Voices from Abroad: Giovanna Capponi

Melbourne (Australia), Exchange Program: Monash University
São Paulo (Brazil), Exchange Program: Fundação Getúlio Vargas
Gent (Belgium), International Internship: OCAS ArcelorMittal

Giovanna at Grampians National Park, Australia

Where should I start. An exchange is formally defined as an academic experience in which the students switch universities for a semester. In fact, the "switch" is not limited just to that, rather, it is totally like living somebody else's life. Personally, I had the chance to live this experience twice, the first time at Monash University in Melbourne and the second time at the Fundação Getúlio Vargas, in Sao Paulo (indeed, poor me...).

Needless to say, I had the time of my life in both cases. However, the places and especially the way I lived in them was very different. Australia is the perfect place, under many respects: there are amazing landscapes, the culture is very similar to ours, they speak English, it's a safe place, it's less mainstream than the US and you are 24 hours' flight, 2 seasons and 10 hours' jetlag away from Italy. You are virtually (possibly actually) in another world. Apart from the usual exchange activities (drinking, partying, more drinking) the whole point was travelling. For a European, to travel in such a continent implies a change, if not a loss of perspective. To give an example, you will hardly sit for 26 hours in a train across the desert again, and you will definitely not say that a place which is a 4-hour flight away is close, unless you are in Australia talking about New Zealand.

High-rises in São Paolo

Brazil was totally different, I was different. While in the first exchange everything was new and I took everything I could, in the second one I chose the kind of experience I wanted to have. Starting from the academic side, during the Bachelor exchange I mostly followed the path, with the Master I had the chance to study subjects which were really focused on the developing markets and I found them extremely interesting. Apart from that, the people, the culture, the contradictions, it's hard not to fall in love with Brazil in general and with São Paulo in particular. It takes a while to get it, it is not immediate. When I first stepped out of the taxi in São Paulo I was genuinely scared, I was in a city with 11 million people (half of the whole Australia), notably dangerous and certainly not beautiful. I remember people warning me on the places to avoid, on how to walk around and especially on how not to walk around. But I got used to it quickly, maybe too much.

In general, any time you hear someone saying that on exchange you meet great people and you build long lasting friendships, believe them, it's true. In my opinion, such a detachment from real life removes so many layers of thoughts and worries that you are just free to live with what is left. Also, the exchange is designed to be over: at the end of the semester everybody leaves. In Australia I travelled a while after the exams and when I was back in Melbourne none of my friends were there anymore, the semester was over, it was time to go and after such a beautiful experience, I was just ready to come back in my shoes.

Giovanna on a visit to an ArcelorMittal steel plant

My last experience abroad was a six-month internship in Belgium at OCAS, one of the research centers of ArcelorMittal. Belgium sounds probably less "WOW" than the other two but it was a good opportunity for me. Professionally speaking, it was a business development role, it was very involving and I learnt a lot, in an international environment surrounded by young people. This time the choice was driven by the job opportunity, however Belgium turned out to be a good place to live. Without a doubt, even though a working experience abroad is very different from the exchange, it still has the "discovery" component, both personally and professionally.

Just to sum up, while there are many reasons to go abroad, there are few reasons not to. Then the destination can vary: some people want to go to places where they would like to live, to get familiar with them. Others base their choices on academic grounds, choosing the university or the working opportunity rather than the country. Some others choose to go to place where it's "either now or never." The bottom line is that Bocconi offers us the possibility to go anywhere, whatever interests you have, just take the chance.