Erasmus Experience in Treviso, Italy by Raquel

Why did you choose to go to Treviso, Italy?

I had not any other chance. It was the only place my school had an agreement with.

How long is the scholarship? How much money do you receive to help you with living costs?

Three months.

1050€ in total for accommodation and food and refund of a small percent of the money spent in public transport and flights. Keep all these invoices and receipts!

What is the student lifestyle like in Treviso?

At the moment is nonexistent due to the Covid (Treviso is a red zone these days and we are not allowed to go out just to study/work and first basic needs. Shops only open in the morning (until 12:30pm)

Would you recommend the city and the University of Treviso to other students?

The Centro Storico is nice and small but there are no parks or green areas. I miss them a lot.

What is the food like?

Restaurants serve pasta every day as first course. In supermarkets you can find almost everything to cook at home.

Only takeaways for the moment. Even cafés are closed due to Covid!

Did it cost you to find your accommodation in Treviso?

A lot. They have told about this and I corroborate it.

There were many communication problems with Eramusu from the beginning till the end. So much the case that I thought everything was fake as they retained their commission and the first rental fee in deposit and no accommodation was confirmed in 20 days.

Actually, I had to travel and stay in a hotel for 5 days till Eramusu made an agreement with a local real estate. We knew later that Eramusu had had many problems to find an apartment in the city centre (they had been offering me places which were far from downtown and university)

How much does it cost to live in Treviso?

If you are travelling for less than 3 months, you are going to have many problems to find accomodation.

If you have to use the services of real estate, they´ll charge you an additional monthly rent for their services + Eramusu fee.

My rental fee for a room is 400€ a month, expenses included. The flat is quite old but everything works well (no microwaves in Italy!!!)

First monthly travel card to use buses: 52€.

Is the language easy to get to grips with? Are there language courses available at the University?

It is not so easy at the beginning because you mix English, Italian and Spanish but I hope I´ll have a grasp of it in the following months.

Apparently my school contracted the services of a local agency to help me with the accomodation and the first contact with the company I am doing my on- the- job training (I am a Vocational Training student). For the moment their help has been very poor and I have had to manage everything on my own. Supposedly I have to get a 60-hour course of Italian from them.

What's the easiest or most economical way to travel to Treviso from your city?

Ryanair is slightly cheaper than Iberia and uses Treviso airport (at 10min driving from downtown). However, this flight is not operative at the moment due to Covid so I had to fly to Venice Marco Polo airport with Iberia (100€ with big suicase included). Then I hired a taxi to go to Treviso (80€ for 30km!!). Take the bus, okay?

Where would you recommend to go on a night out in Treviso?

I wish I would have tried that but I haven´t. My flatmates are not students, they are working and older than me, we get on well but I don´t hang out with them.

And for eating? Can you recommend some good restaurants in Treviso?

None for the moment

What good cultural sites are there to visit?

Just open spaces for the moment

Is there any other advice that you could give to students going to Treviso in the future?

There is a kind of initial cultural crash even though we are all Mediterranean, our way of seeing things is somehow different.