University life in Naples, how should I start… the first semester is pretty easy, because the subjects which are taught are Biology, Chemistry and Physics, pretty much what we learn for A/Ls, but easier. The thing I found quite challenging was the way exams were carried out, they were all oral exams, and that required some getting used to, however it wasn’t that difficult after all. After the second semester things became a bit tough, as we started learning subjects like embryology and Anatomy.
After the third year we started getting involved in practical activities, as we moved on to courses like cardiology, nephrology etc. During the clinical activities, communicating with patients wasn’t very easy at first since all most all of the patients cannot speak English, but there was always some member of the staff, helping us with communicating with the patient.
My student life in Naples is so full of great memories, hikes, trips, night outs and spending time with my flatmates was a great experience. At the end of the first year 4 classmates and I got together and rented out a huge apartment for ourselves one of the best decisions we all made. All of my flatmates were from different countries, There was Luiz from Brazil, Sotiris from Greece, Mark from Ireland and Cameron from the UK. Soon some more friends from uni joined us by renting out the flat next door, 2 Italians and a guy from Cyprus.
I learnt a lot living together with 4 individuals coming from different backgrounds, learnt little bit of their languages, traditions and customs. We used to have this house tradition in where each one of us took turns to cook something from there country for dinner every night, which taught me a lot about cooking and flavours from other countries.
The experience I got living in Italy was very unique, It was not just medicine I learnt during the 6 years of my university carrier. Things like, how to manage your own finances, learning about the values of different cultures and to cook food from different countries, I would have completely missed them, if it was not for the opportunity Italy gave me.
