The Semester came to an end. Six months felt such a long time, instead they flew away in what it felt to be just a few seconds. Maybe it was because we met amazing people, with whom we had fun, or maybe because we were constantly stressed while trying to finish all our projects… or maybe both.
With this last Blog I will tell you a little bit about how it was studying at Naba overall.
I said to some of my classmates, it is true that in Rome everybody lives stress-free, but (and it’s a really big but), to actually enjoy this type of life you have to first of all embrace the chaos and assume that not everything is going to run smoothly like we are used to back in Germany. Since I lived most of my life in Rome and I also studied there I have to say Naba is really well organized and efficient, especially compared to the other Italian universities.
When it comes to Exams, be prepared to study a lot. We had technically only four courses, but three of the four were divided into two modules. So at the end of the day we had to do 7 exams in one semester: 2D Animation Techniques, 3D Modeling, New Media Aesthetics, Interaction Design, Game Culture, Preproduction and Storyboard.
In my opinion, all the professors that we had were amazing. They were super passionate about what they were teaching and they also really cared that we were enjoying the lessons. Keep in mind that other than being professors they are also active professionals in their field, so it might happen that they will not be able to attend class and they will have to reschedule the lesson.
As you can see all our courses had to do with drawing both digital and analog. Do not worry! A lot of people never actually drew characters or entire stories, but the professors always kept that in mind and their focus was on seeing that we understood the concept and principles of what we were studying and they didn’t care about our drawing skills.
The exams consisted of projects to hand in, followed by a small oral exam with the professor. In one case we had a midterm consisting of a presentation to be held in front of the class and then an oral exam. The Italian grading system goes from 0 (the worst) to 30 (the best). You need to get at least 18 out of 30 to pass an exam and in some cases if you did an outstanding job you might receive an extra point called “lode” (that means literally “praise”).
Long story short: I would do all of this again. I met amazing people and talked with incredible professionals. Maybe I am biased because I was born in Rome, but I do feel it’s the most beautiful city in the world. It offers amazing food, stunning monuments and… did I already say amazing food? So yes, if you have the chance, you are ready for a new adventure and you want to prove yourself in a new environment then you can’t go wrong with NABA and Rome!
Last but not least, I will leave here a list of must try places where you can eat or a have a coffee:
COFFEE AND BARS
Lapalapa (Via Fabio Massimo, 89)
Sciascia Caffè 1919 (Via Fabio Massimo, n.80/a)
Caffetteria del Chiostro (Arco della Pace, 5)
Pasticceria Parenti (Via Ottaviano, 33)
RESTAURANT AND PIZZERIA
La Tavernella (Via Ezio, 5)
MiVà (Via Ezio, 23)
Porto – Fish and Chips (Via Crescenzio, 56)
L’archetto (Via Germanico, 105)
Pizzeria Remo a Testaccio (Piazza di S Maria Liberatrice, 44)
Mr. 100 Tiramisù (Via dei Sediari, 11/12)
