Studying Abroad Or Vacation

Gin0710

Gin0710

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Nov 11, 2014
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Would you rather study in Italy or go there on vacation?

I would love to study there, but since it hasn't worked out for a poor student like myself, I would much prefer to go there on vacation with my family. Give my girls an opportunity to try gelato and speak Italian. I know they would love it.
 
I've actually studied here for 2 years :P Started college at home and then came here to finish it. Well, I was already fixed on the idea of staying for good.

The costs of a good college are indeed pretty big... but, if you manage to demonstrate that you're not wealthy (like I did... by presenting the ISEE forms), they will reduce the costs, for instance I paid a little over €1,000 in tax for each year. Of course, it depends on the college, the first school I went to told me €1,000 was just the first installment, no matter what!! Pass :P

Oh, and if you manage to find used books, even better! They do cost a lot if you buy them new, and it's really not worth it (there are books that cost close to €100.... that's just too much!).

As far as vacations go, I've actually never visited Italy before I came here for good! And, unfortunately, now I don't have enough time.... you know how it it, between work and everything, you really don't feel like a tourist, and I keep saying I've got time, but yeah, truth is I'm missing a lot :P I've only started to visit different places here in the North in the last 2 years, it's been 6 since I've decided to become a resident! :D
 
I studied Italian in Firenze and then traveled around afterwards. I would like to live there one day, but not right now. You can study as a family the language for fun, but it depends where you want to go to in Italy.

There is a big North and South divide, and a vacation is always a good idea to check out an area and a way of life before you move there to study. I went to one place to study and left because it was too small and remote for me. The lunchtime was 12:30 to 5:30 each day for the one store in the village and I couldn't get used to it!
 
I have been studying fashion merchandising in Milan, Italy since September and I absolutely love it! This is actually my first time being in another country besides America and the experience has been tremendously eye opening. Its cool to be immersed in another culture for a period of time, I've learned so much from the Italian style aesthetic to how to make pastas. Being in Italy during Milan's Fashion Week was also very exciting. I had a chance to fashion shows of Italian designers. I had a chance to visit other cities in Italy too including Monza (nice, small town!), Florence (loved the architecture & Gucci Museum), and Lake Como (stunningly, beautiful city!). From visiting those cities I could recognize that they have maintained Italian tradition a bit more than Milan, which seems to be a bit more modern. Nevertheless, I am really enjoying Italy.
 
Cierra, that sounds like a lot of fun and I'm sure it's a great experience for you! What better place to study fashion than in Milan?
 
I think my kids would love the experience of being in Italy. Studying abroad would be a great way to learn the history and significance of Italy. I will always think Italy is a great vacation spot.
 
Gin0710 said:
Would you rather study in Italy or go there on vacation?

I would love to study there, but since it hasn't worked out for a poor student like myself, I would much prefer to go there on vacation with my family. Give my girls an opportunity to try gelato and speak Italian. I know they would love it.
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I've never been to Italy but would love to visit there and perhaps live there. I'm learning Spanish, and Spanish and Italian might be similar enough that I could learn Italian so whether I live or visit there, I won't be totally clueless.
 
I think studying abroad gives you cultural exposure like no other. It gets you completely immersed in the country and you can get the feel for everyday life. While on vacation, you are on limited time and only do the things that tourists do. You see the must see places, but miss out on much of where the everyday people go and hang out. To go live in another country like Italy for a period of time would be a fabulous experience, but I would take a vacation to pamper myself any time as well.
 
Well, you can always follow Rosie's example - start the college at home and then finish it somewhere abroad. I don't know which choice I'll make. For the time being, I'm staying home. But I would love a year in Italy, especially as they have excellent programs for the students of the Latin language, such as myself. I would love to see how they're organising the curriculum and such. However, it may be impossible for me as I don't speak Italian... still, it's a pipe dream.

Visiting a country on a holiday is always an excellent idea! You just need to know where to go! And, you must organise your trip well. It would be a shame to spend it in a room when you have so many things to see and do...
 
I studied in Rome for a semester, and it was a bad choice. The classes I had there were nowhere near as interesting as the classes I could have taken in my home university. So even if I would enjoy some "special courses" in Italy (taking a cooking class, for example, sounds cool, or some art history class, too), I'm sorry I've traded my normal education for a semester in a Traduction&Interpretation Italian program.

I like to travel there, but it's also not quite what I prefer. I'm not sure what would be the right thing for me. Knowing myself, it'd be probably something specific, like a journey or a project that goes through Italy...!
 
I would love to study abroad, I think it's better than a vacation. I think that studying abroad is an incredible experience which few people get to have, and I'd love to be able to do that at some stage.
 
I wish I'd had the opportunity to do an exchange or something when I was at high school or university - it would have been an incredible experience and to study the language whilst being immersed in it daily would have been a brilliant way to learn...one day, maybe.

These days though vacationing is my priority because then I get to enjoy it with my husband and our baby too!
 
I am italian but I can empathize with a foreigner that have to chose between the two option you gave me. I would say that personally I won't never come to study in Italy if I start from a country like USA for example. This is just because that the italian school system is really one of the worst in EU. I'd surely go in vacations though.
 
I think studying abroad does open new opportunities to you and is beneficial if you get the opportunity. Being 38 years old now I think that ship as already sailed a long time ago for me, but I would have loved to have been given the chance.

Going to a place just on vacation is entirely different than going to a country to live and study for a couple of years, you'd get more of a sense of the culture and it would add to your life skills that a lot of companies ask about these days.
 
pwarbi said:
I think studying abroad does open new opportunities to you and is beneficial if you get the opportunity. Being 38 years old now I think that ship as already sailed a long time ago for me, but I would have loved to have been given the chance.

Going to a place just on vacation is entirely different than going to a country to live and study for a couple of years, you'd get more of a sense of the culture and it would add to your life skills that a lot of companies ask about these days.
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I agree. I think that if you live in the country for one or two years, you'll definitely start to feel more comfortable with the culture. Living in a different country for a few years in itself sounds great, studying or not.
 
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Studying, working and living abroad is something that everyone should do at one point in their life just to be able to say they've done it, in my opinion. Even if it's just a temporary holiday job for a few months, it opens people up to a different way of living and shows them that there's more to life out there than the world back home, and can put a different perspective on things.
 
I think both experiences are completely different. When you study in Italy you are immersing yourself in the culture and essentially living there for several months. I think this is best for getting a feel what it is like to live like a local. Also, being there for a longer period of time you understand things and visit places you may not have the opportunity to when you are traveling on vacation. However, when you travel to Italy as a tourist you often get to experience the opportunity with the people you love. It can get very lonely studying abroad if you don't have good friends with you.
 
A lot of the time, the only chance people get to experience another country is when they visit there on their holiday, and sometimes you can be too caught up in being a tourist and trying to makes sure you see as much of that country and visit as many places as you can.

By doing that though, you don't really get to experience the real way of life, so if a person doesn't get the opportunity to study abroad then they should jump at the chance.
 
I would much rather to go to Italy on vacation rather than to study. Maybe when I've seen it all and is now used to the Italian system then I may consider studying there.
 
I think a lot will depend on what your studying to be honest. I'd imagine that the main reason to study in Italy would be because what your studying would be relative to the Italian way of life.

I'm not sure easy it would be to apply to study in Italy either,,but as with most European countries there would be set criteria you'd have to meet before they'd let you anyway, so it won't be that easy.
 
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