Day 7!

Ciao ciao ciao! What a day!
I got up this morning at 5:30 to go running. Of course no one else wanted to go that early, so I had a nice little solo jog around the city. This time I went north of the hotel to il Parco della Montagnola. It was nice, but not nearly as pretty as Giardini Margherita, so I think I will run there from now on. It is farther away, but what with all the pasta I'm eating, I can use the extra exercise!
Maria, Rodolfo, and I went to mass this morning at the basilica of San Petronio, right off the main piazza. It was nice to go to mass, but it made me sad to see that there were only about a dozen people there and absolutely no young people!
Later, after coming back to the hotel and having breakfast, Rodolfo, Maria, Elisabetta, and I took a hike up to the sanctuary of San Luca, a church up on a hill well outside of the main city walls. It took us about 2 hours each way, but was well worth the hike! I took a lot of pictures of the church and the view, so check those out! I really want to go back soon.
We were absolutely starved on the way back from San Luca, so we stopped at Trattoria Meloncello for lunch. It is a highly acclaimed "cento percento" (100% ) Bolognese restaurant. There is no menu, the waiter just suggests food for you! We all got what he suggested, which was a sampler of three different typical bolognese pastas. All of which were unbelievable, of course. I don't remember what all of them were called, but my favorite was the tortelloni with ricotta, burro (butter), e salvia (sage).
We walked with Elisabetta to her apartment (she moved in on Saturday!). It was so big and so beautiful. I like mine better though, because it's a double and soo much closer! But it was nice to see her place. We also stopped on the way and I bought a Vogue Italia. It came with a free shopping guide too, so I have two Italian magazines to use to start brushing up on my reading skills! All my vocabulary is going to be della moda (concerning fashion). We got back to the hotel and both Maria and I took wonderfully long naps!
Later Erin, Meghan, and I went out to dinner at the Trattoria del Bassanotte, a nice little place just around the corner from the hotel. I had prosciutto e melone (prosciutto ham with cantaloupe). The salty ham and the sweet, juicy melon are the perfect combination!
My first Sunday in Bologna was just about as perfect as it could be!
Classes start tomorrow!
xoxo

Day 6!

FLEAMARKET. That was the adventure of the day today. Maria, Erin, Julia, Alexandra, Meghan, and I all went back to the fleamarket that Maria and I found yesterday. It was so intense! We spent three hours there, but it seemed like so much longer! We picked up some things that we are going to need right when we move in, like towels--only 4 E for a set of 2! They have all kinds of cosmetics, perfume, shampoo, conditioner, etc, too, so I won't ever have to spend that much on household stuff/toiletries.
I had a lot of free time today again since both Maria and I have housing already. Nothing too exciting really happened.
Rodolfo, John, Alexandra, Meghan, Julia, Erin, Maria, and I all went out to dinner at Il Portico, which wasn't too adventureous, but it was raining, so we just wanted somewhere close! It was delicious though. I ate an entire pizza! I know that sounds crazy, but that's how it's done here. One pizza per person. They seem big, but are paper thin, so one Italian pizza probably equals about tree slices of what you guys know as pizza. We went for gelato after at Peccati di Gola (sins of the throat!). I had nocciola (hazelnut) and biscotto (cookie). DELICIOUS.
And now more free time. I'll be glad to start classes on Monday just so I have something to do!
xoxo

Address

I forgot to say this earlier, but my address is going to be Via Righi 14. Google Maps/Earth it--you can see my terrazzo!

pixxxxx
xoxo

Day 5! (written the morning of day 6...)

Ciao a tutti! I got back to my room really late last night, so I didn't get time to blog. Yesterday was very fun though! We all had to get up early and walk to the post office to file our applications for the living permits we need in order to be legal here. It took forever!
Other than that, Maria and I had a lot of free time. We walked around a lot, and Maria had an appointment for an apartment at 3:30. She now has an apartment too!! It is so cute and sunny, and I actually really like it too, but it's too far out of the centro (downtown) for me. The one roommate we met was really nice too. I'm really excited for everyone who is finding apartments and making friends with their Italian roommates. We are all going to have such a good year!
We also wandered around and stumbled into the BIGGEST flea market I have ever seen. I love love love to shop and even I was overwhelmed by how much stuff there was! We are going back today:) so I'll try to remember to take some pictures. Seriously though, the size of this thing is incomprehensible! Shoes, jeans, clothes, jewelry, purses, belts, everything you could possibly think of all for really cheap! It just happens to be right around the corner from my apartment and it goes on every weekend YEAR ROUND!
Maria and I also wandered around and found a cartoleria (stationary store) to buy academic planners. It was so funny because we actually went to several shops trying to find an American style planner with one week per two pages, because that's the way we both like to see our calendars. But then when we did find one like that, it looked so BORING next to the Italian style planners, so we just got those instead. They are so different, one day per page, and the pages are graph paper. Most of the notebooks here are that way. Very Italian.
Andrea hosted a pizza party for all of us last night at his apartment. It was out of the city walls and really beautiful. I really enjoy all the time I get to spend with the people in the program! And Chris, Andrea's wife (who is American), is such a sweetheart and so helpful! She was telling us all about what clubs to go to, which supermarket is the cheapest, where to get our hair cut, stuff like that. All good things to know!
After the pizza party, Erin, Max, Rodolfo, and I went out to a discotech! It was really more like just a bar, and because it's still summer vacation here (in a "college town"), it was pretty dead. But we still had a good time. We befriended the bartender and the six Italians who were actually there. It was a very good night, my first night out in Bologna! That is why I didn't have time to blog last night!
More pix later...
xoxo

P.S. A lot of you have been emailing/facebooking me, and I love it! You can also leave comments here on my blog, I would love that too. It's always so good to hear from everyone, I really appreciate it!

Day 4! HO TROVATO UN'APARTAMENTO

I FOUND AN APARTMENT! I am so excited and relieved. I can't believe I found one so quickly, and it's such a huge weight off my shoulders. I have been on cloud 9 all day because of it. I called this morning and made an appointment, so Maria and I went to go see it at noon. I really liked it then, but asked if I could think about it and call tomorrow morning. But I acutally called back this evening and went back to ask a few more questions and secure my place. I just had a really good feeling about it from the beginning, and the more I thought about it, the more I knew that it's where I belong this year.
The apartment is on Via Righi, which is right in the middle of town and very close to the hotel and the BCSP office. It is on the 4th floor (technically the 5th), and there isn't an elevator. But I am used to stairs, having lived on the 4th floor of Collins for the past two years! The apartment takes up the entire top floor of the building, so it is quite roomy by Italian standards. There is a huge double room, where I will be living with another girl. My room faces south, and the wall is almost completely windows! There are two other rooms which are singles, a bathroom with a sunny window overlooking the terrace, a decently sized kitchen, and a HUGE, beautiful, sunny, perfect terrace. The view is so beautiful, and thanks to all the windows, there is so much light in the apartment. I really really love it. I will take pix as soon as I move in so everyone can see it!
My roommates are really really nice, too. Right now there is a girl Elena and a boy Giuseppe, and there will be another girl sharing my room, but I don't know who yet. Elena knows some English, and she is very good about being able to tell when I don't understand what she is saying. Guiseppe speaks much more quickly than Elena does, but speaking to him will be a good challenge for me every day. I really had a great feeling about this place even after just talking to Elena and Guiseppe on the phone to make the appointment. I just know somehow that this is the place for me!
Rodolfo, Maria, and I went to a little bar for lunch. I had a piadina (like a flatbread sandwich) with speck ham and mozzarella cheese. I almost wept it was so delicious!
Then we had to go back to the office for a meeting about our pre-session classes. We met the two teachers, Christine and Clara! They were really intimidating at first, but turned out to be sooo nice and easy to talk to. We all had to take a little placement test because we will be split into two groups for the pre-session based on skill level. I fully expect to be in the lower group, but that is fine with me. I need all the help I can get right now!
We had an "aperitivo" after the test with the teachers, Andrea and Danielle, and some really friently Italian students. Aperitivo (appetizer) is a thing that Italians do before dinner and consists of wine or other drinks with little snack type foods eaten standing up. This one was provided for us for free, but it's a really nice thing to have at a restaurant because you just have to pay for a glass of wine, and then you can eat all the appetizers that you want to! Anyway it was delicious of course! We had prosecco, which is kind of like champagne, and all kinds of little sandwich type things with ham, mushroom, zucchini, tomatoes, cheeses, and I don't even know what else, and then there were these little cream puff type things called bigne' and tarts with strawberries on top. All of the Italian students were so nice and super friendly, as well as patient with my limited vocabulary! I think it will be easier to make friends with Italians than I thought it would be. It's so funny because they are very stand-offish in public, like when walking down the street, but they really are very cordial, warm, and welcoming when you talk to them.
Well, it's going to be an early night for me. I don't really have anything else to do right now, so I need to catch up on my sleep!
xoxo

more pix!

Day 3!

My legs are swollen from all the walking we did today!
I got up this morning at 7:30 to go running with Sky, a girl in my program, at 8:00. We ran down to the south side of town to the Giardini Margherita, a park just south of the city center. It was really cool to still be in an urban area but to also be in such a green, lush place. I think we were the only female joggers on the streets of Bologna, and we only saw one other girl in the park. It was such a surreal experience!
Maria and I went to the BCSP office later this morning to get started on the big housing search. Calling Italians on the phone is so intimidating! Even with all the misunderstandings, somehow I managed to get my point across to a couple landlords/roommates. Maria and I went to our appointments together today. Strength in numbers! We saw two apartments in the morning and one in the afternoon. They were okay, but neither of us feel like we have found the place for us yet. Tonight I found 6 more numbers to call and emailed 6 people, so hopefully one of those will work!
We went on a bus tour with the whole BCSP group. It was just nice to sit on a bus for an hour! I honestly could not begin to tell you how many miles we walked today! I feel like I'm getting to know the city fairly quickly. Not all the ins and outs, of course, but I can find my way around relatively easily already.
I am getting to know more of the people on our program. I really like all of them, and I really hope we all keep in touch even when we aren't living in the hotel together. I will say more about them later, but I'm too tired to do everyone justice now.
On the way back from our afternoon appointment, which was just inside the city walls, a little too far for either of us, we tried to ride the bus but without success! We couldn't figure out how to buy the ticket once we were on the bus, and then we were supposed to get it stamped or something in another machine, but we were very confused and were getting strange looks from the other passengers, so we got off at the very next stop! Maybe we will try again, but I'm hoping to find an apartment within walking distance so that I never have to take a bus again!
Dinner tonight was at a pizzeria around the corner from our hotel. Erin and I shared caprese di bufala and risotto with vegetables, which were both very good! A wonderful meal out under the night sky of Bologna. A beautiful ending to a very long day.
xoxo

ps. more pix!

pix

Try this link to my album on facebook. It's supposed to be public, so give it a shot even if you don't have facebook. Let me know if it works, because this way will be much easier to do pix this way!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024983&id=1160010007&l=b28793536b

Day Two!

11:17 pm here. What a day! I got up at 7:30 and had breakfast at the hotel, granola with unsweetened yogurt and Italian ham (sooo good!). Then all of us BCSPers had to go over to the BCSP office for an orientation meeting. We met Andrea Ricci, the director. He is soo nice and so very Italian! Also he is living proof that as cute as Italian boys are, they definitely get better with age! After the orientation, we had to fill out a bunch of paperwork for our "permesso di soggiorno" (living permit). Our first introduction to Italian bureaucracy!
After that we all went around the corner to Via Indipendenza (the main drag through Bologna) and got some lunch at a little bar, just like a little restaurant, not like bars in America. I had a wrap with some kind of delicious meat (ham?), mozzarella, and FRESH MUSHROOMS. They toast the wraps and sandwiches right before they give them to you so they are warm, crispy on the outside, and melty on the inside! I also asked for an apple, expecting to just eat it whole, but the guy sliced and even peeled it for me and put it in a little glass bowl. The food here is not only delicious, but also is presented so wonderfully!
After eating, we wandered over to a piazza and sat on the steps for a little bit, then went to a Tabaccheria, like a convenience store, to buy a special stamp we have to have for our living permits. After that, some of us who had not yet bought cell phones went to get them. I bought the cheapest cell phone in the store (29 €) and got the seemingly simple plan that most of the other students were getting. I'm glad to have that checked off my to-do list, but I still need to figure out how to activate it. Cell phone vocabulary is confusing enough in English, let alone Italian!
After that we had to go back to the BCSP office for a housing meeting and then a tour of Via Zamboni where most of the ads about available apartments are posted. I picked up so many, I'm bound to find something I like! Then Maria, Rodolfo, and I went to see an apartment. Maria had already contacted the boy who lives there and made an appointment, so Rodolfo and I decided to tag along. I am so glad I did because interviewing him about the apartment was a lot easier than I thought it would be, and now I'm not as nervous for doing it on my own! The apartment was nice, a little farther away than I would like, and I definitely want to live with girls, so this one was not for me. But it's only the first place I looked, and we have till September 5th to find a place, so I'm not worried. We got gelato on the way back at possibly the BEST gelato shop in Bologna (so said our taxi driver from the airport), La Sorbeteria.
Tonight the BCSP program provided dinner for us at a pizzeria, but we did NOT eat pizza! For our first course we had eggplant lasagna, fresh cherry tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, fresh parmesan, fried zucchini, green olives (with the pit!), and fried potatoes. Second course was homemade noodles in a cream sauce with ham and arugula, which I could not finish! We then had a choice of tiramisu or mascarpone for dessert. I chose tiramisu, and it was PERFECTION. There really are no words to describe the entire meal. It was absolutely unlike anything I've ever had in the United States. Everything here is made with such fresh ingredients. Everyone was speechless at dinner because we could not believe how good it was! We say people eating entire pizzas on their own, which I found incredible, especially since most of them really are quite thin. My American metabolism will not be able to keep up!
Today has been so much better than yesterday, even though yesterday was fun. I think getting a full nights sleep definitely helped, as everything looks better in the morning! Just the few interactions we have had with real Italians today have been fun. I am amazed at how quickly my language skills are returning, simply from having heard Italian all morning during our meetings, and talking with my fellow students. I am by no means grammatically correct most of the time, but I can get my point across. And the Italians we have talked with so far have all been very helpful and nice, especially the guy at the cell phone shop and the boy in the apartment. I am looking forward to finding an apartment and getting settled in!
Still working on pix! Mi dispiace! (I'm sorry)
xoxoxoxo

Day One!

It is 10:46 pm here in Bologna, and I am about to pass out! The last two days have been the longest of my life, full of both frustration and excitement. Flying across the Atlantic was a new and really different experience for me. My flight from Detroit to Amsterdam was delayed on the tarmac for about an hour due to technical difficulties. This meant that I literally had to run (in heels) through the Amsterdam airport to just barely catch my flight to Bologna. Thank goodness there was a couple in the same situation. They were my guardian angels on that leg of the journey because I would never have found the gate and gotten through security as quickly if it wasn't for them. I finally arrived in Bologna at about 11:30 this morning and then had to wait around for a while for my luggage. There certainly has been a lot of waiting these past two days, and I have a feeling there will be plenty more to come! I waited again at the airport because I knew one of the girls, Maria, from my program was scheduled to arrive at 12:15, and I told her I would meet her there and we could share a taxi to the Hotel Holiday. Turns out her luggage was put on the wrong flight, so she didn't come out until almost 1:00 (more waiting for me!), but there was also another BCSPer on the flight, Rodolfo. So the three of us split a taxi and finally reached our destination in Bologna! The rest of the day was spent just walking around the city, trying to find our way around and see what there is to see. Bologna is a bit overwhelming, and not just because I don't speak the language that well. Having never lived in a big city before, it is not at all what I expected. Yes, it's quaint and charming in ways, but for some reason the high level of modernity and the general bustle caught me completely off guard. I do like it, but it will definitely take some getting used to! I will feel much better when I have a real place to live, instead of staying in a hotel. Maria, Rodolfo, Rob, and I found an adorable little "fruttivendolo" (produce shop) just around the corner from our hotel. I got the most delicious, fresh plum and apple I have ever eaten! We also figured out the bus system (eventually) in order to get back to the airport to pick up Maria's bags. We were nodding off on the bus, we were so tired! I think I have met all of the participants in the program (17 total) and they are all really nice! A bunch of us went out to dinner (with wine!) and then the whole group went and got gelato after. Delicious! I had "fragola" (strawberry)! Right now, I am sitting in bed, Maria is sleeping, and I have blisters on my feet. It has been a long day, but a good one!
P.S. I'm trying to put up pictures, but it's taking forever, so I will try again later!
xoxo