Ciao Amici!

I arrived in Torino one week ago and the experience is already flying by.  The culture here is very different than back in the States, and I’m still trying to adjust.  The biggest challenge so far has been the language barrier; Torino isn’t much of a tourist town so many people don’t speak English.  Luckily, this has really helped me jump head first into the culture and really begin to learn the language, with the help of a few locals.  There seems to be no concept of time here, with shops closing for the afternoons, dinners starting well into the night, three hour meals, and no one seems to be in a hurry.  It’s also taken some time to learn how to navigate public transportation and assimilate to other cultural norms.

I have had a week of classes at Scuola di Amministrazione Aziendale and the course sizes are great!  I have ten students in my management class, and only three in my Italian class!  The one-on-one attention and discussions in class are really interesting and I’m enjoying it–even with the homework.

We have taken two tours already throughout the city and to Alba in the Piedmont region and it’s beautiful!  There is so much history to see in the historic churches and castles–it’s nothing like I have ever experienced.

One of the best perks of being in Italy are all the different cities to visit: Rome, Venice, Milan, Cinque Terre, Florence, Naples, Bologna, Sicily, Tuscany.  There are so many places to visit and so little time!  The trips to Venice and Rome are already planned, but now I have to figure out the best weekends for the others!

One piece of advice I have is to budget your money (I guess that’s the accounting major in me talking).  I always forget how much the euro is inflated compared to the dollar… and then I look at my bank account.  The trips add up quickly, but when you’re abroad it all seems to be worth it!

I can’t wait to see what’s in store for these next nine weeks!

Arrivederci,

Nick Ostertag