Counting today its been 14 days since I've arrived in Bologna, so much to tell! However do be warned that its been and still is an emotion ride for me, as I still have yet to settle down completely. Here goes....
My first impression of Bologna: Sunny, even before I got off the plane the shining sun was already welcoming me! Excitement overwhelms me because my eyes were gazing at everything that passes by, you can probably imagine my head turning in every direction. One of the things I've noticed was the sky in Bologna isn't was clear as the UK, however its ever so beautiful- I love looking up into the sky.
The common thing about cities are no matter where, taxi drivers just loves to sound their horns; time = money, slow drivers = must beeeeep! The buildings in bologna are much more compacted, but ever so colourful, which is another thing I like to look at (the multiple coloured building which pieces together nicely).
( Justing turning to the corner; towards the right is where we stayed, we were on the bottom floor, a very cute apartment.)
Where I stayed for my first 10 days was at Via Pisano 48 our landlady, Linda is a lovely person. She's ever so sweet and beautiful, one day she made us a sweet sponge-like cake, topped with delicious apple on the top. MmmmmMMMmmmmmm... Italian people call desserts dolce. By the end of my first day in Bologna my cold has fully developed! I ended up losing my voice for 5 days *sad face*
On my first night I had pizza! In my temporary apartment I shared one room with the other two ladies, Sue and Maggs, whom I traveled with. I'm glad we've decided to travel together, they're very nice and took care of me when I was unwell, unfortunately I gave Maggs my cold... Sunday the 4th we both stayed in to rest. The accademia di belle arti di Bologna is located on Via belle arti - 30-35mins walk. The building is so different to our university!
(The entrance view of the accademia)
Almost everyday I had to travel to the centre, Piazza Maggiore to use the public computer at the commune di Bologna. The public computer allows us to surf the internet for only one hour max, so it was pretty much racing against time to do what we have to do. Oh another incident was when we were looking for the Dante Alighieri, an old lady was trying to help us look for the place and then told us that someone had died! We couldn't understand who she was talking about... When we found the Dante Alighieri- the place where I'm hoping to take more italian lessons 'cause my italian is bad >.< not good at communicating - the lady there cleared up our mystery, Lucio Dalla a famous singer in Bologna had died; everyone in Bologna has been talking about it. The next day when we've visited the centre lots of people were lining up in Piazza Maggiore to pay tributes to Lucio. Spent a couple of days for room viewing, I tried my best to convince myself to op for a cheap room double room, however personal space was just too important to me. Now I am living with three boys, who are three brothers and are very nice. I have my own room, very spacious :) around 25minutes walk to the centre (I walk a lot in Bristol anyway).
Other places I've been in Bologna, well each time I head into the centre I've been walking past the Fontana di Nettuno without realising its one of the hot spot for tourist!! The fountain is one of the most promiscuous fountain I have ever seen! (google it yourself). We walked past a couple of portals and Via dell'inferno also named as 'hell street' because this was where Jews were segregated and confined in the past, only doctors were allowed in and out. I do have more to tell but lets leave that for another time.
