Viaggio in Italia

I haven't been updating this as much as I'd like, and it's only going to continue like this because I'll be traveling for the next two weeks and probably won't have a chance.

So, to recap the last couple of weeks: a group of friends and I went to Barcelona the weekend before last, which was awesome. The weather was beautiful, the city is fascinating and lively and colorful. I'll upload photos when I can. The trip made me realize a couple of things, though: one, that traveling with a bunch of people with different agendas and different interests can be a little bit hectic, and I think it might be really cool to try traveling by myself. Two, that I need to make sure not to be away from Bologna all the time. As fun as it was, I missed Bologna and I missed being able to communicate with people. Not to mention the fact that I was exhausted from all the trains and planes and buses we had to take to get there... it was a marathon journey given that we only had three days there.

Since then, I've just been in Bologna in classes and not much else. I found out that in my medieval history class we have our first of two oral exams right after spring break, which means I have to read a 500-page textbook in Italian over the next three weeks. The same three weeks of which I'll be mostly away from Bologna.

And tomorrow morning I'm leaving to go on my first solo travel experience, five days between Prague and Budapest. All the planning has been very-last minute, and it's been a bit stressful. It came about when a group of girls in my program started planning a trip to Budapest, Vienna, and Prague. Originally I was interested in going with them but the dates they wanted to go just weren't going to work with my schedule, since I have to meet my parents in London next week. So I decided, well, there's nothing stopping me from going anyway by myself. As it turns out, I'll spending a day and a night with them in Budapest. But the rest of the time I'll be on my own.

I still don't feel sure that it's a good idea... I'm going to be away from Bologna too much, I'm missing out on spending time with my roommates, and why would i go somewhere where it's cold and I don't speak the languages? But, I'm going and it's too late now to change my mind. I think it'll be a good experience to travel by myself. I hope so.

So after that I'll have a day and a half back in Bologna before I leave again for London and Morocco. It's going to be chaotic and now that it's happening I kind of wish I hadn't tried to fit so much in such a short amount of time. Oh well though, I'm going to try to stick to Bologna, or at least Italy, for most of the rest of the semester. I'll check back in as soon as I can.