The year of Carlo, Giuseppe, Evan and Xinjie has already started

A CONVERSATION WITH THE FIRST FOUR STUDENTS WHO ARRIVED AT THE WELCOME LOUNGE, WHERE FRESHERS CAN ASK ALL THE INFORMATION THEY NEED BEFORE THE ACADEMIC YEAR BEGINS

It is still early and there is only the welcome team at the Welcome lounge set up in via Roentgen for the reception of new students, completing the final preparations while they wait for the freshers to arrive. On the desk, which is divided into two sections – one for international students, the other for Italian students – welcome kits are ready to be distributed: the folders contain a variety of documents, including a programme of the events, a guide to the University’s courses, a city map and a brief relocation guide for those coming from abroad.

The very first student to peek out from the doors of the atrium is Carlo Alberto Guida: “After my BA in economics, in Pavia, I wanted to specialize in finance, and Bocconi’s MSc is one of the best in Europe. I arrived here yesterday and I went to a training session of the basketball team: clearly they’re very competitive, I hope I will manage to play with them and to arrange that with the study load. I know there is also a student association for microfinance and I’d love to join it!” Immediately Giuseppe Renna, a student of the MSc in Accounting, financial management and control, approaches the desk. Giuseppe, who is from Bari, had decided long ago that his Master’s degree was going to be at Bocconi, “because of its reputation and all the professional opportunities it offers”, he explains, before heading towards his statistics prep course with Carlo Alberto.

In the meantime, the first two international students have arrived too: Evan Dipetrillo, whose surname reveals Italian origins, comes from Rhode Island. “I’m a student of the master in Economic and social sciences. I hope I will have the chance to work on independent research projects too, I chose this course because it gives excellent placement opportunities for PhDs.” Xinjie Luo, who is looking for the classroom of her prep course, comes from a town close to Shanghai, but she has already studied in Modena as an exchange student: “During the BA I studied Italian language and culture. Then I decided to change and I chose ACME (Economics and management in arts, culture, media and entertainment), hopefully I will manage to explore Italy a bit more and to acquire new skills during the internships!”

The Welcome lounge is the right place to find the answers to all sorts of questions, ranging from housing to the schedule of welcome activities, how to get around Milan and what to do, to various deadlines and didactic information, but also to meet new course-mates, as the tutors for international students Savannah Hasselo (Dutch, Acme) and Jacqueline Nguyen (Vietnamese, Economic and social sciences) say. “Tutors are MA students recruited from the broadest possible number of courses, to make sure that new students can find someone able to reply to more specific questions related to the programmes, not only during the Welcome Days but also throughout the whole year. We decided to participate because last year, during these weeks, we were on the other side of the desk, and the people who welcomed us really made us feel part of a community. We know how important it is to feel home when you set foot in a foreign university for the first time, and being here is a nice way of being helpful and of meeting new people!”

The Welcome lounge will be functioning in via Roentgen until 10 September, from Monday to Friday and from 9am to 5pm.

Find the gallery of these four students and the tutors here.

#welcometobocconi!
 

by Elisa Bazzani