UPMC ISMETT in Palermo, Italy

[mdphd2b]

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Hi everyone,

I am a 4th year US med student and will be doing a 2-month rotation thru my school (UPMC) at ISMETT in Palermo. I will be there Jan-Mar 2008. I know I will need to learn some Italian!

Please send me info on Palermo--the city, the weather, affordable places for students to eat, wireless hot spots, places to visit, etc. Also some questions:

1. My school may be arranging my lodging in a convent that is walking distance to ISMETT. Is anyone familiar with this lodging (sorry, I don't yet know the name!)

2. Is it possible to get a pre-paid cell phone to use for 2-months in Palermo? Where would I get this? At the airport?

 

[soleluna]

I have no clue about Palermo at all. But for the prepaid phone, you can buy a SIM card with vodafone, wind or Tim and charge it with as much as you want. You have to give ID to subscribe, though. You find it in specialized shops. Look online for locations, on each company website. I use Vodafone, in my area it has the best coverage.

 

[mdphd2b]

I have no clue about Palermo at all. But for the prepaid phone, you can buy a SIM card with vodafone, wind or Tim and charge it with as much as you want. You have to give ID to subscribe, though. You find it in specialized shops. Look online for locations, on each company website. I use Vodafone, in my area it has the best coverage.

That is helpful to know 🙂

Any more inputs on Palermo?

 

[AKN]

I don't know anything about Palermo, but do think there's a US Navy base near there. However, I wanted to let you know that Sicilians don't speak Italian. They speak their own dialect. When Mt Etna blows and they interview locals, the national TV has to subtitle it throughout the rest of Italy 😱 FWIW, most Italians don't speak Italian; each area has its own dialect (although Italian is taught in the schools...).

If you learn some Italian, they should understand you. Don't expect to understand them, though. My husband is from Italy, and he can't understand the Sicilian dialect 😕

 

[soleluna]

I'm sorry I don't agree with what you said, at all.
I don't speak or understand any dialect (my family is a melting pot from different areas). I just use regular Italian and have no problems at all. Everyone in Italy speaks Italian. THEN we have dialects. I don't understand Sicilian, but I have Sicilian friends and they speak perfect Italian, we understand each other and communicate very well. No subtitles on TV either. It's just a stereotyped image.. like an Italian mafia boss with a mandolin and a pizza in his hand.

I am speaking about middle high class here, I don't know about uneducated people in rural areas, though, but I can assure you.. no subtitles on TV AT ALL.