Type of housing:
A student residence 40mins walk from the campus!

Arranged by:
Host university

If returning, I would choose:
Apartment/House
Why? I did move out of the student residence and into an apartment after a few weeks because of the distance from the university, the unsafe location of the residence, and the tiny room I shared with another student.

Describe host city:
Student life dominates the city

Travel, Activities, Nightlife take/s place mostly outside the university/student environment

Course recommendations:
There is no online student system which makes choosing courses time consuming, especially given the modular system. Many courses I was led to believe I could do together ended up being scheduled for the same time. Times and days for individual courses were made available very close to the commencement of term, making it impossible to get my reding lists in advance of lectures. The information available on the website is very poor.

Language of instruction was:
Italian

Was learning Italian a key decision factor?
Yes, I wanted to improve my Italian

How much did you improve your Italian:
before: Basic phrases
after: Everyday knowledge (shopping, directions, etc.)

Main source of funding:
Family

Other sources of funding:
An ERASMUS grant

Work opportunities
I didn't explore any work options.

Personal spending habits:
It was neccessary for my sanity to travel outside Catania alot. I flew home and back twice also a few times. The rent was cheap but I do not pay rent at home.

I wish I had known ...
Many things. What Catania was relly like as a city. How much Italian men stare at you. How unbelievably bureaucratic Italian universities are. That my level of Italian wasn't near good enough.

In my opinion:
Stay home.