Mail call! For any length of period you’re abroad, your friends, family, and loved ones may want to send you a care package, important mail, debit or credit cards, or even cell phones if you need a replacement.
Student mail is collected daily and distributed into student mailboxes. Italian postal service is significantly slower than in the U.S. Packages can take weeks or sometimes months to arrive in Perugia. Aside from their slow arrival, care packages can be expensive to send and even receive. Most require payment (Italian customs fees) upon delivery. Mail should not be sent to your apartment address, but to the Umbra Institute as seen below:
Your Name
c/o The Umbra Institute
Piazza IV Novembre, 23
06123 Perugia
ITALY
Below are some resources you may use and send to your family explaining the mailing process in different countries. The USPS has a great website with the Index of Countries that included postal codes, postage prices, and mailing conditions.
When shipping internationally, please make sure that your envelope or package has everything necessary to ship.
Please note, that when shipping cell phones, hefty customs taxes may be added on before you receive it. In some locations, you may have to go to the airport to pick up your package and pay the import/customs tax before collecting your mail.
Index of Countries and their postal codes, instructions
FedEx International Resource Center
Shipping Internationally with DHL; Customs Support
Travelling after the program for an extended period? Don’t want to carry your semester’s worth of luggage around with you and pay hefty luggage overage charges? If you’ve answered yes to any of these questions, you may want to look into whether or not luggage shipping services fit your travel needs.
No matter how long you are abroad, you should plan ahead and try to pack light to avoid needing to ship your luggage! You will acquire plenty of souvenirs and gifts while abroad, so make sure you have space for them when you return!
Here’s a list of companies that offer shipping services: