As many of you know, I have been crazy busy apartment hunting. We are staying in a hotel for 2 weeks, and, in that time, we have to find a place to live for either the semester or the year (depending on length of stay). Bologna, being a university town, has posters all over the city. We spent the first night in Italy at the WIND store getting Italian SIM cards and phone numbers. The next few days were filled with snapping photos of posters and calling all that sounded interesting to us. I had little luck with these posters, as the spaces tended to be cheap, but also not very nice. One of my friends went to a place advertised on a poster and was horrified by the condition of the space. Apparently a group of Rastafari men lived there, and one was so keen on practicing his English that he refused to speak to her in Italian. He kept asking, "I speak good English, no?" and when she said jokingly that it wasn't perfect, he claimed she was the one who spoke poorly. Oh dio mio!
After deciding that posters were an utter failure, I reverted to the internet. Bologna has a popular website for posting available rooms in apartments, so I scoured that for options. I found a bunch and went on a ton of visits. I found a few that were desirable, but a couple unfortunately fell through. Right now I'm crossing my fingers that I'm selected to live in a single with one other housemate. She's from Napoli and the apartment is the nicest I've seen so far. Wish me luck!
Despite stressing about where I'm going to sleep for the next 10 months, I've spent a bunch of time exploring the city. Food here is incredible! (although not so cheap when you think about the conversion). My favorites have been gnocchi alla sorrentina at a cute place on a street off the Piazza Maggiore and tortelloni di zucca (pumpkin tortelloni) at a place near my hotel. Also, the pizza here has been amazing across the board (except the 24-hour take-out places we've tried late at night). And the gelato is other-worldly! Before leaving, I noticed that most of the gelato I tried in Boston was a bit icy. Here it is unbelievably creamy! My favorite flavor is one with a thick layer of nutella on top of the creamy gelato; it's heavenly!
I keep forgetting to take photos when I'm out, but here are a few of my pre-departure and first week here in Italia!
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| Packing for a year! |
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| All ready to go to the airport |
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| Last Starbucks for a while...better get two! |
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| Vino with in-flight meal. Hello Europe! |
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| Flying over the Alps and finally over Bologna |
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| Strawberry and lemon gelato—so good! |
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| Group activity: Bus tour of Bologna |
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| View of Bologna. I love all the red roofs! |
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| Cute church I stumbled in to |
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| Gelato bars...so pretty and so yummy! |
