GENERAL
PREPARATIONS
LIFE IN GENOA
PROGRAM RULES
updated: 17 October 2024
This program is what you make it
Bring a good attitude. Be open. Be flexible to new situations, and respectful of your Italian hosts. Don’t judge things you don’t understand, but be curious. Get inside the situation and out of your habits and assumptions.
Get comfortable with being uncomfortable. You are here to grow, adapt, adjust. Study Abroad is designed to get you out of your comfort zone, so know that those moments of discomfort are helping you grow and develop new skills, personally and professionally. You always have your friends, Program Managers, and professors to support you through these moments. They are what become the most rewarding part of your experience abroad.
Present a positive face of American culture through good behavior. Most people here are very open to Americans as individuals, but it does not take much for negative stereotypes to be confirmed. Genoa is already a somewhat closed culture, so you have to be even more agreeable to accept their terms to "get in". You can learn a lot and have a great time by doing so.
Conduct
The conditions of behavior and terms of responsibility are covered in the following three documents from the FIU Office of Education Abroad, which you sign upon your enrollment in the program:
- Study Abroad Participant Contract
- Overseas Student Participation Agreement: Release and Assumption of Risk
- Acknowledgment of Pre-Departure Materials
If there is flagrant misconduct, or continuous misbehavior, a student may be dismissed from the program with no refund. As well as adherence to FIU and Genoa program rules, misconduct would include, but not limited to, breaking local Italian laws (drunk and disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace, vandalism of property, etc.) or endangering the safety or well-being of the group, and if severe may warrant immediate dismissal from the program. Plus, we will not allow the misconduct of one person to damage the goodwill with the local community that we are building with the FIU Genoa Program.
There are also specific Genoa program rules listed below:
Noise in the Apartments
You have an amazing benefit of living in full-time residential apartment buildings, not student housing. There is no noise permitted in the apartments after 10 pm. You must be quiet in the halls and stairwells at all times.
There are to be no loud parties in the apartments. You can have friends over for dinner, get-togethers, but no parties with loud music or noise after 10 pm.
Repeated complaints from the owners and/or residents may result in the filing of charges with the police and/or loss of housing. We must maintain a positive rapport with the owners of the apartments, the other residents of the building, and the housing agency, and avoid legal problems for FIU.
House Guests
There is a general policy against overnight guests in the apartments. If students have family visit them during their time abroad, they are not permitted to stay in the apartments.
Academic Travel and Local Activities
Academic travel and planned activities are part of the program. All students are required to participate.
Guests (family, friends, local acquaintances) are not allowed to participate in FIU program academic travel or local activities.
We travel together during academic travel and, for security's sake, there are no independent returns without the knowledge and permission of the faculty person in charge.
Free Travel
Students may travel independently over weekends and breaks within Europe. All free travel must be communicated in detail (who is traveling, where, how many days, et al) to the Program Managers 48 hours prior to leaving. No student may miss class under any circumstances for free travel.
Smoking
Smoking is not permitted in the apartments or in the academic facilities. You may smoke outside the academic facilities.