Monzuno, Sardinia, Bologna, Riccone, and beyond

Well, I have been in Italy for about 3 months, and I have had a good taste of Bologna in this time.

Some Turkish people we met out one night

So what are some of the best things about Bologna? Well, first of all are the people. Bologna is home to the world's first university, which means most of the town is basically made up of uni students. Italian people seem to be pretty passionate about things (especially food and politics), and half the time its impossible to tell whether they are having a friendly debate or an angry argument. I would say on the whole Italian's are more educated and cultured than Australians, but can also be less laid back (a tradeoff I am not in favour of either). Italians are quite openly affectionate in their culture, but can also be somewhat outwardly reserved before you get to know them. People take their studying very seriously here, perhaps because the financial crisis has forced the standard of education higher and people are now competing with others who have a masters or even doctorate at the entry-level job market. As you can imagine most students here are living with their parents or friends, and struggling to survive financially amidst the times of economic turmoil, further aggregated by the corrupt politicians such as former president Bellisconi- who they are now trying to put in Jail.

Tortilinni Alla Panna- probably one of my all time favourite dishes

Defiantly worthy of a mention is the food here. Some of my favourites include Tortelinni con Fungi alla Panna (tortilinni with mushrooms and cream), Pizza (especially tomato with fresh rocket and cheese), Piadina with mozarella tomato and salami, not to mention all the amazing cheeses and fresh meats and

The city also looks pretty awesome with lots of older than-jesus buildings and things with so much history you wouldn't believe. The weather is also pretty good, but apparently it gets way too hot in the summer. Luckily I got here just as winter was finishing.
the AMAZING gelato. All the ingredients are fresh and fresh ingredients are so much in supply here that they are often cheaper then canned food!

Homemade Tortilinni

Meditating at Nicola's house in Monzuno

So what have I been up to with my time here?

First I went with Nicola to a small scenic town called Monzuno where his parents own a little house.








There we spent our time walking around in the nature, meditating, sitting around the cozy little fire and making some awesome home-cooked meals. We also buried his cat who conveniently died when I arrived which is always good fun.

Travelling to Sardinia

Aside from Bologna, I also spent a week in Sardinia on my own. Sardinia is a small island off the south west coast of the boot (Italy). I bought a 30 euro tent from a sports shop, packed my things and got on the ferry. Sardinia is quite a beautiful island and I arrived at a place called Olbia and made my way more than 120 km south to a coast called Cala Luna. Every day had a similar routine- start my day off with a breakfast of some fruit from the supermarket and start walking. Usually I would explore a town along the way and spend the day there, and then I would get on a bus on the way to the next place. My challenge was to find a supermarket in the daytime so that I could eat, but luckily for me there was one in pretty much every town along the way. Then I would set up my tent on a beach somewhere, and sleep for the night. The challenge there was to not get seen by anyone seeing as it wasn't strictly legal (which I guess is understandable because if EVERYONE did it then there would be tents everywhere).  My trip in Sardinia ended up with a 3 hour bush trek with my 20kg pack which wasn't exactly easy.

Nature in Sardinia

Camping in Sardinia

The town of Posada, Sardinia

A farmer let his baby goats out to walk around

We also went to visit a touristy place called Riccone where we ate Piadini (an amazing sandwhich style thing) and ate some amazing icecream (I had Nutella and white chocolate flavour) and admired the hordes of hot Italian women who were out for the night.



When I haven't been travelling around I have been longboarding (skating) which is an absolutely amazing fun discovery, not to mention a fast and environmental way of getting around, going to the gym (i'm almost 67 kg now instead of 64 when I arrived), gorging myself on awesome food, and getting to know people in Bologna.



My time in Italy has been great, and I feel that I have grown a bit mentally and learnt some things about myself, especially with my time in Sardinia and Monzuno. Now my plans for the future are as follows- my friend Alex from Australia is coming to visit on the 22nd of June and then we are going to go together to meet another friend Paris in Amsterdam and go to a festival called Electronic Family. We then plan to perhaps travel around Europe a little bit, although to be honest my money is running really low so I will have to organise making some money soon. I think I would like to try working on a cruise ship as a Deckhand or Seaman (lol) and seeing as it is almost summer in Europe it would be the perfect opportunity! That is only really a vague plan though, but either way things happen I will have to get some kind of income in the near future. Luckily for me I have an English passport so I am legally allowed to work here!







So thats pretty much all the news up until now, I am not sure what the future holds but hopefully if I don't leave absolutely EVERYTHING up to chance then I can get myself some kind of an income in the future and perhaps even get back to Australia one day!

:)

I really love ice cream.