Hirodai Ambassador Activity Report
Faculty of Education, 4th year (I.e. Spring San
[Study abroad destination]University of Turin (Italy)
[Study abroad period] August 2023 to January 9.
[Type of study abroad] Long-term study abroad at a partner university
It's been about two months since I came to study abroad in Turin, Italy. In this second edition of the Study Abroad Newsletter, I would like to introduce the city of Turin.
From the end of October to the beginning of November, a chocolate festival was held in the city center. Turin is also known as a city famous for its chocolate. There were many tents lined up in the large square and on the street, selling chocolates of various shapes and flavors. The charm of this festival is that you can sample a lot of food.
Here, everyone who visited enjoyed the tasting, with the loud voices of the shop staff calling out to each other, ``Do you want to try it?'' I visited this chocolate festival with friends many times during the period and enjoyed many samples. My favorite flavors include pistachio, hazelnut, rock salt and caramel, and cranberry, just to name a few.
I also learned that there is a card that allows unlimited access to museums and art galleries in the Piedmont region, where Turin is located, so my friends and I have been visiting various museums every week. There are many museums here where you can learn about history and culture, and one that I found particularly interesting was the coffee company L.avazza It is a museum of. In Italy, coffee culture is very important and essential. Here, there were exhibits about the company's history, types of coffee beans, cultivation, shipping, past advertisements, etc. At the end of the exhibition, you can drink coffee. In addition to espresso and cappuccino, you can choose from a limited-time coffee menu.
One of Turin's most famous museums is the National Cinema Museum. The exterior looks like a large observatory in the middle of the city, making it a monument to Turin. The location is right near the campus where I have Italian classes, so I was able to go there with my friends before class. Currently, temporary exhibitions by Tim Burton, famous for Charlie's Chocolate Factory and Wednesday, are currently being held, and even on weekdays there is a line in front of the entrance.
At the permanent exhibition, I was able to learn about the history of film, and even though I'm not that familiar with film, I was able to thoroughly enjoy it. It's popular and crowded with a wide range of visitors, from children to adults, and the exhibits are large and long, so I'd like to go back and see them again.
Also, almost every museum has interpretive panels in Italian and English, so I feel they are tolerant of tourists. Larger museums also have interpretive panels in European languages such as Spanish, French, and German. In Japan, we often see explanation panels in English, Chinese, etc., so it's interesting to see how different it is from Japan.
