Firenze 2006-2007

Travel Guide Part XV: Villa Life

If the section on the trains could have been a book then this section on Villa life could be volumes. There is just that much to talk about. I’m going to try and talk about most of the basics like meals in the Villa, the Student Center, and other everyday aspects of life at 41 Viale Milton.
From Monday to Thursday, you get three meals a day- as much food as you want without having to worry about points or anything. You just have to show up and take what you want. Breakfast usually consists of cereal, bread and jelly, some fruit, and of course juices and coffee. Breakfast starts at about 7:00 and will stay out until 8:30. After that, there will be about a half hour before classes start for the day (Monday-Thursday). Lunch is from 12:30 to 1:30, then more classes until dinner which runs from 6:00 to 7:00. Both lunch and dinner consist of three courses. The pasta/soup course, the main course, and the dessert course. The pasta/soup course is just what it sounds like- always a pasta dish or soup. The main course is always some kinda of meat, and then vegetables and other side dishes. The pasta/soup course will come out at the beginning of the meal time, then someone will clean up the pasta dishes and the main course will be brought out. Everything is done buffet style, so it’s serve yourself. You can have food from both courses or only one- up to you. You can also save food for later and put it in the fridge- just be sure it doesn’t go bad and make the whole Student Center smell. The dessert course is usually cookies, but occasionally it will be something special. For instance, Sunday nights are usually gelato, birthdays- cake, and Tuesday is a surprise!
This is the meal schedule for Monday-Thursday, and Sunday dinner. For breakfast on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, we get to go to Caffe Liberta’ if you’re in town. Caffe Lib is a bar very near the Villa, and it has amazing pastries and drinks. Hours for Caffe Lib are 8:30-10:30, and like the Villa, you can have as much as you want, although they prefer it if you don’t take any to save for later here. For lunch on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and then for dinner on Friday and Saturday, you’re on your own, so explore and try some places.
Classes are pretty much similar to those in Malibu, just nothing on Fridays. There are several differences in structure. Being absent on a Monday or Thursday for the purpose of travel counts as a double absence. You are allowed one hour of absence per hour of class per week for the semester. For example, in a three unit class, you can miss three class hours before your grade starts to fall, in a four unit class, four class hours, etc. Missing for sickness on a Monday or Thursday is only one absence, I think. The classrooms are located on the lowest level of the Villa, and are always open to students for studying. In addition to the classrooms, there are also two computer labs and a library in the house. The two computer labs each have about ten computers that all students can use at any time of the day- I think. There are also printers available here- not sure whether or not they’re free or not. The library is a fairly large room with comfortable room to study and a good supply of books to pull information from.
When you don’t want to study, the villa offers a lot of ways to pass time. There is a room called the music room which has a piano and a guitar, both of which are available to students whenever. There is another piano in a small room off the business entrance of the villa. If you’re not the musical type, there is a ping-pong table in the courtyard, as well as a swing. The courtyard is a great place to hangout and study or relax. Right off the courtyard there is a small game room in which there is an air hockey table and a foos ball table. There is also a large patio on the top level of rooms. This is a good place to suntan or whatever, although it is kinda loud with all the street noise. Then, there is the student center. In this room there are several board games, various travel books and newspapers to look through. There is also a television with a DVD player and a VCR. This T.V. is supposedly connected to a satellite dish, but the only channels that ever seem to be on are MTV and CNN. Movies are on all the time. People bring their own from home for the most part, but the villa has a decent collection as well. That’s pretty much what the villa has in store for recreation hours. Those options, as well as exploring Florence should be enough to keep you entertained for a year.
As far as rooms go in the villa, there are about twenty rooms, each with at least two people in them. There are two rooms with four people, and four with three. The rest are standard two person rooms. Some rooms are better than others for various reasons, but for the most part, they are all comparable. The four person rooms have two toilets and showers in each of them, all the other rooms have their own bathrooms/showers. The one exception is rooms 3 and 4. They share a large and nice bathroom- the five of them share the bathroom. The Malibu campus visitation rules apply in Florence, so that means guys can only be in a girl’s room between 10:00am and 1:00am, and vice-versa. All the rooms are close together and all similar.
Guests are always welcome in the villa, it is just best to let Elizabeth know when you’ll be having someone around- she’ll probably already know cause she knows everything, but just make sure. The only guests that can sleep in the house are students from other Pepperdine European International Programs, and they can only do this if a student is gone for the weekend and has offered their bed for use, and the guest has cleared this with both their home program and the program they are visiting. It sounds like a complicated process, but it really isn’t all that hard, you just have to plan ahead and try to give about a week notice if possible. This process works in reverse as well, so we can stay in the Heidelberg and London houses when we want to. Not sure about the French Program place yet. All other guests, even if they are Pepperdine students from Malibu cannot sleep in the house. They have to get a hostel or hotel room somewhere in Florence which is not all that hard or expensive (at least it does not have to be all that expensive but certainly can be if you want it to be). There is a hotel right down the street from the villa which is within two minutes walking from the villa. This is a popular one with visiting family members- I forget its name though.
Since you only have classes four days a week, that means there are three day weekends. While most people tend to travel on weekends, the villa is open for you to stay in, work in, etc. the only thing is that there are not the meals that you would get on the weekdays. The only limitation on curfew that are ever imposed on you over there is on Sunday night. You are supposed to be back to the villa by midnight on Sunday. This is not a huge deal, just let Elizabeth know before hand if you won’t be able to make it back from your weekend travel before midnight on Sunday and you can get an exemption. I don’t think this curfew applies to going out in Florence on Sunday night, but I’m not sure about that.
The program office, Elizabeth’s office, and the faculty residence are all located off one main entry hall above the music room. The program office will be able to help you out with any faxes, mail or anything else you may have to deal with. They around standard office hours during the week, including Friday. Elizabeth’s office is another place to go with questions or just to chat for a while. The faculty apartment is pretty secluded when the faculty member wants it to be, but there will be several instances in which you might get a tour.
As far as laundry goes, there is a laundry room just off the courtyard. There are several washers and driers in this room that can be used at any time by students. They are not quarter operated like the ones in Malibu are, they are operated by gettoni (token) which can be bought in the main program office for about 1.50E. Every two weeks or so, each student gets two gettoni to wash their sheets.
In the student center, each student has their own mailbox for letters or just storage. They are more like cubbies than mailboxes because they are open and easy to access. You will get some of your mail here, but any packages or other mail will come into the program office, and will be available there,.
There are several student jobs available in the villa. I believe they are all meal set up and clean up duties. It is not a huge paying job or long hours, but it does create some income which is always nice. Details about the jobs will be available during orientation in Florence. I’m not sure whether or not you need work study or not to be able to work.
Clothing in the villa. Nothing is a real big deal except shoes. You have to wear something on your feet at all times while in the common parts of the villa. Sandals count, I think socks count, you just cannot be barefooted. Something about Italian law prevents this because the villa is considered a food service station or something. Just wear shoes or socks.
There are several places in the outdoor parts of the villa that are designated smoking places. You cannot smoke inside the villa. But feel free to pretty much anywhere else in Europe- everyone else does. Just use some common sense about it.
Apart from these rules and pieces of info about the villa, just use some common sense and you’ll be fine. There is so much more about the villa that I could write, but I’ll let it go for now and let y’all figure it out for yourselves. Any students that have already been there, feel free to add your own stuff about the villa and life in it. And be sure to let me know what I’ve left out. I’m sure I’ve forgotten something this time. There’s just too much to remember at one time.

posted by Daniel Williams @ 10:17