Erasmus placement in Bologna

Ciao a tutti!

Welcome to my first blog ever. Exciting isn’t it? I’m a 20 year old girl from the Netherlands who is a little insecure, very socially awkward and most of all very elegant. Oh wait, that is sarcasm. That makes me sarcastic as well, I think.

In this blog I would like to let you experience my experiences in the most amazing city ever: Bologna! And next to that I will let you know what I learned from it and give some tips along the way.

My first few moments

About half a year ago I decided to spend a part of my study in a foreign country. Who would have expected that it would be in such a beautiful place as this? One of the first things I did when getting here was climbing the tower which points out above the entire city. In the first few pictures I’m standing on one of “le due torri”.

I’ll warn you there is no elevator, this means that you will have to walk all the way up. But you have to admit that this view is pretty amazing! So tip number one: Visit the “the Asinelli Tower”, one of the two famous towers.

Fun fact: Bologna used to have loads of towers like these, but at this point only these two are left. But okay, let’s start at the beginning.

Meeting new people

I’ll give it to you, it is f*king scary to move abroad. Please tell me that’s not only me! You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into. Do you meet new people? Are you really a social person? Or are you actually socially awkward in most situations? Well I am definitely socially awkward. Let me tell you about the first time I met some people from a different country, so not another Dutchy. In Italy it is normal to give people two kisses on the cheek, in the most Latin-American countries it is normal to give people one kiss and in some countries of Latin-America it is a combined kiss and hug. So there we go: Hey, * struggles with giving one kiss, finds out we are also giving a hug, gives another kiss half at the ear*. I was a very interesting moment. So lesson number one: Make sure you learn something about the culture of the country you’re going to, to avoid awkward situations like mine.

That awkward situation also brings us to lesson number two: Everyone who gets here is worried they might not make new friends. Everyone comes here alone. Therefore you can be sure that you will meet new people and hear some very interesting stories. A few photo's are enclosed as evidence.

The best places to see

But of course you all are also very interested in what you can see and do in Bologna, now that you are sure that you won’t be seeing it alone.

First stop Giardini Margherita. When it is still good weather you need to go see this. It is a park just outside of the city walls (Fun fact: the city still has some leftovers of the city walls, so whenever you leave the city you will see a “Porta” or a part of the wall). It will be a 20 minute walk if you live on the other side, but totally worth it. Bring a book and escape the busy city that lies on the other side of the fence.

And from there we will go to San Michele in Bosco, because that is “close” to Giardini Margaritha, again a pretty long walk (and this time also up a hill) but more than worth it.

When walking through the city you will notice that there are a lot of Portici (pretty handy when it rains). Please enjoy this while being here. Even though you will get used to it after a few weeks, they are incredibly gorgeous. It does make you wonder if you are walking in the right direction, because every street looks alike. But I promise you, you’ll get used to that as well.

I will sum up all the other things you need to see while being here, otherwise you already saw everything before even getting in town. So what else is interesting to see in Bologna?

Piazza Maggiore: It is a square in the middle of the centre. There is a huge church, which you definitely need to visit.

The “Secret Window”: It is located at via Piella. A window that makes you wonder if we are still in Bologna, or went in a portal to Venice.

The road to San Luca: Long walk, amazing view.

The Archiginnasio library: Really underappreciated place to see in Bologna. The entire wall is covered with family shields of the people who graduated here a long time ago!

Visit Santo Stefano: If you ever hear someone say something about the seven churches, they mean this church.

Oh, and in case I didn’t mention it yet (which I didn’t): all options listed above are free. I can hear you think, is that all? No there are many more things to see and do in Bologna. But I think this will keep you busy for a while.

Food

Okay its nice to know what you can see and do in Bologna, but let’s be honest. We are only here for the food. Or is that only me? Might be only me... But anyway I’ll let you in on my hunt for food. This hunt will be divided in Gelato’s and Pizza’s.

Let’s start with the hunt for ice cream. Of course it is true that almost every ice cream you will taste in Italy is good, but there are a few places that I’d like to recommend to you:

Gelateria Grom: Located at Via D'Azeglio numero 13. They have so much good flavours, but I would recommend apple crumble.

Gelateria Cremeria Mascarella: Crembruccata…. Located at Via Mascarella 30. Tip: You can ask for chocolate in your cone or whipped cream on top and they will do it for free!

Venchi: Located at Via degli Orefici, 23. I would recommend a crepe with gelato. Pretty amazing.

To be honest I could actually list every gelateria in bologna, because I have never had a bad gelato here. But those listed above are my three favourite places. Oh and something else that you might want to know, if you get the ESN card, you will get a discount on the Gelateria Cremeria Mascarella.

If you are looking for more info about Erasmus you can look here.

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Photo gallery