Travel stories

Getting Started

My initial expectations of what a country like Italy might be like weren’t too far off from the impressions I’ve had after spending some time here. I can’t say much about areas I haven’t been to, but the region where I’m staying isn’t very different from Spain. The people in this area behave similarly to us — they’re friendly and kind. As is often said, this is probably because the weather here is quite similar to Spain’s, so I’d say their character is very “Mediterranean.” The company where I’m doing my internship is called SC Informatica. It’s part of a pharmacy group and manages the IT section, along with four other locations spread across the region. Usually, there aren’t many workers in the office since some employees rotate between branches depending on the workload. But when everyone is present, there are 8 to 10 employees in the office, plus Andrew and me as Erasmus interns. SC Informatica is responsible for managing pharmacy data, backing it up, solving issues related to the internal management software, and more. Our work schedule is from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., then we break for lunch, and return from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Due to local bus and train schedules, we’ve had to adjust our work hours accordingly. Our main task at the company is to create new functionalities to be added to the company’s data management software — essentially, we build independent modules, test them separately, and once they work well, we integrate them into the main system. Our company mentor, Giulio Mandozzi, who leads the IT development section, assigns us projects. This first week was all about settling in — getting used to the accommodation and starting to make it feel like home. We met our colleagues, who were really nice and even invited us to lunch to get to know each other better. We arrived at the Porto San Giorgio-Fermo train station, and during the first weekend, we also explored some nearby areas.

Experiences

This second week has been fairly calm. After a few days at work, I’ve adapted well. The lunch invitations were temporary, so I’ve started eating at work because eating out is too expensive. We visited Civitanova beach for the first time since we had time before the next train. Over the weekend, we took a 20-kilometer hike to Fermo. It’s a lovely town, and the square at the top of the hill is truly impressive. I’ve been a bit stressed out for the past few weeks because of the final project for my degree, but this is the last week — I’m finishing the presentation video to send it as soon as possible. In the end, everything turned out great, but I didn’t do much else this week. I’m sharing a few photos I couldn’t include before and commenting on them. This one is of what I think is the most beautiful square in Porto San Giorgio, right next to the old town — the fountain is gorgeous. From the top of Fermo, about 300 meters above sea level, the views of the Marche hills are stunning.

Beach Chill

Big week — after some time, we finally made it to Rome! Although we only stayed for one day, I had a very detailed plan and we managed to see almost the entire city. It’s a shame we couldn’t visit the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican Museums, but there just wasn’t time — we walked nearly 30 km in 10 hours. Rome is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful cities I’ve ever visited. The scale and beauty of the architecture are absolutely breathtaking. I’m sharing some photos, though they don’t represent everything we saw. This week, José’s father came to visit us. We had some fun days and he treated us to dinner one night. After such an intense weekend in Rome, we wanted a more relaxed week — so apart from going to the beach, we didn’t do much else. On Saturday morning, after doing some grocery shopping, I went to the beach. It wasn’t very sunny, which was perfect for me because I can’t stand the heat. In fact, right after taking the photo, it started raining. On Sunday, we went to the beach again, and it was a bit sunnier this time. I went with José, as the day before he was still with his dad.

Last Weeks

This week we started preparing to go back home, so we’ve already booked our return tickets to Florence. I’m also planning my last day to make sure I see as many places as possible. Over the weekend, we went to the beach to watch the sunset. On Sunday, we hiked through the hills around Porto San Giorgio. Our stay is coming to an end. This week, I’ve been saying goodbye to coworkers — some of them aren’t always at the office. I’ve also been training in the afternoons because we’ve got a pretty demanding hike planned this Saturday to the Sibillini Mountains, specifically Monte Vettore. Sunset after finishing one of our training hikes. José and I hiked up Monte Vettore. We couldn’t reach the summit because the bus dropped us off too far, but we still managed a solid 20 km.

Back Home

We’re really excited to return home, but we still have one last stop: Florence. It’s undoubtedly one of the most beautiful cities in Italy, and the best part is that most of the major attractions are close to each other.