Daily Life... the highs and the lows.

Imagine absolute and utter chaos…Ok back up just a bit…..STOP. Right there. That’s life in Bologna.

Here are some interesting things worth noting about life here:
-People in Italy just chill. That’s right, chill. Why write a paper when you can have cigarette and drink a beer at five in the afternoon…right? Rush on the sidewalk… no way, why not just stroll to class (see why below).
*Please note that this pace of life has frustrated me to no end as of late. WALK DAMN IT! At the same time, mad props go to the Italians for their evening strolls
or passeggiata…you should see the people out in the streets right before and after
dinner time; it’s like there’s a party and everyone is invited.

-You can drink in public…errr…enough said. You should see the people that just hang outside what would be the equivalent of a dépanneur just, once again, chilling and drinking a beer.

-One word. Apperitivi. All you can eat, deliciously prepared snack food at your local café/bar/disco (funny enough, the same place where you can get coffee in the morning is where you can get hammered and dance until four in the morning…This of course implies a problem that I’ll explain later.)

-15 minutes. That’s right, this amount of time is the codified “late start” of courses at the University of Bologna; you can, in short, plan on being 15 minutes late and not miss a word of lecture. Lectures are however two hours, and one of my profs has spent the last three of them describing the evolution of the development of the book from medieval manuscripts using phrases such as the “happy anarchy” of the monks who had no uniform style of copying such manuscripts comparable to that of the printing press…

When are apperitivi again?

-There is a conspicuous lack of the following conversation in student hangouts and bars:
“Hey how’s it going?”
` “OMG I HAVE FIVE 20 PAGE PAPERS DUE TOMORROW”
“Yeah well you’re lucky, THREE MIDTERMS etc…”
And so it goes ad infinitum (especially in the Architecture Café).

Needless to say the art of student life has been perfected here, I mean, they have only be practicing it for nearly a 1000 years. In a city where are third of the population is students, you can imagine how all the above mentioned factors evolve.

All that being said, there are times when life here gets very frustrating and I get that familiar “what the fuck am I doing here/ how is this going to work/ completely overwhelmed by everything” pang in my stomach that only people who are or who have been on exchange know to well. Here’s why:

The bureaucratic networks of these massive universities on both sides of the Atlantic have perfected the art of not only not caring and letting you figure out everything for yourself, but also passing you off to someone else when help is needed. Answers from either McGill or Bologna require an almost obsessive persistence and for you to fill up X advisors email box just for a quick, three line response. Bologna doesn’t care, McGill cares too much. It makes for an interesting double edge sword when, although I should be taking courses in a different Faculty, this very same Faculty offers nothing remotely close to a course equivalent at McGill…Talk about the bureaucratic embodiment of damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

Not having internet or a phone in the apartment has been a huge adjustment, and if you come to Bologna you can probably find me walking around with my laptop open trying to nab any wireless signal I can (referring to the cafés above, there are no cafés with wireless here, hence my predicament; they make awesome coffee here, but man, [insert North American coffee chain] would have wireless!) Luckily the city has an awesome wireless network in the historic centre, which, unfortunately, is only available outside…I can’t tell you how many times I’ve sat off of the main square trying to right emails with people looking at me like I’m a) a nerd or b) a freak.

Needless to say, sometimes I feel very removed from everything going on outside this city, which I mean, is fine, but like I said, a little overwhelming at times.

To close this, I have one question for Italy: Where’s the peanut butter?! (Talk about little things that make a huge difference, Italians DON’T eat peanut butter…therefore it is not sold ANYWHERE. Sorry, this is one thing where I have to assert my, as you all are so familiar with, reckless Americanism…)

Anyway, I hope all of this gives a more global and balanced perspective of life here; it’s fun, it’s stressful, and I often tread that fine line between delight and agitation, but it’s definitely one hell of an experience so far.

(This was specifically for all of you who think I'm living in a European fantasy world...it's definitely la dolce vita with a few interesting twists!)