Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Bologna... First Days...

Ok.. so... Its my second full day here in Bologna and lets just say I desperately need to get my Italian to start working for me. I have three Italian roommates and these people just talk soooo fast, it doesn't help that everyone in the street assumes I'm Italian. So far, my first word most frequently used over and over is 'scuzi'.
This city is absolutely beautiful. My apartment, although shared with four other people is very nice, and I can't complain based on other horror stories that I heard from other students today. It was our first day of class today and our professors are pretty hilarious. Awesome accents, and very good teachers so far. First class of Italian tomorrow. Sweet.

Here's some pictures so far from my first day as a tourist trekking around town.

This is the entrance to my apartment... it reminds me very much so of Eat.Pray.Love.

This is the view from my room.. we have a set of doors that walks out to a very small balcony. Although the buildings here are very old and worn down, its really, really pretty.

This is the view from our kitchen, another reference to a movie it reminds me of is Amelie. It looks upon a very little courtyard type of structure.

And this is our kitchen, with the smallest stove I've ever seen.

Just a picture of how most of the streets look like. The town is covered with these arcades, I believe are referred to as "Portici'. Bologna is covered overall by 38km worth of these arcs. Meaning even if it's raining I can walk my 12min to school and barely get rained on.


More portici.


This is not an illusion... I'm not sure what's going on with the Italian people, but they just don't seem to get their towers straight. These are the iconic towers of Bologna. I still have to go up there, you can see all of the city from there. In the past, the theory is, the towers used to belong to some of the richest families. There used to be alot more of these in the city but most of them were demolished, taken down or simply collapsed.


Statue of Neptune near the Piazzo Maggiore.

These things EVERYWHERE.


Polish Vodka Everywhere.


Piazza Maggiore is approx 4 min walk from my apartment. Its the city center. Yesterday was a Holiday in Bologna. It turns out every City in Italy has its own Holiday once a year. Every city here has a patron, who is celebrated. Bishop Petronius was the one who built the grand church at Piazza Maggiore, and yesterday was the Petronius Festival.

More Arcs.


Monday, October 4, 2010

How do you pack your life into a suitcase of 23kg?

So when I first started this blog it was June 2009 to reflect my need to get away from the day to day routine of traffic, work, and everything else.... now its over a year later.. and I am away. This last year has been so crazy and so random... we moved out... we worked some more... we traveled some more and got to see a lot of the West Coast and Western Canada...

Calgary... Banff... West Coast Trail on Vancouver Island...Vancouver in the Summer... Drive down to San Francisco... Mt. St. Helens, Washington... Oregon Sand Dunes...and California.

I just got to Bologna, Italy about a day ago and I'm still taking it all in. I will be studying here for 3 months before I head over to Ghent, Belgium and then Mumbai, India. Sitting here its 2.30 am as I'm fighting with my jet lag, I still have trouble truly believing this is actually happening.

Lets see how this goes...
I soon realized that no journey carries one far unless,
as it extends into the world around us,
it goes an equal distance into the world within. ~










Sunday, October 3, 2010

West Coast Trail - June 2010 - Just an Update

Since I have not yet had the chance to put up an updated on WCT.. Let's just say it was breathtaking...A beautiful and challenging experience. Definitely recommend doing this at least once in your life, just make sure you are with the right team...
Be prepared for lots of ladders.. lots of rain... and lots of Mr. Noodles.
Here's just a few photos from the Coast:

Orientation Centre - The beginning
Ladders, ladders and more ladders

And more ladders...
The plant life is absolutely incredible...
The Coast at low tide...
Resting after having some burgers from the native burger place...
Packing up for the road.

Changes in scenery.
Preparing Supper.

The guys trying to fly their McGyver Kite.


The first shower in four days was under this waterfall.



Beautifull Sunset ... and starfish below.
These bouyees signified the entrance and exit of trail onto beach route. People carved their names in them.