Travel stories

Introduction

Italian culture is very similar to Spanish culture, so when it comes to my first impressions of the country, nothing stood out in a surprising way. My first week in Italy was mostly about settling in, so I explored the area around where I lived. I went to a park five minutes away from my place and looked for nearby supermarkets.

The Company

I did my internship in Italy at a company called Logicad in a town near Florence called Sesto Fiorentino. It’s a company that mainly repairs desktop computers, laptops, and other devices. The only person in the company was Marco, my supervisor and the owner.

Since I had already done the Dual Vocational Training program during the school year, I had a lot of work experience, so my schedule was Monday to Friday, 4 hours a day. At the company, I performed various tasks, such as repairing, updating, and cleaning different devices. Occasionally, I also assembled completely new desktop computers from scratch for clients. Sometimes I had to go to a client’s house or to someone Marco knew, and that was also part of the job—so I always made sure to respond respectfully and politely.

The Good and the Not-So-Good

Because of my prior experience, I already knew how to use many of the programs and tools, so I adapted quickly to Marco’s work rhythm. My relationship with Marco was good—he’s a kind and attentive person, although sometimes communication was a bit difficult due to the language barrier.

I enjoyed the internship in Italy more than the one I did in Spain because it focused almost entirely on hardware and repairs, which I really like. What I learned the most was how to assemble and disassemble laptops, as that was the most common type of repair brought in by clients. If I had to complain about something, it would be the distance between the workplace and our accommodation, but even so, it was well connected by public transport.

Trips

As time went on, I visited the most popular spots in Florence and started looking for places to exercise and meet people from Italy or other countries. After asking around and doing some searching, I found a volleyball group made up of students and other Erasmus participants like me. It was a great group, and I made friends with some of them.

The first month, the weather wasn’t great—it was cold and rainy almost every day, so we couldn’t go out much or visit other cities. When the weather improved in the second month, some friends came to visit me. I went to pick them up in Bologna, and we spent the day there. In the evening, we returned to Florence, and the next day I showed them around the city.

After my friends went back to Spain, I had planned to go to Pisa, but the heat discouraged me, and in the end, I didn’t take any more trips. Each week, I kept going to volleyball with the group I mentioned earlier, which also helped me stay active.

The Return

The days passed very quickly, and eventually the time came to return home. I honestly wanted to stay longer because I loved Florence. It’s a beautiful city full of life, but also peaceful if you move away from the tourist areas.

I would go back without a second thought and would even consider living there for a while. It was an amazing experience, and I would definitely do it again if I had the chance.