Padova has the charm of a small city but everything you need from a big city. The thing I appreciate the most is just walking around the city centre and admiring the architecture of the historical buildings and squares, with an occasional stop for a coffee or spritz!
The positive cultural aspects of being in an Italian city, such as language, food, art, people, plus its peculiarities, such as the Sant’Antonio church, Scrovegni chapel, Caffè Pedrocchi, Prato della Valle, and of course the 800 years of history of UNIPD all add up to the charm of this place. The fact that it is bike friendly was another big plus! Speaking of bikes, Padova is also logistically interesting, since you can easily reach many beautiful cities by train or bus, such as Venice (in just 30 minutes!), Verona, Vicenza, Treviso, or if you feel like going a little bit further (2 hours) you can get to Milano, or to the Alps (Belluno, Asiago), where you can find natural areas to hike or ski or just escape the hot summer days.
One particularly nice experience I had was a day trip when I went to the Colli Euganei by bike and had a picnic in a historical villa (there is a bike path all the way from Padova to the hills), or when I went to Austria (Vienna) by bus and spent the weekend there.
Coming to Padova not only changed my professional career, but deeply changed my personal life: Here I found friends that I know I can count on for the rest of my life, and I also found love! I met my boyfriend over a year ago in the University.

One interesting aspect of the master programme I’m part of is the balance between the theoretical and practical parts of the courses, which frequently involves field trips in the North region of Italy, where Padova is located. This is a privileged region to have a forest science course, since it is close to a variety of ecosystems, such as the mountains (Alps), plain area (Po river), and the coast (Venice) and where it is possible to see the interaction of people-nature and climate change aspects.
After the first year of the master experience, I got the chance to do a summer internship in FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations), whose headquarter is in Rome. That was a dream coming true, since from the beginning of my career I used FAO’s reports as supporting material for my job and studies.
As for the moment, I am participating in a program provided by the University called “Mentor&Me”, where each mentee (student) is assigned a mentor (a professional from a related field) and they have the opportunity to discuss one-on-one and deepen practical aspects related to the career.
Now fingers-crossed to find a job opportunity soon!