Blogs from Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy, Europe - page 18

MANCA POCO E... SI RIMETTE PIEDE IN ORIENTE! Intorno al mondo! In queste parole c'è abbastanza da ispirare sentimenti d'orgoglio: ma dove porta tutto questo circumnavigare? Solo attraverso innumerevoli pericoli giungiamo al punto da cui siamo partiti, dove quelli che abbiamo lasciato al sicuro dietro di noi sono rimasti tutto il tempo davanti a noi. Herman Melville E così manca poco alla partenza... è strano pensare a quali forme possa assumere la propria esistenza e come, soprattutto, queste cambino nel corso degli anni... così... un giorno ti svegli, e decidi che è giunto il momento di prendere in mano le redini della tua vita... Ho scelto di viaggiare... Fuga? Sicuramente! Viaggiare è sempre cercare di allontanarsi da qualcosa: che sia una situazione o... read more

The days passed, cycling through the long jaw, rolling along a long tongue of grape vineyards. Nights after entering the valley in the alps, which rose on both sides of me like fangs to bite the sky, I Passed into the Dolomites, where the teeth dulled into molars. The mountains ended at the throat of Italy, where the long esophagus begins its span into the Meditterranean, the stomach of Europe. At first the lingering juices of Austria were prominnent, but they were soon absorbed into oblivion with the thick saliva and partially masticated cud of the heartland. Alps big. Italy Beautiful. Verona: home of Romeo and Juliet. Venice: not even the mad mobs of bloated wallet tourists can destroy...squeeze away down an alley, duck under an archway, over a bridge and you are alone with the ... read more

Well, I finally made it to Ravenna! It’s a really lovely town. I had a super early train that I was a tad too early for- so early that the subway wasn’t open yet and I had to walk to the train station- under a mile, so no problem. But, I made it just fine and made my train change on time and got here, to Ravenna around 10:30 AM. I asked a cabbie where my hotel was. Only 50 meters away, great! So, I headed towards the hotel, promptly passed the street and had to ask someone else. Luckily, my understanding of Italian is getting pretty good, and I found my hotel soon after. However, well, have you ever walked into somewhere, hotel or college or anywhere, really, and thought “Oh, this is not good” ... read more

Bologne, Italia, as Italians refer to it, is a beautiful city in northern Italy that I have fallen in love with. It is shadowed by the three famous cities that form a triangle around it - Milan, Florence and Venice. That means it isn’t over-invaded by tourists and remains a truly cultural centre of Europe. It has really kept a small town feel, but it certainly ain't small! After the meeting in Bertinoro, the conference shuttle bus dropped me at Bologna station on Saturday afternoon (at least I was able to make use of the free shuttle in one direction!). I find my hotel and open the room window to discover I am looking over a huge marketplace. Ah, this must be the Saturday market my Italian colleague was telling me about. Right, off we go ... read more

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 ... read more