Midway Along the Journey: Un Riassunto

This week has been incredibly stressful, since I have devoted most of my time to finding housing. My post will therefore be brief, with lots of pictures.

Sunday 8/26: As a group, we went to the Museo della Storia di Bologna (The history museum). It's a fairly young museum, as it's only been open for seven months! Bologna, in contrast, has been around much longer than that. In the fifth century BCE, it was inhabited by the Etruscans. If I remember anything from my Classics classes at UCLA, the Etruscans ran a very liberal society. For example, public displays of affection were common (something the Greeks and Romans found abhorrent), and men and women had much more equality than in other ancient western civilizations. When the Etruscans were here, the city was called "Felsina". Once the Romans arrived, it became "Bononia". Of course, Bologna has a rich Medieval history as well, but I did promise a brief blog post.

Monday 8/27: First day of class. My teacher, Goffreddo, is from Sicily. He's a sweetheart. Even though we are in class for 3 hours every day, it doesn't seem like it. Everyone in the group laughs a lot and seems to enjoy being at the Study Center.

Tuesday 8/28: We went to the post office to apply for the permesso di soggiorno, which is a residency permit required of all non-Italians.

Wednesday 8/29: A trip to the Museo Archeologico. We saw Etruscan, Roman, and Greek pottery and jewelry. I think everything was found in various tombs in Bologna. All of the objects that are buried with a person are called corredo funerario. If you are into ancient western civilizations, I definitely recommend this place. Afterward, we went to San Petronio, the half-built cathedral on the Piazza Maggiore. If it had been completed, it would be larger than Saint Peter's! Of course, the Pope had to put a stop to this in the middle ages, so he built a palazzo next to the church, halting the construction of the nave. Inside, there is fresco depicting Dante's version of l'inferno, il purgatorio, and il paradiso. In the early 2000s, there was an attempted terrorist attack by several Muslim men. The artist (Giovanni da Modena) had painted Mohammed in Hell, devoured by demons. Dante described this in the Inferno, because at the time, you were either Christian or a heathen. The fresco dates from the 15th century, but because it is forbidden to depict deities in Islam, there was a problem.

Thursday 8/30: Well actually, this day should get its own post. The guy who lives in our temporary apartment, Eli, came back Wednesday night, and Thursday night we had a great time cooking with him.

And today? Well I am not studying for my test that I have to take in 2 hours. It's raining, but since there are covered archways everywhere in the city, I think I will be able to stay dry.

A posto!