Living in Bologna

Introducing.... (drumroll please!).... my new favorite place in Bologna:

That's right - this is my bed. It is located in my room, in my apartment, in Bologna, in Italy. It's so amazing to finally have a place that's mine, a place where I can lay my weary head or sometimes hide it under my pillow...

I love my apartment. I mean, I really love my apartment. Until yesterday, I didn't have any internet, which is why I haven't posted in so long. In fact, we still don't have legitimate internet... I won't go into details but let's just say we're not exactly paying for it.

The best thing about my apartment is the group of people in it. Andrea and Pierluca are the two men of the house, both italian and both extremely busy - Pierluca is currently studying for the TOEFL and Andrea is a musician. He plays piano and guitar, and sings, and directs a local choir! Right now he's in Florence at a recording studio. I don't have any pictures of them yet but we're throwing a house party on Friday so I'm sure I'll have some next week.

The women of the house are proudly represented by myself, Giada and Marta. Last night we all attended an event held for international students:

Giada (far left) is my roommate, a 20-year old italian student. She speaks a little english and actually spent a summer in California a few years ago. She talks insanely fast, so sometimes I have to pull a good ol' smile-and-nod, but for the most part we communicate very well! She also reallllly likes MTV and it's almost always on in our room, so by the time I get back to California, well... actually, I don't want to think about what could happen to my brain in the next year!

Marta is absolutely wonderful and I'm not just saying that because I know she'll read this (hehe). She's from Portugal and is studying in Bologna for a year, just like me! She's fluent in english and is learning Italian - it's nice to have somebody struggling with me sometimes.

It's actually pretty amazing how quickly I'm picking up italian. After just a few weeks here, I find myself saying "eh" instead of "um" and "cazzo" instead of "(insert english swear word here)". I understand almost everything, and have no trouble holding a conversation about anything from food to international politics! The only time I have serious trouble understanding is when my 3 italian housemates are all talking at once, which seems to happen multiple times a day. When this happens, Marta and I just look at each other and laugh, knowing that neither of us knows what's going on.

I finally finished my required italian course last Friday - I had to do a presentation on the topic of my choice (I chose controversial photographer Oliviero Toscani) and an oral exam. For the oral exam, I had to randomly choose topics out of a hat and speak in Italian for 5 minutes about each topic - I chose Bologna in WWII, the Italian university system, and the stereotypical perceptions of Italy versus reality. I was pretty well prepared, so it wasn't too bad. I think I mentioned before that once I start courses at Unibo, my entire grade will be decided by one final oral exam with the professor. It was nice to get a little practice, but I have a feeling that the real thing will be a little more difficult!

Speaking of Unibo courses, they start on Monday! I'll be taking Contemporary Italian Literature, History of Photography, and Beginning Latin Grammar. Each of those classes will last for about 6 weeks, and then I'll start a few more courses in November - History of Contemporary Italy, and Linguistics of Body Language. I didn't plan it this way, but I only have class on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday! Che fortuna! This means that I'll be able to work or travel or sleep or study or party as much as I want for the rest of the week. It will definitely be an exercise in self-discipline, I think...

The exams for all 5 courses are in December, which will probably be a pretty stressful month for me! Before that though, there are no tests, no quizzes, no assignments - just lectures (which aren't mandatory) and lots and lots of reading... all in italian. Wish me luck!

Until courses start on Monday, I have a bit of vacation time... I was hoping to travel, but I seem to have contracted the plague. Okay, maybe it's just a cold. Regardless, I am running pretty low on energy so I decided to stay in Bologna and the surrounding area for a week. I found a beautiful park next to my house, and I'm really excited to spend more time there and go running with Marta!

Last Sunday my friend Leslie and I went to Florence for a day to hang out with some friends who were visiting from the US. (Paul, Annie and Jed have been traveling Europe for the past month and managed to find time to visit me in Italy!) It was really nice seeing them, speaking english and seeing Florence again. It was interesting seeing how the city has changed since I studied there last summer. I even saw a few familiar faces, including those of the infamous Florence nutria - giant river rats! They're actually cousins of the otter, but their long skinny tails and affinity for garbage-eating make them seem extremely rat-like. I didn't particularly miss them but seeing their creepy little rat faces gave me a strange sense of nostalgia... haha!

My friends and I encountered quite the adventure when we tried to enter the Uffizi gallery, an amazing art museum in Florence. Paul had purchased a 7-inch knife in Spain and failed to realize that the museum guards probably wouldn't appreciate seeing it pop up on their x-ray screen when he put his bag through security. After a few minutes of yelling, the guards told Paul that he had to check the knife and could pick it up when he left the museum. What they didn't tell him is that there would be a police officer waiting for him when he got out.

Paul's girlfriend Annie and I were waiting for the others outside of the museum when my friend Leslie called me and said "The carabinieri are taking us to the station - run and meet us there!"

Even with Leslie there to translate, the police officers couldn't seem to understand why Paul had purchased a 7-inch knife, why he thought it was a good idea to carry it concealed in his backpack throughout Europe, or why he thought he could get away with bringing it into the Uffizi. Honestly though, I don't understand any of those things either so I don't think it was the language barrier which kept them from understanding. Finally they got frustrated and let him go - they even let him keep the knife. Essentially they said "we're going to pretend this never happened but please, please get out of our country."

Needless to say, I was very happy to fall into my bed that night.

It's a beautiful day here in Bologna so I'm going for a walk... but now that I have internet (stolen internet, bad bad bad internet!) at my house, I will write more often. I promise.

I love you all, ciao!