Università degli studi di Milano-Bicocca - Halls

University of Milano-Bicocca

• My opinions are based on my experience in 2009/10 and are exactly that, my own. I hope they help in some way.
• Link: http://www.unimib.it
• The University is at the edge of the city, really close to a village called Sesto San Giovanni where you'll find one of the halls.

Accommodation

My first piece of advice is to not think about what Bicocca offers, but to go to the halls, which cost 300 euros a month.

• There are two, both with pros and cons. I was lucky enough to live in both, 5 months a piece, so I know them pretty well.
• First Halls: U22 - in Sesto San Giovanni, known officially by Erasmus students as Parco Crew.
• Second Halls: U12 - on campus, known as Hotel Vizzola.
• The way to go about it when I was there was to apply for Parco Crew as your first choice then if it was full you'd get a place at Vizzola, as there are limited places.
• Knowing an Albanian can be as useful as an Italian.

Videos

• Official: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4lDyW6Kf1w - at about 3 minutes it talks about the Hotel Vizzola halls.
• Another: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dpVvIgDQOY

'Parco Crew' Halls

I met most of my Erasmus friends here. I had the best time here as well, we had poker tournaments, parties, late nights. It's definitely the best halls for flat parties, probably because of how it's built, long corridors with all the rooms (mini-houses).

• The kitchens are in the rooms, which is pretty good as you can cook whenever you want, but bad in the sense both the kitchen and the beds are in the same room.
• There's a TV area with loads of sofas. It's a great place to meet people... after a month or so you will've met everyone.
• There's two study areas, and by night they are games rooms (be careful, the Italians are pretty competitive). In fact, there's a story that a Galician guy called P. B. managed to get quite a bit out of them.
• There's a free gym.
• You have to sign up to use the washing machines and they cost a euro. There are tumble dryers too.
• You've got to grab two buses to get to uni (a perfect excuse to stop going), take a 30 minute walk, or take the bus then the metro.
• They give you the option to rent a bike, €100 for if something happens, but they give it back to you at the end. I'd say it's better to just buy one for €20 and then you don't have to worry about something happening and losing even more money.
• There's a park next-door with basketball courts and 7 aside football, free to use as well.
• There's a coffee machine that costs 0. 20€.
• You have to take out and recycle your own rubbish.

'Vizzola' Halls

I moved to these halls to force myself to study, I learnt Italian as there were practically no Spanish people. I met a small group of other Erasmus students from all over Europe. Being actually on campus, my uni attendance, and performance, improved, so in a sense I've got to thank Petrusca for the change.

I passed everything and as Parco Crew was 'close by' I came here some nights when I fancied it (should have come, ahah). It's the best halls for studying, again because of the way it's built, with small corridors and shared kitchens. It's harder to meet people, usually you only meet those you share a kitchen with.

• The kitchens aren't in the rooms. There is a timetable though.
• The studies are private and pretty big.
• There are two fridges, one in the kitchen and one in your room. Obviously, as they are shared, you need to keep your wits about you in terms of food etc, you'll learn with time.
• Coffee machine costs €0. 40.
• There's a TV area that doesn't have a TV. It's a good place to study, but again closes at a certain time.
• There's a gym, but you have to pay.
• You don't have to sign up for the washing machines, and they cost 0. 50€. Again, there are tumble dryers as well.
• As it's on campus, you can get up just before your lectures and go back for a nap whenever you want.
• The uni itself has sports facilities on campus, so you can use these and then take a shower back home.
• There's a tram just underneath the halls, great for going to Alcatraz (a club).
• You can leave your rubbish in the kitchen and the cleaners take it out for you.

Facilities

They are new, and there are escalators.

Quality of learning / is it easy to pass?

There are some unis that get their reputation because it's hard to pass. But in this case, we're talking about Erasmus, you don't have an average and in most cases it depends on what you study. I've had modules where I've needed to work really hard to pass, and others not so much.

For example, a friend that does Economics/Business Studies was asked where she was from and they just gave her 30 based on that. Or another example, some girl friends all had the exact same higher mark than the boys for that module. It's not all like this, but you get the point.

Activities

There's always something to do... it's Erasmus!

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Take care guys, and have an amazing Erasmus experience.

Pablo Mayo.

(Obviously I, Jake Entwistle, translated Pablo's original post)