Pack Up Your Life & Go – Part I: Fall Semester in Bocconi

‘’If you don’t go now, you never will.’’

To be honest, I had always known I would go abroad at some point in my life, but what I had not known was that I would go abroad twice. Back at high school I was sure that I will go to the States with my tennis scholarship. I was about to sign the contract and start a life there when I suddenly felt that going there wouldn’t be me. Hence, I decided not to sign the contract. I’m very happy I didn’t. Instead, I started my university-time at EBS. I came to EBS for a reason, I wanted to make the most of my studies including going on an exchange. It sounds like a cliché, I know, but I’ve always been a little crazy when it comes to the opportunities and being the best in whatever I do.

Moving on, EBS has probably partnered up with the most prestigious business schools in the world and therefore, I decided to apply for, in my opinion, 3 best universities for my exchange year – Bocconi University in Milan, Copenhagen Business School in Copenhagen and BI Norwegian Business School in Oslo, Norway. I got selected to the program and I figured why not to divide my exchange year into 2 parts – first semester at Bocconi and second at CBS. I must say, probably the craziest yet the coolest and most interesting choice I have ever made.

So, on the 24^th of August, I sat on a plane to Milan and started my exchange year. As I was way too busy during the summer I didn’t do much background search on how it all might look like, I just packed up my life in Estonia and went to 35 degrees and a different culture.

To start with, everyone who had done a semester/year abroad before told me it’s all about parties and even more parties and then since the only grade you get for a subject is either pass or fail, there is no need to study either. So, in conclusion, exchange year should be all about fun. That’s not 100% true according to what I experienced there…

As my semester in Italy is now over, I can say that yes, it was a lot about parties, but it was also about travelling, eating way too many pastas and pizzas, having to pay way too much for a very little apartment and spending a lot of money on random stuff such as transportation cards, toilet paper and pepper. Moreover, this sentence “grades are not important, you’ll pass either way” couldn’t be more shady. I think I have never studied as much as I did there before the exams and mid-terms, I have never done harder group assignments and I have never worried as much as I did there about whether I pass or not. BUT I chose the best universities I possibly could. I found out that hard work always pays off, people you know only for a few days or months will always help you out and if you want to accomplish something in life take the risks, jump into the cold water, take classes you are not supposed to (side note: At Bocconi I took a class called Corporate Finance – it’s mandatory in my Estonian syllabus, it should also be similar at Bocconi but what I didn’t know was that this class is for the 3^rd year students and requires prerequisite classes such as financial accounting, managerial accounting and statistics… and I had done none of those before.. so it was a challenge to pass this class for sure but I made it) and enjoy the ride!

Now as you understood that my first exchange semester was not only about partying, I must say that it wasn’t all about studying either. During my semester in Milan I got to travel like crazy. Milan as a city is the best place for travelling. It’s cheap (compared to travelling from Estonia or Finland), it’s close to everything and it’s just so beautiful. I travelled with different people and every single trip was worth the money, time and effort. I had the chance to see Rome with my best friends from my exchange time, I saw The Tower of Pisa in all of its glory and Cinque Terre and its breathtaking views. Furthermore, I went to Bologna, Lugano, lake Como, Verona and even visited Barcelona and Porto. All of this happened because I lived in Milan during my fall exchange semester.

In case you are still not motivated enough to go to live abroad then here are some additional benefits of having the opportunity to go on an exchange:

1.                  people, people, people – when people tell you that going abroad means making friends for life, they are not lying. I probably met my long lost sister, she was the coolest flat-mate I could have asked for and we had so much fun together. Countless bottles of wine, hours of laughter and all those memories we made while going to parties, trips or even while on our way to school. Also, you’ll see a lot of international people. For example, you hear a lot of Dutch as your friends from the Netherlands forget you are around or your Italian classmates think you are blonde, so you must be dumb and forget to ask for your opinion. Happens and I’m happy it does.
2.                  Food!! Go to Italy and you won’t regret it. Oh, and don’t be sad if you gain 5 extra kilos just because you eat pasta in every 2 days and order a pizza every time you go to a restaurant. It’s worth it.
3.                  Italian people – they sure are different. Once my landlord picked me up from the airport and talked to me the whole way to my apartment (approximately 45minutes), I understood most of what we were talking about but it was that weird semi-English, semi-Italian discussion we were having. So, when he heard that I will have the Italian crash course before the first week of school, he figured I will speak perfect Italian after a month of living there. Well, that did not happen, as most of the people I talked to were international and there was hardly any practice of Italian but when I saw my landlord the next time, he was helping to repair our shower and he thought it is time to speak Italian with me.. I mean, I couldn’t do the whole discussion in Italian and he was so sad and disappointed in the fact that my Italian was on the same level as for a two year old…
4.                  The most prestigious, high quality school. Work fair – I always knew that Bocconi is one hell of a good university. And it did not disappoint me.. For example, Bocconi has this Bocconi&Jobs career event, which is an exclusive occasion during which major Italian and international employers meet with students, graduates and Specialized Master holders from the University and everyone from Bocconi is welcomed to visit the event, even the exchange students. So in case you are lucky, suited up and want to get to one of those firms represented there, you might end up working for Rolls-Royce, Moët Hennessy UK or even for Vodafone Group. HOW COOL IS THAT?!
5.                  And of course, not to mention, those awesomely cool and crazy parties – did you know that Milan is called the city of the nights? It has soooooo many different places where you can party and drink and party even more. I bet that people originally from Milan don’t even know all the places themselves. It’s totally okay to go to a club on Monday and still see many people around. A lot of people, actually. Wednesdays were for Old Fashion Club, Fridays for Alcatraz and Sundays for rooftop parties at Duomo21 Club. Going out in Milan really makes you think why should you want to go out in Estonia ever again…

In conclusion, my first semester abroad was filled with unexpected situations like repairing a wall or a shower place, it was also a lot about discovering Italy, Milan and some places in Europe, it also included a few moments when I thought ‘’why did I even decide to go to Milan?’’ (especially before the exams and times when I was homesick) and most importantly, it included many new friends, experiences and an understanding that if you really want something, everything is possible.

 

Ciao for this time!

Lisanna

 

Photos: Lisanna Pihlak

Editor: Kärt Mättikas