C'è sempre più

Last time I left off writing to go over to Paglietta (an apartment a few streets away from me where some other students on the program live) for dinner.  Consequently, I'm going to just pick up where I left off.

We had just returned from Ravenna and seen the fire in the piazza on the way home.  So, after taking a short break to recover from the day we convened again for aperitivi (drinks and a small appetizer buffet).  We took a walk down Via Zamboni, one of the main streets in the city that leads to the university area, which was absolutely packed with students and other young people, and eventually decided to go into Il Ristoro delle Fate (The Refreshment of the Fairies).  It was, indeed, aggressively fairy-themed.  Everything was blue and sparkly and there were flowers and paintings of fairies everywhere.  All of us girls with our fruit-garnished red drinks fit right in, but the two boys with their beers looked a little out of place.

Since going out for drinks also unfortunately involves actually paying for drinks, we all left after one.  At that point, the group disintegrated slowly as we realized that, as is was our first weekend in Bologna, no one actually knew what to do or where else to go.

Sunday was, fittingly, a day of rest and homework, interrupted only by another round of aperitivi in the evening.  I went out with Matteo and some of his friends. At first I was a little (a lot) intimidated by the idea of going out with four italian boys who speak quickly and already know each other well, but after a little time (and a little to drink) it became much easier for me to join in the conversation.  They had a lot of questions for me, along the lines of "What to Americans think of Berlusconi?," "Is the University of Bologna famous in America?," and "What are people from Texas like?"  I even managed to successfully tease one of the guys for complaining about Americans who hear he's from Bologna and ask if it's near Rome only a little bit after hearing I was from Saint Louis and asking if that was near New York.  All in all, la mia prima sera uscita con solo italiani era un grande successo (my first night out with only italians was a great success)!

The start of the week has brought with it, at long last, some form of routine.  I have history class in the morning and language class in the afternoon, and during the three and a half hours in between I go over to Lubín's apartment on San Vitale.  I cook lunch for him and Loren (although they're finally starting to want to help) and then we study until it's time for class.  Then in the evenings I come back to il mio appartamento (my apartment) and chill with my roommate, Benedetta, before either making dinner here or going out with some of the other students with the program (a.k.a. my only friends).

It's a good life here in Bologna (even when the power in my apartment turns off twice in a row and we have to go down to the ground floor and play with the circuit breaker until it turns on again)!

Ciao alla prossima!
(Bye until next time!)