Once Erasmus, Always Erasmus

I guess it’s true what they say: once Erasmus, always Erasmus. If you ever become an Erasmus student, you realise that immediately, the moment you step into this new amazing experience. 

 

I spent my Erasmus period in Vilnius, Lithuania, during the first semester of the current academic year (2013/2014), and I could easily say it's been the best experience of my life so far. From the beginning of my University studies I knew I wanted to go study abroad with the Erasmus programme, so when the time to do it finally came I took my chances and applied. I wasn't sure I would be chosen since nowadays many students want to take part in it, so when the acceptance letter (more or less like the acceptance letter from Hogwarts ;)) arrived on March 14th, 2013 (yes, I do still remember the exact day it came!!) I could not be happier. 

Some months passed before I really got to leave for Vilnius and they were not that easy: I had mixed feelings! Excitement, happiness, joy, anxiety together with stress and worry kept passing through my mind. It's the never old feeling towards the unknown that made the wait so heavy but so whirlwind.

And in a flash August 31st came and my adventure began. 

Discovering the city and getting to know places, neighborhoods, shops, bars and clubs was one of the best parts, especially during the first few weeks when everything is new and exciting :D

These are some pictures from my first days there:

Vilnius new part from Gedimino's Castle

Old Town from Gedimino's Castle

Vilnius Old Town from Three Crosses Hill

 

Cathedral Square (They were probably building a stage for an upcoming event, there were a lot!)

The view from the dormitory balcony (yes, we were surrounded by woods and loved it ;))

Getting to know the university buildings and being able to find classrooms was another great adventure we went through at the beginning. I remember wandering around the Philology Faculty for about 20 minutes before finally founding the Survival Lithuanian course lecture room. :D

During the first week all Erasmus students were also invited to take part in the University Parade that every September marks the beginning of the new Academic Year. The entire students' body of the Vilnius University partecipates in it, divided into Faculty groups distinguishable by some typical symbols and items they carried with them. It is a long walk from the beginning to the end of the main street of Vilnius, Gedimino Prospektas!

Part of the Parade (unfortunately it was raining :( )

Rapresentatives of the Faculty of  Natural Sciences

Buut, all that being said I must tell you that the best part was, of course, the PEOPLE! Yes, people, the people I met are the main reason why I enjoyed Erasmus so much! Meeting new people is always a good experience but in this particular context it is even better because everyone is so open that there's no embarassment whatsoever. And it was not merely about meeting new people, but it was more like meeting new cultures!! Living in such an international environment made me grow personally and mentally a lot. I think that now I'm more open-minded than I ever was before! :D

Listing all the people I met and all the things I discovered living with all of them would be very long and I'm sure I would forget some of them so I won't even try, but they're all in my mind and in my heart (Guys, if you're reading me I miss you all so much <3).

 I'm really glad this programme was created and I hope it will even become better in the future, because, let's be honest, everything can always improve!
 Nonetheless I would suggest every student from every Country to become an Erasmus student: it's a life-changing experience! :D

Aaand, if you wish to find out more about Erasmus check here: http://www.erasmusprogramme.com/
and also my friend Raul's blog: http://errrasmuss.wordpress.com/

Hope you enjoyed this post! 
xo, 
Cami
:)

The Valley

I've been thinking about starting a blog for a long time now, and in this Summer afternoon of boredom I decided that the time to do it had finally come. So here I am! I actually don't know where to start, this is totally new for me but I will try. Sooo, my name is Camilla and I'm 22. I was born and raised in Sondrio. Ok, that's the first fact and you're probably already saying: "I've never heard of it, where is this place?"; well, that's a question I get asked a lot and that's why today I thought I would share with you some info about my hometown, since you probably can't find it in the English version of Wikipedia! ;) 

Sondrio's park and landscape in the Summer

The view from my house during Winter

Sondrio is a town in Valtellina, a valley situated in the Lombardy region of Northern Italy. With a population of nearly 25000 people I can't really define it as a city, even if it is the capital town of the Province of Sondrio. It is located between the Rhetic Alps and Prealps. So yes, I grew up surrounded by mountains and I must say I really enjoyed it, I still do: mountains are probably the thing I miss the most about Sondrio when I'm not there. I remember many family trips to the villages nearby and many excursions during my childhood which made me really grow to enjoy all the nature around me.  

Sondrio, February 2014

It may seem like I love my Valley a lot from what I said, and I do, but I also must admit that, especially growing up, I had my moments of disappointment, if not hatred, towards it; that was mostly caused by the fact that being sooo small (I think you could walk around it, and I mean all of it, in less than 2 hours!) it doesn't offer as many possibilities as you may wanted during your teenage years, when you're in High School and you start to find out about the world, even if only from your computer.

The town itself is quite small and doesn't offer many ways of entertainment: until I was 17 there was only one cinema, that being run by a Catholic association didn't even show all the movies released. 

I remember myself during my fifth and last year of High School being impatient about starting the University. There is no university in Sondrio and not even in the entire Valtellina, beside a separate branch of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Milan which I was not really interested in; so for me that rappresented the moment I could finally leave the nest and go out to explore the world by my self. I didn't go that far away, I must say, since I decided to study in Milan, which is just 2 hours far from Sondrio; but it was nonetheless a big change being Milan the second biggest city in Italy.

Anyway, since I'm now grown up and maybe in the adulthood I started to appreciate Sondrio and Valtellina a lot more; sometimes I really really need some time off that metropolitan frenzy typical of Milan. 

From my roof :)

I hope that my words, but even more the pictures, intrigue you to find out more about this small but peaceful place in the North of Italy. I guess that being born there it is a big part of who I am.
If you want to find out more about Valtellina checke here: http://www.valtellina.it/eng/index.html

I apologise for the possibile mistakes, since English is not my Mother tongue but just my first language of study and long time passion. :)

Hope you're all having a great day!

Love,

Cami 

P.S: Surprisingly enough, I found out that actually an English Wikipedia page about Sondrio exists; here it is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Province_of_Sondrio

Byeeee