It's the first day of school for our friends. In fact, it's their first year of middle school. The desks are set up for pairs of pupils, so choices have to be made as to where to sit and whom to share a desk with.

Alice introduces us to her group of friends. They've called themselves "JAMS" and we find out why in this episode. She begins telling us the story of how they got to know one another. Alice talks about la prima media. This is equivalent to the first year of middle school or the 6th grade of elementary school. The kids are about 11 or 12 years old.

Arianna tells us about her months of study in Potsdam and how beneficial the Erasmus experience was for her.

Marika and Arianna discuss the Erasmus Program, a student exchange program that was founded in the late 1980s. It allows European university students to study at other EU country universities. The program is named after the Dutch humanist, Erasmus of Rotterdam (1466-1536).

Maurizio is a young student from the province of Pescara, going to school (university) in Rome. He tells us a little bit about himself, and his life in Rome. This is an excellent opportunity to compare how Italian treats tenses with respect to English, especially the English present perfect, and present continuous.

Studying is not the only thing students do at the university. They like to have fun, too. Being from out of town, but too far away for a commute, Serena and Elena rent an apartment with other students. Find out what they like to do in the evenings!

Get the inside story on going to university in Italy! Serena and Elena talk about how the school year is broken up, where you register, taking exams and how the grading works, what grade point average you need to pass, and much more.

Serena is a university student from Maratea. She's just come back from an internship in Russia. She tells us about Russia, and also about her plans for New Year's Eve.