Ciao from Milano!

My name is Andy, and I’m currently on exchange at Bocconi University in Milan. I am studying History of political institutions, Political regimes, Critical approaches to the arts and Politics of advanced democracies. These subjects are all free electives, as my degree is in engineering. As they are completely different to the subjects I have done at UTS, it has been really cool to learn about things that are completely new to me and give me a different perspective on the world. Especially as political science and art are so much more subjective than engineering – I have found this the most interesting. Here at Bocconi, they only have lectures without any tutorials. This is also very different to engineering classes where a large part of the learning is done in tutorial classes. While it can make it harder to meet people in your lectures as you cannot discuss with people about the topics that you are learning, there are still plenty of group assignments to ensure that you are engaging with your classmates.

The teaching style here is much more direct, with many classes just involving the professor lecturing for an hour and a half. This is obviously different to UTS as because there are more tutorials it is far more collaborative. I have to say that personally, I prefer the UTS style more. However, I have found the lectures to be far more engaging here, as the lecturers are very passionate about their subjects. The facilities here at Bocconi are pretty good, there are cheap vending machines all around campus and the bathrooms here are nice and clean. To be honest, a lot of it reminds me of UTS, especially the architecture. It is also just starting to get warm here, so the parks around the university are going to become ideal study spots (some of them have free Wi-Fi!).

My housing is with the two other UTS students that came to Bocconi (we all missed out on student residence), but we are just down the road from the university and our apartment is nice. Life here in Milan has been interesting, as it is one of the most industrial Italian cities, and one of the coldest (many Italians I have met from other cities say that Milan is more like a French city than an Italian one). However, it feels alive due to how busy it is and the public transport makes it a breeze to get around.

Some of my favourite things about staying here have been the food, my trip to Florence with my roommates, as well as meeting other international students.

All in all, exchange so far has been nothing short of a memorable experience and one that I highly recommend to all UTS students looking to broaden their horizons and lean into all that different cultures have to offer.

Andrew Somerville
Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) / Diploma of Professional Practice
Università Commerciale ‘Luigi Bocconi’ di Milano
Italy

For more information about the UTS Global Exchange program please visit: www.uts.edu.au/thinkglobal