Studying in Italy
 

Our daughter will be studying in Rome from Jan/May '06. She will be living in an apartment building. Any tips for items she should take - or advice - She will be in the Travestere area.

I'm going to study in Milan and the program I'm going through and our study abroad office put up lists of like "essential" things that we need.

Things to bring:
Convertors (for all electronics)
Laptop and/or flashdrive for printing or saving documents
Clothes that you can layer


Things to buy there:
Sheets
Towels
Hair dryer

I'm going to study in Milan and the program I'm going through and our study abroad office put up lists of like "essential" things that we need.

Things to bring:
*Convertors (for any electronics)
*Chargers for phones, laptops, digital cameras, whatever
*Laptop and/or flashdrive for printing or saving documents (there are either internet cafes or printing centers)
*Clothes that you can layer
*Toothbrush and toothpaste
*Alarm clock
*About 100 dollars in Euros already, or an ATM card, but know whether or not your bank will charge and how much, along with 1 credit card, some older people bring two, but she is a student
*If she has glasses or contacts or any prescriptions (though the prescription should be in carry on I believe), make sure she brings them and enough to last the whole time she's there

For the carryon:
*Passport and Visa
*A notecard with instructions on how to dial the US in case of an emergency
*Book to read on the flight (it's 7 hours...)
*Change of clothes in case someone spills something on her at the airport, or on the plane (most airplanes supply a little toothbrush/toothpaste set for overnight flights)
*A bottle of water, (you can get dehydrated on flights cause of the dry air)

For me personally
*Digital camera
*GSM phone (if she doesn't have one, there are tons of renting services and phone card places she buy while there)
*A travel journal to record the whole trip

Things to buy there:
*Sheets
*Blankets (as it's cold and Italians have their heat set lower in homes)
*Towels
*Hair dryer
*You could probably do toiletries there, but if she's really specific about them, she might just want to bring hers, but put them in plastic bags because the air pressure might make them explode

I heard from another girl that went on my program that I should leave about 1/2 of one of my suitcases empty for space for things that I bring home

Each person on a flight is allowed to have 2 checked bags, each not weighing over 70 pounds, 1 carry on bag with certain dimensions, a laptop case, and for girls, a purse as well. Good luck!

Just a quick note - I believe some of the airlines have reduced the checked baggage allowance from 70 pounds to 50 pounds each. It would be a good thing to check ahead of time.

Is she going to John Cabot? My son will be there also. Friends have advised him to take all medications he might possibly need, a travel sheet and travel pillow (to use in hostels), plenty of converters/adapters, and at least two ATM cards. He is borrowing a backpack that has 2 parts: a larger section with a frame and a smaller, detachable backpack. It should be great for traveling. The frame part can be left in a hostel (he has a high-tech mesh bag that wraps around it and locks...it cannot be cut through).

I heard that it is not practical to mail things to students because they will take forever and will be charged an exorbinant customs fee. A friend in Spain had to go to Customs and jump through hoops just to retrieve a FedEx envelope with his airline ticket in it.

For shipping things home, there are some threads on this forum that give great advice to avoid steep costs.

If your daughter is even close to being packed/ready, consider yourself VERY lucky! My son is NOT organized...I wonder how he'll survive 5 months in a foreign country!

Lina:
Thanks. Yes, she will be at John Cabot. We are packing this week. One thing that we found helpful were some compression bags at Target. No vacuum is needed and she was able to get twice as much in a suitcase as she would have otherwise. I hope your son will have a wonderful stay.

My daughter was studying in Siena for 6 mo. last year (what an experience!) and the person that suggested to have a half empty suitcase was righton. As it was, she had to ship a bunch of stuff home (but she's a packrat like her dad) and it's very pricey.

A few things that were pricey there that she might want to bring are tampex and film and batteries for digital cameras.

I hope you plan to visit her there...believe me, it was a thrill for us and for her as well.

We just came back from Rome a week ago. It can be very cold there, and it is kind of a damp cold. I was glad to have brought long underwear.

My husband didn't have any and used his jogging gear, as it was also a thin and stretchy material.

Good tips.

pennylsa: If you ever feel the need to talk to another JCU parent, email me at [email protected]. Hopefully our kids will communicate with us often, but a secondary contact may be handy.

Thanks everyone for all the tips - each one has been helpful.