San Lorenzo and Universita di Roma

Yay for a three-day weekend! Nobody has classes on Fridays, so today Gianni led us on a tour of the main University of Rome campus! At 150,000 students, it's the second largest university in the world, according to Gianni (who went to school there himself).

But before that, let me just say that I have officially survived my first metro strike in Rome! Apparently it happens quite a bit here, but it's a little different than how I picture strikes in the US. First of all, they scheduled the strike and told everybody about it so that we could plan around the metro not running. Second of all, they were only on strike for certain hours today: 8:30-5 and then 8-10:30. According to Gianni, this is to allow people to get to work in the morning (since the metro opens at 5:30 and didn't close until 8:30) and is open during the evening rush hour to allow people to get back home; otherwise, the entire city would shut down because everybody takes public transportation. And even when there is a strike, the entire metro doesn't shut down because there are around 15 different unions for the public transportation workers, and not all of them will decide to strike together. So today there was technically a metro strike, but some drivers were still out and driving, so you could still take the metro if you were willing to wait for a bus or a train to get to you. Very confusing.

Anyway, because of the strike, we walked to campus (where we met for the tour) and boarded a private bus to the University of Rome campus. Gianni explained to us how the Italian university system works--it's very different from the American system. First of all, almost everybody goes to public universities because it costs only 1,200 euro for an entire year's tuition. That's it. But even the private universities are cheap compared to what we have in the US--they might only be 7,000 euro for an entire year. However, the public universities (like many of the public services in Italy, I've learned) are not very well organized, so there is an advantage to going to a private university. Also, the private universities are organized more similarly to the American system of universities. However, there are no such things as student loans in Italy, so if you can't afford a private university, you don't have a choice.

One of the main academic buildings on campus.
This is the one we went into today!

So the public university system runs on a series of exams. Italian students take maybe 4 or 5 classes at a time (more on that later) and then take exams three times a year. At the end of a class, if they decide they're ready for the exam for that class, they can take it then (or they can decide to take it at any point in the future). The score on that exam is the only "grade" they get, and depending on their course of study, they might have to take 20 exams in a certain area to get their degrees. And if you don't like the grade you get on your exam, you can refuse it--meaning you tell the professor you don't want it and commit to re-taking the exam at some point in the future. Oh, and the vast majority of the exams are oral. Sometimes there might be a written section you have to pass before you can take the oral section, but that's not very often.

A statue of Minerva that stands outside of one of the big academic buildings. On days that students have exams, they are afraid to look into her eyes because it is considered bad luck--Minerva is the goddess of wisdom and they feel like they are fighting her!

It used to be that it could take 5-6 years to finish school, because Italians would combine their undergraduate programs and master's degree programs into one degree. However, Gianni said that more students were dropping out of university because that's a long time to be in school, so a few years ago, the university system changed to be more like the American system. Now, it takes 3 years to complete what we would call an undergraduate degree, and then many students still go on to do 2 years of what we would call graduate study, but some decide to leave with the undergraduate degree. Gianni said it's harder to get jobs with only an undergraduate degree (depending on the field), but the change has led to more students sticking with school and getting at least that first degree.

The classes are also a lot different than American university classes. First of all, some of the class times might conflict--meaning you could be scheduled to have two different classes at the same time, and you're just expected to deal with it. It's not a big deal, though, because it's usually not required that students attend class (even more so than it is in American universities) because all class sizes are huge, and you really just have to be prepared to take the exam at the end. Gianni said that sometimes, friends will split up the classes they are taking and each decide to go to certain classes for the semester and then all share notes. At private schools, this is a lot different--classes are more around 20 students, and you don't have time conflicts built into your schedule.

A typical lecture hall. Students will go to class at least an hour early because there are never enough seats for everybody.

We also ran into a graduation celebration today when we were in one of the academic buildings! It was just for one student, which Gianni said is very common--technically you graduate as soon as you finish passing the exams you need for your degree. So this one person had apparently just "graduated" and popped a bottle of champagne in the middle of the hallway with his friends and family around him.

A museum in the basement of one of the buildings that doubles as a study spot for students.

We also toured the San Lorenzo area, which is the neighborhood around the campus where most of the students live (there is no such thing as on-campus housing). Supposedly it's got a great night life, but we were there around 3 in the afternoon, so nothing was open and it looked pretty dead. I could definitely see how it would be fun at night, though! We're definitely planning on going and checking it out at some point.

San Lorenzo!

By the time we were done with our tour, it was almost 5, so we ended up waiting for the metro to open back up again to get back to our residence. Gianni had prepared us for the worst, because he had told us the trains would be very slow and very crowded since most of the metro had been closed all day, but it was not bad at all--the trains were practically empty! So I've officially survived my first metro strike, but we honestly barely even noticed (except for the fact that the streets had more cars on them). We're dealing with a broken stove in our apartment right now (it's a gas stove and none of the burners will stay lit), so dinner wasn't very creative, but hopefully that will be fixed tomorrow. I'm planning on going to the market in the morning so we can experiment some more with food!