“Even though the trains are often late, you can get surprisingly far with public transport. Trento itself isn’t very big, but the surrounding area has beautiful lakes and mountains. They’re easy to reach by public transport. We have spent almost every weekend trying out a new hike while seeing gorgeous nature in the process.”

“It is even possible to visit the Dolomites. The way there is two hours, but the mountain views are amazing, and later in the semester the snow border dropped to a lower altitude, and we hiked through snow up to our knees. Before coming here I wasn’t very experienced with hiking. However, I am now going home with my own pair of zip-off pants and a whole lot of new experiences.”

“Visiting other cities by train or Flixbus has also been very easy and a great way to spend our weekends. We’ve done daytrips to Verona, Venice, and Bolzano and weekend trips to Florence and Bologna. It's been a great ways to explore more of Italy.” 

“One of the main reasons I wanted to do my semester abroad in Italy was the food, though. Italy is, of course, famous for its cuisine, and I planned to enjoy it to its fullest. This turned out to be not very difficult, as the food is pretty cheap and you’re able to get an amazing pizza for only 10 euros, and the average Aperol Spritz price is around 4 euros. At the beginning of the semester, we briefly tried to keep a pizza and Aperol counter, but we abandoned this pretty quickly.”

“Getting an aperitivo on a terrace has been very nice, because you get snacks with every alcoholic drink you order, and these snacks range from some chips to a full-blown appetizer platter. However, we have also found out that it is indeed possible to get sick of pizza, and I will probably not be able to eat it for a while once I return to the Netherlands in a month.”

“Despite the occasional late train and my temporary pizza overdose, I’d recommend Trento to anyone. It’s an incredible place to spend a semester!”