TRAVEL REPORT. Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi Fall &

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1 TRAVEL REPORT Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi Fall &

2 1. Preparing for the exchange First contact was made by Bocconi in late April. In-coming exchange students were requested to fill an online application between May 16 th and May 30 th. During this process, we were required to upload the following documents: CV Grade transcript Headshot photo for Bocconi ID card Passport personal data page Registrations for housing and Italian crash course were also done using the same application form. Educational offer for the Fall semester was published in July and at the same time a representative of Bocconi s International Student Desk invited all students to a Bocconi Exchange Facebook group. The actual course selection system opened on August 23 rd and worked quite well despite minor problems caused by heavy traffic. The courses were assigned on a first-come-first-served basis, which meant that you had to act really quickly. This was especially the case if you wanted to register for some of the more popular courses. Fortunately, we were able to get all the courses that we wanted. We paid 80 each for a flight to Milan with a layover in Copenhagen. In case you prefer a direct flight, Finnair is the only choice. Our flight landed to Malpensa Airport, which is very conveniently connected to Milan by a 40-minute train ride. The level of apartment rents in Milan is roughly the same as in Helsinki, or perhaps a little higher. Bocconi offers housing close to the campus but as there were two of us, we decided to look for a private apartment. We had a fairly nice selection available to us because we acted early, and in the beginning of May, we found an apartment through Uniplaces. The apartment cost 800 per month including all bills and was located south of Bocconi in Stadera neighborhood. Transportation to Bocconi took 15 minutes by tram and was extremely convenient. Everything worked out perfectly with the apartment and we can definitely recommend Uniplaces for all future exchange students in Milan or in any other major city in Central/Southern Europe. We would like to emphasize the importance of acting early and securing a nice apartment without all the stress of searching for a last minute apartment solution, which seemed to be the situation for quite a few exchange students. Searching for an apartment once you already are in Milan can really make your first exchange days or weeks much less enjoyable, which is something you should probably avoid, if at all possible.

3 2. Exchange studies The semester kicked off with the optional Italian language crash course on August 26th and the actual Bocconi courses began on September 5 th. Welcome Desk was located at the main entrance hall of Bocconi and it was open between August 25 th and September 5 th. There we were able to sign up for guided campus tours, Milan city tours (fashion themed & normal), San Siro (the football stadium of FC Internazionale and AC Milan) tours and other welcome activities. Every student was required to at least check in at the welcome desk and pick up their student card and welcome kit, consisting of a USB stick, campus map etc. The earliest suggested departure date for exchange students was December 22 nd, i.e. after all the exams (both B.Sc. and M.Sc. level). However, it was possible to leave even before that date after finishing all your exams and that is something that quite a few students did. For degree students, the exam week is in January but there were special exam sessions arranged in December for exchange students in order to let them return home for Christmas. Exchange students were, however, allowed to participate in the January exam sessions as well. And in case you had failed an exam, there was basically no other choice but to retake the exam in January. The Italian language crash course consisted of 40 hours of lessons, divided into 4-5 hour classes from Monday to Saturday. As mentioned previously, the course began a bit over a week before the semester officially started. The course cost 170, which was paid upon registration. In addition, students had to purchase the course book (20 ) and an exercise booklet (5-15 depending on the group). There was also an option to sign up for a follow up course, that lasted for the whole semester. One of us had studied basic level Italian before the exchange but the other had no previous knowledge of the language. The groups were formed based on the students previous knowledge of Italian and we both enrolled on the beginner level crash course. The course was very intense and a nice way to get accustomed to Italy and the Italian language. However, the classes were a bit too long and quite tiring. If students participate in at least 75 % of the classes and pass the final exam, they get a diploma for their achievement. We both decided to drop out because the schedule became too hectic after the first week due to the start of other courses. The most positive aspect of the crash course was getting to know the other exchange students right from the beginning of the semester. A negative aspect was definitely the high price, especially when taking into account the very short duration of the course. However, it is extremely useful to know at least some basic Italian phrases, as the non-bocconi Italians often do not speak English at all.

4 The educational offer at Bocconi was broad. There was a very nice selection of courses in English, especially in the fields of finance and management. Exchange students were free to choose any courses they wanted, in English or in Italian. There was no need to choose a specific specialization area or subject. Graduate students can choose both undergraduate and graduate courses. Since we were both on an M.Sc. exchange, we had to get 24 ECTS at Bocconi. Typically, the Bocconi courses are 6 ECTS just like at Aalto, which meant that we had to take four courses. We ended up choosing only bachelor level courses because at Bocconi we wanted to study different subjects from the ones we had studied at Aalto. For this reason, we did not consider our previous knowledge of these subjects to be strong enough for the graduate courses. It is common in Bocconi that a course can be taken as an attending student or as a non-attending student. If a student opts for the attending route, he or she is usually required to participate in some kind group work or other excercises in addition to the exam. As a non-attending student, your grade will be completely based on reading the coursebook and taking the exam. Quite often the attending route is considered an easier one. An important thing to note is that being an attending student very rarely means that you actually have to attend the classes. We ended up taking three courses as attending and one as non-attending. Another thing to note is that choosing courses with a midterm exam makes your final exam week much less stressful Management of Fashion Companies Undergraduate, 6 ECTS, attending Lecturer: Erica Corbellini Evaluation: Group field project (30 %) and written exam (70 %). An extremely popular course amongst the exchange students as it is considered a must to study something related to fashion while in Milan. The course was a good one and fairly interesting even to those not super interested in the world of fashion. The group field project was done in groups of six, and the required output was a short video consisting of an analysis of a chosen fashion brand. The exam included multiple-choice and short open questions and was not especially challenging Financial Markets and Institutions Undergraduate, 6 ECTS Lecturer: Silvio Petriconi Evaluation: Partial exam (50 %) + general exam (50 %) or general exam only (100 %).

5 The course had basically the same content as the course Financial Markets and Institutions at Aalto. Mr. Petriconi was an extremely good teacher, perhaps the best one we have ever had. He was incredibly excited about the course content, often used examples and explained things thoroughly. We had four assignments during the course and completing them was optional. No points were rewarded for completing the assignments but they were excellent practice for the exams. Both exams consisted of multiple-choice questions only. In case you have not taken the similar course at Aalto, this is definitely one that we recommend Personal Selling Undergraduate, 6 ECTS, non attending Lecturer: Roberta de Sanctis Evaluation: Written exam (100 %). Choosing the attending route on this course would have required actually attending the classes, so we opted for the non-attending route and read the course book. The exam consisted of multiple-choice and short open questions and was not especially difficult if you had studied the book with thought. The content of the course was very straight-forward and most of it could have been figured out with common sense even without ever opening the book. However, this was also the most challenging aspect of the course, as the lack of substance made preparing for the exam quite difficult. There was really no way to anticipate what might be required in the exam Marketing Communication Undergraduate, 6 ECTS, attending Lecturer: Arianna Brioschi Evaluation: Written exam (100 %) with an option to gain bonus points by participating in in-class exercises and by completing a bonus assignment At first, we thought about taking the course as non-attending students because the lectures overlapped with another course. Therefore, we did not attend a single class during the semester. However, as attendance was not mandatory on this course, we ended up taking the attending exam. Of all the exams we took at Bocconi, this was definitely the most challenging one. The exam was a long one and time was very limited. It also included questions about the in-class exercises, which we found

6 fairly challenging to answer having never attended the exercises in question. For this reason, it might be beneficial in the end to actually attend the classes if it is your intention to take the attending exam. In conclusion, studying at Bocconi is quite similar to studying at Aalto and the courses are equally challenging. A thing to note is that the duration of the exams at Bocconi is often only one hour, which results to having to hurry in all exams. This was a new experience since the pace is usually fairly relaxed at Aalto exams. However, the exams were less challenging than we expected and their grading was not as strict as at Aalto. 3. Free time Cost of living in Milan is roughly the same as in Finland. However, food is cheaper especially at restaurants. We were able to find a reasonable deal for prepaid from TIM: 10 per month for 3 GB of data. All the largest operators have stores right next to the Bocconi campus, so searching for deals is quite convenient. Fortunately, we also had a functioning wifi in our apartment so we did not have to deal with the hassle of finding a wifi provider ourselves. We only bought one course book in total during the semester partly because the library system works quite well at Bocconi and partly because the course book was not really needed on some courses. Exchange students are eligible for a more than fair food deal at the Bocconi cafeteria: 10 meals for 41 euros. A meal consists of a first course (pasta, risotto), a second course (fish, meat) and a dessert or a drink. The quality of the food was not exactly top-notch but we can definitely recommend this deal because it is still really good value for money. A Milanese specialty is the aperitivo. It is technically considered a pre-dinner meal with a drink but in reality an aperitivo is a fantastic way to eat a low-cost dinner. This is how it works: you buy a drink for 8-12 and included in the price is a buffet full of delicious Italian food. Aperitivo time in Milan starts at 6 pm and lasts until around 11 pm. A popular place for aperitivo is the Navigli district and there especially restaurant Maya, which is packed every night.

7 When we arrived in Milan (late August) the weather was incredibly hot, as it was over 30 degrees every single day. The hot weather lasted for around a month and in the beginning of October the temperature started to decrease. It was quite rainy in October but November and December were surprisingly dry. In December the weather was fairly comparable to Finland in terms of temperature but with way more sunshine. Traveling in Italy is fantastic as it is easily one of the most beautiful countries in the world. Train is an easy and a quick way to travel but sometimes quite expensive. Bus travel is considerably cheaper and you can find tickets from websites such as Flixbus. There is no way to recommend any single city over the others as they were all fantastic in their own way. Our advice is simply to travel around Italy as much as possible. Football or calcio is the most popular sport in Italy and Milan is a fantastic football city, hosting two teams: FC Internazionale and AC Milan. Both teams use the same stadium: the legendary Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, also known as San Siro. Going to at least one football match during your exchange is absolutely recommended because the atmosphere at the stadium is fantastic. The capacity of the stadium is 80,000 but for most matches the attendance is around 45,000. This means that it is usually easy to get tickets. However, this is not the case for matches played against top teams like Juventus or for the Milanese derby. The stadium is usually sold out for these matches so plan accordingly. You can get very good seats for around 40 but Bocconi also organized trips to some Inter matches for only 10. Italian gyms require you to have a medical certificate. If you are planning to take advantage of Bocconi gym, please take note that they only accept medical certificates with the lettering: is able to perform non competitive sport activities. So make sure that s exactly what it says on your certificate if you get the document from YTHS for example. It is very much recommended to get the certificate before your exchange because getting it in Milan could take around two weeks and cost 50. We decided to join a gym called 20hours Club nearby our apartment. The monthly cost was higher than that of Bocconi gym but for some reason they never asked for a medical certificate, which made the total cost between the two quite even.

8 4. Final Comments We can definitely recommend Bocconi, it is a fantastic choice for your exchange and you will not be disappointed. The school has a great reputation and its educational offer surely has something for everyone. Even though Italian byrocracy in general can sometimes be a bit of a nuisance, everything related to school (such as course and exam registration) went just as smoothly as at Aalto. If there is one advice that we can give to future exchange students heading to Bocconi, it is this: travel as much as possible in the beginning. The semester goes by really quickly and it is way more difficult to find time for traveling when the final exams are getting closer. The exchange was an excellent experience and definitely one of the highlights of our studies so far. It was the first time of living abroad for both of us. Since the experience was such a positive one, we are very likely to pursue international careers after our studies. Going abroad adds a new dimension to your studies that truly stays with you for the rest of your life and is impossible to gain by just staying at your home university. So if you are still pondering about whether to apply for an exchange or not just take the leap and do it!