At the speed of luce

So it's become clear to me that if I'm going to attempt to keep this updated, I'm going to have to treat this like a journal and do it often because there's so much going on here. So this post is my attempt to blitz through.

So, to get up to date, I'm going to have to kinda of skip over the time in DC. Though I will give some shout outs to some non-SAIS friends I made and said bye to: Hey Julie! How's Noodle? Mollie - I expect you to still be waltzing next summer! Carlos - I hope your tango classes are still going when I get back to DC.

Ok, so fast-forwarding to leaving DC. It was a rather strange and sobering experience to have to pack up my life for at least a year into two suitcases. I left most of my "stuff" with a storage facility in DC, and filled up the suitcases with mostly closes and various school related items. Then, one supershuttle ride later I was sitting in the airport with about 10 other Bologna students all talking on our cells to friends/loved ones as if this were some major goodbye. Though for most of us, this is our first time living in another country (and a non-english speaking one at that).

It was nice to make the trek across with the atlantic with some other students, as we talked about what to expect, what made us nervous, etc. The plane ride was really the calm before the storm though, because as soon as we hit the ground things got crazy. Everyone booked it from the airport to the school to sign up for housing, because the best places notoriously go fast (luckily I found my place without help and didn't have to go that route).

Two poor people who were on the plane with me weren't able to find a place that night, so they stayed on my couches (my italian roommates were, and still are, on vacation).

After dropping our friggin heavy and enormous bags off, we all went wandering for dinner. I'm sure we just screamed american as a group of about 20 of us wandered through the streets speaking in loud english.

The first dinner was very italian. We all got our own pizzas, and the group ordered a big bottle of wine (though I had coke, which is way better than in the States because they use real sugar and not high fructose corn syrup).

The next day I started Macroeconomics class (how crazy a turnaround), and got a list of all these errands I needed to run to satisfy the Italian bureaucracy. I managed to take care of a lot of the list, and got an Italian cell phone (and my first of many gelatos). That evening, I had my first lasagna bolognese, while sitting in a little cafe next to the main piazza.

The weekend was also anything but restful. On saturday I went to the school library to continue with some Italy-errands, and helped the two people who were on my couch to move into their real apartments (one clear across the entire city - so we dragged big 'ol suitcases through the streets). In the evening, a small group of us got together and made a dinner of spaghetti and sausage (and somehow I got designated chef, which is a depressing thought).

On Sunday, I made my first trek out to the local Ikea, which was a 5 euro, 30 minute bus trip away. Sadly, my room did not come with sheets for my bed, so for the first couple nights I had been sleeping on random blankets I found around the apartment. Ikea came through though, and now my little twin bed is sleep-able. In the evening, I went with another group of people to a town called Ferrara, which was about a 30 minute train ride to the northeast towards Venice.

The city was having a "busker" festival, which meant that the city was covered in various streets performers, from music, to magic, to dance to some really weird stuff. We all got big gelato cones and walked around and admired the various acts before hoofing it back to the train station. In a little bit of criminality (I suppose), we got on the train back to Bologna without buying a ticket because the ticket machine was broken and they didn't have any windows. Thankfully, nobody noticed.

In a random bit of serendipity, I happened to sit across from an english and spanish speaking salsa dancer who gave me his email address and said he'd send me a bunch of info about places to go in Bologna - so I may be able to branch out my social life beyond the school soon.

Then today (we're almost at the end!), I took my placement test for Italian (which starts tomorrow), sat through my second macro class, and in the best/most random event, met a girl who was a former national ballrom dance champion in Poland. We decided it would be fun to host some dance classes for the student body, so tomorrow we're going to make a pilgrimage around the city to try and find a location.

Phew! That's the light speed update. I've left out a ton of stuff, and hardly mentioned any people at all (who really are the best part so far of the experience). But I figure, now that I'm up to date, future posts can and will be more detailed.

Now, off to do some macro and italian homework!

Ciao!