What else happened in May

It’s Sunday May 31st (HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GRETA!) and I finally make it back to duetorri. These past four weeks have gone by in a rush that I find hard to describe – a lot of news and paths determined, a lot of things to do and a lot of emotions have kept me so busy, that I did not take the time to find the quiet moments that I need to write some coherent sentences on this blog.

In the week after my Rome trip we had a meeting where finally our exact locations and positions for the internships were disclosed. A bit more than three weeks before they are supposed to start. Hmm. Draw your own conclusions. And in the week after that the last set of exams has taken place. No big surprises there.

After the last exam we directly went for a weekend trip to Livorno to celebrate the time spent together and enjoy each others’ company without having to submit a teamwork report afterwards… and Radu and his wife Antonella were wonderful hosts in their city and their house – thanks again!!! In the gallery below there are some impressions – unedited, just as caught on camera… enjoy!

Livorno Weekend (Click for link to gallery!)

The final week started off with a visit to “the headquarters” in Milan. Some senior members of management gave some speeches (including, yes, Alex the Great), we had a nice lunch and then some more speeches and then we travelled back. Does not deserve a gallery, but a nice group picture:

The UniCredit MBA team (almost complete)

And finally three days ago we celebrated goodbye at Alma school with a barbecue in the “secret garden” and a chance to dance in the grotto. I only had my phone with me – but sharp, clear pictures are a nothing but a bourgeois concept!
I feel there is not really a lot I can write about. For all of you who were there you will recall the feeling, for all others I probably can not explain…

Farewell BBQ (Click for link to gallery!)

So my time remaining in Italy is six days and counting. Which I feel truly sad about even though I have much less entered into Italian life than I had hoped for in the beginning.

See (some part of) Rome in half a day

After some days with quite a bit of work for the university this last week left at least a little more space to do other things than just study. And as one my favourite free time entertainments is travelling it was a nice opportunity to join my friend Jelena and her sister Svetlana for a day in Rome.

The two girls had already done a one-day-race around the city in an effort to see it all but were still in suprisingly good shape to do with me the following route (and Rome insiders will know, what it means…!): Pantheon – Castel St. Angelo (incl. inside visit) – Piazza del Popolo (incl. visit to S. Maria del Popolo) – then by Metro to Piazza Barberini – Fontana di Trevi – Piazza Colonna (for a coffee) – Piazza Venezia – Colosseo – Circo Massimo – Piramide – Testaccio (for dinner). And to finish it off, drinks and walks in Trastevere… respect!

Roma in half a day (Click for gallery!)

City views

Last weekend my friend Hans visited me (and escaped just in time so as not to witness the derivatives nightshift… ) and besides showing him around some of the places I already know in Bologna we saw two spots I had not seen myself before.

The first one is quite a “risky” place because local superstition says that one will not graduate, if you climb the Torre degli Asinelli before. Well, I was feeling lucky and so I took my chances climbing 498 stairs as indicated on a sign at the bottom. Photo quality is not all that brilliant because I only had my mobile phone.

San Petronio (and San Luca in the background)

Torre numero due (Garisenda, by name) is really leaning quite a bit to the side, but it looks like that is about to be fixed.

Torre due

In previous posts I have shown some pictures and told some stories of the canals in Bologna. And then I got a tip that there is a caffè with a little backside terrace, that is actually overlooking a little waterfall! It really exists and I found it!!

Downtown Bologna waterfall

The name of the caffè is “Opera e tulipani” and it is in Via Alessandrini near Via Moline.

And we observed one other interesting thing connected with water that weekend – a street musician playing organ music on an instrument made out of water filled glasses. Interesting concept and “crystal clear” sound.