Activities in Bologna

Even I only could enjoy three weeks of activities, I want to tell you a bit about them, what I liked (why) and what not (and why not). Hope to do some of them soon again with my new friends and explore even more of that lovely city.

On the day after arrival I went to an International Meet-Up. I found it on my couchsurfing-app and decided its a good start to meet new people. This was one of my best decisions so far. I meet a lot of nice people every sunday there and with some I became friends and met them even more often. Without them probably wouldn’t have stayed here when the corona-madness started. I also went to the Couchsurfing-Meeting on wednesday and also there I always had a nice time, meeting people and drinking some wine. On that two events people always try to include you, when you’re new and its quite easy to find someone to talk.

What I didn’t liked was the one Erasmus-Event I went to. A lot of groups, the bar crowded and you couldn’t understand a word, the staff just stressed and in the end I didn’t talked to anyone. I wasn’t feeling comfortable at all so I decided for myself, this is not my type of Event. I do wanted to go on a winetasting with the Erasmus Network… but it was cancelled. A friend told me about some trip and this sounded also like something I wouldn’t enjoy that much. Actually the Erasmus-Events are where I feel my age most. Many people think I am younger as long as I don’t talk about all the stuff I did (then they start to do the math) and I love to go out and drink and dance and even to flirt, but somehow with people around 20 it is mainly exhausting and boring for me nowadays. Probably because I went out a lot in my early twenties and now I like more to talk and to know a person. You can do that in a group with friends but not with a lot of strangers.

Thanks to the International Meet-Up and the Couchsurfing-Meet-Up I got friends with some travelers for whom Bologna was only a stop on their route. It was nice to meet them again some days after and go on a walk through the city and explore it a bit more. One guy was living in the city some years back and used to be a couchsurfing-host on that time. So he knew some bits about the city and could show me some of his favorite places. With another girl I also were walking around the city.. and exploring the bars to find the best Aperol Spritz.

I also went to San Luca with my friends… the Santuario della Madonna di San Luca is a church on top of the Colle della Guardia. It’s a 2 kilometres march with some challenging slope. I hated everything on that march, because I am not trained at all. And there is actually not really a great view over the city or something like that. Except when you stop during the walk and look out of the arches. Unfortunately my friends were more like “when we stop it will be harder to go further”, so they tried to go straight to the top. But I have to admit it is nice to be on top. Especially when you’re with friends. We sit there for a while, enjoying the sun and watching other people, make some fun. The two towers I only saw from the outside. I heard that without graduation it could bring bad luck to go on top of them, so I decided to do that in summer after my exams. (One day later we got the news that Bologna will be yellow zone and universities and museums etc. will be closed, so it was out of question anyway.)

Of course I also enjoyed a lot food and drinks here. Some evenings we played some games (most we just invented after some beers) and we talked a lot. There were also some trips I did, but maybe I’ll talk about than in another posting. Also on another post I’ll tell you about the activities I had, when I visited friends or when things got more serious here with corona. Till then, I hope you have a nice week!