I'm Mexican and I want to study in Italy! What should I do?

Hey everyone! This is my second article and I want to talk about the basics (it's going to be a long post).

This is dedicated to all my Mexican friends who, like it or not, all want to go and study in Italy. Suck it! :P

So, you want to go to Italy but you don't know how to organise it?

Or you already know more or less what to do, but you want to make sure that you don't forget anything?

I hope this article will cover the basics of what you need to do to stop dreaming and start living.

Since I came back from my Erasmus exchange, I've had the opportunity to help several friends and friends of friends who want to go on an exchange, and I've realised that quite a few of them don't really know how much stuff to organise they'll be confronted with. I recommend you all to be as organised as possible. It'll help you so much, and later on I'll tell you how.

The first question you have to answer is...

What university do you want to study at? If you're still studying for your Bachelor's degree and want to go for a semester or two, find out if your university just happens to have an agreement with an Italian one. If it does, you'll be able to go without having to revalidate your degree course. If your university doesn't have this kind of agreement, you'll have to sort out the entire process by yourself, and the case is the same if you want to do a Master's.

Get in contact with the Italian university and tell them of your interest in coming. They will tell you what the entrance requirements are for their institution and whether you need to make an initial payment (which doesn't always happen). Make contact preferably in English, don't try and translate anything from Spanish to Italian, as online translators are not any good and they won't understand you. On the other hand, remember that's it's totally normal if they take years to reply: it depends on the institution, but generally public universities are very, very... very slow. This is why you need to do this well in advance of when you're hoping to go.

Second...

Find out when the beginning of the academic year is in Italy, since it's different to the Mexican system: there, classes begin in either September or October and finish in January or February. It's never very clear what month they begin in, as some universities publish their start date very late on, and it's not the same date every year. For example, I booked my flight for August 29th just to be safe, and in September they announced that classes wouldn't be starting until October 7th, so I spent a month just having fun, which isn't bad at all (! ) since you can use this time get to know the place where you're staying and adapt a little bit.

This is a very important point - book your flights as soon as you can! (though obviously only after the university has accepted you. ) The sooner the better, since it will be a lot cheaper. If you want the cheapest flight possible, I recommend Airfrance, or you can search for flights on pages like www.despegar.com/mx. If you're looking for a friendly and good quality airline (since Airfrance has its downsides) you can fly with American Airlines, Air Canada or Aeroméxico (expensive) and look for flights on their websites.

Apart from the savings you'll make from buying your plane tickets well in advance, they'll ask you to apply for an Italian visa before you board your flights (just mentioning this so that you don't forget anything, hon! )

Third: If you already have a passport, apply for your student visa! (it's free! )

You'll need an appointment for this, which you can book here, on the website for the Italian Embassy in Mexico. You can also do it via this page by clicking the link which says 'Prenota' (meaning reserve or register) below the photo of the ambassador.

On this page, you'll need to enter all your details to register yourself on the system and to 'log in'. Once logged in, follow these steps:

1. Choose 'Prenota Online' from the list on the left-hand side.
2. Below 'Ufficio', choose 'Visti'. Although it doesn't look much like a link, it'll take you to another page which says, for those of you who are curious and still don't know any Italian (you'll learn, don't worry): 'As of September 2009, an appointment must be made with the Visa Office of this embassy in order for an individual to apply for a Schengen visa. The appointment should be requested at least three weeks before the expected departure date. '
3. In the box titled 'Data di presunta partenza' type the date of when you expect to leave. It doesn't have to be the exact date, and in the box above you can add a note if you need to (it doesn't matter whether it's in Spanish or English). If not, leave it blank and click 'Conferma'.
4. Once you've pressed confirm, the calendar pops up: choose the date which is most convenient for you, and that's you done for now. Remember to take all the documents they request with you to your appointment, and if you can, present yourself nicely and wear suitable clothes! Image is everything, and you should dress for success! You'll be given letter online confirming your appointment, and you should take this with you printed out.

I was asked to bring the following documents with me when I applied for a student visa:

• A filled out visa request form, which can be found on this page. If you're not sure what to put for any of it, they will help you in the office and you can finish filling it out there.
• A valid passport (it's very important that you already have one by the time of your appointment). The embassy will keep hold of it until they give you your visa. It's important to make sure that the expiry date of your passport is at least three months after the expiry date of your visa: generally, they only give you a visa for the exact length of your studies, and not an extra month more or less. :(
• Recent passport-sized and style photos of yourself.
• Invitation/acceptance letter from the Italian university (from a teacher or from the chancellor, for example). The Erasmus office at the university put me in contact with a teacher from my faculty who I could ask to write me an acceptance letter: the visa office asked that it explicitly mention the semester dates I would be attending, for example the first semester, which was October 2012 to February 2013. I think they can also produce a document for you saying that you've been admitted.
• Proof of competency in the language classes will be taught in. If your classes will be taught in Italian, you should have at least A2 Italian. I took intensive classes for a month and the language school I attended gave me proof of my competency. I was barely A2 but they were super cool about it.
• Proof that you have somewhere to stay once you arrive in Italy. This could just be a hotel reservation or the name and address of someone you know who you'll be staying with.
• Copies of your bank statements from the past three months to show that you are financially competent. If your parents will be supporting you, you should bring their bank statements, too.
• A signed and dated letter from whoever is going to be providing or supporting your maintenance abroad, saying that they hold themself responsible for you. This should include your date of birth.
• Proof that the person mentioned above has a permanent job.
• Medical insurance papers stating that you will have uncapped medical insurance when you are abroad, or a signed letter stating that you intend to acquire medical insurance of this nature within the first eight days of your stay in Italy. Medical insurance of this type is cheaper in Italy, just make sure you choose a trustworthy company. I have a friend whose insurance policy never arrived - he'd bought it, but if anything happened to him, he didn't have any way of making his policy valid.
• Bring at least two copies of everything with you, and preferably well-organised to make your appointment as quick as possible and so that they don't make faces at you. XD

Fourth, and finally...

it's important that you get yourself a vaccination card, and get the necessary vaccinations for travelling abroad. Sometimes they don't ask you about them at the airport, but it's better to be safe than sorry and not able to fly. You can get a card at the IMSS for free, and if you've already had the vaccines done, you can get them added to the card there and then. If you haven't, you'll have to go to a doctor.

You can sort out your packing yourself, although don't take too much. Remember that there are places you can buy everything cheaply from in Italy, even clothes and shoes.

It's not too complicated, as you can see, so get yourself sorted and organise your time! That's honestly all it takes!

I hope I've helped you, and sorry for making it so long, though these things really need to be explained in detail.

Bye for now!

Luja

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