OT Milan, Italy and Bocconi Business School

[dailybuck777]

My daughter, who is a senior in high school and is an Italian dual citizen, is seriously considering the Bocconi Business School in Milan for her college [Bocconi has an English language program]. I am wondering whether anyone here has any experience with either. She doesn't speak Italian although she speaks Chinese and English, of course.

I have a Southern Italian friend in Italy and asked him about both issues. He said Milan was the least Italian city in Italy and that it was more European than Italian although the people spoke Italian. He said the rent was high. He also expressed Southern Italian disdain for Milan stating: "as every good southern Italian, they should pay me for going in that city, but this is a personal opinion lol"

 

[Obliviax]

My daughter, who is a senior in high school and is an Italian dual citizen, is seriously considering the Bocconi Business School in Milan for her college [Bocconi has an English language program]. I am wondering whether anyone here has any experience with either. She doesn't speak Italian although she speaks Chinese and English, of course.

I have a Southern Italian friend in Italy and asked him about both issues. He said Milan was the least Italian city in Italy and that it was more European than Italian although the people spoke Italian. He said the rent was high. He also expressed Southern Italian disdain for Milan stating: "as every good southern Italian, they should pay me for going in that city, but this is a personal opinion lol"

I don't have much to offer other than this sounds like a great opportunity. Like it or not, your daughter will grow up on a world community and living in the US with international experience will play well for her in later years.

I have a friend, Chinese, who's wife goes to Milan twice a year. As you know, it is the fashion capital of the world. As such, it is very cosmopolitan. I recall Milan getting hit with COVID very hard because so many Chinese were visiting there at the time to buy high fashion. For whatever reason, the Chinese culture is such that they love their labels. Many of the labels are now owned by Chinese companies. So there were a lot of Chinese bringing in COVID before finally shut down.

 

[tboyer]

She should do this if she wants to learn Italian, if she doesn't, I'm not sure it makes sense -- she'd be socially restricted to the expat community and Italian students who want to practice their English. That would be OK for a semester or two but it would get old for 3 years or whatever is the length of the academic program.

Given she has dual citizenship, it means working in the EU may really be possible for her -- but probably she'd need to be multi-lingual to have an EU business career. Learning Italian or French or German would make sense, and going to school in Europe could help with the language immersion.

I wonder what is the tuition? Italian colleges are generally MUCH less expensive than US. Facilities aren't as nice but the beauty of Italian cities more than makes up for it.

Rent in Milan is very high for Italy but not so bad compared with American cities. You can look at apartment listings at immobiliare.it (which has English translated listings as an option).

The comment on MIlan's "Italian-ness" from a southern Italian is typical. Milan is not like southern Italy, for sure. But it's very Italian in the northern Italian way. Northern Italy is much cleaner, better organized, better run, better maintained than southern Italy. I love Milan but I also love all the cities that are a quick cheap train ride from Milan (Parma, Bologna, Pavia, Verona, Torino etc....) Milan is undoubtedly one of the great food cities in the world. Just a simple sandwich in Milan will change your life.

Milan is very international, very connected to other Euro capitals, but it's still very Italian. Arguably Torino to the north is a little more pan-European with more German influences in food and culture.

Northern Italy has very good (and inexpensive) transit so living in the suburbs or even a neighboring town would be an option; rent would be half what it is in fashionable areas of Milan. It is common for Italian students to continue to live at home and take the train to school every day, because the trains are cheap.

 

[JoeLion]

I suggest contacting thePSU language department, Italian language studies to get more information and objective feedback. They have abroad study programs in Italy and may suggest another option in another city such as Bologna.

 

[The Spin Meister]

I don't have much to offer other than this sounds like a great opportunity. Like it or not, your daughter will grow up on a world community and living in the US with international experience will play well for her in later years.

I have a friend, Chinese, who's wife goes to Milan twice a year. As you know, it is the fashion capital of the world. As such, it is very cosmopolitan. I recall Milan getting hit with COVID very hard because so many Chinese were visiting there at the time to buy high fashion. For whatever reason, the Chinese culture is such that they love their labels. Many of the labels are now owned by Chinese companies. So there were a lot of Chinese bringing in COVID before finally shut down.

IIRC Milan had a high number of Chinese living there. They were brought/allowed in to work in the fashion factories as cheap labor. Don’t know how accurate that is.

But if true would great for buck’s daughter as she speaks Chinese. Would really help her perfect her Chinese language skills.

Edit: yep. And the last data are from 2011 so it’s probably much higher now.

Chinatown, Milan - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[dailybuck777]

I suggest contacting thePSU language department, Italian language studies to get more information and objective feedback.

Thanks for the suggestion. However, I have no connections with PSU. Could do the same with OSU though.

 

[dailybuck777]

She should do this if she wants to learn Italian, if she doesn't, I'm not sure it makes sense -- she'd be socially restricted to the expat community and Italian students who want to practice their English.

Very good point. Thanks. As to the quality of the food, if it is really that good, she will fall in love with the place. She and her brother tell me that Bocconi is not that expensive, but i haven't checked into yet.