Pavia
16:00
When people ask me where I'm going in Italy, it's proven easiest to say "near Milan". Most people haven't heard of Pavia. I hadn't until I actually applied there. For a lot of people, the biggest decision you can make about the year abroad is whether to spend the time studying at another university or working.
I considered working in Italy for about ten minutes. It only took one draft of
a clunky covering letter that had
more red ink on it than black by the time my Italian teacher was done with it for me to realise that studying was my best option.
So I downloaded the necessary application forms (all both of them) and started
swatting up on universities.
Originally, I didn't want to be "near" Milan; I wanted to be right in the centre of the city. As a book-loving humanities
student with a taste for music, theatre and shoes, Milan seemed like my own little
corner of paradise. It had the perfect balance of highbrow culture and voracious consumerism.
I wanted in. On my application form I waxed lyrical about its status as the cultural
hub of Italy and how the educational benefits of living in a city with such a
rich heritage would know no bounds. I convinced myself that my borderline
sycophancy made me a dead cert for one of the few coveted places at this
university.
If I’m totally honest with myself, I suspect that what I actually liked about Milan was that it was big and not Rome. I have been to Rome and I would encourage everyone reading this to do the same. While its plus points are plenty, among them is an overwhelming feeling of total chaos which is fun and exciting for a holiday destination but a little off-putting for a place of residence. To someone who has spent almost her entire life in a commuter-belt town of 18 000 people, Rome was dizzyingly hectic. No amount of travel on the London Underground could prepare me for Roman trams, which are fuller than the meeting schedule of Silvio Berlusconi’s legal team, or the daunting task that is crossing the road (for future reference, your best bet is to tag along with a group of nuns). In retrospect, of course, I now realise that Milan is probably not that different.
Unsurprisingly, I was not the only Italian student at Bristol who
wanted to study in Milan. Apparently I was not the most articulate, either, as
I did not get allocated a place there. I didn’t even get my second choice,
Turin, which I will admit to having carelessly picked at the last minute
because it was in the north and looked big. I expected to feel disappointed and
bitter for several weeks but it took a surprisingly short amount of time to
mourn the fake, Milanese life I had imagined for myself and turn to planning
the real one. First stop: Google, to find out a little more about Pavia.
Pavia is not a very big city. It's barely even a city at all. Where Milan ranks number 2 of Italian
cities in terms of population size, Pavia is somewhere around 80. It seems to be mostly dominated by the university and a lot of churches.
Università degli Studi di Pavia, where I’ll be spending five months next
academic year, was founded in 1361 – 548 years before Bristol received its
royal charter. A Google image search of my new temporary Alma Mater presented
me with statue-festooned courtyards, classical archways and lecture halls that
resembled amphitheatres. The Cathedral of Pavia allegedly influenced the design
of St Peter’s Basilica and Da Vinci is known to have contributed to the
project. In typical Italian fashion, it was under construction for nearly 400
years, having been begun in 1488 and finally completed in its current form in
1885. According to the bastion of reliable information that is Wikipedia, it has
since collapsed a few times and been rebuilt with reinforced concrete. Very Italian.
Judging from student websites found on Google, it's a fun place to be at night provided you don't object to a fairly limited choice of venues. I've been assured that there are places that sell great ice cream and cocktails (occasionally at the same time). The committee in charge of organising activities for international students is very active so hopefully there will be no shortage of people to visit these establishments with, provided I can find some who have a space in their friendship group for a pale girl with a fringe who smiles nervously and says, "Si," a lot.
So, despite it not being my first choice, I have to say I’m excited at
the prospect of spending five months in Pavia. If it’s a good enough residence for Albert Einstein, it’s good enough for me. And if the yearning for busier roads, higher prices
and people with much nicer clothes than me gets too much, Milan is a 25 minute
train-ride away.
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