Voices from Abroad: Alcidemaria Calisti
Chapel Hill, NC (USA), Exchange Program, Kenan Flagler Business School
Shanghai (China), Double Degree, Fudan University
Shanghai (China), Internship Abroad
I have been experiencing going to foreign countries since my childhood when, during summer time, I was spending short periods abroad every year to study English. The first time I lived abroad for a long time though was during my final year of the Undergraduate Degree, six months with the Exchange program in Management in Chapel Hill, North Carolina USA. I experienced having an international academic setting around me and living the campus life, things I had been neglected of before in Milan; everything was in walking distance: classes, restaurants and food, friends and bars and nightlife. Confronting myself with others in a different environment gave me the possibility to enrich my scope and increase the depth of my view on things. It can be said that this works not only for academic factors but also in social life. Having new friends and peers from different parts of the world was a great experience. The whole college town was inhabited by and catered towards students: this gave you the feeling of being at the centre and to focus on studies and personal development. In the end, results were outstanding and the whole experience enriching.
 Pudong skyline in Shanghai |
Memories of that moved me to look for a graduate program that could have enabled me to depart again and travel to a new foreign destination. The solution I found was the DDIM, the Double Degree in International Management. This cooperation and exchange-based program between Fudan University in Shanghai and Universtià Bocconi in Milan would result in a full scale jump into a new world: China.
Being based in Shanghai for the first year I had to be ready to go just after graduation. During my first year everything was a try and class life was mixed with life outside: live and discover the city. The class being composed half of Italians and half of Chinese meant that sometimes lessons and class projects were a little polarized, but there were tools to overcome this disadvantage. All group works (a lot during the two semesters) were made by 4 Italians and 4 Chinese, so as to enhance the possibility to exchange and cooperation together. I still remember with pleasure the University area. Everything was there and brand new facilities were available all around. Consequently I had an Internship in Shanghai that started in summer and continued over the end of my second year, where I came back to Shanghai to write my final Thesis.
 Terraced rice fields in Bali |
On top of having a taste and direct touch of China and its phenomenal growth and opportunities, I had the time to travel and discover other countries in the area. There are so many different places to go that it would not be right to name the ones I have been to only.
I would like to underline again that the whole experience has been complete because it touched different aspects of life at the same time: academic, professional, social and leisure.
"Going abroad" means finding something else in the world that is just there. If you change your perspective, it is no longer abroad. It is just a little farther.