New Lifestyles & Learning Styles #HogsAbroad in Italy

As I have been living abroad for over one month now, I have begun to settle in and fully adjust to the Italin lifestyle. I attend four different course lectures and laboratory sessions every week at Politecnico di Torino which occupies most of my time throughout the week. But, in what free time I do have, I have been planning various trips as well as traveling throughout the local region of Italy. So far, I have been on a weekend trip to Milan, Bardonecchia, and Sant’Ambrogio. I have mostly done sightseeing and tourist activities in these cities such as watching a football game, skiing, and hiking. I also signed up for a weekend trip to Prague, Czech Republic with the staff at my dormatory, Collegio Einaudi, during March 15th through 20th. This trip has been the highlight of my travels so far, as I spent five days in the Prague city center. Most of my time spent in Prague was sightseeing and visiting various museums. I have been recently planning many trips for future weekends throughout the semester. Some of my future travel plans include the following cities and activites

• Bologna/Modena – Ferrari/Lamborghini museum
• Nice/Monaco – Formula One Grand Prix
• Venice - Sightseeing
• Rome - Sightseeing

As I am writing this blog post, I am preparing to leave for my week-long Easter Break trip. Me and six other American students are traveling to Zurich, Switzerland for two days, then to Munich, Germany for another two days, and finally to Amsterdam, Netherlands for three days. We have many activities planned that will keep us very busy for the seven days we are gone.

After Easter break I will return to school with a fresh mindset ready to learn new material. So far school has been a slight challenge to adjust to, as the entire experience is different than what I am used to in Western culture. For example, going to school is very relaxed since attending the lectures is not mandatory and there are no regular homework assignments. The teaching style is also much different than the style in the United States because it focuses on a more abstract, theoretical thinking mindset opposed to the analytical problem solving techniques that I am used to. Because of this, I have had to change my approach to learn new material. I have begun to enjoy this style of teaching because I believe it allows me to have a deeper understanding of the material which translates into long term retention of the material.

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Mechanical Engineering major Kody Piccirilli is spending the spring 2018 semester in Italy with our U of A Exchange Program at Politecnico di Torino with the help of our Office of Study Abroad Scholarship.

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