Experience report: Danielle van der Linden - Milan
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Danielle van der Linden
vanderlinden_danielle93@hotmail.com
Organization Studies
Fall 2015
2015-2016
Bocconi University
Italy
I GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL
I lived in Milan for four months and I lived in an apartment in the center of the city with
two other Dutch students. I lived between the neighborhood ‘Navigli’ and the shopping
center around the Duomo. ‘Navigli’, ‘the shopping center around Duomo’ and ‘Brera’
are the most famous neighborhoods in Milan. Navigli is known for the canals, the nice
atmosphere and the good places for food and cocktails. It is always crowded in Navigli!
The shopping center around Duomo is known for the huge amount of stores, especially
the multinationals like H&M, Zara and Mango. Brera is known for the expensive stores
and restaurants, rooftops, designer places and models, it is the most decadent place in
Milan. Bocconi is located close to Navigli, which is my favorite neighborhood. Bocconi
is located at one place in the center, so you don’t have to travel to change of lectures.
The university consists of a couple of buildings, some are very modern and others are
a bit more old-dated. To be honest, the campus of Bocconi wasn’t that beautiful. But
the atmosphere was always good! The best place to go for drinks is Panini Durini, which
is located at the corner. The best way for lunch is also on that corner, there is a family
company what is a butcher. They make fresh sandwiches with the cheese, prosciutto
and salad you prefer. The best way for sport is absolutely park Symphione. It is the
biggest park of the city where you can run as much as you want. There are always a lot
of people running in the park. It is a nice park and in the summer there are many people
picnicking or doing drinks on the grass. I want to warn you for some traditions in Milan
and Bocconi.
1. You should not climb on the Duomo, because the traditions is saying that you
are only able to climb on the Duomo when you are graduated. Therefore, I didn’t
do it and I’m going back to Milan when I’m graduated.
2. In the head building of Bocconi, there are two lions at the side of the doors.
Don’t walk between them! You are only able to walk between the lions when
you are graduated. Even if there is a line and you are late for your lecture, don’t
walk between them. Because they say that when you walk between the lion’s
there will dominate a curse on you. ‘That you’re never going to graduate’.
The biggest difference between my University in Tilburg and Bocconi is that the
students of Bocconi are more motivated than the students in Tilburg. That is probably
because of the high amount of money they have to pay to study on Bocconi. Bocconi is
a private University, which costs 13.000 euros a year. Therefore there are a lot of
students with rich parents. Also that is a difference compared to Tilburg. Almost
everyone is working with an Apple Macbook and they wear expensive clothes. Bocconi
is one of the best Universities in Europe, especially in Management and Finance.
II PRACTICAL INFORMATION
I received all the information early. Therefore, I didn’t experience difficulties in the
beginning of my exchange. The arrival was organized in two weeks. We had a kind of
‘introduction week’ in which we had a lot of parties and activities organized by I*ESN.
Beside of that, almost everyone attended the Italian language course. So we had
everyday a lecture from 09.30-12.30 o clock. That was quite hard to combine with the
parties which we had every day. We had a welcome conference in a huge space on
Bocconi, where all Exchange students in that semester were. There were almost 900
Exchange students during my exchange studying on Bocconi. Unfortunately, I didn’t
meet them all.
I found my own accommodation in Milan, already 6 months before I left on exchange.
It is an apartment in the center of the city which we shared with 3 students, it was 15
minutes walk to Bocconi. The costs were 1.750 euros a month, so each around 600
euros a month. I do not recommend the University Accomodation, because the stories
of that students were very bad. They lived around 45 minutes from Bocconi, they are
more expensive than searching for your own accommodation and the rules are very
strict. For example: you’re not able to receive visitors. My friends from Holland visited
me and in total I had 3 weekends of friends visiting me in Milan. That wasn’t possible
if I lived in the University Accomodation. Therefore, I should strongly recommend you
to search for your own accommodation. You can use the different Facebook groups for
searching for an apartment, but you have to pay attention on fake advertisers. It is also
a good idea to go a bit earlier to Milan and stay in a hostel, so you have time to search
for an apartment at the location. Maybe you will make some friends there and search
together for an accommodation.
My Exchange was very expensive. Milan is an expensive city. I spend 600 euros a
month for my apartment. Beside of that, I went for dinner almost always to a place in
Navigli. The supermarkets are also very expensive, so it didn’t even matter that much
if you went to a restaurant or a supermarket for cooking for yourself. The clubs are
super expensive. You have to pay entrance (between 10 – 20 euros) and you receive
one drink for it, after that all the drinks are 10 euros. I think I spend the most money on
going out for dinner and drinks.
The money I spended in Milan:
- Food: 15/20 euros a day  max 600 a month
 Transport: 22.50 a month (public transport abonnement, everything is included)
 Books: 200 euros in the beginning, I didn’t’ bought them all.
 Miscellaneous: trips  100 euro a trip. I did 5 trips so 500 euros.
I arrived on the 24th of August, we started with the crash course for the Italian language
course. Beside of that, we had an introduction week. We were introduced to all the
fancy clubs in Milan in the first week with a reduction in price for the entrance and
drinks. In the end of October, we had a mid-term break. I had just one midterm, so not
every course has a midterm. The examination period was at the end of our exchange,
the second week of December. After the exams, I stayed one week more to say goodbye
to everyone I met in Milan.
Bocconi has an international office. They helped us really well, therefore I didn’t
experience difficulties during my exchange in Milan. I didn’t take part to activities to
promote Tilburg University, because there were no activities organization for doing
that. I told many positive stories to my friends on exchange about Tilburg University
and ofcourse Tilburg as a student city.
In Milan were many social activities organized by I*ESN for exchange students.
Especially in the beginning, they were useful to meet other exchange students. I
participated a couple of times at the ESN activities, but most of the times I preferred to
go out with the friends I already made. I had contact with local students. One of my
best friends during my exchange is Caterina, she lives close to Milan with her parents.
After my exchange, we have already seen each other two times. Once in Helsinki and
once in Amsterdam. In the beginning I had many Dutch friends, but at a certain moment
I decided to make international friends as well. Because that was one of my reasons
why I wanted to go on exchange. Especially in the beginning, it feels very comfortable
to hang out with students from the same country. Because they speak the same language
and have the same culture. I made a couple of trips during my exchange. I went three
times to Como (a lake in the neighborhood of Milan), foxtown (in Switzerland), Venice,
Turin, Cinque Terre and Bergamo. There is one city still standing on my bucket list:
Rome!
I didn’t experience a culture shock in Milan. It is also a European Country, so I think
that it is not that different than the Netherlands. Especially in Milan, I was shocked
about the difference between the poor and rich people. The difference is big and there
are many people living on the street in Milan. I learned that the Dutch culture is a bit
more social, in the sentence that we take care of each other. In Milan, you can count on
your family. They have a heavy family culture, what is typical Italian. I expected the
family culture, but I didn’t expect so many poor people. When you get friends with the
Italian people, they are very friendly and invite you for dinner. But when you are not a
friend, they are very sanguineous. I didn’t experience language problems with other
students, they were all able to speak English very well. Almost all the people in Milan
speak English, otherwise I tried to speak Italian. Because I learned it in the Italian (crash
and follow-up) course. I passed them both and we gave a presentation in Italian.
Due to my exchange to Milan, I see opportunities in almost everything I’m doing. I
want to get everything out of the things that I’m doing! I met many international people
with all different backgrounds, we were on exchange with the same purpose: to meet a
lot of awesome people all over the world, experience the Italian culture and make fun
as much as possible. Beside of that, I’m more interested in other cultures and places in
the world. It feels very good that I have friends all over the world and I want to maintain
and expand that. I think that my exchange will influence my career possibilities in a
positive way, because it is an extra and very special experience what was one of the
best things for my development during my student time. The most important lesson
during my exchange is to do the things in life that are important for me and set priorities.
There are too many things to sum up if you ask me what I will never forget about my
exchange period, but I will sum up the most important memories:
- Step in a car with girls (Italian, Greek, Chinese) I just knew for a couple of days
and drive to Switzerland for an AWESOME day. We went for a view to a
famous lake and one of the most famous shopping centers in Switzerland.
- With the same girls doing a group assignment for the course statistics (still don’t
know why I followed that course on my exchange), but we finished it with the
highest grade of all groups! 29/30. The stress moments together, hamburgers
and deserved beers are one of my favorite memories.
-
Celebrating my birthday on our balcony with the Dutch group after two weeks
being in Milan.
- Running the half marathon in the mountains! (I’m never going to do that again)
- All the parties! Especially in Gattopardo, which is the fanciest club in Milan
(my opinion). It is an old church and the atmosphere is amazing.
- In the last week of my exchange standing in a club and realizing that I almost
know everyone! Compared with the beginning, I didn’t know anyone in the
club. In the end, I had a feeling that I knew everyone.
- All the people who visited me in Milan! Therefore, I didn’t forget that my life
in Tilburg is also awesome! My parents visited me together with their Italian
friends, my sister visited me, my roommates from my student house in Tilburg
visited me, my friends from my sorority.
- For more party recommendations, you should go to this clubs:
 Monday: dirty Mondays (Rock ‘n roll party)
 Tuesday: Just Cavalli or Gattopardo
 Wednesday: Old Fashioned
 Thursday: the CLUB
 Friday: Gattopardo
 Saturday: le Banque
For the best cocktails: go to Trattoria Toscane and order a Japanese Ice Tea.
III ACADEMIC INFORMATION
The courses I attended were offered in English. I took the following courses:
- Technology and Innovation management. Because I didn’t follow a course of
innovation AND technology before, it was very interesting.
- Leadership skills: because the description was interesting. I should not
recommend it, because it was very easy and I didn’t find a challenge in that
course.
- Strategic management in small and medium enterprises: because I wanted to
know a bit more about strategic management.
- Statistics: because I wasn’t that good in statistics and I think that it is very
valuable in my study.
I should recommend: technology and innovation management and statistics.
The academic level of Bocconi was quite the same as Tilburg University. Actually, it
depends a lot on the courses you take. Because the exchange courses were easier than
the courses that are mandatory for their own students. Academic writing isn’t that good
at Bocconi. The style is primarily theoretical, but they combined it with case groups in
which you participate during the lectures. The relationship between students and the
teaching staff is depends on the course and the teacher. In general, they were very
friendly to students. But there is a distinction between students and teacher of course. I
am happy and satisfied with the academic level during my exchange, I found my
challenge in the statistics and technology & innovation management courses. I had one
oral exam and three writing exams. It was easy to get access to the library. But there
were not enough spots during exams for all students. Therefore, many students were
not able to study in the library during their exams. Everyone studied on their laptop,
which means that there were not that much computers available on the campus. They
were also very old.
Description of Courses
1. Strategic Management (30293)
Undergraduate level
6 ECTS
Written exam and group cases in class
Easy – theoretical – no enrolment problems
2. Applications for Economics, Management and Finance (30050)
Undergraduate level
7 ECTS
Written exam and midterm and group assignment
Difficult – theoretical – no enrolment problems
3. Leadership skills (30262)
Undergraduate level
6 ECTS
Group assignment and three small exams in class
Easy – theoretical – no enrolment problems
4. Technology and innovation management (30154)
Undergraduate level
6 ECTS
Written exam and group cases in class
Difficult – theoretical – no enrolment problems
I can recommend an exchange period! In my opinion, it is one of the best experiences
you can get during your student time. I think that it doesn’t matter that much where you
are going. If you are open for it, you will make new friends on every destination on
earth. I should recommend Bocconi. The academic level is higher than other
Universities abroad. Beside of that, Milan is an international city due to the fashion
industry and there are 5 Universities located in Milan. Therefore, there are many
international students.
The international office can share my e-mail address with other students, if they want
to have more information about my exchange in Milan.