Services

Meals

Students are provided continental breakfast daily from 7:30-9:30 a.m. Students are provided five dinner meals each week. Two will be served at the Bernardi dining room and three will be provided as meal vouchers for restaurants. The on-campus meals are on Sundays and Wednesdays (these days are subject to change during the holidays and on special occasions based on the staff’s discretion.). Dinner at Bernardi is served at 7:30 p.m. Sundays and around 8 p.m. Wednesdays.Meal vouchers are worth €14 each and can be used in restaurants in Rome (and throughout Italy) that accept vouchers by Ticket Restaurant. Students are able to use their meal vouchers however they choose for lunch or dinner. The meal vouchers are provided to the students to allow greater flexibility in their schedules and more variety in their meals. Students with special dietary needs should inform the campus director prior to their arrival in Rome to ensure that they will not encounter any difficulties with food choices and availability. Guests are welcome for dinner on the designated dinner nights at the residence with at least 24 hours advanced notice (fill out the Guest Meal Request Form) and approval by the campus director. Cost for a guest meal is €16 per person. The student’s account will be charged for meals unless the guest or the student host wishes to pay directly with a credit card. Due to limited space in the dining room, no more than 45 people (including students, faculty, guests, etc.) can be present for dinner on any given night. Students are strongly recommended to let the campus director know in advance if they will be absent from a scheduled meal so that food does not go to waste.

Laundry

There are three washers and two dryers, and they are token-operated, one token to wash and one token to dry. Laundry tokens cost €2.00 each and can be purchased at the front office (see posted hours). If possible, students are asked to bring the exact change or smaller denomination currency notes to buy laundry tokens. Depending on the temperature used (see posted instructions), a load of laundry can take about 55 to 65 minutes to wash and 30 minutes to dry. Students are encouraged to

be courteous and timely with laundry selfservice. Students need to be cautious of not overloading the washers or dryers. Students must purchase laundry detergent for washers and not detergent for handwashing, which can damage to washers. At the discretion of the student, if soap is labeled with a name, it can remain in the laundry room cabinet. Students should report equipment problems to staff immediately. Students must be aware that once the washer is running, it cannot be opened until the cycle has finished. Students tampering with the washers or dryers will be subject to disciplinary action and monetary fines. Dry cleaning can be done at nearby establishments.

Bathrooms and Cleaning

Bathrooms are shared between two or three rooms. The housekeeping staff cleans the student bathrooms at least twice a week. To prevent regular clogging of the shower drains, students are advised to be conscious of not letting hair run down the drain; throw it in the bathroom bin, if possible. Students are responsible for cleaning their own rooms.

Linen Service

The university rents its sheets and towels from an outside vendor. There is a charge (€15 - €20 to be posted on the student’s account) for missing linen items. All linen provided to students must be cleaned by the linen service of the university and not in the washers on campus. Students receive one set of bed sheets, one pillowcase, one bath towel, one face towel and one bath mat. Linen exchange for clean towels and sheets takes place once a week (day and time to be announced). Students are responsible for following the linenexchange procedures as explained during Bernardi Campus Student Life Orientation.

Messages, Mail and Packages

Students may check the message board at the base of the central staircase for any messages. Less pressing notices will be posted on the bulletin boards located in the computer lab area. Messages for the campus director, facilities manager or faculty adviser can be left at the front office or message board. Students’ mailboxes are located in the computer lab area. Air-mail service between Italy and the United States usually takes 7-10 days under the best conditions. Surface mail is very slow and may take six to eight weeks. Air mail with insufficient postage from Italy to the United States is not returned to the sender but is sent by surface mail. Stamps are sold in post offices, tobacco shops and in some coffee bars. Fees levied on packages arriving in Italy from the United States are based on the value of the contents as determined by the Italian Post Office and customs regulations. These charges can be exorbitant. Experience has shown that uninsured packages clear customs more quickly than insured ones. Packages are usually opened by customs at random, and those not stopped for duty will be delivered to the Bernardi Campus. Packages sent by air mail generally take less than a month to arrive, unless held up in customs; whereas surface mail has been known to take up to six months. In addition, packages sent by air mail are not normally subject to customs duties if the declared value is less than €50.00, whereas items sent by courier (i.e. DHL, UPS, FedEx, etc) from outside the European Union are always subject to customs fees. If you use express delivery, contact the courier company for details and restrictions.

Outgoing Mail

Postage stamps (francobolli) can be purchased at a tabacchi shop or the post office. Mailboxes located near tabacchi have one slot for local mail (Per la città) and one for everywhere else (Tutte le alter destinazioni). A post office is located one block from Bernardi, and a main one for packages is near Piazza Mazzini. Hours are 8:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m (Monday thru Saturday). However, the post office near Piazza Mazzini remains open until 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday. The cost to mail letters and postcards to the United States is 85 cents.

Posting Guidelines

Posting of flyers and other notices of any sort are not allowed on the bulletin boards unless they receive the approval of the campus director and are confined to bulletin boards designated by the Bernardi staff. Postings cannot obstruct or interfere with fire or safety equipment. This includes exit signs, fire extinguishers, smoke detectors and fire-alarm pull stations. Unapproved posted material will be removed without prior warning.

Work Order Requests

Requests for maintenance (equipment failures, bathroom problems, computer issues, etc.) should be directed in writing to the Bernardi staff. Written suggestions or requests can be left at the front office. Oral requests should not be made, except in an emergency (i.e. water leak problems, etc); however, if students notice something that needs immediate attention, they must contact the front office (dial 9 or 501).