Bowling!

Hello!

I'm writing from my new room in my new apartment! I found a single room in a place with three other Italian university students named Gaia, Francesca and Simona. They all seem very nice, but are in the middle of finals right now, so they are spending plenty of time studying! I look forward to getting to know them better soon when everyone is less busy. I live in a quiet part of the "centro," so still downtown and very close to the university and main street (Via independenza), but in it's own beautiful, tucked away neighborhood.

I'm still enjoying Bologna, the city has such history, as well as the University. I'm including some pictures in this post from a night out last weekend. But there's a back story which is kind of interesting...

So I had not been in Italy for more than 12 hours and was in the Vodafone store with some other people on the program buying a cell phone, when I got asked out on a date by the guy who sold me my phone. The man who was helping me, named Luca, asked for my number, which was funny, because he actually had given it to me. Anyways, he was very nice and is actually a student at the University too, he studies music (pianoforte) and is a little older than me.

He invited me and some of my friends (Rosemary, Lucy and Andrea) out for drinks and we all went and met up with his friends Elisabetta, Giovanni and Francesco, who were all fun, nice people. The next night we also went bowling in a suburb of Bologna. We also played foosball. It was at this huge sports complex thing where there were tons of people playing ping-pong, pool, bowling, etc. It was fun and felt like a very typical Bolognese weekend evening, which was cool after having been in the city for less than a week.

Italian classes have started this week and let me tell you, they are intense!! Plenty of homework and plenty to wrap your head around, trying to correct your grammar constantly and learn new vocabulary. I understand pretty much everything I encounter, and with time hope it becomes easier to express myself! It's a bit of a struggle sometimes :).

Today with all of the other students (36 of us) on the program went to the Medieval Museum of Bologna to learn a little bit more about the history of the university. The university professors almost always had this huge mausoleums or tombs, and this is unique for someone who is not a religious figure or very rich - the professors were very very valued and honored after death with intricate marble coffins, many of them depicting classroom scenes.

Soon I will pick which class or classes I will be taking at UniBo (the shorthand for the University), and that will be exciting. I'll be continuing the presession class until the first week of February, so I've got a bit more time to brush up on all the basic stuff that escapes me when I open my mouth to speak!!

The gelatto is delicious here, and all the food, wonderful. More later, and at some point I'll post pictures of my place!

Miss you all and am thinking of you!

Hope all is well wherever you are at in the world!

Love,

Anna