Schlagwort: ‘Italien’
Writing a Master Thesis in Milan
- Management and Engineering in Technology, Innovation, Marketing and
Entrepreneurship M.Sc. - Italy, Milan
- Politecnico di Milano
- March – June 2022
I am happy to share some insights on my time abroad in Milan, Italy. During that time, I conducted research on my Master thesis at Politecnico di Milano. I am solely responsible for the content of this report.
Preparation
Prior to applying for the Erasmus+ Internship grant, there are several steps to be taken independently from the country or city you will be studying at. In my case, didn’t do an internship but wrote my Master thesis at a foreign university. Therefore, preparation included looking for interesting institutes or researchers across Europe, who have expertise in a specific field you are interested in writing a thesis in. A decent approach is to search for relating papers or studies, for example. After you have set eyes on a specific institute, I suggest writing a short research proposal. This includes 5-10 pages where you are explaining your motivation and your expertise regarding the specific research topic. Additionally, I suggest you write a short introduction to a possible topic that seems suitable as Bachelor/ Master thesis. Once you are in contact with respective researchers at the institute you applied for, you can start looking for an internal supervisor at RWTH. The overall topic of the thesis can then be “finetuned” between the three parties. From my expertise (I also wrote my Bachelor thesis externally), it shouldn’t be a big problem to find an internal supervisor as long as the external institution seems interesting! The actual application for the Erasmus grant is quite self-explanatory and convenient, so no need to further explain it in this report.
There is not much to consider before moving to Milan, as it quite easy to move around the European Union. However, when living in Italy you need to register for an Italian tax number. Just contact the Consulate of Italy in Cologne before the movement and they will send you a respective number.
Living in Milan
Everyone who has been to Italy before, knows exactly the Italian kind of vibe. And even though Milan is in the northern part of Italy, the so-called business part, you can truly feel this Italian spirit in Milan. Enjoy the food and all the Aperitivos you will have during your time abroad! Milan truly offers a lot of great restaurants, bars, and cafes. But don’t fall into the tourist trap and rely too heavily on websites like TripAdvisor and Co. Rather try out Pizzeria Assaje for an amazing pizza! Because by doing so, it can easily get quite expensive without the food actually being delicious. Thus, I suggest walking around the streets and absorbing the atmosphere. I am quite certain that you will quickly find a great place to eat. Especially, the district Citta Studi where the PoliMi is located offers great localities. But the great part about Milan is its great variety of districts that all offer other specialties. Navigli, for example, is famous for its many bars and the two canals that are filled with tourists during the day. In contrast, Porta Venezia is known as gay district and also offers great bars including a lot of clubs, whereas Moscova is rather a more expensive area where the wordl famous Duomo is also located. Other than that, almost every day you can find a lot of people gathering on public places. The infamous, Piazza Leonardo right in the center of PoliMi offers a great atmosphere with hundreds of students gathering every weekend and some DJs playing some music. Milan as the creative and fashion capital of Italy offers lots of intellectual places. Fondazione di Prada or Pinacoteca di Brera displays great art and amazing architecture. Many museums offer student discounts. Pinacoteca di Brera, for example, just costs 2€ per person.
Picture from the stands of the San Siro stadium (Inter Milan vs AS Roma) © Jason Grüninger
Other than that, the San Siro stadium accommodates both Milanese teams AC Milan as well as Inter Milan. So, plenty of possibilities of embracing the incredible atmosphere in this stadium while watching first class football.
In summer, Italians are usually driving to the seaside themselves. You should do the same because Milan is quite empty in August! On a side note, as you are not included in any official welcome days by the host university, I suggest writing the RWTH authorities and asking them to share your contact details with the other moving students from RWTH. In this way, you already get to know some people before going abroad and can discuss common difficulties.
Accommodation/ Transport
For accommodation I recommend using Housing Anywhere. In Italy it is common that you don’t get to know your flat mates before you haven’t actually rent a room in the respective apartment. In my opinion that quite weird, but it is what it is. Just don’t be surprised! Another surprise can come with the prices for flats in the central districts. However, I suggest embracing the opportunity and really getting the most out of your time abroad by staying in the cool districts like Citta Studi, Porta Venezia, Washington, Moscova, Navigli. Otherwise, you might have to drive quite long distances, specifically because the metro stops working after 1pm and you have to use buses instead. Regarding the transportation, get yourself a monthly metro ticket. You just need a picture and then can file for the ticket at one of the ATM offices in the metro stations. The ticket costs 22€ per month and also allows you to take buses. Riding a bike in Milan is no fun because of cobblestones, bad streets, etc., so better use the public transport. Safety is not an issue in the public transport. Just be careful when taking the night buses, but no more caution is needed than anywhere else in big European cities.
Lago di Como pictured in Lecco © Jason Grüninger
Around Milan
Milan is located in a great region. You are close to the mountains, as well as close to Lago di Como, Lago di Maggiore, and Lago di Garda. Enjoy some sun and take a dip at these destinations, it’s just an hour away from Milan by train!
Lecco, for example, is easy to reach and offers a cute little town at the stunning beginning of Lago di Como. I also went to Venice for two days, which is also quite close (3 hours by train).
Busy street on a sunny day in Turin © Jason Grüninger
Additionally, Turin is close by and is definitely worth a visit! An absolutely underrated visit is the city of Bergamo. Especially the old town of Bergamo is beautiful and definitely worth a visit.
I hope this report gives you a good first impression of your time abroad.
I wish you a wonderful time in Milan!
My internship in the hospital Bolzano, Italy
- Medicine, Diploma
- Bolzano, Italy
- Hospital Bozen
- 15.11.2021 – 06.03.2022
In Germany the last year of medicine is a practical year, in which you can visit various subjects and hospitals to gain more practical experience. It is divided into three times four months stays each. For my first two month of this practical year, I chose the hospital Bolzano in South Tyrol, Italy. Since I knew this region already from previous holidays, I thought it would be a nice change after the big exam I had in October.
Application
The application process was very easy via email. You can find all information’s you need on the website of the hospital of Bolzano. Just keep in mind to do it one year ahead of the beginning of the internship. For all other organisational matters (contracts, insurance, etc) a staff member, responsible for us students, helped us continuously. She also supported us regarding application and apartment- hunting.
Apartment
Finding a flat was much more difficult than applying for the internship, as the housing market in Bolzano is very scarce and overpriced. Nevertheless, many students live here, and a solution can always be found. I can recommend to look in:
- Facebook groups ( Bolzano Unibacheca Universitari Affitti / Affitto Camera or Immobilienbörse Bozen Umgebung – Wohnungen PRIVAT (ver)mieten & (ver)kaufen)
- or the site: wg-gesucht.de
- and also on the university site: http://accommodationunibz.blogspot.com/.
I found a nice room in the city center in a shared flat with 5 people, which was really nice to connect immediately. Look for a room next to the city centre, since the outside areas are not that nice in general.
Transport
Bolzano is not very big, so you can easily explore the city by walking. However, the hospital was located a little outside town, so I decided to get a second hand bike. Bolzano is a very bike-friendly city. Dedicated bike lanes make it very pleasant to ride and you feel very safe. Some friends of mine preferred to go by bus and bought a Südtirol-Abo Plus card for 150 Euros, which you can also use as train ticket to Trient or cable cars of the mountains. To discover the surroundings of the city, a car is already an advantage, as you are usually much faster than by bus and can thus get to all the places. When we went skiing, we car-pooled and could go straight to the slopes with our skis in the car. It’s simply easier to move around with a car here. Unfortunately, Bolzano has no car sharing, but a bike sharing in the summer months.
Traineeship
My traineeship began in the middle of November 2021. In the Hospital we usually started at 7.30am with the morning reunion. We discussed the patients and the program for the day. After that we all went to have a coffee break together :D. During the day I was free to decide, whether I wanted to go into the surgery room or in the policlinic. The doctors were all extremely nice and polite. The working environment was very friendly and calm. We should at least stay for 6 hours to also get a free lunch, but it was also no problem if you had to leave earlier or could not come at a certain day. Lunch was rich of different options and there were always three courses—yuuummmy! After a while I definitely felt included in the team and could also relieve the doctors of work. It’s definetly an advantage to speak Italian as well as German. In South Tyrol they speak both German and Italian, but Bolzano is a little more Italian, therefore the working language in the hospital is also predominantly Italian. In the outlying areas of Bolzano people prefer to speak German. Most people however are bilingual, so you can easily get around.
Free time
© Chiara Löffler
After work there are a lot of options to spend your free time. The region here is very nice for outdoor activities. The mountains (Dolomites) are incredibly beautiful and in summer you can go hiking, climbing, biking etc and in winter it’s perfect for skiing or Snow hiking.
Since I was there in winter, I mostly went skiing. Obereggen, Seiser Almand Carezza are skiing areas that are approximately half an hour by car away from the city and have very nice slopes. You can also rent a sledge or just go hiking in the snow. You get a reduction on the skipass if you show your clinic employee card.
In March it got warmer and we were able to do some via ferrata and hikes in the surroundings (Eppan, Ritten, Jenesien). On the weekends we also did some city trips to Bologna, Venice, Milan, Verona and Lage Garda, which are all less than 2 hours by car. So, it is perfect to explore the North of Italy.
If you like to stay in town, you can drink coffee or have an Aperitivo (Aperol usually 3,5€) with friends. Expenses are quite cheap for drinking or eating and food here is really good. The weather is also amazing. Here some of my favourite food and drink stops: Bar Osteriada Picchio (book in advance), Al cantuccio (nice pizza), il Corso (nice pizza), Nussbaumer (perfect with parents), Exil Lounge (coffee place). Also I can recommend going to the cinema Film Club Bolzano, they often play movies in original language and the theatre Carambolage, who does most of their performances in German.
© Chiara Löffler