In Limbo

Italians have this cute little habit of carrying umbrellas in the snow. I’m of the mindset that whether it’s rain or snow, coats and jackets with hoods are the best option. This way, your hands are free and the wind won’t rip away your little 5-Euro umbrella and twist it inside-out. However, Italians seem to think that umbrellas are a grand idea when the snow begins to flurry down and as I walked down the narrow sidewalk towards ECCO’s office, about three people (one right after the other) were forced to raise their umbrellas above their heads to allow me to pass by them. I felt like a princess being hailed by her people and I was really tempted to curtsy back at them, but I’m not sure if they would have thought it as funny as I did.

            It’s Monday morning and ECCO courses are about to start this week (A.K.A. today); that is, I am officially leaving the limbo period I’ve been in since last Sunday, in which I didn’t really have a set schedule. This past week has been a little strange, in that respect. I’ve been doing a lot of different things, which I’ll try to summarize here before yet another busy week.

            Last Monday I actually went to my first UNIBO class to test it out. Viola, my lovely roommate, was sweet enough that day to first take me to la mensa (the UNIBO cafeteria) and it was nice to actually see Italian students bustling around with what they considered sub-par food (actually WAY better than anything Seaco has ever offered me at UMW) and talking. I really started to feel I was in an Italian university then. Afterwards, Viola proved herself to be even more amazing by walking me to the building that my test-class would be in a few hours later. We then walked in the building, figured out its weird floor plans, and found the room where my class would be. Viola gets 50 extra brownie points for being my little tour guide. I think she could tell earlier that morning that I was a little nervous, and I am so grateful that she took me under her wing.
           The building that the class was in, under the department of Lettere e Filosofia (Letters and Philosophy = language, literature, history, religion, art, etc.) was incredible. It was like stepping back into the 70’s, in the midst of a student revolution: there was graffiti all over the walls within the building, but not just bubble letter graffiti. This stuff was art. Protest slogans, calls for societal change, and an explosion of colors were splattered across the walls. The students were incredibly loud and the whole place was filled with a haze of smoke from the ridiculous amount of cigarettes that were lit up both in and outside the building. My classroom was a relatively small, amphitheater-style room, with the benches and desks so close together that you had to sit with your back ram-rod straight and turn slightly so that your notebook was sideways (otherwise it wouldn’t fit on the desk). There were so many students in the classroom that there weren’t enough seats, so about fifteen people were sitting on the floor. The course was Contemporary History, which basically includes everything from the Industrial Revolution to present day, with a strong emphasis on the 1900’s. At some point, there were multiple phone conversations going on behind me. There was graffiti carved all over the desks (I particularly liked the one that said SLYTHERIN PRIDE, written in white-out) and people were blatantly texting and having side conversations as our sassy, middle-aged Italian lady professor tried to lecture. Also, contrary to what I think regular Italian classrooms are like, there were multiple discussions (= fights) with the professor about issues within World War II. I was both fascinated and terrified throughout the two days I went to class (I pulled a very Italian move and skipped the third day to walk around and explore Bologna in the sunshine) and always made sure to sit next to the Chinese foreign exchange student, who looked just as scared as me.

            It was a really interesting class, overall, but I don’t think I’m going to stick with it. Instead, I’m shooting for a Medieval History class at the same time, taught by a professor who I’m told looks like Merlin (bald with a really long white beard) and is supposedly extremely nice and patient. That class, however, does not start until next Monday, so an update on that will arrive next week.

            We (Megan, Lily, Krystal and I) also took a day-trip to Ravenna this past week! We had booked our tickets to Paris (YEE!) for this upcoming weekend a while ago and didn’t realize until later that ECCO would be taking everyone on a tour of Ravenna on that same weekend. Determined to not miss anything, we took our own trip to Ravenna and it was simply amazing.

            Ravenna is a tiny little city, just about an hour away from Bologna on the regional train. At some point in the history of the world, it was the capital of the Holy Roman Empire, but for a very short time. Today, it is most famous for its Byzantine mosaics, which were the main purpose of our visit. We also saw Dante's tomb, so that was an added bonus!

Dante's Tomb

("Welcome to hell [the inferno]!")

          It’s hard to put into words how amazing the mosaics are in person and the pictures really do not do it justice, but I’ll try to describe them. First of all, the outside of the Basilica with most of the mosaics is very plain and built with rustic, brown bricks. You could easily walk past it and not think it very special at all. When we first walked through its doors, we entered a massive church, with ceilings that stretched all the way up to the sky. The first part of the church is relatively dark, with the center ceiling painted Renaissance-style, with a lot of dark and overly-ornate images of women in togas. The sort of thing you see in almost every church in Italy or Western Europe.

            But directly ahead, where the altar stood, were the mosaics. Windows framed the small (well, it was pretty large, but small in comparison to the rest of the Church) alcove of the Basilica, and the sunlight streaming in made all of the mosaics glow a warm gold.

Mosaic details

Inside the Basilica

I just can’t put it into words. That Basilica had more of an effect on me than any gothic-style cathedral in Europe ever has. All those other churches always look the same, with the repeated paintings of death-by-sword (as mentioned in a previous post) all over the walls. But this place was much more…I don’t know. Stunning. Impressive. Beautiful. The gold mosaics were offset by the rich blues and greens and reds. And the detail! Oh, the detail was spectacular. This was the first time in a long time in which I had been really and truly quieted by a church.

            We walked around, craning our necks up at the ceiling for a while, until Megan and I decided to lay down on the floor and Krystal and Lily soon followed. At first, I was a little nervous someone was going to come in and yell at us, but we were the only ones in the church. The four of us stretched out on the cold marble in front of the altar, simply looking up at the sunlight reflected on the gold of the mosaics that had been there for thousands of years. I don’t know how long we stayed there, but those quiet moments in the Basilica were some of the best I’ve had this entire trip.

I spent the rest of the week exploring Bologna, going to the gym, and spending time with friends. Lily and I discovered a grocery store that sells American food, which was surprisingly exciting. We bought pancake mix and maple syrup and are planning on cooking an American breakfast for our roommates the minute we have a free Sunday.

            This Saturday we went to the opera! Which was simply amazing. Obviously, I’ve never been to an opera before and walking in that building was like stepping into Italy in the 1800’s. We were by far the youngest group in the place, which was made even more obvious as we giggled somewhat loudly at the sometimes “interesting” stage direction/choreography of Giuseppe Verdi’s adaptation of Macbeth as the elderly patrons stared on coolly. I was admittedly surprised by how much I enjoyed the opera (it helped that there were Italian and English subtitles) and apparently this production is actually becoming very famous (it was being taped!). I only really felt like I was at the opera, however, when the very enthusiastic man behind me began yelling, “Brava! Brava!” every time Lady Macbeth sang with her creepy makeup and crazy eyes. It was such a neat, quintessentially Italian experience.

After the opera we all went to a party at Ghigi (the other dorm) which was way different than our dorm in that they have boys and they are allowed to speak in above a whisper. I’m exaggerating slightly, but really: the atmosphere of Ghigi is much different than Forni (in other words, much louder). It was really fun getting to see Italian guy students, as opposed to all the quiet girls in our dorm (cough-psychiatric hospital-cough).

            My internet has been really bad these past few days so I’m overloading the web with blog posts in preparation for this week, during which I am sure I’ll have to regale you with tales of my courses and, later on, my weekend in Paris (SO EXCITED). Thank you to whoever has sent me letters! Please know that I appreciate them, I’m just a little daunted by the prospect of figuring out the Italian postage system at the moment, but you will receive postcards/letters from me very soon! I’m excited for courses to start so I can get out of this limbo zone and into a schedule—I like having things to do.

            I’m really settling in here and enjoying myself. I realized that I’m starting to call Forni/Bologna “home” and it especially felt that way last night, when I successfully cleaned our apartment and did laundry without mixing chemicals or shrinking all of my shirts. It’s a little sad how accomplished I felt after this, but at the same time, I take this as a sign that Bologna is starting to take root in my heart, and I’m already dreading the end of the semester, when I’m going to have to say goodbye.

© Copyright Danielle DeSimone. 2013.