Before Italy:
The week before I had to leave was very stressful, as it is for anyone doing something similar. Traveling on your own is very exciting but at the same time also very scary. One realises how things could easily go wrong due to the fact that one is basically left alone to arrange all these things.
I experienced some problems with late flight bookings and also arranging my visa appointments, which obviously made things a lot less simpler than what I would have expected.
Pre-departure:
After I got the email confirming that I had received a grant to attend the summer school in Bologna, I started preparing for my trip. There were many things to get done, least of all the paper I was to submit and present and the summer school itself. The grant covered airfare and accommodation only. I applied for and received a travel bursary from PGIO to cover my transport, visa, travel insurance and food costs. It is important that you ensure that your basics are covered before travelling anywhere, these include:
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Pre-departure:
I am a student studying ancient languages with a focus on Biblical Hebrew and translation, so when my advisor told me about the Nida School of Translation Studies at the San Pellegrino University Foundation in Italy, I was immediately interested. The Nida Institute is the academic arm of the American Bible Society and known for its scholarship in the field of Bible translation in the pioneering tradition of Eugene Nida, perhaps the single most significant figure in the field of translation in the past half century, and a close associate of the South African Greek scholar J. P. Louw. In addition to the prospect of learning about translation from a premier institution specializing in the field, the location being at an Italian university was also very appealing.