It has been nearly two months since I came to Lecce, and it’s my first time to visit both Europe and Italy. We all faced much pressure before we leave because of the pandemic, and we need a home quarantine for 10 days when we arrive in Italy. Fortunately, most of the people we met are very kind and helpful even though we have language problems. To my surprise, the first day we arrived in Lecce, the landlord, his wife and his father all came to greet us and introduced all the details about their house. What they did truly helped us to a better live experience. During our quarantine, programme coordinator from Salento, Francesca also came to visit us and told us what we need to do not only about the study but also about the life during the exchange period. We usually communicate face to face and use some applications like WeChat and WhatsApp. For Professor Petti, he is gentle and sagacious. He provides some suggestions about our study and life.

About the study. It’s really a pity that we can’t go to university every period because what we vaccinate like Sinovac vaccine is not recognized in Europe. Unless we have COVID test and it’s only available for 48H. That means we can only have online course most of the time and finish group work with our team member. It’s completely different experience between online and offline class. We also have an elective course of Italian language course and we usually have group chats to practice our Italian speaking. I am so lucky to meet some kind classmates from Pakistan who helps me a lot during the course.

About the food. When we talk about Italy, the first thing that comes to our mind is Italian Pizza. Although we search the related information about the different eating habits, it doesn’t work. It’s a good thing we bought some seasonings like aniseed, Sichuan pepper, cinnamon, etc. On the other hand, we found Asian market or some Chinese stores to buy some Chinese food. We try to make dumplings, noodles and steamed buns when we miss our hometown, which is an impressive memory.

Last but not least, I would like to show my gratitude for the exchange opportunity offered by our School and University of Salento. We all receive great support from both schools and teachers during the program.

Michelle Zhang