Padova Summer Handbook
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PADUA ITALY Summer 2012 Handbook BU in Padua 1 Getting Ready to Go A Sense of Purpose Helpful Websites 2 Academics Courses Textbooks Academic Policies and Procedures Libraries 2 What to Bring Handbooks Passport and Student Visa Student Identification Calling Card/Phones Clothing Prescription/Drug Store Items Appliances Computers/E-mail Miscellaneous 4 Money Matters Program Fees Cash Banking 5 Arrival Travel Arrangements Orientation 6 Housing Housing Assignments Italian Households Family Housing Guidelines 8 Life in Padua Food and Dining Shopping Entertainment Transportation: Getting Around Padua Communication/Mail Media Padua-area Hotels and Hostels Outside of Padua 11 Names and Numbers 2 Boston University International Programs Padua Getting Ready to Go “...Per Il grande desiderio che avevo Divedere la bella Padua, culla delle arti Padua (known to Italians as Padova) claims to be the oldest Sono arrivato... city in northern Italy. Ancient Padua, inhabited by Veneti, Ed a Padua sono venuto, come chi lascia thrived thanks to its excellent breed of horses and the wool of its sheep. Its men fought for the Romans at Cannae, and Uno stagno per tuffarsi nel mare.” the city (a Roman municipium since 45 BC) became so powerful that it reportedly was able to raise two hundred –Shakespeare thousand fighting men. The historian Livy was born in La Bisbetica Domata, Atto 1, Scena 1 Padua, and Padua was the first home to one of the most famous architects of the Renaissance, Andrea Palladio. Padua is also the setting for most of the action in “…For the great desire I had Shakespeare's “The Taming of the Shrew.” To see fair Padua, Nursery of Arts. The city is the economic and communications hub of the I am arrived… Veneto region in northern Italy, and is included, with Venice And am to Padua come, as he that leaves (Italian Venezia), in the Padua-Venezia Metropolitan Area, A shallow plash to plunge him in the deep.” population around 1,600,000. Its agricultural setting is the Pianura Padana, edged by the Euganean Hills praised by Lucan and Martial, Petrarch and Ugo Foscolo. The city is –Shakespeare picturesque, with a dense network of arcaded streets The Taming of the Shrew, Act 1, Scene 1 opening into large communal piazze, and many bridges crossing the various branches of the River Bacchiglone, which once surrounded the ancient walls like a moat. A SENSE OF PURPOSE A lively city of 240,000 inhabitants, Padua is home to the There’s more to preparing to spend the summer in Padua second oldest European university, founded in 1222, and it than deciding what to pack. You’ll also need to identify your now hosts a student population of 60,000. Elena Lucrezia own goals and objectives, specifically: Cornaro Piscopia, the first woman to receive a college degree, graduated from the Università degli studi di Padova • Establish some general priorities before you go— in 1678. Galileo Galilei taught in Padua, and his podium is academic, personal, and professional—and try to keep still preserved at the Palazzo Bo, the historic university them in mind throughout the summer semester. building in the center of the city. Having been a university • Think about what you hope to accomplish while you’re in town for almost eight centuries, Padua bustles with all the Padua. diverse cultural and social life that a large population of • Think about how you might accomplish those goals. students and scholars brings. • Remember to keep an open mind. Learn from all of your experiences. Located about 20 miles west of Venice, Padua is also very central to the major art cities of Italy, as well as to those in HELPFUL WEBSITES the rest of Europe. The city itself is extraordinarily rich in art and architecture: it boasts Giotto’s frescoes in the Cappella • Info on the BU Padua Program degli Scrovegni; works of Mantegna, Donatello, and painters www. bu.edu/abroad/programs/padua-language-and- of the Venetian school; and it is one of the largest groups of liberal-arts-program interconnected medieval and renaissance public spaces in www. bu.edu/abroad/media/padua-what-students-say Italy. Virtually all the great buildings of Palladio are within • Padua (municipality information) forty minutes of the city. www.paduanet.it • Venice (city information) Boston University’s Padua Academic Center is located in the www.virtualvenice.com historic center of Padua and within walking distance of most • Lonely Planet Guides—Italy university departments. www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations 1 Boston University Study Abroad Padua Tardiness Academics Students must make every effort to be on time for all scheduled meetings and class sessions and should notify the appropriate persons by phone or written message of extenu - COURSES ating circumstances that result in tardiness. If you should Classes are held at the Boston University Padua Academic arrive late to class, please minimize the effects of your Center and are taught by Boston University faculty and local arrival. Students are not admitted more than ten minutes instructors. Expect your Italian professors to have different past the beginning of class. teaching styles than your professors at your home campus and expect that your courses will operate differently than Coursework courses at your home campus. All students enroll in a total You are expected to turn in all course assignments on time; of eight semester-hour credits. A minimum enrollment of turning in assignments late will have a negative effect on five students is required for a course to be offered. your grades. Students caught submitting the same written work for two separate courses will fail one of the courses. Please go to www.bu.edu/abroad/programs/padua- All academic commitments must be completed before you language-and-liberal-arts-programs-summer . leave Padua; no incompletes are permitted. Students who do not complete a course on time will be given an F. In addition, students are not permitted to audit courses or to TEXTBOOKS take courses on a pass/fail basis. For certain courses you will need to purchase textbooks before you leave the United States. BU visiting faculty will contact you directly with information regarding textbook LIBRARIES purchase from the U.S. The remainder of the books you will The library system in Italy works a little differently than that purchase once in Padua. of the US. You may access most university libraries with your Università degli studi di Padova (UNIPD) ID that you will receive on-site. Don’t be surprised to find it necessary to ACADEMIC POLICIES AND PROCEDURES leave all your belongings, including your jacket, at the Attendance entrance of library. While not necessarily user-friendly, the You are expected to attend each class session, field trip, and library provides a wonderful quiet space to study. There are any other course-related event. Attendance and class partic - also Aule Studio located throughout the city where you can ipation will influence your grade for the course. You will be study, access Padua WiFi service once registered, and meet required to account for undue absences either by personal other Italian students. The Padua city library is sometimes explanation to the course instructor and/or to the Resident used by students, and there also is a good collection of Director, or by written statement from another authority. books for students to use at the BU Padua Academic Center. If you have been absent from a course excessively, you may be required to withdraw from that course without credit. If you expect to be absent from a class, you must notify your instructor and the resident director in advance, preferably in What to Bring writing. If you are absent from class for medical reasons, you need to contact BU Study Abroad Padua and seek medical attention. HANDBOOK Bring this handbook with you to Padua. It contains informa - Academic Conduct Code tion which you may find useful during your summer in Italy. All students participating in a Boston University Study Abroad are expected to maintain high standards of academic honesty and integrity. It is the responsibility of PASSPORT every student to be aware of the College of Arts and You must have a valid passport to spend the summer in Italy. Sciences Academic Conduct Code’s contents and to abide by its provisions. The Academic Conduct Code can be found at www.bu.edu/cas/students/undergradresources/ Passport-Size Photos code. You should already have supplied the Padua Office with the specified JPEG of a passport photo along with your accept - ance paperwork. 2 Boston University Study Abroad Padua STUDENT IDENTIFICATION CLOTHING Bring your student ID card; it’s always helpful to have an The most important thing to remember when packing extra form of photo ID. It’s also a very good idea to purchase clothes is that whatever you pack will probably be more an International Student Identification Card, which provides than you will need. Also, keep in mind that you may not some student discounts. For information on the nearest have a lot of closet and drawer space so bring only what is issuing office, check the following: www.statravel.com . necessary. You will do best to bring clothes that are easily mixed and matched. Bring comfortable walking shoes for Europe’s stone pavements. Do realize, however, that it will CALLING CARDS/PHONES be hot. Casual wear in Europe is less casual than in the U.S.; Using a calling card is a convenient and generally inexpen - you should be prepared with some semi-dressy clothes for sive way to call the US since calls are billed at US, not local, an occasional invitation out. Please keep in mind that some rates.