My experience in Lugano
Name: Silvia Alazne García Nonay
Home university: Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain
Study Field: Business Administration
Passport photograph:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Why did you choose to come to Switzerland?
First of all, I chose Lugano because when I was 16 years old, I came here with
my family and I fell in love with this place. Also, Switzerland is a beautiful
country where you can travel around and see completely different cultures and
places. I’ve been in Switzerland many times before and I really like to live here.
Also I’m coming from a big city and sometimes it feels good when you make a
change in your life to smaller place.
Secondly, because the Università della Svizzera Italiana offers many degrees and
Masters, and the possibility to study in English.
Why did you choose Università della Svizzera italiana?
Because I love the city and I saw that this University is very international. Here I
have met many good friends from different countries, and also I have improved
my English and I learned some Italian. It’s a good place to learn different
languages during your studies.
What did you learn about Switzerland?
I learned that it’s an international country; despite that it is a small country.
Here you can see and learn different cultures and lifestyle. Each part of
Switzerland (French, German, Italian and Romansh) has different landscapes
and all of them are beautiful. In my opinion you can learn a lot by travelling
around Switzerland and enjoying life here.
In Lugano, the landscape is awesome, the mountains and the lake make this city
a place where you want to stay. In my opinion, walking around the lake in the
evening is something that you can enjoy every day like the first day. Also a good
advantage is that all is near and you don’t need your own transport or public
transport. You can go by foot wherever you want and at the same time enjoy the
city.
Brief description of Lugano campus and learning experiences:
Preparative Intensive Italian Language Course / Courses offered at
Università della Svizzera italiana / Methods of teaching
The campus of Lugano is small but it has all you need. It has 7 buildings where
classes are taught Economics, Communication and Informatics. The Lab is a
open 24-hour to study.
The Preparative Intensive Italian Language course is an excellent course which
you can learn the most important things in Italian in just one month. In my
opinion, I learned a lot despite I started from scratch. The organization and the
textbooks used have served me a lot in my learning. Also, the intensive course is
one month before the classes start, so it’s a good way to meet people.
The University also offered different language course (English, Italian, German,
French, etc.).
About the subjects that you would take, if you are an exchange student you can
take subjects from Bachelor and Master at the same time. This means that you
can take all the courses in English (Master) and you can mix it with Italian
(Bachelor). Also you can take different subjects from different Master (it doesn’t
matter if the Master is from Economics or Communication).
Free time activities: What activities do you suggest in Lugano? Did
you apply to some activities organized by the sport service?
The sport service offers many different activities: snow sports, art of navigation,
outdoor sports, fitness, arts (Judo, Kung fu, boxing…), games and events
(Squash, Rugby, Tennis…).
Also, they offer different free activities every week. For example, every Monday
and Wednesday they offer free classes of fitness and aerobics.
Social activities: Relationship with other USI students / Relationship
with other exchange students.
The best advantage from USI is that it’s a very international university. Here
you can meet many people from different countries. Talking about my
experience, this is the best point I can point out.
Also, the university prepares many social activities that help you to interact with
others. They make parties, international dinners, excursions and many sport
activities.
On the other hand, are many social activities that you can do depend the
seasons. Some of the activities are: ice skating, Lido (is a club where you can go
in the summer and enjoy the swimming pool and beach of Lugano), climbing, go
to the aperitif (event that different pubs make every Thursday, you go and you
can eat all that you want, you just have to pay the drink), hiking tours…
Accommodation in Lugano / USI Home
My accommodation was in USIHome. This is the residence of the University
and it’s really close (2-3 min by foot) and it’s a small place (aprox. 30 people).
Here you can meet many people from different countries and all of us are like a
little family. One of the advantages is that you live and share your life with
people who live here and are slowly becoming a family.
What would you say / suggest to a person who is thinking about
coming to Lugano as an exchange student?
It’s a good university for studying economics, communication, and informatics.
An advantage is that every exchange student can do Master subjects in English
so you can learn many languages at the same time.
I would like to say that just come, because you can’t know how incredible and
beautiful this place is, if you don’t come and see it. Also think in all the trips that
you can do because Switzerland is in the middle of Europe.
Parco San Michele, Monte Bre
Aperitif
Milano
Luzern
Walk around Lugano
Lake of Lugano
Nightlife
Lido
Ice-skating