Today is the Saint day of Bologna, St. Petronio, and the city is as busy as ever. Naturally, I'm lounging my morning away watching Kill Bill in Italian and, finally, getting down to updating you on the last few weeks of my life. Although I've been in Italy for more than three months now, I'm definitely at the point where you begin to question your motives, which in and of itself, is extremely disheartening. Living away from home isn't a new concept for me, it was something that I was always excited about, something that my friend Amanda and I would stay up late into the night imagining and dreaming about. You could say that this is my fourth year living away from home, one year in France, two in Minnesota, and now a full 12 months in Italy. Does it feel like I've been away four years of my life? No. Plain and simple. France was definitely a hard change, but I had an amazing host family and friends to help me through it. My years in Minnesota were more like discovering a new home, and to be frank, when I think of home, I think of the beautiful Minnesota campus during the fall, and my friends, movies at Coffman and the beautiful Mississippi. Home of course will always be my family, and my house in Milwaukee, but Milwaukee itself? It took me 4,7220 miles to realize how much of my life is back in Minneapolis and how much I truly miss it. I told myself that I would be as frank as possible when writing this blog, and I am.
Studying abroad is truly a beautiful thing and I will never regret the choice of coming here, but it is also one of the hardest choices a person can make. Not everything is fun and games-sure I've traveled a lot, and I've loved it, but with new experiences come hard choices and difficult situations that are impossible to foresee.

Everything I've done so far has been based on spontaneity, and I love it. A few days ago a friend Kylie and I took the slow train to Rome for a few days, before our classes at the University of Bologna started. (There was a strike going on at the University so classes were postponed.) Naturally, many of us took advantage of the free time and went on a trip. We arrived on Wednesday afternoon and literally dropped our bags of at the hotel and hopped on the subway towards the colosseum and after, pretty much wandered to all of the major sites that Rome has to offer. The best day, however, was the second day, where we spent 6 hours at the Vatican exploring the Vatican Museums and St. Peter's Basilica and Square.






As we liked to put it, we conquered the Vatican. The next trip there will be even better, seeing as we are planning on making a reservation to tour the Necropolis under St. Peter's Basilica!

On another note, I start classes tomorrow, and although I like having so much free time, I'm ready to settle down and start to have a routine. For the moment, although things may possibly change, I'll be taking a grammar and Communication course through BCSP and at the University of Bologna I'll be studying Italian literature (Machiavelli, Petrarca, Dante, Boccaccio, etc.) as well as French Linguistics. Hopefully, I'll be teaching English as a side job to two little boys and possible another woman which could pay for rent! (Not a bad deal, really.)

Time to go out and celebrate Bologna!






Ancient Ruins on our way to the Catacombs of St. Callisto.



Sunset over St. Peter's Basilica