Full of Bologna: Home is where your Nutella jar is

My apartment is at Via delle Moline 3, in the same neighborhood as the hotel we stayed at and a five minute walk from our program office. The streets are a little loud at night, as this is a populated student area, but it hasn't affected my sleep and that with so many people around it's definitely safe at night. We've got all the businesses we need in the neighborhood: two small grocery stores next door, student supply stores, cafes, bars, hairstylists, pizzerias, the whole shebang. We're right near Via Independenza, Bologna's main north-south street, and our central-city location means were not more than 20 minutes from any of the walls. It's not the largest apartment...

...but it gets the job done. I won't be hosting any parties any time soon, but it's a roof and four walls and the location, as I said, is ideal. Things I miss: 1) drying machine, 2) unlimited Internet, I have a USB key into a national telecom network that allows me 100/hrs a month, 3) clean tap water, we have to buy bottled, and 4) well-lit rooms. Lights, for whatever reason, are just dimmer everywhere.

My roommates are Francesco, a Neapolitan, and Alberto, a Sicilian, which are exactly the regions father and mother's sides of the family hail from, respectively. They're both very nice and helpful with both my language and my cooking. Francesco smokes, but every apartment I visited had at least one and it's only in the kitchen (which is half the apartment). They usually have one or two TVs on, but since it's in Italian it's like ambient noise if I don't focus on it and I can fall asleep with the sound. TV here is all either news, soccer, dubbed American network shows, or tacky game shows.

A number of BCSP students live in this neighborhood, and two live right next door. Yesterday we spent a good portion of the day together, culminating in a group meal and study session. (The trip to Florence was put off, likely until next weekend).

On Saturday we went on a tour of modern Bologna, which isn't nearly as interesting as medieval Bologna. Here's a shot of the stadium...

...and one of their modern architecture...

I'm not sure what's going on with the trapezoid sculpture. After that, our director invited all of the students over to his apartment for pizza and coffee. Surprise meal of the week! We all packed in to his lovely apartment outside the walls and met his son and American wife. As they were apologizing for, you know, not being well-prepared enough for a hastily-organized gathering of 25 college students, imagine my surprise when I spotted in their kitchen a map of Union County, New Jersey. Our director's wife is from Union, a few miles away from Berkeley Heights. I needed to sit down for a bit after that. At the end of that adventure their four-year-old son, after not having really spoken to me the whole time, decided that he wasn't going to let me leave and just started climbing all over my arms and legs. That happens sometimes; I'm a lovable guy.

Today we woke up bright and early for more immigration office fun. It was really cold, and slow, and we get to do more of it on Wednesday!

Since I haven't shown you yet, here's a photo someone took of our whole group: