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Reading Rome, Writing Rome:
Creative Writing Workshop in Italy 2008

May 22-June 14, 2008

Packing Tips

What to Pack:

  1. Prescription drugs and non-prescription drugs and sundries. European medicines are calibrated differently than medicines in the United States, and the drugs themselves are often different. Plan on taking only American drugs, and bring all prescribed drugs with you, along with a copy of your prescription(s). If you use over-the-counter US drugs or devices, bring those, too. Bring drugs that you use only on occasion, such as allergy medications. Also consider bringing any drug or drugstore item that you might need while traveling, such as aspirin, Imodium, Pepto Bismal, Bandaids, Monistat, and decongestants. There are very high taxes on international drug shipments.
  2. Contact lens fluid and glasses. Bring your own contact lens fluid (it costs more in Italy). Bring an extra pair of contacts or glasses if possible.
  3. Walking shoes. You will be walking every day in Rome, over rough cobblestones and up and down great numbers of stone steps. Bring walking shoes, preferably not white ones.
  4. Clothing. Remember that you are going to Rome as an artist. You do not need to wear a new look every day. You should be prepared to wear a few things many times rather than many things a few times. Wash-and-dry clothing is recommended. Anything that you can hang to dry easily will be especially useful. The apartments have both washers and dryers, but the wash-and-dry cycles on Italian machines are unexpectedly long, and you will not want to heat up your apartments on hot days. The Romans themselves often line-dry their laundry indoors on a rack called a stendino.

    Those who do not want to do their laundry in the apartments will find dry cleaning and laundry establishments nearby. Like American establishments, they are expensive.

    Please note: Italians dress up more frequently than Americans, and they do so for just about every occasion. Their casual clothes are as impeccably cared for and as pressed as their formal clothes. Bring one nice outfit, and plan to keep cleaning your shoes during the day. Most of the people you will see wearing shorts are Americans, and most of the people you see wearing jeans are either tourists or recent immigrants and economic refugees such as Romanians and Albanians. Although the Italians wear jeans, too, they do not usually wear them to restaurants, and they almost never wear shorts in the Centro, where you will be living.

    The weather in May can be warm and mild with occasional rain showers. The weather in June will range from warm to very warm to hot, and it will be humid. In order to enter the many churches we will see on site visits, you will need to cover your knees and shoulders. Shorts are unacceptable, and spaghetti-strap tops, although fine on the street, have to be covered with something like a tee shirt for church visits. Pockets are useful whenever you are traveling through the city—it's safer to go into a pocket for a little money than to open up a pack or drag out a wallet. Try to pack summer clothes with pockets.

  5. ATM card with a 4-digit (no letters) secret code. If you are a Cornell student with a bank account in Ithaca, we recommend that you bring a card from Tompkins County Trust but not from M&T Bank or one of the credit unions. The M&T bank recently broke from the most widely available ATM services, and therefore its ATM cards are nearly useless in Europe. The credit union cards for some reason rarely work.
  6. Alarm clock. Bring a small battery-powered one.
  7. Writing, and computer supplies. Each student will be making daily entries in a writer’s notebook, and the first entries must be made before leaving North America, so all students should buy their notebooks before departing. Students also should buy memory media (stick, disc, etc.) before they leave for Rome.
  8. Shoulder bag or pack. Bring a small bag or pack for full-day and half-day outings. Leave your big backpack in the United States or in your apartment.
  9. Dictionary. Bring a pocket-sized Italian-English dictionary. We recommend the one published by Oxford.
  10. Shampoo, cosmetics, other sundries. It will be cheaper to buy these before leaving home.
  11. Hair dryers, curling irons etc. The apartments have hair dryers. If you wish to use your own hair dryer, it is best to buy one in Rome rather than use one with an adapter (they tend to break down). Ditto for most other hand-held health and beauty appliances.
  12. Adaptor plugs. If you bring American electronic appliances, laptops, or iPods, it is up to you to find out before you leave which adaptors you need and get them. The adaptors for American devices are easier to get in the US than in Italy.
  13. Camera cables and storage discs or cards. If you use a cable to download your digital pictures to a computer for the purposes of looking at them and then backing them up, be sure to pack the cable that goes with your camera model, because we have learned from experience that you may find it impossible to replace it in Europe. Also bring extra discs or cards for your particular camera. It’s always hard to find the right match for your camera when you are traveling and in a hurry.
  14. Bag, suitcases, duffles. Go to your departure airport with only as much luggage as you can carry easily by yourself—ideally a small carry-on and only one other piece of baggage, the smaller the better. There is an 18-mile trip from the airport to the city center. Each person will be carrying and guarding her or his own bags. You will be traveling via train and then via tram, with short walks up and down stairs and across uneven surfaces in between. Once you have checked into the Palazzo (it is only 100 meters from the end of the tramline), you will have to carry or pull your baggage to your apartment. If you are planning to stay in Europe and travel after the program, you should bring even less than if you are returning immediately.

    As you pack, remember that airlines will allow you to carry only two items onto a plane. A purse counts as one item. A computer bag also counts as one item. You also will not be able to go through security points with more than two items, including a handbag or a computer case.

    (If you are able to avoid checking your luggage, you will save an hour at the airport when you arrive.)

    Although there at present is a three-ounce limit on the liquid and paste items that you may carry on to the airplane (shampoo and lipstick both count as “liquids”) three ounces is actually a substantial amount.

    If you are checking your luggage through, be prepared to have the bag opened and searched in your presence at the time of check-in (in other words, luggage is no longer private, something you might keep in mind as you pack).

  15. Zip-lock bags in different sizes. You can use these to flatten out and pack your clothing, and separate it from your shampoo and toothpaste, which might leak in flight.

    16. What Not to Pack

    • Items for apartment living. The apartments are completely furnished and include all bedding, linens, towels, cutlery, pots, pans, and glassware that you will need.
    • Possibly your laptop. You will have access to the Cornell computer room, which is available only to students enrolled in academic programs at the Palazzo. If you are addicted to your laptop and absolutely have to have it in Rome, be sure to consider its weight and value, and how carrying it through airports and city streets may give you something to worry about. However, there are wireless internet connections in the apartments, and you may want to have your laptop in your apartment if only to avoid making expensive phone calls.