E-mail: l.e.mermans@tilburguniversity.edu
Study program: School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Psychology
Exchange semester: Spring 2015
Academic year: 2014-2015
Country: Italy, Milan
I GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL
Milan is not the most popular holiday/city trip destination but I found it to be an amazing
city. It is not overloaded with tourists, which is a big plus. In Milan you just have to know where to go
in order to see the beauty. One of my favourite places in Milan is Navigli, this is a pretty street
located near a river where a lot of restaurants are located. You can do apertivo here, this is a concept
where you buy a cocktail for €10 and then you can eat all you want. You can do this all around Milan,
but the sphere in this street is awesome. Recently they expanded the river and now there is a new
place where you can take a nice walk or sit at the water. I also really liked Parco Sempione, a really
big park to hang out when the weather is good. Of course Piazza del Duomo is beautiful as well. And
last, Colonne, this is a square where young people meet in the evenings. I also really liked shopping in
Milan. To go out I would recommend to go to Old Fashion, Le banque and Just Cavalli but there are
so many more great places to go out! I think going out in Milan is so much nicer than in the
Netherlands (also more expensive…). The university is located in the south of the first ring, I lived a
15 minute walk away from it. The campus is really new and modern. I really liked the fact that it is
not so big unlike others.
II PRACTICAL INFORMATION
I decided to live with two other Dutch girls from Tilburg University. We only met two times in
advance. We decided to fly together, knowing that I wasn’t going alone made it easier. Saying
goodbye to my family and friends was hard (lots of tears), but soon this was all forgotten. The
company of the other girls really helped me a lot. The administration at Bocconi was really good,
they were well prepared for our arrival and we got all the information we needed. When I emailed
them, the response came within a few hours. There were some mandatory and also a few optional
orientation meetings. I decided to do some of them, but not all. IESN also had introduction meetings,
mostly parties. Those really helped making friends.
My housing couldn’t have been better. I was really lucky because I didn’t have to arrange it
myself, I could live with another girl who knew an earlier habitat of the apartment. The location of
our apartment was amazing. We lived in the extension of one of the biggest shopping streets and
piazza del Duomo, Navilgi was 5 minutes walking, school was 15 minutes walking, a grocery store at
the opposite side of the street and more in the neighbourhood. The owner also really helped us feel
comfortable.
Living in Milan is pretty expensive. Housing is way more expensive than in Tilburg, it costed
€583 a month gas/electricity excluded. That was pretty cheap for Italian standards and the amount of
space we had. Supermarkets are also more expensive than in the Netherlands. On the other hand
going out for dinner is a lot cheaper than in the Netherlands, hence I did this a lot more often so I still
spend a lot of money on food. Going out was a big expense. You mostly pay entrance around
€10/€15 and then you get 1 or 2 drinks for free. Every other drink is around €10. I didn’t spend a lot
of money on transport. I had a Bike Me subscription which costed like €30 for half a year, really
worth it! I walked a lot and I mostly didn’t pay for public transport (if you get caught this would cost
you €37). I didn’t buy any books for my courses. For most courses I didn’t need books. One book I
loaned at the library. Flying to Milan is really inexpensive, from Eindhoven to Milan costed only €18
(luggage excluded). This also makes it easier for family and friends to come and visit you. I financed
everything with the Erasmus grant, the study grant, contribution by my parents and saved money. I
think I spend around €1300 a month, trips included.
I decided to go a few days before the Italian Crash course started, this to accommodate to
the new environment and to take care of some things. The crash course started January 30th, and
took a week. It was hard to go every day because it was 5 hours a day and it started at 9:00 (which is
pretty early after going out almost every day). my courses started February 9th. In between I had one
mid-term. If you didn’t have mid-terms you had vacation for 4,5 weeks. A lot of people, including me,
were travelling during that time. My coursed ended the 7th of May. I had my first two exams on the
18th, and my last one on the 20th (which was early compared to the other students).
I didn’t really promote Tilburg, of course if people asked me where I came from I told them I
was from Tilburg in the Netherlands, but almost no one knew Tilburg… They were mostly interested
in Amsterdam.
At the beginning of our exchange period the school arranged a lot of activities, this became
less later on. This was fine because after a while you already have your friends. I would recommend
to go to IESN activities, those were more helpful. After a few weeks my two roommates and I went
on a trip where we met other exchange students, this became a close group of people from all
around the world. I spend a lot of time with this group and I had an awesome time with them. I
didn’t really had a lot of contact with locals, although they were really nice. I regret not spending
more time with Italians, but I have heard this is often the case. During my exchange I travelled with
this group to the west coast of Italy (Naples, Amalfi etc.). Later on I also visited a friend of mine that
lives in Valencia and I went to Malta with some people from the group.
I didn’t experience culture shock whatsoever, of course there were some days I didn’t feel
good, but nothing serious. What I have learned about the Dutch culture is that we are very open and
direct, Italians are not. Italians told me that a few times, they liked the openness. Italians do not
speak English very well, but I didn’t really have problems with that in the everyday life. I noticed that
also university students speak English really bad. I had to work with a group of Italians. At first I felt
like they just didn’t want to include me in the group work. Later on I found out that they were just
not able to tell wat they meant in English. A big difference is the treatment in stores, they are less
helpful and you cannot return bought stuff like in the Netherlands. This led to a few unpleasant
interactions. The Italian culture is way more focussed on class, the way you look is more important
than in the Netherlands. In advance, I was warned for masculinity in Italy. There were some
differences, but way less than I expected. I have heard from a lot of Italians that this is more the case
in the south of Italy.
I think the exchange made me more open-minded to other cultures, this is because you meet
all those new people and you talk about their countries with them. This helped me understand their
point of view better. But of course there are also a lot of similarities between countries, which makes
you feel more the same. I think companies will appreciate people who went on exchange since this is
a big step. You show them you can handle yourself in another country without your friends and
family. One thing I would change if I could do it all over again is try to get more Italian friends, in
order to learn the language. The most important lesson I have learned is that I can take perfect care
of myself no matter I am, this gave me more self-confidence.
III ACADEMIC INFORMATION
The languages used at Bocconi were Italian and English, I chose to follow only English
courses. I followed the courses: marketing, e-marketing and e-commerce, new products, product
management and sociology. I wanted to follow marketing courses only, but one of the courses was
so horrible that I switched it with sociology. I have to say that I couldn’t really notice the university’s
high ranking al the time. For example if you want to print something, you can only print 10 pages at a
time. Everyone makes fun of the Bocconi application since it crashed every single day. Unfortunately
I had some bad teachers, which didn’t improve the view on the school. From the moment I entered
the class I was not able to listen to them because it was so boring. I think it was just bad luck for me,
a lot of other students had awesome teachers. I also had to do a lot of group work, so much that I
couldn’t start learning for my exams. The exams were a joke, at one of my exams I could talk with my
neighbours. In my opinion the exams were not representative for the courses. At Bocconi they make
a difference between attending and non-attending students. Being an attending student is more
attractive since you only have to learn the slides for the exam. I was an attending student for
marketing, so I learned all the slides. At the exam they were asking me about terms I never heard
before, this confused me. I also had to make calculations I had never done before. It was a complete
disaster and I expected to fail that course. In the end I still got an 18 (which is a 6 in the Dutch
system). I think they just made me pass the course. They are not that hard on exchange students.
They also asked really detailed questions that you don’t consider important.
The library is really nice, although a lot of the time there is not enough space. This also
counts for other public spaces and computers.
Course
Marketing
Prerequisites
None
e-marketing and
e-commerce
New-products
and product
management
Sociology
None
None
None
Exam
Assignments and
written
Assignments and
written
Assignments and
written
ECTS
6
Assignments and
written
6
6
Comments
Bad teacher and
worst exam ever
Detailed exam
6
Midterm, many
assignments,
really good
teachers
I would definitely recommend every student to go on exchange. I consider this the best time
of my life. It is wonderful to learn about other cultures, to make new friends, to live in another
country, to learn about yourself and to just have a lot of fun. I would recommend Bocconi, I know I
was not that positive before but I just think my courses were not the best. I have heard that the
quality of the finance subjects is way better. In the end, I think the school you choose doesn’t even
matter that much. The most important things you learn on exchange are being able to handle
situations in another country and open your mind to all those new people. That is what makes you
different from people who do not have this experience.