Studying in Europe - could any option in the whole entire world sound any more enticing!? Getting two subjects done (which normally take twelve weeks each) in the space of 5 weeks.. whilst only attending classes two days a week and being able to travel and sight-see for the rest of the time!? They was my thoughts exactly! So I decided to apply,and luckily got accepted to study in Prato, Italy (a city located only a 30 minute train ride from the main city of Florence).
I had been to Italy a few years before, holidaying with my family and I really enjoyed it, but this time, I knew I was going to appreciate it so much more. 15-year-old me got to a point where I no longer appreciated beautiful churches and got tired out from early wake-ups and late nights of sight-seeing and walking around. I knew it was going to be different this time.
The second day I got to Italy, I thought that bad luck was going to be on my side for the trip as my friend Troy and myself got scammed at the main station in Rome when a stranger grabbed our bags and stormed off pretending to help us get to our platform - after they pulled up the deserted part of the platform we were meant to be on, they demanded $20 euro from the each of us (enough for two dinners!); but enough of the boring, sad and scary things.. the rest of the trip was a total blast! It was all just a tiny streak of bad luck at the start.
At first I was a little nervous attending the study tour as it was only myself and my friend Troy from my course/year level. The rest of the tour group were Communication Design students - but as the first night of the tour had drawn to an end, the friendships had already started to grow, and being surrounded by so many like-minded people (and being given the opportunity to travel around Europe with them) was refreshing and super exciting!
The city of Prato was absolutely gorgeous. Whilst hearing that it was one of the towns in Italy with the highest crime rate, I honestly could not have felt more safe throughout my time there. We were constantly travelling in groups and the small, quiet town was quite charming and had so much history and detail around every corner. Prato used to be a town containing a large focus on the textile industry in Italy - filled with textile factories and design houses. Now, it is not so dominant, however it does contain a gorgeous textile museum paying homage to this moment in time.
The sandwich shop owned by a lovely bald man was the highlight of each of my schooling days - I purchased my favourite smoked ham, mushroom cream and Swiss cheese toasted roll almost every single day! And the lovely selection of ice-cream stores, and stores that we don't have here in Australia kept me intrigued throughout my whole time spent in Prato.
On the two days that we weren't studying, we were given the opportunity to venture around the rest of Italy. Throughout the five weeks that I spent there I was able to visit: Florence, Tuscany, San Marcello, Venice, Burano (the most gorgeous, colourful town in the world!), Murano, Rome and Milan.
The trip to Milan was spontaneous and planned whilst we were in Italy - this was one of the best decisions we made and it ended up being one of my two favourite places (alongside Burano), due to it's overwhelming selection of galleries, historic sites, places to eat, shops and also since the WORLD EXPO was happening there during the time we were travelling! I had never heard too much about the World Expo, but read up about it whilst in Prato as there were signs all over Italy advertising it. The World Expo has been going on for over 100 years and some of the most well-known buildings and sites of the world have been a result of World Expo happening in their cities including: The Eiffel Tower and the Melbourne Exhibition Building!
World Expo was this amazing stretch of pavilions represented by hundreds of countries. The pavilions are designed by upcoming architects of the countries contributing to the Expo, and each country has to respond to the theme which for 2015 was: 'Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life'. Essentially, each country had to respond with a design or an idea to equalise food distribution around the world. I found this so fascinating as a design student, being able to observe amazing inventions like aquaponic set-ups and so much more! I'll pop some photos from World Expo below so you can see the beauty of the pavilions!
My other absolute favourite place in Italy was Burano. I cannot use a single word to describe Burano. It felt like it was part of a childhood storybook. It felt so happy and wonderful. It was a tiny town that you can reach by boat from Venice and it is just a quiet place where all of the houses are painted all of these beautiful, bright colours! It really was my happy place. There wasn't a whole lot to do there besides walk around and take photos of the beautiful colours surrounding you, but I loved that. I loved that you could be in a place and just soak in all of the beauty surrounding you without being distracted by anything else. You just enjoyed being in the moment every second you were there. I will also post some photos from Burano so you will be able to understand my love for this small town.
Overall, studying there was intensive but so worth it! It was so worth taking 5 weeks to study, travel, meet new friends, discover new places and learn a lot about myself. I would recommend any sort of exchange - it's so refreshing to be learning what you love in a completely different environment with completely different people. I found I pushed myself to the limit, learnt a lot about organisation and gained inspiration from so many different things surrounding me that shaped my designs whilst in Italy. If I could have gone for longer, I would definitely have done so in a heart-beat, but saying that, Prato was amazing and mixing education and travel would have to be one of the most amazing things I have ever experienced and I would recommend this to anybody and everybody! I truly miss you, Prato
- Christine.
Milan World Expo 2015.
Milan World Expo 2015.
Burano, 2015.
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