Erasmus Experience in Torino, Italy by Daniel (from Bratislava, Slovakia)

Why did you choose to go to Turin, Italy?

1. I liked Italy, been here several times before and loved everything about it. I wanted to go to some southern country rather than to the north or west, because I hoped for a relaxed atmosphere & warm and friendly people. In Torino, I found both in the end.

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2. At the same time I did not want just party & everything being easy, I wanted to learn something, so I preferred a renowned university city like Torino or Bologna before +/- party-only destinations by the sea, like Bari/Rimini.

3. Exclusive geographical location of Torino - close to mountains & ski-resorts, 2 hours from the sea, I expected beautiful views of mountains which I 100% got! I love it!

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4. I wanted to go to a completely new country for me and I wanted to learn the beautiful Italian language (I did not speak Italian at all when I arrived, now I do).

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

I am receiving scholarship for almost 5 months (18. September - 15. February).

I have received 490€ for 1 month. Before departure, I have received 80% of the sum (some 1950€). The remaining 20% I will receive after successfully passing my exams and after I return home.

490€ per month covers my basic needs which are accommodation (290) + food (200). Everything else I can only afford thanks to my personal savings, thanks to which I am able to enjoy my stay so much more.

What is the student lifestyle like in Turin?

Torino is a lively student city, there are so many students and young people here, many Erasmus and international students from all over Europe and the world as well. If you want to party, you should live in San Salvario (or at least not too far from there) - most popular part of town among students with lot of good bars and close to Centro, river Po and beautiful Valentino park.

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There are several student organisations and there is a major one for Erasmus students - ESN (Erasmus student network), they organize a lot of events, meetings, parties, sports, you will find something you like, for sure!

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

Definitely! I think that for me, choosing Torino for Erasmus might have been the best choice among available destinations I could have made. I am enjoying one of the best times of my life, to be honest.

The university is very good, although there are more and less demanding/quality courses, so make sure you pick the best ones for you.

The city/country/location might not be for everyone, however.

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For some people, winter might be too cold here or autumn too rainy. Sometimes, there is lack of organization or responsiveness, usually typical for southern countries, so you should remember this before you come here.

But there are so much more positives than negatives:

• friendly people and atmosphere in general,
• beautiful city,
• good university with lot of high quality courses to pick from,
• high quality of food and services,
• lot of things to do in Torino and Piemonte.

And many many many more!

What is the food like?

If you like Italian cuisine, you will like Torino!

They have very very good pizza in many pizzerias here. There should be a lot of good pasta & fish meals, too, although I have not tried much of these yet.

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In a canteen next to my school, they often have different kinds of meals from fish, which are very good.

Personally, I loved one special cheese from Val d'Aosta, unfortunately I did not mark the name :(

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There is a very strong coffee culture here, too, and they have top quality cakes and chocolate desserts of all types, just walk around the streets and see yourself!

Did it cost you to find your accommodation in Turin?

This was the most difficult task here!

If you do not have accommodation arranged before you arrive or soon enough, prepare for hell!

I have been looking for a place to stay for almost 1 month! Meanwhile I had to stay in an expensive student dormitory and I wasted so much time, money and energy on trying to find a place to stay.

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To avoid huge problems, I recommend you to do this:

You should arrive before the semester starts, to have time to look around the city, find your preferred district/part of town and use all your energy to find a room. Fun can wait, trust me, you want to do this first! You will thank yourself later.

Problems I encountered while looking for accommodation:

1. My university (UNITO) does not provide accommodation for Erasmus students, you can only stay in university residences for maximum 20 nights.

2. Most of the flat owners only want long-term contracts for 12 months at least (sometimes 10) - If you are coming for 1 semester only, it will be much harder to find a room.

3. There are A LOT of students coming in September - if you like a room, take it right away or someone else takes it 5 minutes later.

4. Prepare to use Italian while communicating with owners, I used Google Translate a lot.

How much does it cost to live in Turin?

For me personally, Torino is very expensive, but I came here to enjoy life, so I am spending a lot anyway.

If you really want, you can fit in 350-400€ per month in total, but for me it is something like 600€.

Accommodation and bars/pubs are pretty expensive. Services mostly too, but they are of high quality.

Life in Torino is pretty expensive overall if you want to enjoy.

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

For Spanish/Portuguese/French speaking people, Italian language should be pretty easy to learn in my opinion.

To me, many words and logic of the language are often similar to English, too.

If you are from other parts of Europe/the world and you have no experience with the language, you might have problems.

For UNITO Erasmus students, there are free Italian language courses of all difficulties, make sure you attend at least one of them.

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

Might be getting a low-cost flight ticket, you need to check the prices regularly and long before coming here if you want to catch something for 10-20€, though. If you live close enough, bus might be the cheapest solution.

Mostly there are flights only to one of the big airports of Milano (Malpensa/Bergamo), especially the cheap ones, but depends on where you are coming from.

If you can, fly to Torino directly or at least to Malpensa (it is much closer than Bergamo).

Be careful about transfers from the airports. I paid 22€ for bus from Malpensa to Torino, which is very much in my opinion. I'm sure there's a way how to save money on this.

Trains might be comfortable, but probably most expensive overall.

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

San Salvario and Centro are the party areas of Torino, you can find many cool bars/pubs/cultural events there with parties/events pretty much every day of the week.

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You can find many very good places to go out also in Vanchiglia and southern Aurora.

The bars are mostly very expensive, though. For a good beer, I have to pay 3-4 times the price compared to Slovakia, for example.

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

I have been to several good Pizzerias (Augusto, Sarchiapone, Miseria e Nobilta'), but I'm sure there are many more. So, just check the ratings on Google Maps or look inside a restaurant - if there are many people (especially Italians), it should be good.

You should try local specialty - Bicerin - hot chocolate drink.

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Try to taste some local vines and cheese from Piemonte & Val d'Aosta, too.

What good cultural sites are there to visit?

History lovers may appreciate Egyptian museum and several other museums (automobiles, cinema, royal armory,... ).

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Personally, I enjoy walking around the city streets/boulevards very much, it is such a nice city with beautiful, organized architecture, numerous parks and gardens and trees everywhere and also sort of historical feeling.

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If you are a football fan, you should see at least one Juventus match in my opinion. If you prefer to save some money on tickets, visit an FC Torino match.

There are several good bars with live music I have visited.

You should go to Basilica Superga and Monte dei Cappuccini for the spectacular views!

For mountain/nature/sports lovers, just look around and go to the Alps, there are top quality skiresorts around here and beautiful natural sites!

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

Maybe I found a place to live - I think this statement says it all.

Torino maybe is not the most spectacular destination for tourists but it is such a good place for life!

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I can almost only recommend:

1. Find a good room/place to live AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! Try to find your preferred part of town first, though. I suggest avoiding most parts of Aurora and Barriera di Milano, though.

2. Meet new people and enjoy being on your own and solving problems, you will learn a lot about life and yourself.

3. Minimize mistakes in the early period of your stay - this way you can save a lot of money, time & energy for later.

4. Solve problems and ask questions in person, many times I did not get a response at all or it was very delayed and not complete.

In case you had any questions, feel free to contact me! I would be very glad to help and share my experience of this beautiful city!