(D7) The first ESN event in Venice: international dinner

Dear Venice,

This morning I dedicated myself to organising the administration. I went back to the international office to pick up my "Learning Agreement" (a study contract) signed by my host university.

(As I have already mentioned in this article, I had already been there but I had made a mistake with the document!)

And unlike 5 days ago, I had to wait rather a long time: there were about ten people in the queue! They had just arrived and had to sort out their university enrolment.

So, some friendly advice: when you arrive at your Erasmus destination, try to get there a few days before and enrol with the university as soon as you arrive! That way, if you're a bit scatty like me, it gives you more time if you make some mistakes in your contracts. I was happy to have sorted that out in advance!

I also contacted the English teacher at my university in Venice.

I asked her if that famous rumour was true: is it possible to have credits for English without having to go to the classes, and sit the exam (just by showing a certificate of my language level)?

I'm still waiting for her to get back to me and I'll share it because it may also be true for your host universities!

And by the way, I incidentally learnt yesterday during the welcome day for foreign students, that only German universities let their Erasmus students choose subjects which are completely different to what they're studying in their degree or masters.

In other words, for the rest of us, we have to try our best to choose subjects which are the most similar to what we would have followed at university in our own country.

The first ESN event: the international dinner

I made good progress with my personal plans in the afternoon, so I prepared myself for my first event organised by the ESN Venezia group: an international dinner!

The dinner started at 8.30p. m. and was held in Serra dei Giardini. I still hadn't been to that part of Venice, so it was really cool!

Giardini is about a 40-minute walk from my convent. As it was already getting dark and I didn't know my way around Venice too well, I gave myself 55 minutes to get there (yes, I got lost again... )

Once I got to the area where the event was taking place, I still couldn't work out Google Maps and I got lost: it was impossible to figure out where the actual place was!

Fortunately, I'm a very lucky person. After walking around the area for a few minutes, I finally bumped into a group of students holding plates. Bingo! I asked them if they were going to the same event as me, and they were.

I followed them to the room, whilst getting to know an American girl and a South Korean girl.

They both study at Ca' Foscari (the most well-known university in Venice) and they arrived in January. They already knew Venice quite well, as well as the other students around.

To be honest, one of my fears was that I would arrive and find it hard to make a group of friends. I was afraid that everybody would already know each other. Luckily, that wasn't the case because everybody was open and interested in getting to know others!

When I arrived at the event, there were already lots of people and we were allowed to start serving ourselves. I wasn't very hungry, so I just took some Mexican Chilli and Japanese rice (trying a little bit of the dish another French girl prepared).

I'm really grateful to everyone who took the time to cook a typical dish from their country for us all! It was such a delight!

As I didn't have the time to cook at least something, I therefore contributed to the event by donating €5.

During the evening, I met a group of Korean people and another group of Japanese students. I found out that a lot of them live on the Junghans à Giudecca campus, that's where I'm going to be staying in 2 weeks! So, even if I don't go to the same university as the majority of foreign students (Ca Foscari), I felt better knowing that I would be able to stay in contact with them at the Giudecca campus.

Cinderella must get home before midnight

Just like Cinderella, I had to leave early, and that really annoyed me. I currently live in the Domus Civica convent in San Polo, and the curfew is at midnight.

Actually, I found out that there was a night key you could use to get back in whenever you wanted, but I had forgotten to ask for it!

So, I made sure I left an hour before, because I had a 40-minute walk ahead of me (without counting the minutes I would get lost in the streets).

I was one of the first to leave and it was such a shame because as I was leaving, I bumped into my Croatian friend who was just arriving! (She's a friend I made on the welcome day yesterday).

Fortunately, this is only the beginning of my Erasmus adventure and I know we will have plenty of time to bump into each other in the future.

Anyway, I'm sure that when I come to read this article again in 3 months' time, it will make me laugh because I will know Venice by heart... But everyone has to start somewhere!

I can't hide the fact that I didn't feel at ease walking the little dark streets of Venice at night (especially in a skirt) but it was all okay in the end! I'm slowly getting used to it and I'm lucky that this is a city I don't have to worry about.

Thank you, Venice,

- for letting me make new friends

- for the beautiful stars at night

- for being a safe place

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