Pascale's mobility story: Learning Italian in paradise

Pascale, a Master’s student from the University of Southern Denmark (SDU), spent the 2024 Autumn Semester as an exchange student at USI. We asked her about her experience in Lugano.

What motivated you to choose USI as your exchange destination?

I was interested in living in Switzerland for one semester and wanted to learn a new language. Lugano looks like paradise and provided a chance to learn Italian, therefore I chose USI as my exchange university.

How is studying at USI different from studying at your home university?

Academically, USI differs in the intensity of the courses. At my home university (SDU Odense), my Master program only contains 10 ECTS courses. At USI, most courses only had 3 ECTS, some 6 ECTS.

Culturally, the student community is much smaller and closer at USI. My home university is huge and there are a lot of opportunities for free time activities. USI does not offer most of these things unfortunately due to the size of the university, but I always ran into people I knew, which was nice, and the exchange and regular student community is very close.

How was your experience with the USI student community?

I joined ESN Lugano already before arriving and right after arriving I also joined SEEDS which are two student associations at USI which was amazing to get to know people, do interesting trips and learn and grow a bit. I also lived in a student dorm with many exchange students of which some became good friends. So overall, the student community is pleasant.

If you look back at yourself before your exchange, do you notice any differences? If so, what are they?

I definitely speak much better Italian than before since I did not speak any at all prior to living in Lugano and studying at USI. It was fun learning it and using it at work to practice. I also appreciate some things now more than I did before, especially at home but also considering the friendships I made and the things I learned from other cultures while living in Lugano.

What is your favorite memory of your time in Lugano?

My favorite memory must be the lake and the hikes. Lugano felt like paradise to me. It's a calm but not boring city and I really enjoyed going for a walk, a run, or just a park visit at the lake as well as climbing one of the nearby mountains to see it from above. My favorite view was the one from Monte Boglia when there was some snow and sun. It must have been one of the best views in my life so far.