Cinque Terre(ble)- NoT!

Month #1 is finished! How time flies. PreTerm is over and I have completed Microeconomics and "Survival Italian." Somehow, I think my skills in economics surpassed my skills in Italian. I guess I will work on it (i.e. go to more restaurants and try to talk to the waiters but then eventually just point at the menu and then eat my pizza). Anyway, real semester classes start tomorrow and I've just looked over the syllabi and I'm quite excited about them, but also slightly intimidated by all the work I will have to do. I think I'm actually already behind. But school is boring! Let's talk about other stuff I've done!

Last weekend I went to Cinque Terre with a few of my friends. We took a train from Bologna that got us into 5T (I didn't make that nickname up) at about 4 in the afternoon. We were starving so we made the mistake of eating food before searching for lodging. We had been told that we would be able to find rooms that are not advertised online when we arrived, but at 6:00 pm on a Saturday during peak season, surprisingly, rooms were not readily available. We spent a couple hours searching around the town of Vernazza (the smallest of the 5) before we decided to train over to the next town Monterosso (the biggest of the 5) to look for rooms there. To no avail. We ended up going back to Vernazza around 10 to stay in tiny rooms that cost way too much for what they were and were significantly more expensive than any other place. But, at least we weren't sleeping on the beach? We had a late dinner and were in bed early, hoping for a better day on Sunday.

Which we had! We met up with another group of SAIS students and a large group of us hiked from Vernazza to Monterosso, about an hour and a half hike. It was beautiful! After the hike we went for a swim in the sea and sat on the rocky beaches of Monterosso, just admiring the view. We had a quick meal and toured around the town for a bit before heading back to Vernazza to get our things. From Vernazza, we took the little train to Manarola and walked the short hike to the first town Riomaggiore. The hike is about 20 minutes which goes along a path called Via Dell'Amore (The Way of Amore), which is famous for lovers graffiti-ing the walls and locking padlocks all over the place to prove their eternal love. The story is actually quite interesting, I guess: The Story. So from there we took the little train to La Spezia and then 2 bigger trains to get back to Bologna. It was certainly quite an adventurous weekend; we hiked, we swam and we learned to book lodging ahead of time.

After a stressful week preparing for the Microeconomics final Thursday, the weekend was all party! Thursday night I went to a cocktail party at the director of the program's home. The whole program was split into 3 groups and over 3 nights each group was invited to the director's apartment. Which is incredible. He and his wife have a huge balcony that is so close to the famous 2 towers in the center of the city. I talked to both the director and his wife, who are very pleasant, and then went out with my new friends afterward. Friday my friend Brian and I climbed up to San Luca which is on top of a hill just outside the city walls of Bologna. The walkway that leads up to it is 3.5 km and is covered by the world's longest arcade. It was a beautiful day and the view from the top was amazing. (Side Story: This was actually my second attempt at climbing up to San Luca. The first was with my roommate, Holly, and we made the mistake of following Google map directions which led us through a strange neighborhood and tried to get us to cut through private property and then we found ourselves climbing through trees into a field riddled with signs warning us of attack dogs. And we never made it to the church. So, this 2nd attempt was much more successful.)

View of Rolling Italian Hills

     

Arcade Arches Leading to San Luca

Saturday night, Matt and Caitlin had some of our friends over for a potluck dinner. We ate a lot, learned drinking games from around the world (US and UK) and danced to old hits from stars like Celine Dion and Seal until 3 in the morning. Classic Italian evening. 

Caitlin and Cormac Playing 'Bunnies'

So far, the people in the program with me are really making my experience here (I mean look at them!). But seriously, I've met some really amazing personalities, all with equally amazing experiences to share. I can tell I will learn a lot from them and I know I will be challenged by them. It's going to be quite the year!

Oktoberfest next weekend! More to come soon!

B-O-L-O-G-N-A

I have arrived! It's been about 10 days now in Bologna and it feels like I've been here for years (kind of). I'm all settled into my apartment, which is just superb, and finished my first week of classes. My apartment is just 10/15 minute walk from school and a short walk from the city center, GREAT location. It has 2 bedrooms and a large living area. I get along really well with my roommate and I think I've really lucked out with the living situation.

Classes have been challenging, yet interesting thus far. I'm taking Survival Italian for 2.5 hours a day and Microeconomics for another 2.5 hours. It's a lot of class time, but I think I've already learned a lot just after 1 week! You probably wouldn't know though, if you heard me attempt to speak any Italian. I think I've retained a good amount then I try to say a simple sentence to a waiter or whoever and it comes out as Italian/French/Portuguese/English mush. I guess it can only get better from here.

Hey! Surprise! I'm making some friends! The people here are really great and utterly fascinating. Each life story is more interesting than the last. I have friends from Egypt, England, America, Ireland, Austria, Germany and the list goes on. I have a feeling I will be learning just as much from my peers and friends as I will from my classes. We have been doing a lot of socializing since we only have a couple classes and the real work has yet to start. After my class gets out at 7:30, we usually go eat dinner and drink wine and beer until about 9:30 when we meet up with other SAIS students in a Piazza or (oddly enough) an Irish Bar near by (it can accommodate the large crowd that we generally travel with [which I think should begin to diminish soon {I hope}]). Anyway, it's been a lot of socializing and small talking and drinking, so I'm not sure I've exactly begun the Italian lifestyle just yet (other than the drinking. The Italians drink a lot.).  I've also eaten a LOT of pizza. We will set out for dinner determined not to get pizza for the 3rd meal in a row and find ourselves at a Trattoria eating a bigger pizza than the last one we had. It's hard not to eat it when it's SO good and SO cheap.

Last night we went to a football game, Forzo Bologna vs. AC Milan. It was quite an interesting experience. All the Bologna fans crowd into 2 sections on one end of the field and the Milan fans crowd into 1 section on the other end and there are tons of empty seats in between. These fans are very intense! I think I had more fun watching the fans than watching the game (Bologna lost 1-3). Then afterwards, we got pizza!

All in all, so far so good. Bologna is a pretty city, albeit covered in graffiti. It's very old and it smells like pee everywhere, but it's got character! I'm excited to explore it more in depth. The weather has finally cooled down from the sweltering 104 degree days and is now almost chilly. I'm looking forward to Fall in Bologna, although I know my free time will be limited with classes and studying. Luckily, I'm also looking forward to my classes. Anyway, I miss DC, but I'm quite happy to be here! If anyone would like to visit, I just discovered I have a fold out couch, so come on over!

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