Voices from Abroad: Riccardo Arcioni

Seoul (South Korea) and Tokyo (Japan), Campus Abroad, Korean University Business School and Keio University
Ankara (Turkey), Exchange Program, Bilkent University
Santiago de Chile (Chile), Exchange Program, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

Young women in Tokyo

There are three groups of drivers that enhanced my international studying adventures and turned out to be added values to me: my academic improvement and personal development; the native people of the countries visited and the friends made there; the fabulous environment always enjoyed as the frame of my travels (nature, landscapes, cities).

There are also three experiences that I lived abroad during my studies at Università Bocconi (Bachelor in Economia Aziendale and Management, and Master of Science in Management). I am pleased to consider the countries of the world chosen and visited by me as original, stimulating and enriching.

The first international experience of my university career was the one-month Bachelor's Campus Abroad in the double destination of Seoul and Tokyo, together with Bocconi's student mates and professors, in July 2009. This journey gave me the opportunity to study in English in both Korean University Business School and Keio University, to enjoy many interesting visits (such as the ones to the Demilitarized Zone between the two Koreas, the Hyundai's biggest firm and the fashion Armani Tower of the Japanese capital), to approach two different cultures, which are not only geographically far away from Italy, and to live in two cities that seemed very different from each other.

"Fairy Chimneys" in Kappadokia

The second and longer adventure took me to Ankara, Turkey, where I had been studying in English for five months (from August 2009 to January 2010) in Bilkent University, in occasion of my Undergraduate Exchange Program. The issues that primarily impressed and fascinated me during this experience were the hospitality of the inhabitants of that marvelous country, the easiness to communicate in order to meet new people thanks to the willingness to do it, the variety of the places that I had the opportunity to come across (the cities of Istanbul and Izmir, the nature in Kappadokia and Pamukkale, the historical monuments of Ephesus, the seaside of Kas and the ski resort of Ulugda). Ankara was for me a base where to strengthen my business knowledge and from which to leave for visiting many other parts of the Anatolian peninsula and experiencing situations that will live forever in my memories.

Lastly (until now), I lived my third international period, or rather my Graduate Exchange Program, in Santiago de Chile, the capital of a both developing and developed country in South America. I deliberately selected Chile as the first of my exchange's options because I really believed in this potential experience, which turned to be complete and excellent in reality. I studied from September to December 2011 in the MBA program at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, where I had the privilege to attend classes, taught in Spanish and English by very qualified and capable professors, together with Chilean and foreign executives and managers. These more expert colleagues really coached and trained me during the team's projects and works, and inspired me for my future professional life. Moreover, I had the chance to integrate myself inside the local culture and population, practicing my Spanish too, not only in Santiago, but also in other locations in Chile and Argentina (Viña del Mar and Valparaiso, Pucón, San Pedro de Atacama, Patagonia, Buenos Aires). Chile features a good quality of life and public safety, together with an extreme variety of landscapes, thanks to its physical length and width: it is possible to ski on the mountains and swim in the ocean in the same day, and to see deserts in the North of the country and glaciers in the South.

Plaza Baquedano in Santiago de Chile, with view of the Andes

Overall, I am glad to say that in the four countries that I experienced during my learning journeys I enjoyed a very good quality of life (also thanks to events, parties and travels), and I had the luck to study at universities full of skilled professors, tough students and loyal friends. Many of these people, together with many local residents, turned out to be life teachers for me. The exchanges' experiences are not just localized in the dedicated periods and times, but may reveal themselves in many other virtual and real occasions. Currently, I am closely in touch with many international friends thanks to the internet and the technologies, and I had some opportunities for meeting them personally in European locations.

Finally, I believe that the values through which a young person can enrich himself/herself thanks to an experience spent abroad are many, some of which cannot be fully described. The most important and true ones are: autonomy, independence, trust, respect for others and variety, learning from those close to you, the ability to be yourself adapting your person according to the person you have in front of you, attempting to capture the best from everyone and everything.