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Published: October 7th 2005
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My New Home
Hello from Bologna, home of the red (
la rossa), the learned (
la dotta), and the fat (
la grassa). And the 196 students from the Johns Hopkins graduate program in advanced international studies. How has my new home been so far? Well, it’s made me homesick for my real home, especially since there is no fall better than a New York fall. It’s made me very Italian in how I greet passersby on motorbikes that decide they have right of way on the sidewalk: “Vaffanculo!!!!” It’s made me really miss the technology of the modern world considering they are still keeping records via carbon paper and typewriters to get a residence permit. It’s made me become part of the I-hate-really-big-scary-dogs-that-attack-you-on-the-street-and-crap-on-the-street-just-so-you-can-step-in-it fan club. The lack of a river or ocean in the vicinity is making me realize how I cannot live without a body of water nearby. Oh I could go on and on. And yet, Bologna is starting to creep into my heart, inch by inch. Let me tell you why.
Mangia, Mangia, Mangia!
If it weren’t for the many miles I had to walk on a daily basis to get around the city, I would be about
the size of a whale by now. They don’t call this the food capital of Italy for nothing you know. Tortellini, tortelloni, pizza, tagliatelle al ragu, parmesane melanzane, what’s not to love? Vino rosso, vino bianco, prosecco, grappa, limoncello, benissimo! And the tiramisu! The kind that melts in your mouth, YUM. The best part is that it isn’t easy to find these restaurants that give Bologna its famous reputation. For instance, my favorite restaurant so far only spreads word of its existence from entitled person to person. Luckily I found out about it and went down this poorly lit street, not knowing what to find. A rusty number 7a was the only indication of this restaurant. After a few knocks on the door, a jolly man greeted us with a loud “Buona sera!” and then what proceeded was sheer heaven. Try a liter of the house red, 4 plates of antipasti, 3 plates of pasta, 8 desserts, and a glass of limoncello to finish it off. Food capital of Italy? You’d better believe it!
A University Town
A beautiful way to get to school is to walk through the University of Bologna, established sometime around the Middle Ages, which
Venetian Regatta
Figuring out how they ran into the side of the bridge... has such esteemed alumni as Dante, and Copernicus. In the main lobby you can find old scientific models set up by Galileo, and frescoes on classroom ceilings painted by Donatello. How can you not be inspired by what’s around you? The main library in the
Piazza Maggiore was built on old Roman ruins, and as part of the excavation project, the library floor is made of clear glass. You almost feel like you are part of an amazing Indiana Jones adventure! I often find it hard to study there because every five minutes or so I get goosebumps thinking about how old this place is and how lucky I am to be able to study here. Despite the antiquated methods of life here, it really is just a small sacrifice to be a part of this ancient town (founded in the 6th century BC!). All throughout town you will find amazing structures still standing from the Middle Ages and remnants of the destruction from Napoleon all the way to World War II. It’s all the stuff I studied in the history books come to life!
A Hub to Northern Italy
Another great thing about this town is
that it is now a major hub connecting all parts of northern Italy to Rome. As a result I have been able to make day trips to beautiful places nearby such as Florence, Padova (Padua), and Venice. I am planning on making it to Cinque Terre this weekend provided the weather is nice, and am taking a weekend trip to Cannes next weekend! One of the more memorable trips I’ve taken so far was to Venice for their annual regatta. It was like crew but on gondolas with very drunk gondoliers. There was one gondola team in particular that was so funny! While one was saying “Pull!” the other one was yelling at him saying he was wrong. So they gave up, had a bottle of prosecco, then ran the gondola into the side of the bridge. You have to love it! Taking aperitivo
during the race, would you have it any other way? Venice itself was beautiful and we were there for the film festival as well, but the thought of watching drunk gondoliers was much more enticing than star-gazing for Orlando Bloom and George Clooney (after all, that’s what Cannes is for!). People have taken other trips around here - a few weekends ago was a “Notta Bianca” in Rome - an all night affair where museums and all other monuments were open and free to the public from 8pm to 8am. Other people headed up to Oktoberfest in Munich the day after our pre-term microeconomics final, so they had much reason to celebrate! Because of the cheap airfare to fly within Europe and the vicinity to major airports, getting around is easy! Before I leave, I am hoping to get to eastern Europe and to Scandinavia, but we’ll see how the schoolwork goes first.
Just this past weekend, Phoebe was in town for a visit so we had the chance to go to Florence and walk around the beautiful town of Fiesole. I’ll leave you a picture from there. A presto!
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Nuno
non-member comment
Enjoy it
Hi there! I just wrote "bologna" and "blog" on google and found your page. I did my "Erasmus" in that beautifull city 3 years ago and I tell you...it was great. I also missed the ocean, during my staying in Bologna, but after a while i got used to it. If you have 1/2 the fun that I had, during your staying there, I'm sure 2 years from know you'll understand better why I'm writing this to a person that I don't know. A few months ago I returned to Bologna and I still saw it as "my home". One of the things that I did was to seat in the library stairways at Piazza Nettuno and just watched the fascinating "casino organizzato" of the city!