Forza Bologna!

I just got back from my first European football (soccer) match, and I figured it was time I update my blog. Today was one of the first completely sunny days of the year in Bologna, and I’m glad I got to spend most of it outside. I went to the Bologna verses Juventus match today, with Chris, Hanna, and Hanna’s Swedish friend Lukas. We stood in the end-zone with all the crazy football fans. I swear, I have never heard more curse words in the course of a two hour match. Ever. I think I even learned a few new ones (in Italian of course) today! And I did also hear a few curses to the other teams mothers, fathers, sisters, ect… But the cheers and songs were pretty easy to learn and follow. Bologna’s colors are red and blue, and that’s what half of the chants were: “Rosso blu… bologna ale…siamo sempre con te!” (Red blue, Bologna ale, we are always with you!) Unfortunately, Bologna didn’t win, but it was a fun match.

Classes finally have started back, but I’ve only started two so far. I’m taking Storia del Pensiaro di Islamico (History of Islamic Thinking) and Istituzioni di Storia del Cinema (History of Cinema). Those two classes should fulfill 4 of my general education requirements for UNC, which will be good. They also should be pretty interesting. I’m still trying to decide my geology class for this semester… hopefully it will be Volcanology. Those classes start this week, so we’ll see what ones work with my schedule. I’ve been somewhat busy with my research project, and I’m getting ready to start using the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) to analyze my samples. Being Italy, I’m not sure when I actually will be starting with the SEM. Hopefully by the end of the week I will at least have had a lesson to learn how to work the SEM of Bologna.


As for trips, haven’t been traveling as much as I did last semester. Part of that is because it’s cold and rainy (for the most part) in both Italy and the rest of Europe. But I did make a short weekend trip to Brugge, Belgium, which was quite lovely. Brugge is a small, medieval town that is full of character. There are canals that run through the city, giving it a similar feel to Venice, but yet different. We walked around the city a lot, saw the sites, and of course, drank lots of good Belgium beer and ate Belgium fries.

The other trip I’ve made so far this year was to the Venice Carnival. We went on a Tuesday to Venice, getting a morning train, and packing a lunch. That packed lunch didn’t last long though, as we all ate ours before actually getting to Venice. As soon as we were off the train, we spotted face painters, and of course, had to get into the mood of Carnival with a face painting. After everyone (except Tammy and Hanna) got their faces painted, we started to walk. Along our way to San Marco, we found a mask shop that was reasonably priced, and the masks were very well crafted. So I bought my first Venetian mask, a beautiful green and silver creating with several large green feathers. It was handmade by the guy in the shop selling them, and was only 15 euro! What a steal!

Lots of walking was done that day, and we finally made it to Piazza di San Marco. There, we found all the people in costumes, just walking around and posing for photos. It was beautiful. Some people didn’t even bother wearing a mask, and just dressed up in period costume. I’m still curious as to whether all those people did it for fun, or if the city pays for the costumes. And I’m sure those costumes cost a fortune!

This semester has had a slow start, not only with traveling but with my blog updates. But I plan to keep a better journal of activities now that spring is coming and travels will begin in full swing again. I’ll be going to Amsterdam the first weekend of March, and then the following weekend will go down to Sicily, so there will be plenty to write about! And to appease Craig, he is awesome.