Viaggio in Italia

So it's been a little while since I've updated this, and lots of different things have been going on... I'll try to summarize as thoroughly but concisely as possible.

On the academic front, I've still been shopping around in different classes and trying to figure out what to take. It's not an easy task. Aside from my contemporary history class, which I really like, the others are survivable at best and often absolutely horrific. The common trend seems to be that the professor will make a point in the first five minutes and go on to reiterate that point in different ways for the next two hours. I usually last okay for the first 30 minutes, then spend an hour and a half twitching in my seat and wanting to gouge my eyes out. I went to a class today called History of Christianity which was that way, and I wouldn't take it if someone paid me. My Italian literature class is also pretty much that way, but unfortunately I feel like I have to take it to fulfill the literature requirement for my Italian studies concentration at Brown. Anyway, I knew the semester wasn't going to be academically thrilling, but I didn't know the classes were going to be literally torturous. Oh well, I'm going to keep looking around.

Meanwhile, Bologna is still pretty cold, but it's finally been sunny for the past several days. Last week, I brought my camera on my usual run around the park near my apartment. Here are a few pictures:

Last weekend, we took advantage of our first long weekend to make a few day trips from Bologna. We managed to hit up three different regions (including Emilia-Romagna, that is) in three days. On Thursday, Dana and Eric and I went to Lucca and to Pisa, both in Tuscany. Pisa is kind of schifoso (gross) aside from the leaning tower. It seemed to be a city full of just tourists and immigrants trying to sell useless things to tourists. It's odd, because from the train station you walk for like thirty minutes through these dirty, graffiti-strewn streets, and then finally you come into this pristine park where the tower is, with all its gleaming white buildings and perfectly-trimmed grass. We walked to the tower, stayed there for about ten minutes taking pictures, then turned around and headed right back to the station and got on the first train back to Florence. I'd say Pisa's probably not worth visiting... any picture of the leaning tower printed from the internet would give pretty much the same effect.

Nevertheless, because I went, I've got to post a couple of pictures:

Lucca, on the other hand, is really pleasant. It's a super small city surrounded by a Renaissance-era wall. Fun history fact: Lucca was the site where Julius Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus met to form the first triumvirate. Anyway, it's just a cute small town, if a little touristy (that is, the most dominant presence there was a big group of American high school kids, everyone seemed to speak English, menus and signs were translated into English). It was nice to see, though I couldn't image living there -- it's much too small. As in, you can walk from one end of the city to the other in about 15 minutes. I guess a lot of the people who are considered residents of Lucca live outside the main city, in villas spread out around the surrounding hillsides. In sum, I was satisfied with it, but I think there might be other small towns in Tuscany more off the beaten track.

On Friday, we all went to Modena, which is just around twenty minutes outside of Bologna. It's famous as the place where balsamic vinegar is produced, and, less known, as the place where Ferraris are made. Despite being a pretty familiar name to a lot of foreigners, Modena doesn't feel touristy at all, and we didn't see any other foreigners while we were there. I adored it; I think it's my favorite city of all the ones I've seen so far in Italy. It's similar to Bologna in its feel, its architecture and its cuisine, but it's much smaller, more quaint and clean, and without the sometimes-overwhelming big city feel. We also managed to stumble across another chocolate festival, which was fortuitous. I really wanted to have a meal there, as it's supposed to have amazing food, but we were there at kind of an awkward time, mid-afternoon after restaurants close for lunch and before they open for dinner. So I definitely want to go back. It's the kind of city where there isn't lots to do necessarily, but it's lovely just to wander around and soak up the ambience.

The other day trip we made was to Padova, maybe the second big university town after Bologna. It's actually in Veneto, which is a little odd because it doesn't feel at all like Venice. But I guess nothing feels like Venice. We spent most of the time there looking at different churches, because those are the main guidebook attractions. They're beautiful churches, to be sure, but wandering around churches gets old after a while. It's especially odd, too, when it's Sunday and people are trying to pray and hear mass, and you feel like an intruder going in and taking pictures and wandering around. Still, I was really impressed with Padova too. It's full of students, and has a lively, energetic feel despite being rather small. Another city I wouldn't mind spending more time in.

Right now, my roommate Dana and I are planning a trip to Barcelona for next weekend, which should be awesome. Our other friend in Florence is going to come along too, and my friend Morena in Leon (Spain) might come and join us there. I'm really excited about my first trip outside of Italy, and I've been wanting to see Barcelona for ages.

Tonight, my roommates and I and a couple of other kids from the program are going to see a soccer game, Bologna versus someone else. I don't know, I'm just going because people always say that going to see a soccer game is one of those things you have to do while you're in Italy. Bologna isn't even one of the major teams (it's Serie B, versus Serie A which contains all the important teams like Inter Milan and Juventus), so I'm not sure whether there'll be any rabid fans like the ones you always hear about. But it should be interesting anyway.

Oh, and sometime I have to write some more about my Italian roommate. Matteo is absolutely hilarious.. my roommates and I get such a kick out of him. He cuts out little pictures from magazines and puts them up surreptitiously in unexpected locations throughout the apartment. He also makes miniature pieces of furniture out of corks and wire. He has conspiracy theories about everything imaginable. He throws out random phrases and sentences in Italian just to confuse us, then yells out "Scherzando!" which means "Just kidding!" And when we stop him while he's talking to ask him to explain an unfamiliar word he's just used, he purposely gives some random unrelated definition just to laugh at the looks of puzzlement on our faces. Well when it's put that way it seems kind of mean, but it's pretty harmless. Basically we're just bewildered by each other all the time, which makes us laugh. Right now, he just gotten back from putting up cartoon drawings he made (vaguely political, or maybe not, it was hard to tell) all over the city. Yesterday he spent the afternoon making his own lemon soap. Classic Matteo... we don't know what to make of him.

I need to make the time to update more often and also to take more pictures! I'm sure there'll be more to say this weekend.