Ah, I am so happy to finally be in Bologna, Italy! I have been dreaming about being here for so long. The next 6 months are going to have such an amazing impact on my life, and I can't wait to see what happens. I am studying abroad in Bologna, Italy this semester through Indiana University's Bologna Consortial Studies Program. It requires almost full immersion into Italian culture and society. All of my classes will be in Italian, and we are required to find our own apartment in the city with other Italian students. A tad daunting. For the first two weeks, everyone in the program is living together in the same hotel while we look for housing. I have already been in Italy for about a week and a half, but everything has been so chaotic I haven't been able to write. Well now I am stuck in bed with the flu, so I have plenty of time to tell all.
Kelly and Alex at Gatwick
I left for London Heathrow from O'Hare on January 8th with two of my friends, Alex and Kelly. The flight was fine, a tad cramped. And the dinner they gave us was a bit congealed. But I managed to fall asleep by the time we got to Vermont. When I woke up, we were flying over Ireland. It was a crazy realization for me, someone who has never been overseas, to register how far away from home I actually was. When we landed we had to take a coach bus from Heathrow to Gatwick. It was only about an hour away and it was a beautiful day. It was lovely to see parts of the English countryside, little farms, sheep, and horses. Once at Gatwick, we had over five hours to relax. So of course, we hit the bar where I legally purchased my first drink. The food there, however, seemed a tad iffy, mostly meats in pies and whatnot. I was glad we were moving on to the food capital of the world.
Paris by night
The flight from London to Bologna was only around two hours, so I barely had time to nap. Once on the plane, every single person was speaking Italian. There was the cutest little Italian girl sitting across from me, her name was Sophia. It was so cute because I could understand everything she was saying. But of course she was still better at Italian than me, even at the age of three. It was so gorgeous to fly over the cities at night. London and Paris were beautiful, but by the time we got to Bologna, it was too foggy to see outside or see any of the lights. Once we landed we had to grab a minivan taxi to get us to the Hotel Holiday, which is where we would be staying for the next two weeks. I was able to tell him we needed to get to Via Bertiera where the hotel was. I was pretty proud of myself haha.
Alex and Kelly and Dexter across from Hotel Holiday
Once at the Hotel Holiday, we rested for a little while, but I was starving and had barely had a meal since the so-called "dinner" on the first flight the night before. So we went to grab a snack. But it was Sunday night, so it was completely dead. We had one option: a little cafe with day old sandwichs. I got one with prosciutto. We roamed a little bit more, but we were dead tired from traveling and it was like one in the morning, so we finally decided to head to bed.
Pizza from Malcalzone
We didn't wake up until around two in the afternoon the next day after receiving a phone call from Danielle Di Leo, the Assistant Coordinator for the Bologna Consortial Studies Program, or BSCP. We went downstairs and talked to her, and she told us some basic information about the program. We didn't have anything scheduled for Monday, so we were free to wander. We stumbled upon the best little pizza place, called il Malcalzone. Delicious. I got mine with funghi, or mushrooms. I had to make my way to the train station to exchange my dollars for euros, which I should have just done at the airport. On the way we found a cute Bonsai tree store, and I loved looking at all of the different plants and flowers and garden decorations. But what I didn't know is that my future apartment was right above this cute little store.
Garden pets from the Bonsai tree store
First night at dinner
After exchanging my money, it started to get dark. We had after all slept half of our day away. So we made our way home. It was so wonderful to get my first real look at Bologna. It was cold and gray, but beautiful. And everything was so ancient. So ancient that I still can't even wrap my head around it. Every time I see a building, or a statue, or a portico, I just want to know what happened there, when it was built, what its history is. It’s so interesting to me. That night we all went out to dinner, but it ended up being more like appetizers and wine, not a meal. It was a bummer, because I still hadn’t had a REAL meal.
Espresso from my first real meal in Bologna
Tuesday and Wednesday were mostly filled with meetings. Introductory meetings, housing meetings, living permit (or permesso di soggiorno) meetings, along with meeting with the doctor, counselor, and police officer to talk about safety in Bologna. All of these meetings were held in the BSCP Office, which is a short walk from the hotel. Tuesday night was the first night we actually had a meal. It was for everyone in the program, semester and year-long students. It was nice to get to meet the year-long students and get their perspectives on the issues we are facing now. It was helpful and assisted me taking the correct approach to finding an apartment.
Bulletin boards filled with room ads: problem is they are just
the same ones repeated 100 times
Wednesday was the first day I actually started looking at apartments. The whole experience was frightening from the beginning. Find random ads posted around the city, call them, set up an appointment, and possibly live with these strangers who speak a different language. Sounds easy enough. The program office gave us a packet that had a few rooms in it, and I found one that I absolutely loved. I found all of my courage and called. I made my first appointment for Friday. After lunch, we went around the city to take pictures of flyers. Most of them said they were renting either a “singola”, for single room, or “doppia/posto letto”, for a shared room. I really didn’t care which one I had, I just really wanted friendly roommates. Although shared rooms are normally cheaper, which wouldn’t hurt. After an hour or two of searching, I figured I had enough to start with. Calling the people was honestly the hardest part. Sometimes I sounded like an absolute fool. Or I had no idea what they were saying. Some people had no patience. Like the lovely woman who laughed and hung up on me. But the ones that do have patience are more likely to be better roommates and help you with your Italian. And that’s what I was looking for.
The first call I made, the girl told me to get to her apartment in 15 minutes and I could see it. I literally ran there. I was so nervous. I went to the wrong apartment on the wrong side of the street. I was just a mess. But when I found it I was so happy because they were so nice and friendly. Their names were Federica and Costanza. The apartment was huge and beautiful and it was on Via Irnerio. I would be sharing the room with Costanza. But there were also two guys that would be living there that I didn’t get to meet, and they all smoked. And they were all a lot older, like five to ten years older. I liked it a lot, but it was also the first one I saw.
The beautiful canal!!!
Thursday we had no scheduled plans with the program, so we walked around the city. There are SO many stores here, as in clothing and shoe stores, its unbelievable. And everything is on sale. Too bad I packed everything I own, I have no need for new clothes. Later on I also called a few more places and made two appointments for that night. The first was literally right around the street from the hotel on Via Piella. The apartment was rather shabby, four guys and one other girl, whose name was Irene. And of course I didn’t get to meet any of the guys again, which I was really not cool with. The girl was not very talkative, I got along better with the girl that was leaving than the girl I would be sharing the room with. And the shower was horrible, it was pretty much a moldy hole in the ground with a curtain around it. No thanks. But the view was gorgeous. It was the only reason I wanted to live there. The balcony looked right over the canal. It was like a little slice of Venice.
The second apartment was really far away. Bologna is like a giant circle. Whatever is inside the circle is “in centro”, and whatever is not is outside the city walls. This was barely outside the walls down Via San Vitale. But I already knew it was too far. It began to seem more residential and less city like as soon as I crossed the street. The girls names were Federica and Valentina. I loved them! But the apartment was unfurnished yet because it had just been redone. But there were no kitchen or bathroom appliances, furniture, nothing. And it was rather expensive and I would have to pay three months in advance, plus July and August. The only thing that made that a hard decision was how much I liked the girls. On the way home I found a fruit market and bought 20 clementines for 1 euro. What a steal.
Fontana del Nettuno
Friday we had to get up really early because we had to be at the post office at 8:30 to turn in our living permits. I finally passed through Piazza Maggiore and saw the Fontana del Nettuno. On the way there we passed so many meat, fish, vegetables, and fruit markets. I fell in love! I just wanted to buy everything and cook it. Buy this point I was already extremely sick of eating out every night and living in a hotel with no way to cook for myself. I need to have a kitchen. Especially for breakfast. After we turned in our paperwork, we went to look for some grub. But of course it was only like 9 in the morning, so our only options were cappuccino and bread. A nice omelet, fried egg, or pancake is unheard of here. Even McDonald’s wasn’t serving breakfast. So we just had to starve.
Across the street from my apartment: Via Indipendenza
I also had my appointment to see my dream apartment that I had made on Wednesday. The girl’s name was Caterina. The apartment was on Via Indipendenza, right above the Bonsai tree store from the first day. It was also right across the street from the city park. The ad made the apartment seem perfect for me, and it really was. It is only 260 euros a month, no security deposit (or “cappara”), and I wouldn’t have to pay for July or August. It was 4 other girls and one guy. At first they all seemed shy, but I tried to talk to them to lighten the mood and then we just kind of giggled at how horrible my Italian was. I think they liked me. I was so nervous when another girl from my program walked in to view the same apartment at the exact same time as me. But it was bound to happen because our program did give us a packet that included this apartment in its listings. I figured there would be competition. But that night I received a text from Caterina offering me the apartment!!! I was so happy, especially because it had only taken three days of looking and I had only seem four apartments. It didn’t end up being as stressful of an experience as I thought it would be. Unfortunately I did have to turn down apartment number two and three, but I never heard back from apartment number one. It stinks because they seemed so excited and said things like, “we are getting your room ready now!!!” and then I had to disappoint them. I don’t really like doing that. I also felt like I had to lead some of the people on, and make them think I loved it just so I had a back up in case I didn’t find anything else. But I am so happy I found the one I was meant to find. I still don’t move in until this Saturday. The experience in the hotel has been fun because it has allowed all of the people in the program to get to know each other and be in close proximity while we are getting adjusted to the new surroundings. But everything is going to change so much when we are fully immersed. I believe it is one of the key factors that makes this program such a success and such a rewarding experience. Most other programs in Italy don’t give you the opportunity to be self-sufficient and find your own apartment in a foreign city. But living with Italians is essential to mastering this language. And I’m so excited for it to happen.
Simona, Kelly, Me, Alex: IU girls!
Some of the BSCP girls
On Saturday I went rock climbing with Rena and Harrison from my program. I know Rena from Indiana and since she and I had already found apartments we decided to do something fun. The climbing gym was far outside the city walls, so we had our first adventure on the city buses. We met a girl and a guy on the bus who showed us how to get there, otherwise we would never have found it. After climbing quite a bit over the summer, I figured I would still be relatively good, but I had lost all of my arm muscle over the semester. I was pretty horrible, but it was fun.
Best. Meal. Ever.
Sunday was very relaxing, and I had the best meal of the trip so far. It was ravioli in a saffron sauce with balsamic drizzled on it. It was so unbelievably good. I also started getting sick on Sunday, which continued into Monday, which got worse on Tuesday, and lingered on through Wednesday, and is still present today, on Thursday. I think it may be some sort of flu with a cough. Who knows. I just want it to go away by the time I move into my new apartment so my new roommates won’t treat me like a leper.
The second apartment was really far away. Bologna is like a giant circle. Whatever is inside the circle is “in centro”, and whatever is not is outside the city walls. This was barely outside the walls down Via San Vitale. But I already knew it was too far. It began to seem more residential and less city like as soon as I crossed the street. The girls names were Federica and Valentina. I loved them! But the apartment was unfurnished yet because it had just been redone. But there were no kitchen or bathroom appliances, furniture, nothing. And it was rather expensive and I would have to pay three months in advance, plus July and August. The only thing that made that a hard decision was how much I liked the girls. On the way home I found a fruit market and bought 20 clementines for 1 euro. What a steal.
