New Adventures!

Ciao Tutti!
I realize it's been a little while since my last update, but the good news is that I now have many new stories to tell! The biggest and best of which is our day-trip to Verona this past Saturday.
After about a month here in Bologna I feel like I'm finally comfortable, speaking gets a little bit easier everyday and I'm feeling much more comfortable in everyday situations, in other words, I no longer fear going to the store and having someone ask me a question! It's a good feeling...
This past Saturday a small group of us (Flor, Nora, Laura, Irène - my roommate- and I) took the train to Verona (the setting for the infamous 'Romeo and Juliet'). For a few of us it was our first experience leaving Bologna and taking the train somewhere. We cut it pretty close getting on the train there because we saw that our train left from rail 1, not realizing there was a rail 1c and a rail 1w... we were at 1c which was not the right one. So yes we also had our first experience running to a train that was scheduled to depart a minute or two from when we finally realized we were at the wrong rail! But we made it. On the way there we met a nice older man who had fun talking to us about all the best parts of Italy to explore and about his kids who have traveled all over Europe and speak at least 3 languages a piece. He was excited to hear about our studies, and to practice what few English words he remembered from studying 20 years ago!
We reached Verona around 12:30 (it's about an hour and a half ride from Bologna) and set out on our way to find the city center.
I have to say, when I reached Bologna I was a little disappointed. Don't get me wrong, I love living here, it's lots of fun, full of great food and great people. But it's not how I'd pictured Italy. It wasn't that beautiful picturesque Italy that you see in the pictures, maybe it's the porticos here and the dark stone buildings (which are all beautiful) that make it seem like a bit of a darker place. When we reached Verona, I am happy to say, it was the picture I'd been waiting to see. When you walk through Porta Nuova and enter the city center, it's like entering a whole nother world, not even stepping in a fresh pile of dog doo could put a damper on my experience in Verona!
We visited some of the most famous spots in Verona, first stop La Casa di Giulietta. We didn't take the tour of the mansion, which I was a little disappointed but we saved our money and instead took a trip through time at the Castelvecchio (The Old Castle). It was amazing to walk through the museum and then wander the halls of a place so full of history, and when we reached the top of the castle, the views were absolutely breathtaking. From overlooking the Adige River, to the hills surrounding the city, to the rooftop gardens and terraces and way off in the distance we could see the Alps.
After a few hours at Castelvecchio, we decided just to take a walk around the city, stopping first to get some delecious gelato, which we topped off a little later by eating our own 12" pizzas, the norm here in Italy.
This week is a completely free and open week, so I'm not really sure what I'm going to do yet. Our pre-session classes ended on Friday (not sure how the finals went...) so now I'm just waiting until my classes with the University of Bologna start. At first I was thinking about taking history classes, but after doing some more looking I changed to the Political Science department and will be taking a history of women class (which has gotten good reviews from all the other BCSP students who have taken it) and I am hoping to take a class about citizenship in a globalizing world. They both sound incredibly interesting and I am so excited for them to start. They won't begin until Feb. 16th though, so as I said I have some time.
This coming weekend I am going to Milan to meet a friend from back home, Jake, who is studying in Paris this semester. It should be a lot of fun, not only because we are going to get to see a new place, but also because this weekend is the start of Carnevale here in Italy and so there should be some festivities going on in Milan while we are there. I'm hoping to find a reasonable hostel/hotel for us to stay in while we are there. Milan is a bit further than Verona (about 3 hours) so we are making a weekend trip of it. Kelly and I will be making a trip to visit Jake in Paris sometime in the spring, probably April sometime.
The weather here is starting to improve a bit, not that it's been nearly as bad as it is back home...sorry guys they just don't do the negatives here! The temperature has been fine, hanging around 45/50 but it has been pretty rainy and cloudy the last week or so. Today the sun is shining and it appears to be a gorgeous day. We will be taking advantage of that in a little while, going to one of the gorgeous parks here and playing a little soccer just for fun.
I'm working on starting a Photobucket account so I can share my pictures with everyone, it just takes way too long to put them up on here. When I get that all up and running I'll put a link on here for those who want to look at what I'm lookin' at over here!
I miss everyone back home and I hope everyone is doing well!
Baci ed abracci a tutti!
Ciao for now!