. Firstly, I knew that I wouldn't be able to learn a new language well enough to pick up everything at university. As the university in Bolzano is trilingual (German, Italian and English), this was a great solution for me. The other reason was that I had visited Bolzano and the university before and found the city and the landscape very beautiful and I could well imagine spending a year there.

How did you prepare yourself?

In preparation for my stay abroad, I started an online Italian course so that I could still communicate in Italian, even though in the end it turned out that German and English were completely sufficient because so much German is spoken in Bolzano. I booked my train from Bolzano to Berlin about a month before I arrived.

How did the flat-hunting go?

Finding a flat wasn't that easy. I searched for a relatively long time on WG-Gesucht, but unfortunately only got rejections. In the end, I found a room about a month before I arrived. It was relatively expensive (600.00 Euro), but that's not unusual for Bolzano.

What was it like to study at the partner university?

At UniBz there are some introductory events for all students, but also only for the Design students doing an exchange. At the Faculty of Design, all students actually have one project per semester, which consists of three modules and takes up three days a week. At the beginning, I was worried that I wouldn't be able to keep up linguistically, as one module is also held in Italian - normally. But as we were four Erasmus students in our project, everything was actually in English. I was very lucky with my project because I not only got on very well with the students and was very involved in the project, but also with the professors. I felt that I was in very good hands and I am convinced by the concept of project work. As you spend three days a week with the people from the project, you get to know them very well and I made really close friends.

What was the cost of living like? What leisure and sports activities did you take part in?

The cost of living is generally cheaper than in Germany, especially if you do typical Italian shopping. In Bolzano there are several markets every week where you can buy fresh fruit and vegetables. I didn't take part in any sports or leisure activities at the university. My everyday life mainly consisted of meeting up with friends and walking around the city drinking coffee or sitting on the valley meadows and going for a swim. It's also really close to the mountains and you can go hiking or skiing in winter at any time.

Conclusion and tips

I am really more than happy with my stay abroad and would never have dreamed that it would be so great and that I would meet so many great people and develop such close friendships. That's why I decided to extend my stay in Bolzano by a semester so that I could also experience autumn and winter in northern Italy. I'm glad that I was able to integrate so well into social life and I'm already looking forward to seeing everyone again. I can only warmly recommend Bolzano, not only is the landscape beautiful, but the people are also very open to new people. As it is a small town, everyone really knows each other and you always bump into familiar faces in the city. In addition to the social aspect, I am also very impressed by the university and the projects. The semester has shown me once again that I have chosen the right specialisation for me and that I am in the right place here.