Bologna

(2/21) Around 9:30 in the evening Rachel and I arrived at the train station in Bologna. From there it was about a 15 minute walk to her place. Along the way we ran into some people from her program who were headed the same way so we talked with them as we walked. When we got to Rachel's place we dropped off our stuff and I grabbed a shower. Now that I was all fresh and clean it was time to think about dinner. We went to a delicious pizza place just down the road from her flat. We had a big pizza and some tortellini as well as a liter of wine for the 2 of us. The meal was great and the wine was a nice pregame for the evening ahead. After dinner we went back to her place before going out. When we got to her door she realized she had forgotten her keys in the flat, which automatically locks behind you when you leave. Luckily one of her flatmates Leo was working at a bar nearby so we went and got his keys so we could get inside. After we stopped off at her place we went back to the bar where Leo was working and gave him back his keys. We decided to stay there for a bit and have a drink cause the music was good. About an hour later we left for another bar. When we got there it was pretty packed but we worked our way up to the bar. Rachel knew the entire staff so we ended up drinking for free the whole night. I think in total we had 6 free drinks each. Near the end of the night I was just standing there and some guy started talking to me in Italian. I told him I didn't speak Italian and his eyes kinda lit up cause he could instantly tell I was American by my accent. He started talking about Obama and I said that I was a supporter. Within 10 minutes he ended up buying me 2 shots. This brought my free drink total up to 8 for the evening. Shortly after this the bar closed and Rachel and I walked back to her flat to crash for the night. I tried to sleep in the hammock in her living room, but the swaying made me nauseous so I flopped down on a couch.

(2/22) At about 9am one of Rachel's flatmates woke me up saying something in Italian. I don't think she spoke much English, but I got the idea that she wanted me to go into Rachel's room to sleep some more. I was a bit woozy from a mixture of tired and slightly hungover so I didn't try to question it. Rachel was already awake when I got to her room so she let me have her bed to sleep some more. I woke up around 12:30 and was surprised to find that I no longer felt hungover. I got up, got dressed, and we were off. We stopped at a cafe on our way for a quick bite and then it was time to see some sights. First up was Piazza Maggiore, which is the main square in the city. There was a cool fountain and some neat architecture around the square, including a giant church at one end which I'm told has some interesting history. We weren't able to go inside and see the church cause it closes for a few hours in the middle of the day which was exactly when we were there. We continued on walking up and down streets and after about 1:30 we stopped for tea at a place which is owned by one of Rachel's friends. It felt so surreal sitting outside in the sun enjoying some tea on a little Italian street. After tea we went and caught a bus to the edge of the city where we began our ascent to San Luca. The walk to San Luca is covered by 666 porticos, which makes it the longest unbroken chain of porticos in the world. The walk took about 30 minutes up a fairly steep incline, but it was well worth it. As we went we could see the city getting smaller in the distance. Also, there were some of the coolest villas I can imagine positioned along the hills.

When we reached the top the sight was breathtaking. In one direction were rolling hills of the Italian countryside, on the other was the outskirts of the city which looked small from our perch atop the hill. San Luca is a beautiful church made out of what looked like a red stucco. Inside are ornate carvings and beautiful paintings, which seem in sharp contrast to the outside. In front of the church is a courtyard where people come to relax and take in the fresh air. We sat in the courtyard for about 45 minutes just enjoying the scenery. It was then time to make our descent back to the city. Back in the city we caught a bus back to Piazza Maggiore where our day had began.

We walked around and saw some other neat little churches and squares hidden throughout the city. We also stopped to get some pizza for a snack, which was quite tasty. After a few hours of touring around we headed back to Rachel's place to get ready for the evening. Our plans were to meet up with her friend Lauren, who had arrived back from Venice earlier in the day. Lauren wasn't gonna be ready for a while and Rachel needed to do some homework so I took a nice 1:30 nap. After the nap I got changed and we headed out for appertivi, which is where bars have an all you can eat spread of appetizers. We snacked a had a glass of wine while we waited for Lauren to meet up with us. When Lauren got there we headed off in search of dinner. Dinner was really good, I had a traditional Bolognese dish which was Tortellini in broth. After dinner we hit up a really good gelato place and went back to Rachel's flat for a few minutes to get some Ibuprofen. While we were there we chatted with some of her flatmates. They seemed like cool people, but they only really spoke in Italian so I didn't get to know them all that well. After leaving the flat we went to a bar called Irish Pub. We were all kinda wiped out so we only stayed for a drink and then Rachel and I went back to her flat to crash.

(2/23) We got up around 8:30 and I threw all of my stuff back into my suitcase. I ate a croissant for breakfast then it was out the door. We went back to Piazza Maggiore, said our goodbyes, and I hopped in cab to the airport. It was sad to see my Italy adventure come to an end, but there will be another once Easter holiday rolls around. I had a great time hanging out with Rachel and her friends and hopefully I'll see them again before we all end our semester abroad.

Here are some pics from Bologna.