In this blog I will mainly talk to you about the city life and also about our partner university. At the end you will also find some rules/tips to make your stay more comfortable and less stressfull.
Hi there! My name is Juan and I study media design at Macormedia in Stuttgart. As my name doesn’t tell, I am Italian and I was born and raised in the so-called Eternal City. As soon as I got confirmed my Semester abroad in Rome I decided to apply for the Student Ambassador role, so that I could have the chance to show you a little bit more about my hometown, and hopefully help you survive and enjoy in what we “Romani” call a jungle made of bricks.
Rome is the MOST beautiful city of the entire world! (And no, you can not convince me otherwise!). This city has been full of life and energy for more than 2000 years and you are surrounded by evidence to prove it. Everywhere you go, every wrong turn will make you discover something new: An ancient ruin, a forgotten statue or an amazing spot where to eat. Unfortunately Rome, but more in general Italy, doesn’t have the career possibilities that northern European countries have. So coming here to study is the best chance you will get to experience the city for six months, while being in a safe and exciting environment, made possible thanks to the Macromedia and NABA partnership.
You are probably asking yourself: “Why would you do your semester abroad in the city you lived in for 20 years?”. Here is where NABA comes to play! My main reason for choosing Rome was in fact the partner university. NABA is part of the top 100 Universities Worldwide for Arts and Design and if you look for a place where you can be guided and pushed to improve your creative and technical skills, this is the place for you. The campus is situated in a neighborhood called Ostiense, which means that you are going to be surrounded by amazing restaurants, clubs and street art, everything only 30 minutes away by bus from the city center. The campus is not that big but has everything you need: Two computers labs, a room just for filming, a massive atelier for visual arts and fashion design, a constantly updated library, and finally a really big patio where you can enjoy breaks between your lessons and meet new people.
This year the Macromedia students have been divided in two different classes: one for filmmaking and one for animation. I find myself in the last one and I am loving it so far! We have 7 different courses: Animation 2D, Preproduction, Storyboard, New Media Aesthetics, Game Culture, Interaction Design and 3D Modelling (I will not enter in the details for each course but if you want to know feel free to contact me!). Each course is taught by professors with years of experience in their field and they are always available to help you, even on the weekends! I don’t want to make you bored with all this information, but I truly believe that the semester abroad should not just be important as a life experience but also as an amazing opportunity to grow as a future professional.
That’s it for today! In the coming months I will talk a little bit about what to visit and where to eat. I hope all this can be useful to you and that you have a great experience in Rome. If you have any questions you can contact me privately without any problems. Just go to my profile and there you will find links to my Instagram and Linkedin.
See you soon,
Juan
