My experience at the Junghans campus in Giudecca - Venice

Hi everyone!

I would like to share my experience at the Junghans campus in Giudecca with you in this article. If you are considering several campuses in Venice, this article could be very useful to you and could help you to decide which one to go for.

I'm perhaps a little harsh when it comes to ratings, so don't take only my word for it! I would advise you to look into the rules and regulations of the halls of residence and what you're provided with to really be prepared and have the best experience possible.

You could also see this article as a campus guide, stating all the information which I would have loved before arriving here.

Good reading!

A little history...

The Junghans campus is located on the island called "Giudecca".

The Giudecca island is one of the biggest islands in the Venetian Lagoon, just south of the central islands, and it's separated by the Giudecca canal.

Historically, this island was once home to large palaces and gardens, and became an industrial area, at the beginning of the 20th century, with shipyards, as well as a cinema studio.

A large part of the industry declined after the Second World War, but it is once again considered as a calm residential area.

Giudecca is known for its long quay and its churches, and is home to "Il Redentore" designed by Palladio. The island was home to a flour mill, the "Molino Stucky", which was transformed into a luxury hotel and an apartment complex.

Acess to the Junghans campus

The stop you need to catch the "vaporetto" (water bus) is called Giudecca Palana. It has 2 good transportation lines: line 2 and line 4.1. Line 2 stops at all the stations, and line 4.1 is the express line which stops at the main stops!

If you take line 2, you can get to Zattere in less than 5 minutes!

And to go to the other part of the area Santa Marta (where most of the university courses take place at Ca Foscari and IUAV) right from the campus, it takes around 15 minutes (5 minutes to the Vaporetto stop and then 10 minutes on the water bus).

The way to the campus is really simple: always go straight down the pleasant little alleyways, then turn right, cross the bridge, and voilà!

Finding my way around the campus

Of course, getting to the residential area of the campus is easy, but I admit that I had trouble finding the main entrance (which is "hidden" behind a cafe).

I personally had to ask a friend to help me out with the directions, because if not, I would have started walking in the other direction.

The campus is made up of 3 main buildings "A", "C1" and "C2" (I'm still looking for the building B, if anyone finds it, let me know).

As I explain in this article (a type of diary entry - one week by myself), when I arrived at the campus, I was incredibly lucky to have bumped into an old student tutor near the entrance, who was able to guide me round and answer all of my questions in detail.

She also explained to me that the campus was very empty at the moment because of the coronavirus: many students had gone back home.

Anyway, this very kind Italian girl showed me all the rooms at the campus: common rooms, kitchens, laundry rooms etc...

She took me all the way to my room (which was actually her old room, what a funny coincidence).

I'm one of the rare people who have a single room, because the campus mainly has shared rooms.

And fortunately, she told me that it wasn't obligatory to leave the keys at reception every time you go out of the residence! It's something to learn very quickly.

Finding my room

When I got to my room, it was clean in itself, even if I found some orange peel, hair and cobwebs in the bathroom. But I imagine that it really depends on how the previous student treated the place before they left.

On the whole, I really love the room! I like the look of the simple light wooden furniture. The space is nice, and not too small. The desk is also big and there's lots of space for me to work.

Speaking of work, there are some study rooms available, but you have to reserve them and ask for the keys and take them back to reception afterwards.

The good thing is that the reception is open 24 hours a day, every day. The bad thing is that some reception staff don't speak English, which can be a bit challenging for some people.

But if you need help or advice on anything, you can normally find a note in the halls with the name and number of the two student tutors who generally speak English really well. You can ask them to add you to the Facebook and WhatsApp groups where you can see posts and updates from people all over the campus!

How to get Internet access on campus?

Amongst other things to know, is that there's no Internet. Definitely a massive weak point for me! The residence offers a USB dongle for €11 a month with the equivalent of 20 gigs (also per month), but I honestly don't recommend it at all!

If you regularly watch videos or films on YouTube or Netflix, you will quickly use up your Internet. (to give you an idea, I used up 10 gigs in only three days... oopsie)

That's why they advised me to invest in an Italian SIM card with a good Internet package. The best and most recommendable network providers by students from the campus are Illiad and Ho (which cost an average of €8 a month for 50 gigs)

But if you decide to go for the residence's USB dongle either way, you have to pay a 100€ deposit and you'll be reimbursed when you hand it back in at the end.

Some things to take into consideration...

Amongst other things to anticipate (which I hadn't thought of before arriving) is that duvets and pillows are not provided. However, you can ask for extra blankets (because personally, I was cold during my first night there)!

Another thing to think about is that the walls are not sound proof. You can easily hear conversations in the hallway, and you can hear the conversations from the room next door a little too. It's for that reason the Italian girl I bumped into asked to change rooms: to the one I'm currently in. She found it too noisy, and as she is a light sleeper, she had many sleepless nights.

(Luckily for me, I don't have a problem falling asleep when it's noisy).

The cost of staying in the residence

In terms of cost, you have to pay €330 a month for a single room (electricity, water and heating is included), €280 for a two-person shared room and €240 for a three-person shared room. All the rooms have their own private bathroom.

You have to make the payment at the beginning of each month through a bank transfer online (via the ESU Venice platform).

You have to clean and manage your own rooms, but if you really need it, there's also a cleaning serviced offered for €15 a week.

It costs €1 to use the washing machine, the same for the tumble dyer, but it's free to use the iron and ironing board. (and don't worry, that's the same for the television in the common rooms).

They will also ask you to make a deposit of €500 to reserve your room. You will be reimbursed at the end of your stay.

Strict rules

Another thing which deceived me a bit, is that you can't invite anyone over (anyone from outside of the campus that is) for more than 3 hours and only between 8 o'clock in the morning and 11 o'clock at night, and so they can't stay over. I understand that because it's to avoid making noise, but I would have loved to have had my friends from France stay, they really wanted to visit me, without having to spend a fortune on accommodation in Venice.

Amongst other rules (which provoke many students), are the ones which forbid food in your rooms, or at least have any hot plates or other objects which can potentially cause a fire.

Another thing: you can expect people to steal food. That happens quite often unfortunately... you will also often find that the sinks are blocked because of the bits of food stuck inside the sink... That happened to me the day I arrived, and the kitchen had to stay closed and inaccessible for a while.

Oh and also, if you want to know, there are coffee machines and snack machines (okay it's probably not that important but who knows, it could make a difference to you).

Another quite funny thing but which often happens is that, it's not recommendable to leave your food on the windowsill. Normally it's forbidden, but many students do it during winter to keep their food cool without having to go back and forth to the kitchen. Except if there's a big chance that in the meantime pelicans come to pinch your food!

Some useful information...

Something to take note of is that if you're going to stay at the Jugnhans residence for the whole year, you have to find other accommodation for the Christmas holidays, because the campus will be closed during this period (from around 20th December to 7th January).

One positive point, is the recycling! It's very important to me, so I am really happy that they have installed different bins in the kitchens and rooms. Who knows, maybe one day they will also have a bin for compost? (That would be great)!

There are also some maintenance checks (they said that at least once a month technicians come to our rooms to check that everything is working properly. So, I hope for your sake that you haven't left any hot plates lying around or any other kitchen utensils hmm hmm... if not, there's a €100 fine)!

A little arrival procedure

On arriving, they will also send you an email kindly asking you to answer a questionnaire regarding the state of your room on arrival. The person after you will do the same, and that way ESU Venice can compare the state of the rooms before and after. It's also to make sure that everything goes well, and to know how they can improve. So, don't forget to do it, it doesn't take long and it's very useful (I insist because I almost forgot to do it out of pure laziness haha).

Pets are forbidden (sorry for those of you who wanted to bring your hamsters) and smoking is also forbidden in the buildings and rooms (you have to go outside if you want to smoke).

The atmosphere at the Giudecca residence

The atmosphere is pleasant because Giudecca is a very Venetian peaceful place with very few tourists (hardly any at all during quiet periods).

The residence is situated next to a school and playing parks, so it's still quite a lively area, and noisy.

You can also find a supermarket called "in Coop" just a 3-minute walk away. Generally, students even prefer to take the vaporetto (water bus) to go to Conad located in Zatterere, because the prices are lot more appealing there.

Contacting the managers

If you're interested in the campus, you can reserve your spot now by contacting the organisation ESU Venice, using this email address: [email protected]

Conclusion

This residence - otherwise known as the Junghans campus - provides you with all the small necessities for your accommodation (but don't expect to use the private sports facilities at the Santa Marta campus haha). Junghans is still one of the most affordable residences in Venice.

You'll enjoy living there, the other students are really nice (yes okay, that's not really just linked to only this residence, but it's still a plus).

If you prepare yourself well (not like me), by bringing all the necessary items with you, for the kitchen, WiFi, and sheets, normally you won't need anything else!

I hope that my article will be useful to you.

Thank you for reading and see you soon!