Life at University
of Padova, the world’s 5th oldest university
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Picture of the park Prato Della Valle in Padova |
Università
degli Studi di Padova is Italy’s second oldest university and was founded in
1222 by law students and professors in search for more academic freedom than
Bologna could offer them, according to the legend.
Padova
can be found just half an hour with train inwards northern Italy from Venice. Patavium as the Romans called the city,
was founded by the Trojan prince Antenore in 1183 BC. The city has been through
antiquity, Venetian and Austrian rule before it became a part of the Italian
republic in 1866.
My
name is Lise Benette and this is the exciting city I decided to spend my second
to last semester of my bachelor’s in biology at.
Words cannot begin to describe how much this semester in Padova has given me. There is so much more to exchange than the exciting courses you get to take. You make friends for life, you discover yourself in new ways, you get to explore new parts of the great world and you’re left with amazing memories.
For
living I chose to find a place on the private marked, I am satisfied with this
choice as I managed to find a quiet place with good space in the apartment of
an older Italian lady. The funds from Lånekassen and the Erasmus Scholarship
was more than sufficient enough for the cost of living and it also gave me the opportunity
to travel around!
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Photo from trip to Trieste |
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Photo from trip to Burano, in the Venetian Lagoon |
The University of Padova has a long tradition of student exchange and has about 1000 exchange students coming in every semester. The university is expanding their range of courses offered in English, which makes it quite easy to find courses that’s both interesting and fitting for your degree.
Coming
from The Norwegian University of Life Sciences the university feels quite
enormous with its almost 60 000 students. However, you don’t really feel
that lost in the crowd. The university and the city feel sort of familiar and
warm after a couple of weeks. The Campus of Agripolis is where you find
departments like Animal Care, Biotechnology for Food Sciences, Forestry and
Italian Food and Wine. There is also the veterinary hospital on Campus.
Agripolis is a wonderful Campus a little bit out of the city centre. It’s
surrounded by green and feels spatial and calm. In other words; Perfect for a
small-town girl like me.
Courses
The courses I took while in Padova was all in the Agripolis campus. I took the following courses:
The courses I took while in Padova was all in the Agripolis campus. I took the following courses:
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Comparative Animal Physiology
-
Physiological Basis of Pain, Suffering and Distress and General Ethology
-
Molecular Basis of Disease, Immunology, And Transmissible Diseases
-
Quality, Processing and Sensorial Analysis of Italian Wine
-
Food, Wine and Nutrition
All
courses have been exciting in their own ways and they’ve all been well made
courses. In particular, the Animal Care courses (the two physiology courses)
have been exciting because the whole degree of Animal Care is a completely new
degree in English for the university which gives very active students who are
listened to if there needs to be changes in their classes. This flexibility
really gives you the feeling that the professors want to work with the students
in order to make the classes as good as possible. The workload in these two
courses have been high but justified and I feel its knowledge I’ll have use of
later in my academic life.
The
course “Molecular Basis of Disease, Immunology, And Transmissible Diseases”
have really sparked my interest in parasitology and I think I’ve found the
inspiration I needed and hoped for in this class.
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Picture from field trip to an organic winery |
“Quality,
Processing and Sensorial Analysis of Italian Wine” has been a dream course from
beginning to end. The course was very well structured with interesting and relevant
topics to my degree. We went on visits to the local vineries which was splendid.
The sensory part of the course was probably my favourite. Apart from the
tasting of a wide variety of wines in class we also got proper training in how
to recognize different components in wine and how to recognize common wine
faults!
Living
abroad will eventually change you in some way or another, either you’re aware
of it or not. Upon my return home I feel more confident in myself, I feel more
able; able to take on new challenges. I am grateful for all the personal development
I’ve done. In addition to confidence, I can mention better social skills and
better ability to see solutions. It’s
also worth mentioning that living in a culture that sometimes is radically
different from your own can be quite frustrating at time but I’ve learned so
much from it and I am certain I’ll bring some of the Italian way of life with
me home to my everyday life as well. All
in all, I can say I am deeply grateful that I went on exchange and I am certain
I’ll do a second semester later in my degree!
I
highly recommend going on exchange to Italy. Caution: a love for Italian food and
wine, and newfound use of hand gestures may follow!
I'll conclude with my favorite quote of Thor Heyerdahl
“Borders I have never seen one. But I have heard they exist in the
minds of some people.”
Notes: Italia, University of Padova, Bachelor, Biologi,
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