Everywhere in the world, when people talks about the must-seen place where to be at least once in your life, Rome is always in the list. No presentations are needed for the eternal city, where you can walk where 2000 years ago the emperors were celebrating their victories, and in ten minutes being in the most fancy clubs of the 3rd millennium.
Somebody has fallen in love with my city, somebody else saw things that maybe would never expect, but nobody has ever been uninterested to its charm, that’s why I invite you to Rome: dive into the roman atmosphere, write your own adventure and be part of the history of this awesome city.
Thinking about the must seen places in a must seen city it’s a very hard task. Every square, every street has something unique to show and some story to tell, just feel free to lose yourself in the ancient streets of the empire, and you will discover marvelous things. For the rest I’ll rapidly mention the things that you cannot avoid: Colosseo, S. Pietro, Musei Vaticani, Piazza di Spagna, Fontana di Trevi, Piazza del Popolo, Circo Massimo, Palatino, Fori Imperiali, S.Paolo, Piazza Venezia, Altare della Patria, Ara Pacis, Castel S.Angelo, Musei Capitolini, Campo de’ Fiori, Pantheon and Piazza Navona. Enjoy it!
My home university is Roma Tre, and is one of the most recent. I cannot complain about the organization of it, it’s not perfect but being important and in a big city means being able to manage thousands of students, and not all the time handle something like this is easy, but don’t be worried, International Office and Coordinators will be glad of helping you. Professors are normally well prepared, and the level of English is understandable also for who’s not really fluent. Be aware that most times, courses are planned in a very different way than here, the balance is pending on the theorical part, and presentations and classes are normally a very small and not compulsory part. Moreover the attendance is not checked, but rarely you will have less than 3/4 lessons at week of the same subject…Frequency is not weekly!!
Concerning the cost of living, I would say that Rome is not too cheap and not too expansive. If compared with Scandinavian, French, English or German standard is further cheap, but it’s a little bit more expansive than Spain and Portugal, and of all the Eastern Europe countries. Moreover, I should say that it also depends on “how you are able to adapt into the environment”, pretending to live in the middle of Trastevere, eating every time in the best restaurants, is going to cost you more than expected. For a normal life, I would say that 700-800 euros are enough for living, rent and bills included. Normally the average price for a good meal in an average restaurant is around 20 euros, but for the most fancy ones you will need to wash the dishes for a while!!
Let’s come to another interesting topic: nightlife. As you can imagine, being one of the biggest cities in Europe can be an advantage if you wanna have fun, in Rome you can find everything, from places where to chill, drinking a good cocktail, or sipping an irish beer, to places where to party hard until the sunlight. It doesn’t matter which kind of music do you prefer, you
will find it, from reggae to electronic, from rock and jazz to commercial. Generally the erasmus students have a good network, nice clubs where there’s no entrance fee, and cheap shots or drinks. But if you wanna go out of that network, you
should know that things are a little bit complicated, of course depending on which is the chosen event. If you will try to go a fancy club, iron out your shirt and clean your shoes, there’s a strict dress code and long queues. Entrance fees are always around 15/20 euros with a drink included, forget about Pijalnia! The main problem for a student can be the distance, Rome is very big, and these clubs are not always close to each other. Another option is just go with the flow of people that in the night keeps awake the city center, from Testaccio to Piazza Trilussa, from Trastevere to S.Lorenzo, these are zones where you can have a walk, finding clubs, pubs or whatever you’re looking for. Generally drinks and food are much cheaper than clubs.
Another couple of reasons why you should come to study in Rome is the weather and the cuisine. Nice weather for the most part of the year, you can easily go to the sea (it’s just half an hour with train) from April till October, and an hard sun that will not make you regret your choice. What about cuisine? What should I add that you don’t know, it’s the best in the world! Pasta, pizza, gelato, everywhere, at every time! Pay attention, you will easily gain weight! And a specific tip, furthermore, is moving close to Rome for a meal, Ariccia is the name of the place: typical roman dishes and a really sweet red wine, it’s really appreciate also from the native people. Last but not least, the people: we are smart, we are funny, we are easy-going…but don’t ask us to speak english! Be aware that everybody is well motivated to help you in case of need, from the young students to the old men, but don’t pretend that they will speak fluent english, we are able to explaining you everything waving our hands, making strange gestures but you will get the point, I can ensure you! Unluckily learning foreign languages is not our best quality, but you will not have any kind of problem in the integration with the italian people, just be yourself and honest (nothing more is required for us), and all the doors in Rome will be open for you.
Do you need any other reason? What are you waiting for, prepare your luggage! 🙂
See in Roma!!!
P.S.
The very last tip…Just remember that we are a little bit susceptible on the football issue. Be sure on which is the right football team to support (ROMA)!!!!
Matteo
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