The great thing about Europe is its
train system; every time I look at the list of cities that I can get to from
Bologna’s central station, it kills me to know that America’s train system is
not nearly as extensive or efficient. Admittedly, a train system through
America has a lot of ground to cover, but that still doesn’t change the fact
that for about 35 euro I can reach Venice in an hour and a half and Rome in two
hours. As such, I’ve been taking advantage of this and have done a few trips
around Bologna—some with friends, others with my classes.
Rebecca,
Kyra and I took a small day-trip to the city of Ferrara in February, which is
about twenty minutes away by train. Ferrara has a distinctively medieval feel
to it (very much like Bologna, but without the porticoes) and an extremely
impressive castle + moat which we’ve actually discussed before in our Storia
Urbana (Urban History) class. Ferrara also has delicious pumpkin pasta, which
was a welcome sight after two hours walking in the freezing cold.
Being culturally sensitive to Ferrara's griffon statues
The castle
On the streets
In
regards to my Storia Urbana class, we go on a lot of field trips throughout
Bologna and the surrounding area. My class often spends half the time in the
classroom and the other half walking around the city, looking at medieval
towers and commenting on the structure of piazza’s and Church statues. This is
one of the reasons I absolutely love
this class—I’m learning so much about the city I’m living in. I’ve noticed this
is a pattern in certain study abroad programs: the UMW partner program that I
did last summer in Bath, England (ASE: Advanced Studies in England) also
focused one of its courses on learning about the history and the buildings of
the city through studying Jane Austen, which really enriched my experience. You
just become much more connected to the place in which you’re studying and I’m
really glad that I’m taking this urban history course.
Our
class also went to a castle outside Bologna in the country, which is one of the
best-preserved medieval castles still standing; a lot of the castles here in
the north were bombed (by Americans) in World War II, as they were commonly
used as Nazi or fascist hideouts. Miraculously, this particular castle survived
any significant destruction. This castle was beautiful. It was also very refreshing to get out of the city and
breathe some air free of smoke and exhaust fumes. The castle today is casually
owned by a billionaire who was generous enough to allow our class to tiptoe
through his ridiculously rich house (house? HA), which was a spectacular
combination of medieval architecture and state-of-the-art kitchen appliances. The
groundskeeper (YES, THE GROUNDSKEEPER) even made us all coffee before ushering
the peasants (our class) out and back on the bus to Bologna.
Lydia and I
Millionaire decor
Our professor! Explaining the mysteries of the well
I
also went to Florence for a day in March, which was spectacular. Until quite
recently, Bologna tended to be in a perpetual state of fog, rain and cold.
Going into Florence for the day was beautiful mainly because of the sunshine. It was so warm and beautiful
out. I’ve been to Florence multiple times with my parents, so I didn’t have any
burning desire to go to the Uffizi gallery or into the Duomo, so while the
other girls did these things, Lily and I amused ourselves simply with walking
around the city in the gorgeous weather, eating our way through the day (this
is not an exaggeration—I probably ate five meals) and just taking in the sights
and the people and the markets. It was shocking how much English we heard—there
were Americans and Brits everywhere.
Once again, I am so glad that I decided not to study in Florence. Although the
city itself is spectacular, it’s been turned into a sort of amusement park for
English-speaking tourists. I heard more English than Italian that Saturday and
I did not like that any waiters or store-owners that we talked to insisted on
speaking in English, even when we could clearly hold our own in Italian. I just
know that I’m getting a much more authentic Italian experience here in Bologna
and am especially happy with the amount of Italian language I speak on a
day-to-day basis. However, I can’t complain about Florence’s ample use of
truffle oil, its excellent gelato, and its beautiful bridges. I also can’t
complain about the fact that it takes me only thirty minutes by train to reach
Italy’s cultural capital and that this sort of accessibility can take me
practically anywhere throughout Italy and Europe combined. So thank you Trenitalia/Italo.
I love you.
Il Duomo
Ponte Vecchio
Enjoying the tramonto (sunset) by the river :)
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