Joey, housemate Alice, and yours truly
While there at the pub, we randomly ran into another American girl named Jessica. She was doing an internship in Bologna for a month, but didn't really know anyone in the city and was just sitting at the bar like a lost puppy, so we invited her over to sit with us and enjoy some American company. We finished watching the game and exchanged info so that she could meet up with us another time during her short stay here in Bologna, then Joey and I headed home. Nothing crazy was going on since it was Monday, and I also had to meet up with some classmates the next day to do a little groupwork, so it ended up being an early night.
Joey and I having a brewski at the pub
The next day, while I was busy with my groupmates struggling with a less-than-thrilling statistics project, Joey went off and explored the city on his own. He saw most of the touristy stuff there is to do in Bologna, and I instead was completely lost and cursing aloud various cluster analyses, Eigen vectors, and t-test graphs. I would probably rather be mauled by rabid badgers than have to study statistics, but hey, you gotta do what you gotta do. We took a lunch break and Joey met up with us for a quick sandwich at our regular cafe just outside the Economics college, but then afterwards it was back to work and Joey set off to do some more wandering. After a few more hours of statistical torture, we broke for the day and I met up again with Joey. We went to go find a place to grab a beer and watch one of the World Cup games. That day it was South Africa vs France, so of course we were routing for South Africa. We also happened to meet a South African gal at the pub we were at, which made it even more fun to watch them beat those silly Frenchmen. We had such a good time together cheering on the South Africans against those wine-swilling snail-eaters that we ended up having dinner and drinks together with our new friend and another acquaintance of hers. Joey hadn't been out on the town yet, so of course we had to show him a good time with a typical Bologna evening that included a thrilling back-alley car ride (ever seen a rally race? that is pretty much average every-day driving for any Italian), a trip to a historic enoteca, and of course a visit to the always-popular club inside the park.
It was a late night, so naturally we slept in on that Wednesday, 23rd of June. We had plans for the evening already, but first thing's first: the US was playing in the early game against Algeria, so we headed to a pub to watch the game.
Rolling in public transit to watch the USA game
Wouldn't you know it, we ran into a group of about eight Algerians who were at the same pub, and we ended up sitting with them to enjoy a little friendly rivalry. The game was pretty even, without too much for anyone to get overly excited for on either side. About halfway through, another small group of Americans showed up and joined us. This time, though, it was a group of highschoolers on a field trip. Like any good school excursion, their chaperons were nowhere to be seen, so they were - how should I put this - enthusiastically taking advantage of Italy's lower drinking age (which is 18, and they were most certainly not yet 18, but getting carded at a bar in Italy is about as likely as encountering a leprechaun riding a unicorn). The game continued back-and-forth, and in the closing minutes everyone was already resigned to accepting a draw for the game. Then at the very last minute, the US scored and we five Americans exploded in jubilation. If only I had a camera to capture the look on the faces of the Algerians in that moment... One of the girls actually teared up! It was an amazing victory, and we couldn't have been more thrilled.
The aftermath of the 91st-minute goal. We in the bar were almost as excited.
After the game, we met another American couple who were travelling around Europe. We shot the breeze about the game for a bit, and I gave them lots of tips about Bologna and what to do here. We walked around and I showed them a good place to have dinner at, but we didn't join them as our plans that evening were to meet my classmates for a big dinner party. In fact, after parting ways with the couple by the restaurant, Joey and I embarked on our assigned mission: the all-important procurement of wine. Luca, my buddy from class whose house the party would be at, had a bunch of two and five liter wine jugs laying around, which is great because here you can get wine in bulk at the grocery store. You just bring your jugs and go up to these huge self-serve stainless steel wine casks, open up the valve, and fill up on your choice of fermented grape juice. We gathered 14 liters of wine for the party and brought it back to Luca's place - which was by no means an easy task, by the way. Two Americans stumbling around with arms full of heavy wine jugs is not exactly an everyday occurrence here in Bologna, and it definitely garnered us a lot of strange looks. But we persevered, and completed our mission, then headed home for a quick wash-up after our sweaty, labored walk. I invited Jessica, our new American friend from the pub a few nights earlier, along to the dinner, so we met up with her in the main piazza and headed to Luca's place for the evening.
Procuring the bulk wine
The party was already going by the time we arrived (thanks in no small part to the massive amount of wine we'd lugged over), and the smell coming from the kitchen was incredible. Luca is one of those stereotypical naturally-talented Italian cooks, and every time we end up at his place to hang out the first thing he does is head to the kitchen to whip up some snack from whatever happens to be laying around. But at a dinner party like that, with time to prepare, it was really amazing. We feasted on a couple different types of homemade bruschetta, a huge pot of papardelle pasta with mushrooms, and a big bowl of meatballs. It was amazing.
Jessica and I at the party; Americans enjoying the fruits of Italian labor
Packed into the tiny elevator at Luca's place. It's smaller than it looks.
We continued to load up on the wine, and then headed out as one big group to find something to do for the night. We stopped by a place called Vicolo Bolognetti first, which is a big palazzo in the city center that has an open courtyard in the middle. It becomes a club during the summer nights, but it wasn't too happening that evening so of course we ended the night at our favorite place, the club in the park.
The next day, Thursday, the fun continued. It was the birthday of one of our classmates, Valentino, and he'd reserved space for us at a bar to celebrate. It was aperitivo style, and we bought our own drinks while the bar staff brought out a continuous supply of fried rice balls, eggplant, frittata (kind of like an omelette) and other assorted goodies. Meanwhile, as the alcohol consumption increased, so did the volume of our voices (naturally). We were sitting outside in a little courtyard behind the bar, shared by the rest of the building. Apparently we were being too loud though, because the bar staff kept coming out and telling us we had to be quiet because of the neighbors. Mind you, this was at like 9 or 10 at night. Only in Italy could we get shushed at a bar! We finished stuffing our faces with the snacks, then headed out for another evening of entertainment.
Joey, Me, Valentino (the bday boy) and Jason at the bar
We walked across the city center to Vicolo Bolognetti, where we'd been for a short time the night before. On the way we passed a McDonald's, where some of the crew decided they hadn't had enough to eat yet and wanted to scarf some burgers. Joey joined in the Mickey D's raid, but I steadfastly refused - I'm in Italy dammit, ain't no McDonald's passing these lips while I have Italian food handy!
Once we arrived at the nightclub, the partying commenced right away. We danced for a bit, but it was already time for a potty break, so some of us headed off to find the bathrooms. There was of course a gigantic line, so we stood there and started talking to the others for awhile. I was conversing with some Italians while Joey spoke in good ol' English with a Dutch guy. He started talking smack about America, so I joined in the fray and Joey and I had to verbally double team him to show him the error of his ways and defend America's honor. After that, still waiting in line, we met a gaggle of Irish girls who were a lot of fun. We were having such a good time that we ended up spending the whole night standing there in line, just meeting and talking to people. All of a sudden it was the last song of the night, and we had to move on to another bar. We followed the Irish girls to a place that specializes in shots. We each got a shot and one of the girls bought four for herself and her three friends. Or at least that's what we thought. As soon as the shots arrived, we started ours but the Irish lass didn't stop! She did all four shots right in a row, while Joey and I looked on in amazement. Dang, I guess what they say about the Irish is true! After that, we called it quits. It was clear that we could not hang with such hardened carousers, and we had to get up early-ish the next day, so we headed back home.
The plan that Friday was for Joey to take a solo trip to nearby Ravenna to see the quaint little city with all its ancient churches, and meanwhile I had to meet again with my statistics group to work on our project. Joey woke up and headed out early, but as I found out later he had a bit of bad luck with just about every form of public transportation in Italy trying to get to Ravenna and consquently he arrived there pretty late, despite the efforts to the contrary. I spent the afternoon cursing statistics, and when Joey got back we gave Jessica a call to see if she wanted to join us for some grub. We were going to eat kind of late, as is the fashion in Italy, so Jessica had already had dinner, but she came along anyway to provide us two dudes with some much needed genteel company. We had a great meal at one of my favorite places here in Bologna, a cramped, dimly lit osteria behind one of the city's famous churches. They serve up huge platters of meats and cheese, typical specialties of the region, along with the local kinds of bread. And cheap wine, of course. It was an excellent meal, as always, and we had a nice time hanging out without getting too crazy that night.
At the osteria - wine, meat, and cheese. That's all you need in life.
The next day was Joey's last here in Bologna before his trip took him further south to meet up with some other friends he knows in Italy. He was leaving in the afternoon, so we got up and out early. I gave him the full official guided tour of the city, with all the major stops. He'd already been to some of the sites previously when wandering about on his own, but now with my trademarked and copyrighted tour, he got the full details of all the stuff in the city.
Getting ready in the morning. My room, which I don't think I've put up pictures of previously.
Standing next to the leaning tower of Bologna
Stone furniture inside the 15th century courtyard of the old City Hall
After seeing the city, it was time for Joey to head off into the sunset. And just like that, it was one more friend from home that had come and gone. It was the end of the long string of planned visitors I had for the summer, but as fate would have it, it wasn't the end of hanging out with good ol' red-blooded Americans here in Bologna. I'd just met Jessica a few days earlier, and she would be staying in Bologna for a while, so we would have more adventures to come. But those stories are for yet another post! See you then, gentle readers.
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