Voices From Abroad: Claudio Boccassini

Ruins at Tulum

Monterrey (Mexico), Exchange Program, ITESM

MONTERREY, THE ITALIAN FAMILY IN THE MEXICAN LIFE

I'm a student in my second year of the Master of Science in Marketing Management, and I have just came back from 4 months in Mexico. It has been the greatest experience in my entire life.

We were a group of 16 Bocconianis – I'm sure that this word doesn't exist, but the meaning is very clear - studying Marketing, Management or AFC. For some of us Mexico was the first choice (for me) for others the last, but for everybody it was the most correct choice they could make.

Students in front of Mayan ruins

Most of us decided to live in the Torres Tec, which are new buildings in front of the university football team training field. It was very important for us living in these building because it gave us the opportunity to live with a lot of international and Mexican students.

Finding a flat is quite easy, but there are a lot of very ugly options, and in my opinion the best choice is to ask to an agency to find the apartment with/for you. This has no additional cost and it's faster than doing it alone.

We Bocconianis studied at the EGADE, which is the business Masters school of the ITESM (like the SDA for Bocconi). The EGADE is not in Monterrey, but in San Pedro, another municipality, which is very rich but without anything to do. I would suggest living near the ITESM campus, and to take a taxi to go to the EGADE, it's about 3€ each ride.

The EGADE is a very modern school and the professors are good, but the approach is more American than European. It means that to prepare each lesson you have to read at least 60

Students at Zacateca

pages for each course. You as a student are supposed to spend most of your time studying, which means reading books and articles. For the three months of lessons, even if I had classes three days per week, I could travel, except for 3 weekends in three months. At the Tec –Tecnologico de Monterrey, ITESM – you have to work hard. Another very important thing is the conversion of the Mexican marks into Italians. If in Mexico you receive a mark of 80 over 100 it's a good mark, but for the Bocconi it is 20 over 30, and it is not a good mark at all. For this reason some of us have been forced to leave one or more courses, to focus on the others, and to get a good Bocconi score you have to be the best student of your class.

After the end of the courses we traveled in the south of Mexico with some international students, amazing. I can't tell you how beautiful Mexico is, you have to visit it. On the other side Monterrey is a modern city, but with nothing to visit. It's perfect for students because the campus is fantastic and there are a lot of clubs and pubs and a lot of parties, but nothing else.

I think I have said everything you need to know, W MEXICO!